sociolinguistics – Page 2 – Educational Sociolinguistics

Vernacular Language, Language Varieties, and their Deserved Place in Education

Written by Alison D.

One can arguably say that we all speak our own version of a given language. As social beings, we are influenced by our peers, our elders, our environment, as well as other languages in our language repertoires to contribute to the way we speak. As we explore the idea of dialects, tongues, and Vernacular forms of the English language, it is eminent for us to take a moment to explore how these comes to be, how they are continuously reinforced, as well as what can we do as language specialist to perhaps halter the divide and social-status attribution to particular forms of language.

Van Herk (2017) mentions in his work that “Geographical location is probably the most-studied social factor affecting language variation” (p.27). That said, depending on where we are located physically, our language variety will change. As we are highly influenced by the way people around us speak, it is only natural for the way we speak to change depending on where we are. This phenomenon also applies to children! Before the age of 4, children are almost exclusively spoken to, thus linguistically influenced, by their parents. Their parents’ languages and variations which are affected by geographical location, are thus passed down to their children (Tagliamonte and D’Arcy, 2009).

If you take a moment to reflect on this, our kindergarten learners often come to school at the age of 5 never having had language experiences other than immediate family. Thus, the varieties and Vernacular languages are simply the languages that they speak! Educators, then become language models and evaluators of children who speak unique forms of languages. Though, the educators in question, do not always value these Vernacular languages and varieties the same way they would value ‘standard’ languages.

The idea of a standardized or ‘ideal’ form of English dates back many years. Typically, the standardized form of a language is associated with users of a higher social class. Examples such as highly regarded occupation and income will be associated with individuals who speak a more ‘ideal’ and ‘recognized’ form of language. ‘Non-Native-like’ speakers of English, such as second language learners and speakers of Vernacular languages in such contexts are often faced with instances of insubordination and unequal treatment due to the difference in the way they speak. This relationship of ‘ideal’ languages versus ‘other languages’ tends to reinforce the hierarchal division of society based on social class.

Even when I think about students in my high school classroom, they are speaking in such unique ways. Their ways of expressing themselves, their slang, word choice, intonation and overall linguistic behaviour reminds me every day why I love teaching secondary English. This said, since I have gotten to know my learners quite well, I can expect certain variations of English from certain students, while different forms of English from others. I, however, cannot expect a particular learner to speak more like one of their peers. This would be taking away from their individuality as well as right to express themselves the way that best fits their identities. If promoting a safe space where students can express themselves comfortably is the goal, where is the line drawn? At assessment? For oral presentations? Does it have to be drawn at all? Is there a way for all variations and forms of language to be valued and celebrated in the classroom?

Regarding the place of English Vernaculars in education, perhaps a shift from using English to ‘move up in the world’ towards a focus on intelligibility and open communication can be a good starting point to having language learners and users embrace their individuality to richen their repertoires. Educators can then ponder on “what does it mean to be a language speaker” as well as what the actual goal for language learning is, instead of focusing on creating the most ‘native-like’ English speakers. Additionally, reconsidering evaluation methods could strengthen this shift but, alas! We can explore this topic another time.

Take a moment to view Morgan Gill’s take on African American Vernacular English and it’s place in Education.

References:

Ramanathan, V. (2005). The english-vernacular divide : postcolonial language politics and practice (Ser. Bilingual education and bilingualism, 49). Multilingual Matters.

Tagliamonte, S., & D’Arcy, A. (2009). Peaks beyond phonology: Adolescence, incrementation, and language change. Language, 85(1), 58-108. https://mcgill.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5791997425

Van Herk, G. (2017) What is Sociolinguistics? Linguistics in the world. Wiley Blackwell.

