Teacher code-switching in secondary ESL classrooms in Sweden

Abstract: This paper explores how and why one teacher’s code-switching arises, as well as for what purpose, in upper secondary English as a second language (ESL) classrooms in Sweden. Code-switching is defined as a switch between different languages, between the first language (L1), and second language (L2) or target language (TL), within the same speech situation. To be able to understand and investigate the teacher’s code-switching practices an outline of key terms such as language policy, code-switching and translanguaging are presented, along with previous studies made by other researchers. The data was collected through audio-recordings of one 45minute English 5 lesson, where 25 16-19year old students from a handicraft program participated. Relevant excerpts were teacher’s code-switching arose were then transcribed with the help of Jefferson’s transcript convention. Auer’s Sequential approach with a Conversation analysis framework was then applied to illuminate what precedes and follows teacher’s code-switching. The study showed that the teacher mainly code-switched when conducting classroom management by giving orders or explaining procedures, such as filling in the attendance list. Also, code-switching was used as a scaffold for learning where cognitively demanding concepts were explained, new words introduced or instructions were clarified. Lastly, code-switching was used to initiate a move to another discourse, for instance between a more formal school discourse and a less formal social discourse. The paper concludes with code-switching implication for practice and future research.