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Mother or Adapted Tongue: The discursive and pragmatic effects of Code-switching in Content-based learning

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International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 4 No. 11 November 2016
31
Mother or Adapted Tongue:
The discursive and pragmatic effects of Code-switching in
Content-based learning
Mariyel Hiyas C. Liwanag (Corresponding Author)
Department of Humanities
University of the Philippines Los Baños
(+639)272400271
mhcliwanag@yahoo.com.ph
Jonalou S.J. Labor
Department of Communication Research
College of Mass Communication
University of the Philippines Diliman
This study presents Tagalog-English code-switching practices of students in select Physics
general education classes in a Philippine university. The science content-based classes whose
discourses have been transcribed were analyzed to determine the word-level communicative
efficiency forms and functions of the code-switches of both the students. The analysis of the data
reveals that students in the sample code-switch to Taglish. Most of the word-level switches are
content and function words. Furthermore, the tendency to code-switch is associated more with the
lack of Tagalog words that are equal to the scientific concepts, student’s style, and individual-
specific trait. Tagalog-English code-switching in the data is also an aide to students’ participation in
classroom interactions as shown on the frequency of assertives, expressives, and directives speech
acts in the Taglish utterances. Moreover, the use of the mentioned speech acts are evidences of
relational work among the students.
Key words: Code switching, Bilingualism, bilingual learning, Filipino language
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1. BACKGROUND ABOUT THE STUDY
1.1 Code-switching as a language phenomenon
Code-switching (CS) has long been studied in the linguistic, sociological, cultural, and
communicative domains. Inside the classroom, CS being “the alternating use of two or more codes
within one conversational episode” (Auer, 1998:1), can define the course of learning and
participation of students. Moreover, as Myers-Scotton (1993:151) stated that “code choices can
reiterate old identities, create new identities, and reject or accept imposed identities,” CS can
facilitate active classroom involvement not just among students but also between teachers and their
learners.
CS as a language phenomenon, however, has been a thoroughly deliberated and highly
scrutinized form of medium in communicative systems (Sert, 2005). In recent years, arguments
abound about the ways in which CS has corrupted communicative competencies of students and has
challenged the syntactic and grammatical orders of major languages. Some others, nevertheless, are
seemingly pleased with the way code switching has been used in conversational and pragmatic
ways especially in post-colonial times (Ferguson, 2003, 2009).
Since code switching, as a medium of communication, is determined by the current cultural
and intercultural encounters of the specific country which uses it, it is imperative that a continuing
trend on code switch usage be investigated. Code switching, then, becomes a continuous quest as it
is related to the historical and social background of human beings. Moreover, as it involves gender,
sex, socio-economic class, status, aspirations and other demographical factors, the CS phenomenon
will continue to become a growing trend as long as half of the world’s population is exposed to at
least two languages.
1.2 Context of current research
The Philippines is considered a melting pot of different cultures and languages. It has over a
hundred languages and dialects that are used by the inhabitants in formal and informal
conversations. Filipinos could incorporate at least two to three languages in an utterance (Bautista,
1989 as cited in Bautista, 1991) so switching and mixing seems to be a “natural” communicative
process.
Interestingly, the Tagalog language –a major language of Filipinos who inhabit the Luzon
Island - perhaps by virtue of political and economic reasons, appears to have made a significant
impact on the code choices in the country. This puts the Tagalog language a major contributor to the
construction of the national language in the Philippines. This seemingly dominant major language
in the Philippines will be the first language to be characterized in this study.
On the other side of the coin, the English language is highly regarded in the Philippines as
shown in the number of English speakers and its evident presence in popular culture (Bolton and
Bautista, 2004). It is also the co-official language of the land (Philippine Constitution, 1987).
Since the introduction of the English language in the country during the period of
American colonization, there is an eminent use of it in formal set-ups such as in educational
institutions (Gonzales, 2004). English, too, is used in deliberating issues, delivering news,
advertising, and asserting an educational background (Pascasio; 1984) and even as source of
linguistic capital (Probyn, 2009). Another contributing factor that reinforces the usage of the
English language in the Philippines is through the country’s legal structure. Government policies
are crafted using the English language. These government policies endorse English as the medium
in formal communication in Philippine educational institutions (Bolton and Bautista, 2004; Reid,
2008).
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In effect of this high regard for the English language, the Filipino language, upon the
introduction of English as a formal and professional language in the country, has been used in
informal communication. Agoncillo (1990) stated that the use of the English language was so
pervasive in the Philippines that several English words already made their way into the local
language and consciousness such as in the Tagalog vocabulary: bistik (beef steak), kendi (candy),
ispiker (speaker), and many more.