Linguistic experiences in Montreal

Chuanmei Lin

I came to Montreal at the end of August and has been living here for a month. Before that I’ve never been to the French-speaking province of Quebec. Not sure if it’s the one-month “honey moon phase” in the culture shock model but it hasn’t faded away, I have been liking it here since I arrived. When I decided to come to McGill, I joked to my friend that I plan to speak English and Chinese in Montreal, and he joked that I will probably be speaking French and Chinese in Quebec, or at least need to have an A1/A2 level of French to live there. I didn’t understand what he meant, because I heard that in Montreal “everyone is bilingual”. I figured, if I speak English I can easily navigate my everyday life. After I arrived, I realized maybe he was right. In a grocery store downtown, an older staff didn’t understand me when I was looking for “noodles”, I was thinking “did I pronounce it wrong?”. Then a younger staff said something in French to the older staff so that he could show me the location of noodles. Another time I walked to an ice cream shop and realized that the menu was in French, so I had to point to the picture to get an ice cream because I couldn’t read it. Like the elderly women participants described their illiteracy in English under the increasingly globalized Korea, “illiteracy in English is the new illiteracy” (Lee, 2016, p.333). In Quebec, illiteracy in French is the new illiteracy, even though I’m living in Montreal where about 80% of Anglophones in Quebec live (Gérin- Lajoie, 2011, 2016, 2019). Although I learnt French at Alliance francaise Calgary https://www.afcalgary.ca for half a year (1-2 classes per week), I didn’t really take in much. It was supposed to be an immersion program but I was trying to get the teacher to explain the grammar in English. Using English (my L2) to learn French confuses me all the time and I wonder if the teacher explained French in Mandarin Chinese (my L1), might I learn better?

References

Gérin-Lajoie, D. (2011). Youth, language and identity: Portraits of students from English-language high schools in the Montreal area. Canadian Scholars’ Press.

Gérin-Lajoie, D. (2016). Negotiating identities: Anglophones teaching and living in Quebec. University of Toronto Press.

Gérin-Lajoie, D. (2019). Le rapport à l’identité des jeunes des écoles de langue anglaise au Québec. Presses de l’Université Laval, Collection Langues officielles et sociétés.

Lee, J. S. (2016). “Everywhere you go, you see English!”: Elderly women’s perspectives on globalization and English. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 13(4), 319-350.

The Chameleon Effect

Victoria Ky-Khim

The title of this blog post must have intrigued you. The chameleon effect. How is this related to sociolinguistics, you may ask? Fear not, we are getting there. Let us start with a definition of sociolinguistics. What exactly is sociolinguistics? Well, it is hard to say. It depends on who you ask. According to Van Herk (2018), it is a “scientific study of the relationship(s) between language and society” (p. 2). This is quite a broad definition and sure enough, it encompasses the chameleon effect which deals with language and interaction.

Nowadays, many of us are second or even additional language learners. As language learners, we refer to a model, oftentimes a teacher or tutor, and we end up imitating them. Just like how children imitate their parents, learners imitate their teachers. Time and again, the teacher’s pronunciation or accent will rub off on the learner. Indeed, just last year, one of my international classmates, who is Chinese, happened to have a British accent, which we (other students, local and international alike) were quick to notice. The reason behind her accent was that she had an English teacher with a British accent.

Apart from teacher-student interactions, you might have noticed that your accent changes depending on who you are talking to. Many factors affect language, these include but are not restricted to education, society, place, social status, etc. In this case, the interaction with an interlocutor can certainly affect how we speak. It might feel like we are adjusting to their accent, but really, we are imitating or mimicking their accent. Did I know this phenomenon was called the chameleon effect? Certainly not. But a quick Google search (why does my accent change depending on who I talk to?) informed me of that. In their abstract, Chartrand & Bargh (1999) defined the chameleon effect as “nonconscious mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one’s interaction partners, such that one’s behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match that of others in one’s current social environment”. Now I know, and so do you. For more information about the chameleon effect, I invite you to watch this YouTube video.

Although the chameleon effect seems mostly associated with the field of psychology, it would certainly be interesting to investigate its relation to sociolinguistics since it concerns both language and interaction. Most of all, the chameleon effect touches upon accent which remains a controversial topic in the field of sociolinguistics.

