SWITCHING TO CODE SWITCHING ON A POSITIVE NOTE

JEFFREY LOUIE B. MACASPAC

Code switching in instruction has eventually become an issue since the creation of policy referring to the use of one language as a standard medium of instruction. Differing views about its use in language instruction and even in other disciplines has been expressed by experts and teachers who are expected to use one medium as prescribed by authorities. In this regard, most people using code switching and even code mixing are viewed to be incompetent as they are assumed to lack proficiency and consistency in using one language. This may be true in some aspects, but not in all situations.

The existence of English Only Policy in language instruction has brought some professionals to interpret that a teacher and even a student who use code switching are incompetent and not skilled in using the language as they do not adhere to the policy. This stigma has limited people to view code switching on one side only. That one side which does not narrates the other side of the story.

In an the article of Paolo Nino Valdez (2010), he investigated the functions of code switching in the Philippine educational context as stated generally in his paper. From the title of the article Powerless in Policy, Powerful in Practice: Critical Insights on the Pedagogical Code Switching in the Philippine Context, it could be decoded that the author probed on the underlying reasons why code switching occurs rampantly during instruction despite the clearly stated language policy on monolingual instruction. Valdez pinpointed specifically the teacher and learners’motives for code switching using Fergusons (2003) code switching functions.

Code switching is widely used for specific curricular functions like classroom management, concept emphasis, relaying instructions, and interpersonal relations as (Valdez, 2010). Like in a class of multilingual learners, some other items and words which has no direct translation in other languages. In many cases where the learner has limited command of English, other teachers permit code switching to allow the spontaneous flow of ideas without depriving the right of these learners in expressing themselves in a manner they are comfortable.

Moreover, in a Science and Math classes which need emphasis on some concepts, code switching is used as an option for teachers to emphasize salient points which could be better expressed in a language mastered by learners. This is prioritizing understanding of a concept than simply memorizing the concept using a language hardly understood by learners.

Language also plays a vital role in classroom management. Never someone will follow if the one who instructs state directions using a language which sounds no meaning to the listener. Authority could also be emphasized when a teacher of Filipino uses English to control unruly behaviour in class.

Perhaps, the exclusion of code switching in the language policy formulation has the political and ideological roots. Yet, the research of Valdez is only one of the many studies that prove and highlight the evident power of CS in facilitating learning to students, and for teachers to negotiate and communicate meaning to their bilingual and multilingual students.

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The author is Teacher III at Lubao National High School, Lubao, Pampanga