This phenomenon of prioritizing the English language can be traced back to the onset of
colonization and globalization - two of the global trends that helped and facilitated the dominance
of the language (Sibayan, 1994 as cited by Gonzales, 2004; Ferguson, 2003; Dubner, 2008) in
different parts of the world. In the Philippines, the perception of the positive effects of globalization
has strengthened the establishment of the English language as an international lingua franca and a
communication tool or medium. Schirmer & Shalom (1987) noted that the Filipinos forgot their
native language as they acquired the new language introduced in the American education. Tinio
(1990:86 as cited by Bolton and Bautista, 2004:5) even claimed that the matter of prioritizing
English in the Philippines is a “post-colonial concern that is critically linked to a national culture
and national pride… as the educated elite and unlettered masses tend to see the world in the
American eyes, accepting the American yardstick as the proper standard for measuring any kind of
culture or life.”
In the imperial Manila, more than the tensions that English and Filipino languages pose
against each other and more than the issues of which between the two co-official languages should
be used as the lone legitimate language, hybrid languages have emerged in a form of a code switch.
Taglish is one of the developing results of the tensions between the Philippines’ co-official
languages.
Taglish or “Tagalog-English,” as a code switching tool, started its pervasiveness in
education when former President Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed the bilingual education policy in
the 1970s (Thompson, 2003). Before the introduction of a bilingual education, Tagalog was taught
only as a subject in the curricula. Other areas of education were taught using English.
In the coming years after the declaration of the bilingual policy, debates have emerged on to
the acceptance of the Taglish code switching as the medium of communication in academic
institutions, specifically in giving classroom instructions and in academic discourse, in general. To
further complicate the matter, day, then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has renewed a strong
adherence to the English language through an executive order that highlights English as a language
of instruction in the country. This move was made in order to cope up with the dwindling
proficiency of the Filipinos not only in English but also in scientific and mathematical fields that
use English as a medium.
In reality, however, this order appears to be less adhered to. In Metro Manila and other
neighboring provinces, Taglish has been the “informal” language tool or strategy in a classroom set-
up. It is utilized in daily informal conversations among students, even between teachers (Borlongan,
2009). It is the language adapted by the students as the medium of communication in classroom
(Gonzales, 2004; UP Memo on Taglish use, 2008).
Taglish, however, does not create a positive vibe among educators. Gumperz (1982) equated
code switching to incompetence and interference. Bautista (2004) asserted that Taglish is a
“corruption of English and Tagalog languages” and its use as a communication medium showed the
speaker’s lack of knowledge in a specific language, even though most of them were middle-class
and educated. From this study, it was found out that code switching is considered an indicator for
lack of knowledge in a specific language. However, Bautista also believes that code- switching
facilitates communicative efficiency as is the fastest, easiest, and most effective way of saying
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something. The Philippines, therefore, really is a veritable natural laboratory for (Bautista, 1991)
gauging the communicative, pedagogical, and sociolinguistic benefits and problems of CS.
1.3 Communicative functions of Taglish in Word and Sentence levels
Filipino code switches have been extensively described, characterized, and contextualized
(Bautista, 1991). In the area of linguistics, as early as the late 1960s, studies have shown that
Taglish code switching has been sociologically and linguistically studied (Azores, 1967; Ramos,
1970; Marfil and Pasigna, 1970; Pimentel; 1972, Bautista, 1980; Sobolewski; 1980, summarized in
Bautista, 1991).
In 1999, Bautista- one of the well known Filipina researchers in this area -published a study
that used John Gumperz’s framework in order to identify the functions of code switching used in
electronic mails. In defining communicative functions of CS, she mentions the discourse and
personalization functions of CS as a language based on Gumperz’s (1982) frame. She supports the
claim that speakers play upon the connotation of the we-code to create a conversational effect in
utterances. Thus, code switching is seen as fulfilling the relational and referential function of
language that amounts to effective communication and interlingual unity. Bautista (1999) concluded
that there are four manifestations of communicative efficiency in word level code switching
namely: function words, content words, idioms, and linguistic play. These four manifestations may
be attributed in the communicators’ style, comfort, and available discourse markers (Poplack, 1980;
Pascasio, 1978 as cited by Bautista, 1991).
Equally important in the analysis of CS are the questions: 1.) What is the main language
used in the CS phenomenon? And 2.) What should be the medium of instruction and learning for
content-based courses? One emerging result of studies points that the main language in a CS would
most likely be the mother tongue while word insertions usually come from the second (and usually,
the target) language (Abeywickrama, 2007). Others state that CS is used to mark an interjection and
operates to fill instances when there is a loss of vocabulary from the first language (Bautista, 1999).
In both perspectives, literature points out that for mixed codes to exist there must be a main
discourse language and an inserted language where discourse markers are taken (Maschler, 1998).
Following Bautista’s (1999) points, this study postulates function words as inserted enclitics
from a different language on the matrix or dominant language. She supports this by mentioning that
function words in the Philippine experience made the sentences shorter than it should be if delivered
in the dominant language (2004). For example, in the following e-mail transcripts: “They’re in
men’s clothing, but it’s teen-age girls who ask for them and not men (hip-hop fashion pala!), so we
moved them to the women’s side of the store…” noted that the word “pala” in the phrase enclosed in
parentheses served as an enclitic or dependent on the preceding word or words. Pala (rough English
translation: It was not what I thought it is) is used here as a function word that supports the
pragmatic meaning of the utterance.