Questions

Have you noticed instances where you imitate your interlocutor’s accent? If yes, when does it happen most? In which languages?
Does the interlocutor notice you have adapted their way of speech? If yes, how do you think it makes them feel?

References

Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: the perception-behavior link and social interaction. Journal of personality and social psychology, 76(6), 893–910. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.76.6.893

Van Herk, Gerard. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Promoting inclusivity in Francization courses through plurilingualism

Xavier Xia

The Quebec government provides free French courses to recent immigrants or study/work permit holders as part of its Francization program. These courses aim to improve the students’ proficiency in French and their ability to integrate into the Quebec society (Amireault, 2011).

I have been taking one of these courses at the Chinese Family Service Centre of Greater Montreal since January. My classmates, age 16 to 55, come from many places in the world. They have different L1(s), education background, and have been living in Quebec for varying lengths of time. They also have different motivations for learning French: some plan to immigrate to Quebec permanently, while others might decide to move to another province or another country entirely. However, despite the diversity of the class, my teacher insists a “French-only” policy.

As we know, learning a new language is akin to learning a new identity. The “French-only” policy, which forbids students from using other languages, is very predominant. Even though French is the only target language in this context, this policy is highly problematic because it creates a learning environment that solely encourages students to build their Quebecois identity, often at the expense of their original identities.

Instead, I think the Francization program should take a plurilingual approach (Marshall & Moore, 2013), like encouraging students to use their L1(s) in class. In addition to facilitating French learning, a plurilingual approach would also make the course more inclusive and reflect the multicultural and multilingual reality of the province we live in. For instance, my class comprises students from China, Hong Kong, Iran, Australia, Chile, and Mexico. I would like to see my teacher encourage the students to help each other in their L1(s) instead of interrupting them, saying “Parlez en francais!”. Not only is it an excellent way for us to learn French and build Quebecois identity, but it also reinforces our original identities by speaking our L1(s) in the classroom. Nevertheless, I suppose teachers who were taught to use monolingual methods and had been teaching in this way could find difficulty adapting or even resist this new educational methodology. Furthermore, students who have learned other additional languages in a monolingual environment could also question the benefit of plurilingualism.

Question:

Do you agree that plurilingualism can promote inclusivity in Francization courses?

What other challenges face the adoption of plurilingualism in Francization courses?

References:

Amireault, V. (2011). Identity construct of adult immigrants learning French in Montreal. Canadian and International Education/Education canadienne et internationale, 40(2), 61–74.

Marshall, S., & Moore, D. (2013). 2B or not 2B plurilingual: Navigating languages literacies, and plurilingual competence in postsecondary education in Canada. TESOL Quarterly, 47, 472–499. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.111

How does society influence Chinese and Canadian language education?

Yi Hu

I have lived in Montreal for more than one year. In February of this year, I chose to learn French at the language centre in Montreal. Since I have studied some French before I came here, I could deeply experience the differences in language teaching between these two countries.

In China, teachers were more likely to teach us some grammars, like conjugations and some words that were related to the texts. However, teachers in Montreal are different. They prefer to teach us some useful knowledge that we can apply in our daily life. For example, we have already learned the vocabularies about clothes and food. They also teach us some grammars but that is not the main point. Students can improve their French skills more easily here. I think the reasons that cause these differences are the different social cultures and surrounding environments. I will explain these in more details in the following paragraph.

*French Syllabus in Montreal (left)*
VS
*French Syllabus in China (right)*

China’s current social context of education is test-oriented. Teachers excessively pursue students’ academic performance but ignore the practical application of language, and simply indoctrinate teaching with Chinese thinking mode based on exam-oriented education, which will lead to ‘Chinglish’. Meanwhile, China is a monolingual country, meaning learners are in a group where all their classmates are proficient in the same L1 and share the same cultural identities (Thomas, 2022). Outside of the classroom, they usually speak Chinese, so there is no foreign language environment for students to practice.

