Dennica Fye Dela Pena

Chapter 1 In my years of experience in teaching, I have observed a scenario of conversation in the classroom such as this where the teacher usually starts to build a communication link between her lesson presentation and student's mind setting in the classroom. Teachers at times connect the previous lesson by putting the students at ease in the classroom setting where they speak in English mixed with the native language. Teachers often practice code switching in the classroom for a certain reason, yet on the side of the coin, they encourage their students to respond in straight English. I have observed that there are many instances when a student falls short in his communication, the question of liability is always addressed to his English language teacher (Ugbe & Agim, 2009). Even after years of learning the second language, learners still do not achieve the confidence in using the language inside and outside the class. I may have some considerations for the L2 learners wherein, Littlewood (1994) mentioned in his work that regardless the fact that the medium of instruction is English, teachers would always resort to switch to vernacular in order to convey ideas. In this manner, the fluency of the language is somewhat affected. Looking at the language foundation of the Philippines, I see the connection of the study of Bauson (2011) which cited that the Philippines has been dominated by the Spanish language influence which has marked its impact on the language formation. Tupas (2004), added that after this domination, another powerful language has influenced its medium in every educational system. Every language influence in this country has created a great impact in the formation of our language practices. I have observed that even though English language has been the medium of instruction in every educational system in the country, native language is inevitable. According to Bautista (2009), foreigners who visit the country specifically in the urban areas are struck by the phenomenon of hearing conversation that they can understand because part of it is English but at the same time feel lost because other parts of it sounds different. This is said to be "Taglish" - the combination of Tagalog and English words and clauses in the sentence. This is most often heard in the conversation of those who were exposed to speak both language. English language is a medium that every educated person has to learn because this has been used globally. With this trend, everyone is encouraged to study and learn in order to be able to compete with the trace of the trend. Because of this, every educational institution has to cope with the standard of its use. Inside the classroom, specifically in English class, all students are encouraged to speak in English but when they are outside the class, they tend to code-switch from their native language. In my observation, the catalysts of influence in the use of the correct English language are the educators across the curriculum. The learner in school stays almost for the whole day and they are greatly influenced by educators who are considered as the model in encouraging the learners to speak and write English well. The study of Bautista (2004) remarked that code switching has continually been advancing in different parts of the globe. Philippines and Malaysia which are multilingual countries, code switching has appeared as a new language variety. Then and Ting (2009) examined the functions of teacher's code switching in secondary school English and science classrooms in Malaysia, where English has recently been implemented as the language of instruction for science. Classroom interaction data were obtained from two English lessons and a science lesson. Several studies have already been conducted about code switching because this is a phenomenal subject in the field of communication for second language learners. As I search on related study about code switching, I found that the work of Ahmad (2009) is closest to my study. His quantitative study was focused on English teacher's code switching during classroom instruction for low proficient students. My study would like to fill in the missing part of his study by obtaining the perceptions of the students towards their English teachers' code switching inside the classroom. Another local study which was conducted by Ecle (2010) is also close to my study which investigated on code switching practices of faculty in all subject areas that use English as a medium of instruction. To fill in the need to further assess on the effects of English teacher code switching in the classroom towards the English language learning of the student is the gap that I want to fill in. Today, there are still a lot of debates about whether English should remain to be the sole medium of instruction because the students' English language competence is below par. It is for this reason that the study will be conducted in order to obtain other discoveries that affect the English language competence of the learners. This study is based on the perception of the students on the language teacher's code-switching. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the student's view on English teacher's code switching inside the classroom. This would also describe the influence of code switching in their learning. My passion in language teaching for many years has been my inspiration in keeping myself enthusiastic inside the classroom. I feel the satisfaction when students learn to express themselves in fluent English. However, oftentimes, I struggle with a lot of challenges when they cannot meet my expectations. Despite their limitations, I also believe that there is always a room for improvement. The instinct of always doing introspection after the class reminds me to put myself in the shoes of the students while they are inside the classroom. I would like to find out what are their views when teachers switch from English to native language while trying to explain. In this light, I am more interested in studying about the senior high school students perception of their teacher's code switching. Research Questions: I. How do students view English language teachers' code switching inside the classroom? 