Content words, the second category, are those that have no corresponding or equivalent
words in other languages. These are usually food names, kinship terms, and other culturally-based
words (Bautista, 2004). In the same corpus, this sample statement - Mama made kare-kare and
Grace and Evelyn bought stuff from a Chinese restaurant…used kare-kare, a local dish, was
inserted since no equivalent word in the English language provides for such a name for that dish.
The third category is code switching used as idioms. Bautista (2004) defined idioms as,
“metaphorical expressions that are available in one language but not available in the other.” Like
content words, these expressions do not have any corresponding translation in other languages. One
of the given examples in her study (Bautista, 1999) was: Baka ma-por-nada ang apo natin!(Our
grandchild might not make it!)
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The fourth category is linguistic play. Code switching here is used in order to attain a
humorous effect in using Tagalog or English words (Bautista, 2004). For example: “… tapos dibay-
dibay ang bills.” Dibay-dibay here is derived from the English phrases “divided by” or “to divide.”
Borlongan (2009) did a similar study but instead used Tagalog-English code-switching
practices of teachers and students in English language classes in Metro Manila schools in the
Philippines to determine the frequency of teachers and students code-switch in those classes and
bring to light the forms and functions of the code-switches of both the teachers and students. The
analysis showed that most English language teachers in the sample (11 out of 14 or 78.57%) code-
switch. She further stressed that both the teachers and students “violated” the implementing policy
of “English only” in the Philippines. All classes recorded at least more than one instance of code-
switched utterances. However, though the instances of code-switching could be claimed to be
significant, one’s tendency to code-switch is more of an individual-specific trait.
In the context of this present study, frequency of Bautista’s four communicative efficiency
word-level categories based on Gumperz’s communicative functions is given emphasis in order to
find reasons why students in a content- based general education subject like Natural Science would
code-switch. Therefore:
H1: Frequent use of function and content words of both students and teachers in
content-based science classes lead to more code switching tendencies that aide the
students’ communicative efficiency.
1.4 Communicative values of Taglish in Classroom Participation
Classroom code switches have been pragmatically studied in literature. The rational model
of CS (Myers-Scotton and Bolonyai, 2001) has been established to assert that switches arise from
cognitive estimates of the greatest utilities. Ferguson (2009:231) claims that CS’s pedagogic
functions are “wide-ranging and variously labeled: as a means to repeat material; to give rhetorical
emphasis; to offer parenthetical comments; to gain learner’s approval; to communicate solidarity;
among others.” In the Philippines, the CS pedagogic and pragmatic functions have been of constant
interest. Inductivo (1994) conducted a study about the effect of code-switching to academic
achievement. She found out that grade seven students who were part of experimental and controlled
groups through an attitude and perception scale and academic achievement tests seems to show no
significant difference between pupils’ attitude. However, the post-test and participation of the
experimental group was significantly higher than that of the controlled group.
Thompson (2003) also studied teachers and students and found out that the respondents
found it difficult to converse in pure Tagalog or pure English sentences. Thus, they resorted to
mixing the two languages in order to convey their messages, to facilitate comprehension and to
understand with ease. The same line of conclusion was forwarded by Abad (2005) when she
mentioned that code switching allows students to express themselves inside the classroom. Code-
switching assists the triumphant negotiation of meaning of complicated texts coded in English and
makes input clear to the learners; generates a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere which is
favourable to learning; and, keeps the students focused in class where lessons are highly technical in
nature.
In a latest study by Abad (2010), it is argued “that frequent code-switching in highly
technical subjects can be detrimental to the learners because it can cause confusion in the students’
understanding of difficult concepts. This is further proofed by the claim that if the English scientific
concepts are not supported by everyday concepts which are usually in their mother tongue, the
scientific concepts will not be well learned.”
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To analyze CS in a different frame, the researchers used Speech Act Theory (Searle,1969)
and relational work (Locher and Watts, 2005) as motivating forces in proving the nature of
participation of both teachers and students in this paper. Speech act is composed on a
communicative activity (locutionary act) defined with reference to the intention of speakers while
speaking (illocutionary force) and effects achieved on the listeners (perlocutionary) (Crystal,
1991:323). Moreover, Austin (1992) mentions two broad issues critical to the application of speech
act theory to communication analysis: (1) the identification of a speech act in an utterance according
to the rules and conditions set by the theory and (2) the sequential arrangements of the speech acts:
how an initial speech act creates an environment in which a next speech act is (or is not)
appropriate.