On the contrary, teachers in Montreal pay more attention to the practice and the cultivation of students’ autonomous learning abilities. Students are usually asked to try to do one task in class, and then study and answer questions by themselves, to become their own knowledge. Teachers do not pay much attention to the test scores, but to the cultivation of students’ individual abilities. Meanwhile, students have a real language environment in Montreal. They can have many opportunities to try to put what they have learned into practice. In this article https://www.ednewsdaily.com/five-major-differences-between-the-chinese-and-american-education-system/, the author also gave us some other educational differences between Eastern and Western countries which are influenced by government policy and cultural norms.

I do think that one of the ways to show good performances in French or language learning is to get a ‘good’ grade, but it is not enough. I still remember what Professor Mela Sarkar said in class at that time, ‘many students with good grades cannot successfully order a cup of coffee in the coffee shop’. Therefore, our ability to communicate smoothly and comfortably with others is also a sign of good language learning; these two need to be integrated.

Last but not the least, I want to say that there is no best language teaching model, only the most suitable. After all, our social environment is different. However, do you think it is necessary to integrate these two different educational models together?

Reference:

Thomas, E. (2022). Issues and ideas for a monolingual context. International House. https://ihworld.com/ih-journal/issues/issue-48/issues-and-ideas-for-a-monolingual-context/

New intelligibility in globalization

Di Niu

Van Herk (2018) accurately defined ‘mutual intelligibility’ in SLA in the conceptual context of sociolinguistics. I am curious if the ‘intelligibility’ stems from so-called globalization. Is this wave bringing new intelligibility? In fact, this term may also refer to the genuine integration of older generations into world Englishes (Lee, 2016). For example, younger generations in China may have been too focused on new globalized technologies rather than observing what is happening between older generations and the context of world Englishes. Their focus is more on the material by-products of globalization. My grandparents’ generation, on the other hand, may regard English as a self-opportunity that can redefine the mutual intelligibility between ‘I’ and the word. Should older generations in China be marginalized simply because they do not speak English?

After some consideration, I realized that this was incorrect. Because language is still inextricably linked to the socioeconomic context. In a society, the coexistence of older generations and word Englishes must be established. The older generations are, in fact, still involved in the globalized context of world Englishes. They are currently generating new possibilities in the context of sociolinguistics. My grandfather, for example, used to be an editor and, despite his retirement, continues to write and try to learn English in his own unique way. This proactive action contributes to China’s constant globalization scenarios. Indeed, this understanding of world Englishes underpins the sense of new intelligibility: In the globalized context, new mutual intelligibility has emerged between the sparking curiosity and creativity of older generations and world Englishes.

In other words, there is an important place for these seemingly marginalized groups because they interpret their intelligibility to English in their own way. As a result, these scenarios in real life are capable of bringing novel comprehension of globalization.

Furthermore, this new intelligibility is directly related to educational sociolinguistics. This shift in perspective would allow us to reconsider the role of learners in SLA. This type of reflection should take into account all societal scenarios. Consequently, using a macro perspective to draw a final conclusion from social phenomena is preferable. Moreover, in terms of world Englishes, the self-centered thinking model may at times ignore other groups in society. Basically, this intelligibility lies in thoroughly comprehending how SLA is linked to the entire society. Again, older generations will always be a part of the globalized world and will not be excluded. Therefore, I believe that the new intelligibility in globalization should be accompanied by a forward-looking vision as well as a humble attitude toward reconsidering older generations in world Englishes.

Finally, world Englishes represent an unprecedented high point in sociolinguistics. The situation varies from ‘place to ‘place’ (Van Herk, 2018). Learners discover the magic of SLA through practice, observation, and reflection. Nonetheless, in the age of globalization, such mutual intelligibility is emphasized. Finally, this new intelligibility arises from spontaneous participation (e.g., older generations) in the globalized context through one’s own interaction with world Englishes.

Questions:

Do you have any thoughts on the new ‘mutual intelligibility in the context of globalization?

Reference

Amin, A. (2020). Attitude Towards Language in Sociolinguistics Settings: A Brief Overview. REiLA: Journal of Research and Innovation in Language, 2(1), 27-30.

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. Cambridge university press.

