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Running Head: CODE-SWITCHING IN SCHOOLS

Code-Switching in Schools as a Way of Addressing


Language Diversity in the Classroom
Britaney Cosner
Towson University

CODE-SWITCHING IN SCHOOLS

Students across the country struggle with language in schools, and schools across
the country struggle with language in students.This is because of the barriers created by
language diversity. There is a wide variety of the English language across our country.
These include home language, standard English, and academic language. Each variety
has its place in its own context. These include, personal, business, social, and school an
and many other settings. In addition, each variety possesses its own set of rules for
syntax, diction, and vocabulary. Some of these rules stretch across regional boundaries
and some do not, making each a working dialect of its own. No variety is more correct
or right than the other, but rather they can only be considered appropriate or
inappropriate depending on the context. In order to speak and write these languages
appropriately, students need to be taught the skill of code-switching between them.
Code-switching is the ability to recognize that different scenarios require a
change in speech among multilingual groups (Wikibooks). By having the ability to
code-switch, students language is made appropriate to each and every context that they
may encounter. It is important for teachers to both understand and teach the value of
each variety of language without discrediting one or the other. This means recognizing
students non-academic and non-standard personal varieties of English as valid forms of
language. Learning the skill of code-switching will allow students will have the ability set
to speak in a contextually appropriate way. Code-switching can help students switch
between different languages, such as between French and English. Code-switching can
also be within a single language, such as the switch between home language, which is
very informal, and academic language, which is very formal. Code-switching helps to

CODE-SWITCHING IN SCHOOLS

facilitate language development for all students in the classroom, which in turn promotes
success in schools.
When teachers discredit one language in order to promote another, learning barriers
are created. No one would argue that it is acceptable for a teacher to punish a French
immigrant student for speaking in French when they could not speak in English. Instead,
the teacher would instruct the student on how to say what they wanted to say in English,
and then encourage the student to speak that form of language in school so they could be
understood. So why dont teachers do this for their students who speak another dialect?
All too often, teachers find themselves correcting students for speaking their home
dialect, such as African American Vernacular English, in school by calling them out for
speaking bad or incorrect speech. Rachel Swords, a teacher in an urban elementary
school, recalls facing this problem in her first years teaching. They tried to ask the
question in the form the school system wanted, she states, but they didnt know how.
Rather than risk the embarrassment of being corrected in front of the class, students
became silent (Wheeler & Swords, 2004, p. 470). According to Christenbury (2000), as
quoted by Wheeler & Swords (2004, p.473), Telling or teaching students that their
language is wrong or bad is not only damaging, but false (p. 203)
Teachers must become aware that the child who is speaking in a vernacular dialect is
not making language errors; instead, she or he is speaking correctly in the language of the
home discourse community before they are able to teach code-switching (Wheeler &
Swords, 2004, p.471). In order to prevent these barriers from being created, teachers need
to make the students aware that their home language, whether it is African American
Vernacular English, Spanglish, Southern English, or another dialect, is a completely valid

CODE-SWITCHING IN SCHOOLS

form of communication to be spoke and written in home settings. According to Wheeler


& Swords, In doing so, we honor linguistic and cultural diversity, all the while fostering
students mastery of the Language of Wider Communication (Wheeler & Swords, 2004,
p.471). Once this awareness is made, students can learn to code-switch between their
home language and the language appropriate in schools: academic language.
Wheeler (2008), an associate professor of language and literacy at Christopher
Newport University, lists three critical thinking (n.p.) steps to teach code-switching to
students. The first step is Scientific Inquiry. In this step, students identify the patterns
in their own writing and speaking. Once the students can identify the grammar and syntax
specific to their individual home language, they move on to Comparison and Contrast,
a technique developed by Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock (2001). In this step, students
compare and contrast the characteristics of their non-standard language, identified in
Scientific Inquiry, to academic language spoken and written in schools. Finally, once
these two steps are completed, students will have the awareness needed to choose the
language appropriate to the setting, therefore being able to successfully code-switch
(Wikibooks).
On the other hand, many argue that code-switching may impede on the language
development of children. A study done by Krista Byers-Heinlein, published in
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition (2003), examined the language development of
children who had bilingual parents who often code-switched while speaking to their
children. This study concluded that, the more the parents switched, the smaller the kids
vocabulary. They claimed that this was true for both the production of vocabulary and
the comprehension of those vocabulary words. This is what Hughes et al (2006) considers