John Searle proposed five classifications of illocutionary acts (in Rossi & Siau, 2001). He
categorized utterances as: 1.) Assertive a category of illocutionary act that enables the relay of
information from the speaker to the hearer. An example of this is: It’s raining.2.) Commissive –
a category of illocutionary act that enables the speaker to commit a specific action in the future. An
example of this is, I swear to bring it back.3.) Expressive a category of illocutionary act that
conveys the speaker’s preference, attitude, and emotion towards a specific subject. An example of
this is, I like coffee.4.) Directive a category of illocutionary act that enables the speaker to
direct a specific action to the hearer. An example of this is: “Please bring me salt.” 5.) Declarative –
a category of illocutionary act that enables the speaker to change a current situation. An example of
this is: “I hereby pronounce you husband and wife.
Relational work, on the other hand, is defined as ‘the ‘work communicators invest in
negotiating relationships with others (Locher and Watts, 2005:10) through the crucial use of
language in communication. In the literature, the term relational “work” is derived from Goffman’s
(1967) “facework”. Relational work is preferred, however, because facework has been often
engaged in the literature to refer only to the explanation of the mitigation of face-threatening acts. It
is crucial to recognize that relational work comprises more than just mitigation as it covers the full
range of behavior, from rude and impolite, via normal, appropriate and unmarked, to marked and
polite. With the following frames as backdrops, the focus of this paper will only be on the
pragmatic-relational work of CS as shown in the illocutionary speech acts of the utterances.
Pragmatics or practical language use (Austin, 1992; Searle, 1969; Rossi & Siau, 2001) enables the
researchers to decipher the meaning and the uses of utterances in a conversation as it allows a
researcher to analyze the intentions of the communicators as they produce utterances. By providing
a list of intentions and actions behind the utterances, the researchers were able to identify the value
and the nature of participation of the students inside the classroom.
Therefore:
H2: the higher the frequency of identified illocutionary acts present in utterances, the
higher the effectiveness of the communication medium in classroom participation.
1.5 Research Purposes
Overall, the purpose of the study is to investigate on the nature and effectiveness of Taglish
as a communication medium inside a science general education classroom. Specifically, the
objectives of the study are:
1. To determine the nature of word-level Taglish code switches and its function in a science
classroom;
2. To identify the illocutionary forces of the Taglish code switches; and
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3. To determine the effects of the Taglish switches on the classroom relational work and
participation of the students.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The research focused on how Filipino students articulate particular linguistic Taglish
markers and its effects on classroom participation. The study contributes to the growing body of
functional and pedagogic knowledge on code switching in the Philippines. This study fills the gap
by investigating on the effect of the medium of instruction in learning content-based science
subjects. Furthermore, this study satisfies the need to understand Taglish as a language in the
Philippines.
1.7 Methods of the Study
1.7.1 Participants
Two sections of college students under the General Education subject Natural Science
1(NASC 1- The Material Universe) in a Philippine university were used in the study. There were
eighty one (81) students and their professor who participated in the study.
1.7.2 Procedure and Measures
Permission to conduct the research was sought from the professors who were handling
NASC 1 (Natural Science) - a general education course that is focused in Physics. Once granted,
data collection commenced. Over a two-week period, classroom sessions were audio recorded with
students and a teacher. The recordings were transcribed by the researchers as soon as possible. Spot
checks were made as well. The transcribed materials were analyzed for patterns of CS and were
tabulated. There were four limitations in the conduct of study: a.) the researchers were able to
observe the classes in seven (7) weeks, thus the time allocated for the research was constrained, b.)
The schedule of the researchers and the availability of the professor handling the subject permitted
only two sections to be observed, c.) The one and a half hour class schedules of the classes were not
enough for all students to participate, and d.) The researchers weren’t able to give English and
Tagalog proficiency tests before the observations.
The NASC 1 classes conducted their lecture-discussions every Wednesday and Friday for a
semester. In the span of two weeks, the first section (S1) used Taglish as their medium of
communication in classroom discussion while the second section (S2) used English. In S1, the
professor was informed to use the Taglish language as a medium of instruction. Students from S1
were given the freedom to choose whatever language they would want to use inside the classroom.
S2 had the same topic but was taught in English. English was the medium of communication inside
the S2 classroom.
Then, Twelve (12) texts were transcribed from the recorded sessions. These were subjected
to analysis using Bautista’s communicative efficiency categories and Searle’s illocutionary acts.
Frequency counting of used words under Bautista’s list of communicative efficiency was done to
the Taglish words. This was made in order to gauge the type of word-level code switching used by
the students in the classroom. The conversations in Taglish were grouped according to the types of
code switching (function words, content words, idioms, and linguistic play) used.
The effectiveness of the communication medium was gauged using the frequency of
illocutionary speech acts used in the conversation. This was done to determine the type and level of
participation and relational work of both students and teachers in the set up.