Li, F., & Shooshtari, N. H. (2003). Brand naming in China: Sociolinguistic implications. Multinational Business Review.

Lucas, C. (Ed.). (2001). The sociolinguistics of sign languages.

Koerner, K. (1991). Toward a history of modern sociolinguistics. American Speech, 66(1), 57-70.

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? (Second, Ser. Linguistics in the world). John Wiley & Sons.

Does Bilingual Music Threaten the Future Of The French Language & Culture?

Catherine Shieh

The French language Hip-Hop genre has undergone one of the most interesting and complex transformations amongst other genres of music in the past few decades. In Montreal, the rap scene reflects the city’s location within North America (predominantly English) and inside the province of Quebec (dominated by French), as well as other diverse immigrant communities. Sarkar and Allen studied the multilingual code-switching in Quebec rap and cited in an interview:

“Montreal style… is the only place where you have a cultural mix like that, whether it’s English, [Haitian] Creole, then French, but all the same as Quebec French” (2007).

The mixture of language in the music industry has contributed to the rise of a new unique subculture known as Franglais (French + English) and the French traditionalists of Montreal are afraid the bilingual nature of these songs and its ideologies could threaten the future of the French language and culture within the province.

Among the bilingual rappers of this generation are Loud, FouKi and the Dead Obies. They have received backlash from columnists such as Mathieu Bock-Coté from Le Journal de Montréal who says, “Franglais is a slippery slope toward Anglicization. These bourgeois-bohemian adolescents who think speaking English or Franglais will make Montreal into a New York are deluded because it is the French language that gives the city its cachet” (Soupcoff, 2020). Bilingual artists rapping in Franglais are known to face serious political and social challenges. Quebec’s music industry is heavily subsidized by the Provincial government, but only if artists and record companies are producing music in French. Some groups have lost subsidies from the Provincial government for Francophone artists because it did not reach at least 70% of its lyrics in French. Many rising artists severely depend on these types of grants and need to carefully ensure they meet the French word count requirements in their song. For the sake of language and cultural preservation, bilingual rappers are constantly rejected and are treated unfairly by Commercial French radio stations.

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For bilingual artists, rapping in multiple languages allows for more creativity. In terms of rhymes, it opens the world to more lyrical possibilities and a better rhythmic flow. In my opinion, Montreal being one of the biggest multicultural cities of our country, the music should reflect the state of our modern cultural evolution and space. Sadly, the music industry is still dominated by cultural elites, that are white Francophone artists, and they will continue to suppress the rise of this subculture. Music has long been used by many as a tool to expose social injustices. By restricting and limiting an artist’s freedom to express as they desire, are we preventing the evolution of sociocultural growth?

References

Hornberger, N. H., & McKay, S. (2010). Sociolinguistics and language education. Multilingual Matters.

Sarkar, M. and Allen, D. (2007) Hybrid identities in Quebec hip-hop: Language, territory, and ethnicity in the mix. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 6 (2), 117–130.

Soupcoff, M. (2020). Marni Soupcoff: What’s worse – unilingual labelling or contracting … National Post. Retrieved September 22, 2022, from https://nationalpost.com/opinion/marni-soupcoff-whats-worse-unilingual-labelling-or-contracting-covid-19

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sociolinguistics vs. Linguistics: University Marking Practices

Chaoyang Zhang

In a world where there are thousands of languages; it is impossible for all people to have a standard way of speaking a certain language. In fact, there exist many variations within a specific language. A sociolinguistic approach towards language is fairer than a linguistic approach because it is based on the evidence in the real world (Van, 2018). Developing rules and constraints to describe how the ‘ideal’ language should be spoken or what is regarded as competent is not practical in the real world. Considering that speaking a language in a certain way is what is correct creates a homogenous speech community which is unfair for people like non-native students.