2. What are the implications of the teachers' code switching towards the students' learning in English language? Theoretical Lens To frame this study into a bigger linguistic domain, I present theories and related empirical studies that supported the existence of code switching. Despite the fact that English is used as the medium of instruction, educators would still resort to switch to vernacular in order to meet the needed comprehension. Cole (1998) explains the three functions why teachers code-switch in the classrooms: Topic switch function - this is when educators alter his/her language according to the topic that is under discussion. There is a bridge from known (native language) to unknown (new foreign language) constructed to transfer the new content and meaning. Affective function - a code switching which is used by the teacher in order to build solidarity and intimate relations with students (creating a supportive language environment). Repetitive functions — the teacher uses code switching to transfer the necessary knowledge for clarity, and for efficient comprehension of students. To add to the picture of this study, Halliday (1975) believes that code switching is fulfilling of the interpersonal function of communication where mixed language spoken plays the role of a mediator. In other words, it is the use of language to act as a mediator between self and participants in the communicative event. Moreover, the work of Littlewood (1994) expounded that switching to one's native language while engaged in communication when experiencing difficulty, switch code becomes a communication strategy. Instead of creating a new word with a second language material, a speaker may opt to use a word from his own native tongue. Apparently, this strategy is most probably to succeed in circumstances where the listener has the awareness of the native speaker's language. This is where classroom learning situations most likely to happen. According to Cook (1991), code switching enables the teachers to conduct the language course even if the L2 proficiency of the students is low. The use of code switching in the classroom is apparently an acceptable method of communication because it gives another means in second language teaching. Lastly, putting code switching as a form of discourse function, Gumperz (1982) saw it as a choice to include non-verbal within a communicative encounter. This choice is established in an expected pattern of communication, specifically in the classroom. Significance of the Study The findings of the study would benefit the school administrators specifically, in designing programs for intensifying the communication system in the department. The programs heads may be aware of how this program be implemented through the teachers' action. Moreover, school administrators or program heads would also of not just rationalizing it's phenomenon but the student's views may give them the idea of implementing measures whether to encourage or minimize the idea of code switching. Added to this, the subject teachers, specifically the English language teachers may also benefit in this study by being aware of how students perceive them during their lectures and conversations inside the classroom. Thereby, they will find means to improve the quality of English teaching methodology specifically in dealing effectively with the student's difficulty in learning the language. According to Bautista, (2004), code switching has become another variety of language which is practiced by language teachers in order to clarify the lesson presented. Through switching to their first language, students can understand the idea in the lesson. Researchers may also benefit through the findings where they can relate to their quest of discovering in depth knowledge about the phenomenology of code switching. Lastly, through this study, students would be aware of the implications of this practice in their learning wherein most students are not fully aware of this phenomenon. Definition of Terms for reason of clarity, I wish to define terms I used in my study: Code Switching is the passage from one linguistic code to another one within the same discourse or, to be more precise, "the juxtaposition within the same speech exchange of passages of speech belonging to two different grammatical systems or subsystems. (Gumperz, 1982) In this study, code switching refers to the alternative language used by the teacher through mixing the English language with the native language in the classroom communication. three different types of code switching were introduced by Poplock (1994), Identified the tag-switching as the insertion of a tag phrase one language into an utterance from another language. Second, inter-sentential switching occurs at a clause or sentence boundary, where each clause or sentence is in one language or another. Third, intra-sentential switching takes place within the clause or sentence and is considered to be the most complex form of switching. This may be avoided by all but the fluent bilinguals. Senior High School TVL grade12 students enrolled in Hinatuan National Comprehensive High School from the different Junior High Schools in the Philippines. Delimitations and Limitations of the Study This study was delimited on investigating the perspectives of the grade 12 TVL towards teacher's code switching practices inside their classrooms. The informants of the study are those 20 students who are enrolled (or the School Year-. Specifically, informants would evaluate English language teachers as they manifest the phenomenon in actual classroom scenario. The results of the perceptions of the students in this study is within the 20 participants and as such cannot be generalized other English learners. Organization of the Study Code switching researches often have focused on their underlying reasons for their practice (Bautista, 2004), their valuable advantage (Tan, 1992) and even their social significance in a communicative context (Auer, 2007). It is for this reason that I organized my study on a different light that is, putting in the participants' helpful views on teacher's code switching as central. Chapter I presents the unique language history of the Philippines, the inclusion of English as one major language in its educational system and the strong influence of teachers. A clear theoretical trace of code- switching studies and from what linguistic nuances they may come from is also explained. Moreover, bringing about all these essential facts on code switching would give way to why such study is necessary. Chapter 2 discusses varied studies on code-switching, the inevitable practice inside classrooms and the findings of other related studies specifically on the competence of the communication of the students in Asia.