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1.7.3 Results
Table 1. Profile of Respondents' Communicative Efficiency Occurrences
Function Words Content Words
Linguistic Play
Idioms
Section 1
Corpus 1 61 9 0 0
Corpus 2 21 10 0 0
Corpus 3 18 3 0 0
Section 2
Corpus 1 10 8 0 0
Corpus 2 5 1 0 0
Corpus 3 101 25 7 0
TOTAL 216 56 7 0
The table shows the frequency of communicative efficiency word usage by a select group of
students in a Philippine university that use Filipino as language of discourse but use English as
discourse markers. Out of 279 words and phrases, the respondents switched to either English or
Filipino functions words the most (216 or 77.42%) , followed by content words (56 or 20.07%) and
linguistic play (7 or 2.5%) the least. Surprisingly, no idioms that used Taglish were heard.
Examples of function words that were used can be seen in the following taken utterances:
Teacher: May animation ako. Lalapit ako sa inyo at ikwento ninyo. Ta-dan. Ano ang
story? Ano ang story, sir? ‘I have an animation. I will go near you to tell a
story. Ta-dan! What is the story’
Student: Si Newton po natutulog sa ilalim ng apple tree tapos nabagsakan siya ng
apple tapos napaisip siya, bakit kaya nahulog yung apple tapos dun niya na-
ano yung gravity. ‘Newton was sleeping under an apple tree then all of a
sudden, the apple fell on his head. It made him think- why did the apple fall?
Then, he realized then what is gravity.’
Teacher: Ang galing ng story. ‘That’s a great story.’
Utterances that contained content words were mostly scientific or content words that have
no direct translation in Tagalog such as “retrograde motion,” “rebirth of learning,” and “renaissance
period.” Samples of embedded words under this category can be seen in the following lines:
Teacher: So, bakit nagkaroon – anong ibig sabihin ng rebirth in relation to
retrograde motion? What happened? ‘So, why was there- what is rebirth in
relation to retrograde motion? What happened?’
Student: Parang, di ba po kasi gawa po ng war, mga war. Parang pagkatapos, diba sa
panahon na yun, uhm, bumagal po yung pagdagdag ng knowledge, yung renai
renaissance period, uhm, dun po nagsimula uli, parang (i) knowledge po.
‘I think, it has something to do with war, a lot of wars. I think after that
period, uhm, there was a slow period for adding up to knowledge, the
renaissance period, uhm, it started there again, I think, about knowledge.’
Teacher: Oo, ‘yes’ very good. So, revital rebirth of learning.
The third category in communicative efficiency is linguistic play. In this study, this third
category was only used once. Student 1 unintentionally gave a humorous effect in his utterance. The
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speaker was referring to the “crocodile wire” by calling it “alligator tail” and used humor as a
linguistic play in this instance:
Student 1: Alligator tail ba to? ‘Is this alligator tail?’
Student 2: Ha? ‘What?’
Student 1: Alligator tail to diba? ‘This is alligator tail, right?’
Student 2: Oo. ‘Yes.’
Table 2. Profile of Respondents' Speech Act Occurrences
Section 1 Section 2
Taglish English English Taglish TOTAL
Assertive 98 91 39 84 312
Expressive 19 15 13 200 247
Commissive 0 0 0 1 1
Directive 6 3 19 216 244
Declarative 0 0 0 1 1
The table shows the frequency of speech acts utterances (805) in the recorded interactions.
Majority of the utterances were categorized as assertives (312) in both English and Taglish set-ups
while commisives and declaratives were only used once. Interestingly, students from both sections
used more speech acts in the Taglish language (625 or 77.63%) than in the English language.
Assertives can be seen in the following sample transcripts. The repetitive use of the phrase
‘there was’ suggested that there are assertives in the sentence. It can be observed that the student
was using an assertive because he/she was using speech in order to convey information regarding a
specific context or subject matter:
Teacher: How did Ptolemy explain the retrograde motion of the planets? And you did
it through… can you raise your hands? You did it… how did you go through
it? Please speak in English.
Student: Um, there were to (incomprehensible) and the guy, um, thought that um, he
will make the planet um, um move against its opposite direction and then
there was a flashback then there was Ptolemy and then um, there was a role
play on the motion of the planets.
Teacher: And there was a short explanation, right?
The next most frequent type of illocution act present in the students’ utterances is the
expressive. The words such as ‘wow,’ ‘ay,’ ‘scary,’ and ‘mainit’ indicated the emotions of the
speaker towards the subject. Most of the time, students used expressive illocutionary act in order to
convey their feelings and attitudes toward the context of the utterance. This type of utterances was
mostly from the Taglish utterances during group activities:
Student 1: Ay!
Student 2: Wow. Scary. Ayan! ‘Wow. It’s scary. Here!’
Teacher: Ilalagay natin sya over the tissue paper. ‘We’ll put it over the tissue paper’
Student 1: Wow.
Student 2: Mainit. ‘It’s hot.’
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Another illocutionary act evident in the students’ utterances was the directive. The directive
illocutionary acts meant two purposes in the students’ utterance. One was giving direction or
command, and the other in the form of question. The utterances in question forms were considered
to be under the directive illocutionary act because they asked for specific actions from the hearers
to answer questions or to revalidate the meaning of the conveyed message. In these sample
sentences and words below, a student is demanding an explanation from his or her classmate:
Student 1: Explain why na magcoconduct ng heat ito. ‘Explain why it would conduct
some heat.’