With the increasing number of international students in universities, marking practices are a major concern. According to Hudson; students who use dialects in universities face challenges in learning to read (Hudson, 2001). Other varieties of a language should be regarded correct hence nonnative speakers’ way of communication should be correct even for educational purposes. It is difficult for everyone to learn the standard variety of a language which is considered correct. I agree with the argument that certain language features are not wrong as they would be considered in the standard language variety (Van Herk, 2018). Nonstandard language is just a different way of saying the same thing. Language should not be used to gauge the competence of a student or performance. Accepting the different variations of language used by students is beneficial to them (Cheshire, 2005). If students are allowed to express themselves in essays and other evaluations through the variety that they are used to, they could be more successful than when forcing them to use a certain standard language. We should take into consideration that language policies and language teaching and learning policies should comply with the dynamic nature of language and culture, focusing on the collective shifting from monolingualism and monoculturalism to plurilingualism and pluriculturalism.

Reflection Questions:

1. Should the same marking criteria be used for native students and non-native students?

2. Could there be a possibility that many non-native students have failed to score high grades because of language barrier?

References

Cheshire, J.(2005). Sociolinguistics and mother tongue education. InAmmon,U.,Dittmar,N. andTrudgill,P.(Eds). (2005). Sociolinguistics: An introductory handbook of the science of language and society(2^nd) (2341-2350).Berlin: MoutondeGruyter.

Hudson, R.A. (2001). Sociolinguistics (2^nded).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Van Herk, G.(2018). What is sociolinguistics? (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.

Creating a Translingual Classroom: Is It Effective?

Shelly

Traditionally, educational systems have been monolingual, and in the language of the elite (Lewis 1976). According to Van Herk (2018), it is easier to “introduce multilingual education in societies where multilingualism is the norm” (p. 180). In this case, translanguaging can be considered as a way into ESL/EFL teaching and learning to support students in making metalinguistic connections and in leveraging all of their content and linguistic knowledge.

What is a translingual classroom?

Let’s have a look at what translingualism is. Translingualism means users gain meaning through their relations to other modes, particularly those drawn from popular culture (Pennycook 2007; Sultana, Dovchin &Pennycook 2015). Translingual pedagogy is by nature a hybrid practice, recontextualizing students’ translanguaging experiences to accomplish new goals using a hybrid set of routines and resources (David, Pacheco, & Jiménez, 2019).

Why do we create a translingual classroom?

As an ESL learner and teacher, I am wondering if it is more important to teach a standard accent or help students express themselves clearly and explicitly when learning a new language. From my perspective, comprehensibility plays a more crucial role than accent. Especially in some Asian countries, under the exam-oriented education system, teachers and students pay more attention to getting higher scores than using the language in their daily life. In this sense, students may suffer from awkward silences when they communicate with others. Therefore, it is necessary to change the mindset and welcome the translingual approach in a language classroom.

To begin with, it can support students as they engage with and comprehend complex content and texts. Next, it provides more opportunities for students to develop linguistic practices for academic contexts. Moreover, it can make space for students’ bilingualism and bilingual ways of knowing and support their socio-emotional development and bilingual identities.

How do we create a translingual classroom?

First, based on my experience, free talk at the beginning of the class is a great way to integrate the translingual approach and help students learn some new words, phrases, and expressions. Especially during the pandemic, online classes make it harder to build relationships with each other. Through this communication, students could have a chance to talk and learn the practical English they really need in daily life.

Second, we could encourage students to use their linguistic repertoire to communicate in class and emphasize both languages in a positive light. Creating a safe and comfortable language learning environment fosters all students, regardless of their native language. The video below shows how the ESL teachers use the translanguaging pedagogy in his multilingual learning class.

Moreover, we could also try to integrate multimedia in the ESL and EFL classrooms and find more appropriate songs with multiple languages to help students use their linguistic repertoire and enjoy the learning process. In my summer teaching, I tried song activities, which worked quite well, and students were highly motivated. Moreover, we could also have music and digital resources in multiple languages in the classroom, it will give all students the opportunity to build upon their native language and learn a second language. If possible, you could also use bilingual digital content that shows two languages side-by-side to help students make the connection between their native language and the second language.

