LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2 FUNCTIONS OF CODE-SWITCHING
2.2.3 THE FUNCTIONS OF CODE-SWITCHING AND CODE-MIXING IN EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS
2.2.3.2 CODE-SWITCHING FOR EXPLANATION PURPOSES AND FOR INTRODUCTION OF NEW SUBJECT MATTER
The literature shows that CS can also be used for explanation purposes and for introduction of new subject matter. Although there are various studies which draw attention to these particular .
functions ofCS in the classroom, I shall make referenceto the studies ofonly Merritt et al. (1992), Adendorff (1993), and Ndayipfukamiye (1998). In their study of bilingual English-Swahili
Kenyans, Merritt et al. (1992: 109-117) reveal how teachers ofdifferent schools use CS with their pupils. They show that teachers who use CS are successful in teaching their pupils of the codes and their significance i.e. whether they are expected to direct their attention to content or to management (Merritt et al. 1992:109). The following serves as an illustration of how a science.
teacher in their study uses CS to either instruct or redirect the attention of his Grade 3 pupils as the lesson progresses:
Teacher: Siweka maji mingi [Don't put a lot of water]. Just so the soil is wet.
(Merritt et al. 1992: 115).
In this example the teacher uses the NL to instruct hislher pupil and then switches to English to emphasise how much waterisrequired.
Adendorff (1993) also observes that in his study of teachers with their pupils in a KZN high school, the Geography teacher switches to Zulu to draw attention to important content information and to exercise classroom management. Both these functions are illustrated in (a) and (b) respectively, below:
(a) Today we are going to revise the work that we did yesterday. Yesterday we looked at the formation of flood plains, ukuthi akheke kanjani [how the flood plains are formed].
(b) M usani ukuvula izincwadi zenu [Do not open your books].
Hhayi ho, vala wena [Close your book over there!] (Adendorff 1993: 13, 14).
In the first example, the teacher uses CS i.e. ukuthi akheke kanjani [how the flood plains are formed], to repeat what slhe had just said in English i.e. formation offlood plains and in so doing
draws learners' attention to content information. In the second example, the teacher uses CS to influence learner behaviour and in so doing maintains some control in the classroom.
Similarly, inhis study of Burundi classrooms, Ndayipfukamiye (1998:86) shows that switching to Kirundi facilitated pupils' understanding of new materials that teachers were presenting in the maths and biology lessons. Ndayipfukamiye maintains that had the teacher not resorted to CS in the classroom, some concepts and procedures would not have been understood. Likewise, a Biology teacher interviewee of this study stated the need to resort to the learners' Ll to explain certain terms. She said:
Like the digestive system, you speak about the liver. Right. You show them the diagram, maybe they don't know, they have not seen something slaughtered and then you just tell them liver means isibindi,so its easy for them to understand, but ifyou fIrst say liver, they have no clue what a liver is (sample appendix 2e,Tt 1).
In this example, the teacher uses the Zulu term ((isibindi" to ensure that her pupil knows which part of the body is being spoken about.
Through an analysis oflesson recordings ofliterature lessons in the classroom, this study will also show how the teacher of the experimental group resorts to CS for explanation purposes and for the introduction of new material. I shall now examine yet another pertinent function of CSinthe classroom, namely, CS as a referential function.
2.2.3.3 CODE-SWITCIllNG ASA REFERENTIAL FUNCTION:
In addition to using CS for explanation purposes CS can also serve a referential function because
it often involves a lack of knowledge of one language or lack offacility in that language on a certain subject (Appel and Muysken 1987: 118; Gxilishe 1992:94; Goyvaerts 1995: 174; Elridge 1996). On the same note, Weinreich (1953) observes that switching occurs more frequently in situations in which the designative quality of the vocabulary in a particular language is inadequate to name new things, persons and personal experiences.Ittherefore follows that certain subjects may be more appropriately discussed in one language, and the introduction ofsuch a subject can lead to a switch. Weinreich (1953:58) also notes that some affective words tend to lose their expressive force in a given language. Hence the speaker switches to the 'other' language to convey his intended meaning more effectively. Likewise, Gxilishe (1992:94) asserts that a specific word from one language may be semantically more appropriate for a given concept. This function is evident in the lesson of 'The Suit' in this study. Consider how the teacher who employs CS during this lesson uses a specific word from the lexicon of learners' Ll to impress upon his pupils who a person who cheats other people is:
In such cases we can see people who misbehave or cheat other peopletsotsis (appendix 4b).
Appel and Muysken (1987) add that speakers who resort to this type of switching are thought to be conscious oftheir switches. They show that when their subjects were asked for reasons for their use of CS they tend to say that it is because they do not know the word for it in the other language, or because the language chosen is more fit for talking about a given subject (Appel and Muysken 1987: 118). The following example provided by Gila (1995 :20) serves as a point 0f illustration:
T: OK. Namltlanje sizakutltetlta ngelesson entslta.
[Today we are going to talk about a new lesson].
Yintoniicolonization? What is colonization?
In this example, because there is no Zulu equivalent for "colonization", the word is used within this context.