Student 2: E kasi…di ba… ‘It’s because… you know…’
Student 1: Bakit? ‘Why?’
Student 2: Siguro kasi eto naka-connect dito. ‘I think it’s because this is connected with
this one.’
The commissive and declarative forms were barely used by the students in their sentences.
In general, most of the utterances used the illocutionary act of assertion, expression, and direction,
as seen from the tables below.
2 DISCUSSION
2.1 Communicative Efficiency in Word Level Taglish Utterances
Bautista (1999) listed word-level manifestations of the communicative efficiency of Taglish.
In this present study, the students used function and content words the most in almost all the Taglish
switches. It seems that the use of function and content words in the code switch can be attributed to
the Filipino’s natural mode of discourse (Bautista, 1999), individual specific trait (Borlongan,
2009), style and availability of the words in the given communicative context (Poplack, 1980;
Pascasio, 1984 as cited by Bautista, 1991). Language use in a content-based general education
subject like the Natural Sciences is expected as there is need to explain the nature of the course in
the local vernacular (Ferguson, 2003; Borlongan, 2009; Abad; 2010). In the Philippines, the
phenomenon to do word-level CS is a reality since both students and teachers perceive switching as
a communicative strategy (Gonzales, 2001; Abad, 2005).
Moreover, what became apparent in the corpus is that discourse markers show a consistent
pattern of use that is similar to Maeschler’s (1998) and Abeywickrama’s (2007) studies. English
discourse markers were found to frame the utterances in the Filipino speech in the CS. It appears
that the word-level language of the participants, given the opportunity to do CS inside the
classroom, would choose Tagalog over English as a medium of communication. This was evident in
both S1 and S2 discussions that showed predominantly the same pattern of prioritizing Tagalog as a
main language more than English as evidenced by the function and content word insertions.
Expectedly, many of the code switches were in the context of the content-based classroom
situation. CS in this study was conveniently used by the students to access Physics learning. This is
the same findings that Ferguson (2003) mentioned that code switching would be done in classrooms
in order for students to access their curriculum. Literature also points that CS would be a natural
tendency in content-based classroom set-ups since this medium allow the pupils to understand the
lesson of their subject matter (Merritt, 1992 and Canagarajah, 1995 in Ferguson, 2003; Martin,
1999). In this study, the manifestations used by the students indicated that Taglish is a code
modification that led to a positive attitudinal tone that was documented in its contextualizing
functions performed in the Physics class.
International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 4 No. 11 November 2016
41
In the macro sense, it seems that the results point to the prevailing reality that the old
American grammar analysis method of English language teaching and its application to content-
based classes are unfit jigsaw pieces for Filipino learners. The process perhaps of learning the
linguistic values of a target language alongside the learning of content in a Physics classroom lead
to segmented learning.
2.2 Communicative values of Taglish in Classroom Participation
As shown in this study, speech acts (Searle, 1969; Austin, 1992) and relational work (Locher
and Watts, 2005) were observable in both the Taglish and English utterances. The study revealed
that the Taglish code-switch has higher frequency of illocutions more than the English language.
Since higher number of assertives, commissives, expressives and directives were present in the
classroom discussions using the Taglish medium, it appears that the literature is correct in saying
that students can explain and elaborate their ideas more in Taglish rather than in English (Pascasio,
1973, 1977; Bautista, 1991). This result also allowed the students to be more participative in the
classroom though the subject matter is somehow difficult. Taglish created informal and friendly
classroom discussions that were previously shown in the literature (Bautista, 1991;Martin, 1999;
Abad, 2005, 2010).
Since the teacher in this study was required to use CS and encouraged Taglish inside the
classroom, her teacher position seemed to add some adequate support to the use of the CS inside the
classroom. In previous studies, there seems be no “other” orientation in the set up when the teacher
uses a code switch. By virtue of her teacher role as an encourager, she oriented the students to the
use of the CS and adjusted to the learners’ language ability and communicative resources (Martin-
Jones, 1995 as cited in Ellwood, 2008).
On the other hand, the students followed the lead of the teacher. When they were required to
speak in English or Taglish, they did so. This phenomenon seems to be part of the participatory
desire to be “good” students inside the classroom (Ellwood, 2008). This finding points to a similar
phenomenon referred to as “identity-related code-switching” (Sebba and Wootton, 1998) where
students express what they want through a comfortable language that allow them to pragmatically
interact inside a situation. The “good” student function inside the two classrooms led relational
work- the students wanted to be in the good graces of the teacher.