CODE-SWITCHING IN SCHOOLS

to be the subtractive model of code-switching. That is, increasing fluency in one


language decreases the ability in the other language. This model suggests that codeswitching can be a sign of delay in language ability (Hughes et al., 2006).
But these claims have proved to be incorrect. Though Hughes et al. (2006) claims
code-switching shows a sign of delay in language, Piri (n.d.) claims code-switching
shows a very large amoung of linguistic competence. According to Faught (n.d.), an
associate professor of linguistics at Pitzer College in California, code-switching is
actually more likely to be done by people who are highly fluent in both languages. The
study done by Byers-Heinlein (2012) failed to take into account the childs language
development in any language other than English (Piri). This means that a child who was
bilingual but had a dominate language other than English was still considered belowaverage even if his or her language development in his or her dominate language was
thriving above average (Piri). In fact, according to Hughes et al. (2006), code-switching
is a valuable tool for bilinguals and English Language Learners because it offers
another language to use when words in the primary language are insufficient due to the
speaker or listeners limited English proficiency and in turn giving the speaker more
ways in which to communicate (n.p.).
Clearly then, it can be concluded that code-switching is necessary for the
development of language and success in school. Code-switching prevents language
barriers from being created in the classroom by helping the student recognize their home
language as a valid form of communication. It then creates an awareness of contextually
specific scenarios for different types of language to be used, and finally it provides the
resources for switching languages among these contexts. As more teachers realize the

CODE-SWITCHING IN SCHOOLS

benefits of teaching this great tool, more students will realize the benefits of using this
great tool. The future holds many new opportunities for code-switching. As language is
changing views on code-switching, code-switching is changing views on language. This
tool provides the resources needed to create a new generation of people who will
communicate together and develop the great advances of tomorrow.

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CODE-SWITCHING IN SCHOOLS

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References:

Christenbury, L. (2000). Making the journey: Being and becoming a teacher of English
language arts (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Heinemann.
Fought, C. (n.d.). What Speech Do We Like Best?. PBS. Retrieved November 22, 2013,
from http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/reveal/
Foundations of Education and Instructional Assessment/Diversity/Code-Switching.
(2011, March 6). Wikibooks, The Free Textbook Project. Retrieved 19:49,
November 23, 2013 from http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?
title=Foundations_of_Education_and_Instructional_Assessment/Diversity/CodeSwitching&oldid=2066572.
Huges, C.E., Shaunessy, E.S., & Brice, A.R. (2006). Code switching among bilingual and
limited English proficient students: possible indicators of giftedness. Journal for
the Education of the Gifted, 30 (1), 7-28.
K. Byers-Heinlein (2012). Parental language mixing: its measurement and the relation of
mixed input to young bilingual children's vocabulary size: Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition, 16,1.
The Piri-Piri Lexicon. (n.d.). Code-switching: can it affect your child?. Retrieved
November 23, 2013, from http://www.thepiripirilexicon.com/2013/04/codeswitching-can-it-affect-your-child.html
Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works:
Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA:
ASCD.
Wheeler, R.S. (2008). Becoming adept at code-switching. Educational Leadership, 65
(7), 54-58.
Wheeler, R., & Swords, R. (2004). Codeswitching: Tools of Language and Culture
Transform the Dialectally Diverse Classroom. Language Arts, 81(6), 470-480.

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