However, some people argue that using their first language in an English class may affect students’ communicative competence in the target language and they may rely on their first language too much unconsciously. In this sense, language teachers may take more responsibility and give clear instructions in order to better practice the target language.

Questions:

1Do you think it is feasible to use translanguaging in ESL/EFL classrooms？

2 Have you experienced or used translanguaging pedagogy in the classroom?

References：

David, S. S., Pacheco, M. B., & Jiménez, R. T. (2019). Designing translingual pedagogies: Exploring pedagogical translation through a classroom teaching experiment. Cognition and Instruction, 37(2), 252-275.

Dovchin, S., Sultana, S., & Pennycook, A. (2015). Relocalizing the translingual practices of young adults in Mongolia and Bangladesh. Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts, 1(1), 4-26.

Lewis, G. (1976). “Bilingualism and bilingual education: The ancient world to the Renaissance.” In Bilingual Education: An International Sociological Perspective, ed., J. A. Fishman, 150–200. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows. London: Routledge.

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.

To Switch or Not to Switch?

Shelly

我们今晚去吃pizza吧 ? (Shall we go out for pizza tonight?)

OK, 走吧 ! (ok. let’s go!)

你的pre在什么时候？（When will you do a presentation?）

下周。（Next week.）

This is the common and natural interaction when talking to my friends in my daily life after studying abroad: switching between the languages I can speak. This kind of language phenomenon is called “code-switching”.

According to Van Herk (2018), code-switching is a common phenomenon when “people who share more than one language get together and use two (or more!) languages (or “codes”) to communicate” (p. 136). Not surprisingly, bilinguals sometimes decide that only one of their languages is appropriate for a particular situation. But how do people in different contexts decide which language to use? Based on Van Herk, speakers switch language by considering “where they are, who they’re talking to, and what kind of speech activities are involved” (p. 149).

First, code-switching helps people to better express themselves. One example that came into my mind was that I switched from Mandarin to my local dialect instantly when my old friend called me in my local dialect. My roommate was quite surprised at that time because I switched so quickly and didn’t even notice. Sometimes I switch languages because the local dialect can express a sense of humor that can only be understood by the local community. Moreover, we felt closer when we interacted with each other in dialect. The other example is my students switched from English to their first language when they could not find a proper word in English. In this case, code-switching helped them to and we could work together to figure out the English expression.

Additionally, code-switching also carries affective functions that serve to express emotions. In China, people feel shy to express their love or gratitude to parents directly. My friend told me that her parents never say emotional and romantic words to each other. Moreover, it’s unheard of for me to say “I love you” in Chinese to my parents face to face. However, using English makes it easier and more natural to express this feeling, because it helps people get rid of awkward moments and feelings. Nevertheless, when they try to use Chinese to say those words, it sometimes sounds too serious and a little bit strange to do so. In this case, we select the ‘right’ language for each context or situation. The languages can have strong emotions when they are unavailable or only partly available at moments (Busch, 2017). English builds a bridge for people to express their feelings. In addition, when people want to express a feeling of sympathy to others, they are more likely to use English than Chinese, which has similar to acts expressing love.

However, sometimes, people will try to avoid code-switching because they do not want to make others feel excluded. It reminds me of the circumstance where we use English instead of Chinese to talk in a group discussion when most of the group members are Chinese. In this way, we try to avoid code-switching in this circumstance because we don’t want the other classmates who cannot understand Chinese to feel excluded from the conversation. As Busch stated, we don’t want people to feel the restrictive or exclusive power of linguistic categorization when language is not available to them (Busch, 2017).

All in all, there is no wall between languages (Rhymes, 2014). Individuals can use a collection of ways to participate in effective communication. Code-switching helps to build a bridge between different languages for better and effective communication and interaction.

Questions:

Have you ever code-switched in your study, work or daily life?

Can you share one or two examples with us and explain why do you code-switch?

References

Busch, B. (2015). Expanding the notion of the linguistic repertoire: On the concept of—The lived experience of language. Applied Linguistics, 38(3), 340-358.

Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

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