Moreover, the “good” participations of the students inside the Physics classroom were
instances of relational work in interaction. Cashman (2008) found the same result in the study that
revealed that self-display through face-work (Goffman, 1967) in class discussions tends to be
facilitated well with the use of a familiar code to both teachers and learners. Furthermore, it seems
that Taglish code is the safer and the non-surprising choice of code since the students wanted to
harmonize the relationships inside the classroom. When a teacher, though expected to require
students to use English inside the classroom, allows students to use the first language than the target
language, participation is increased. The Taglish switch created affective bonds, built solidarity,
achieved legitimacy within the group and therefore attained a high level of participation in
classroom discussions. This result has almost the same findings that claim that CS practices allow
students to maximize their interpersonal relationships (Faltis, 1989; Myers-Scotton, 1993; Myers-
Scotton, et al., 2001). Literature further states that currency for the development of interpersonal
relationships is not based on target language but on the mother tongue.
Taglish, in this set-up, as any other forms of code switches is not a dysfunctional language
(Ferguson, 2009) as it marked an increased participation among students inside the classroom.
Results showed that the Taglish CS developed understanding among the participants as they
asserted their views on the topics presented to them. This has been evident in other foreign
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42
literatures that state that CS develops pupils’ understanding of subject content (Chan, 2006;
Ferguson, 2009) and humanizes the classroom climate (Bokhorst-Heng, et al., 2009; Probyn, 2009;
McGlynn and Martin, 2009). Inductivo (1994) supports this through a local study that revealed that
code-switching utilized as a medium of verbal expression helped increase the level of participation
and raise the level of understanding of the concepts and themes in Philippine classroom discussions.
The results gathered and the cited literature in this study proved that the Philippine
experience is not an exemption to the code switching phenomenon. Since the adoption of the
bilingual policy in education institutions, students are more open to expressing themselves in
Taglish CS in classroom discussions. Most students had already adapted to the use of code
switching in daily informal social interactions. Therefore, code switching with Taglish as
communication tool could be an alternative for the student’s ease and confidence in conveying their
messages.
3 CONCLUSION
This study attempted to ascertain the word-level communicative efficiency and effects to
participation of Taglish CS of a select group of students taking up a general education course in
Natural Science. From the transcriptions of utterances in the two (2) classroom set-ups, two hundred
sixteen (217) English embedded words and phrases were observed in 559 Taglish utterances made
by students. Students preferred to utter function words in English because the native counterpart
words or phrases were not included in the common lexicon of their everyday conversations in a
classroom set-up. Aside from the function words, English scientific content words in the Taglish
sentences were also manifested as a communicative efficiency tool. These are scientific concepts or
words that have no Tagalog translations nor equivalent words or phrases.
Medium of communication is an important factor to consider in enhancing students’
participation and attitude in a classroom. With more studies that pertain to Taglish a pedagogical
tool, there can be variations in the teacher strategies. For the teachers to be able to maximize the
participation of the students, the following strategies are recommended:
1. Tolerate or allow Taglish in a classroom set-up because using it as a medium will enhance
the students’ performance in conveying information or messages due to its comfort and
efficiency.
2. Encourage intersentential code switching, except for content words, so that students will
still have the greater chance to be proficient in oral and written discourses in both Tagalog
and English language.
3. Test the effect CS in the learning process through oral and written examinations.
4 RECOMMENDATIONS
Future researchers on the matter should consider the following:
1. Students’ separate proficiency in both English and Tagalog languages should be determined
using some pedagogical standards to analyze if code switching is proficiency or deficiency-
driven.
2. The students’ study habits should be included along other demographics as these factors
may affect participation.
3. Video cameras, aside from a sound recorder, should be used in recording the classroom
discussions because facial expressions of students are useful inputs in data gathering. Non-
verbals are equally important indicators of participation.
4. The future researchers should also use quantitative tools in measuring the frequency of
illocutionary acts as well as its communicative efficiency.
International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 4 No. 11 November 2016
43
Moreover, this study supports the claim that the “English Only” policy for content-based
instruction seems impractical and ineffective in countries where English is the second or foreign
language. The findings offer strong indications that code-switching by teachers and students should
not be deduced as incompetence in teaching and ineffectiveness to understand because code-
switching in content subjects is a bilingual speaker’s communicative skill. It seems that Taglish as a
CS must be perceived without reluctance as a bilingual practice and a useful communicative
resource.
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Code-switching is the use of two languages in discourse to convey the intended message. The study investigated the phenomenon of code-switching during oral participation, specifically the experiences and contexts of the purposively selected students of ABC College in Cagayan de Oro City. The Phenomenology Design was employed in this study to explore the participants' actual experiences to identify the essence of human experiences. This study included six students from different programs of ABC College who experienced code-switching. The analysis was done using Creswell's (2007) simplified version of Moustakas's modification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen Method of Analysis of Phenomenological Data. The finding of the study showed that the participants switched between codes during oral participation to support their communication skills and to feel more comfortable and confident in participating. The findings demonstrated that the phenomenon of code-switching as used by the students tended to come out when they were asked, wanted to express themselves more, encountered difficulty using the English language, were afraid to commit grammar errors, had difficulty recalling, lacked vocabulary, and when teachers allowed them to switch codes. This implies that the participants' experiences and contexts of code-switching during oral participation are reasons for code-switching. Thus, this study recommended facilitating the use of code-switching during oral participation in moderation for students to practice proficiency in their second language, English.
... As seen by the prevalence of assertive, expressive, and directive speech acts in Taglish utterances, code-switching between Tagalog and English is also a help to students' engagement in classroom interactions. Furthermore, the student's employment demonstrates relational work [22]. In teaching and learning, code-switching was kept as an advantage because it provided various purposes in terms of subject delivery and communication in the classroom [23]. ...
... Bravo-Sotelo (2020) conducted a study on the utilization of Tagalog-English code-switching as it is perceived to be instrumental for the learners to get a full extent of their comprehension on the lessons instead of using either pure English or Tagalog in the entire classroom discourse. In a similar vein, Liwanag and Labor (2016) explored the code-switching practices of selected Tagalog-English speakers and discussed the discursive and pragmatic effects of this practice in content-based classes. The same authors noted that the use of the student's first language inside the classroom essentially facilitates active involvement between the teacher and the learner in so far as language learning is accounted for. ...
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The use of code-switching is considered to be a common language phenomenon in bilingual and multilingual settings. Evidently, it has become a subject of controversies and contradicting views among scholars in the field of research, particularly in the Philippine context. However, most of the studies conducted have been directed to the Tagalog-English code-switching practices of language teachers. Seemingly, explorations on the teachers' perspectives toward this practice remain largely under-researched. Hence, this study employed a qualitative research design and conducted in-depth interviews to investigate the perceptions of ESL teachers on the utilization of code-switching in classroom discussions. Moreover, the present research sought to explore their reasons on why they code-switch to the student's native tongue. Based on the findings, the respondents believe that code-switching facilitates better comprehension, its use depends on the students' level of comprehension and learning objectives, encourages student participation, a teaching strategy, hinders students' language development, and becomes ineffective when the teacher has limited background on the students' MT. Also, it was found that the reasons for code-switching include translation, comprehension, identification, contextualization, student engagement, and communication.
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The occurrence of codeswitching, or the seemingly random alternation of two languages both between and within sentences, has been shown (Gumperz, 1976; Pfaff, 1975; Wentz, 1977) to be governed not only by extralinguistic but also linguistic factors. For the balanced bilingual, codeswitching appears to be subject to an ‘equivalence constraint’ (Poplack, 1978): i.e. it tends to occur at points in discourse where juxtaposition of L1 and L2 elements does not violate a surface syntactic rule of either language. If correct, the equivalence constraint on codeswitching may be used to measure degree of bilingual ability. It was hypothesized that equivalence would either be violated by non-fluent bilinguals, or that switch points which are ‘risky’ in terms of syntactic well-formedness (i.e. those which occur within a sentence) would tend to be avoided altogether. To test this hypothesis, I analysed the speech of 20 Puerto Rican residents of a stable bilingual community, exhibiting varying degrees of bilingual ability. Quantitative analysis of their switches revealed that both fluent and non-fluent bilinguals were able to code-switch frequently and still maintain grammaticality in both Lx and L2. While fluent bilinguals tended to switch at various syntactic boundaries within the sentence, non-fluent bilinguals favoured switching between sentences, allowing them to participate in the codeswitching mode, without fear of violating a grammatical rule of either of the languages involved. These results suggest that the codeswitching mode proceeds from that area of the bilingual's grammar where the surface structures of Lx and L2 overlap, and that codeswitching, rather than representing debasement of linguistic skill, is actually a sensitive indicator of bilingual ability.
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You are asking for a book, not an article. You have to pay book. carol myers-scotton publisher is Oxford UP
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This paper examines the use of impoliteness by Spanish-English bilingual pre-adolescents as a resource for accomplishing identities in spontaneous conversational interactions in an elementary school setting. The theoretical approach employed integrates the concept of relational work (Locher 2004; Locher and Watts 2005), which is based on Goffman's (1967) notion of face and which privileges participants' evaluation of language behavior within the norms of the community of practice, with recent work in socio-cultural linguistics (Bucholtz and Hall 2004a, 2004b, 2005). This approach views identity as an interactional achievement reached through the use of what they call tactics of intersubjectivity. In this analysis, negatively marked, non-politic behavior is viewed as an interactional resource, which, along with other resources such as codeswitching, bilingual speakers may employ for the purposes of alignment and stance-taking. Specifically, the paper examines how speakers use strategies referred to as impolite (cf. Culpeper 1996) in the performance of a variety of tactics of intersubjectivity to manage local identities (e.g., leader/follower, insider/outsider) as well as membership in broad social categories (e.g., gender, ethnic identities) in interaction, how they engage in conflict talk and what they gain from it, and how codeswitching is (and is not) used in interactions. This analysis is situated within the wider social context of language politics and immigration politics in the individual school, the region, and the US.