By Silvia Nunez
A couple of weeks ago, inside the classroom of the daycare where I work, one of my students was excited about saying something and he exclaimed: “J’aime the red car, il est my favorite!” I am sure he is able to say this whole phrase in English, but sometimes code-switching emerges. (https://bilingual-babies.com/code-switching-in-bilingual-children/). It is not the first time that this happens to me, and even though, I am teaching English in an immersion program, other languages are welcomed in my classroom too!
For children being raised as bilinguals or multilinguals, it is common to use all the languages inside their repertoire to make meaning of the world around them (Seltzer, Ascenzi-Moreno & Aponte, 2020). It is fascinating to see how their choices are being influenced by the community where they grow up. There is evidence that children, at the preschool level, already “have some understanding of language choice patterns and levels of bilingualism [or multilingualism] in their community” (Paradis & Nicoladis, 2008 p. 294), so they already know what language to use depending on the interlocutor that will receive the message or the context they are immersed in. (You can find more about it in this case study). But even though they are able to make take these choices, sometimes they mix languages without even noticing it!
By validating the variety of languages that we bring to the class, students feel more confident in integrating English in their lives, they are more open to learning from mistakes and they support each other when languages are mixed. Even sometimes, I am also betrayed by my unconscious mind and I mix Spanish and English, especially in phrases involving feelings where I am trying to tell how much I love them or how much I care for them. But why does this occur? Why do we unconsciously mix languages even when our intention is not to do it? Has it ever happened to you? In my example, the reason why I mix languages could be related to the fact that my native language is Spanish. As it is the one that I have always used to express love at home with my parents, husband, daughter, son, and closest friends, my brain might just follow the same path producing affectionate words in this language, but I don’t think this kind of unconscious language mixing is always related to feelings.
According to Van Herk (2018), each person has the ability to consciously control his/her choices and do what he/she wants in relation to language, we have speaker agency, and we use it most of the time, but what happens when we lose control of these decisions and our unconscious mind takes control deciding when to mix the words or languages we use? I am still trying to find the correct answer and keep understanding how languages, society, and mind are interconnected, but meanwhile, I will continue to provide a safe place to my students where they can code-switch or code-mix languages while becoming multilingual children in this world.
References:
Paradis, J. & Nicoladis, E. (2007) The Influence of Dominance and Sociolinguistic Context on Bilingual Preschoolers’ Language Choice. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10:3, 277-297, DOI: 10.2167/beb444.0
Seltzer, K. Ascenzi-Moreno, L. & Aponte, G. (2020) J.A. Panagiotopoulou et al. (eds.), Inclusion, Education and Translanguaging (pp.24-39). Inklusion und Bildung in Migrationsgesellschaften, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28128-1_3
Van Herk, G. (2018). What is sociolinguistics? 2e Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
I felt so uplifted and encouraged after reading your piece. I have seen how validating anyone’s language brought to the classroom allows students to feel more confident in integrating their L2 into their lives. While reading it I was reminded of a quote on a poster that read something to the effect that monolingualism can be cured. It was a poster of children all playing together with different speech bubbles containing mixed speech. All together, all learning.
In the video you shared, the speaker was quite adamant about trying not to code-switch so her children could learn one language at a time. She wanted to be the role model. While being demanding of oneself is fine, I think there most definitely needs to be some room for exceptions when interacting with young children and their code-switching or mixing. Jacqueline Mallais
Hi Silvia!
I am really glad you brought up code-switching in younger children. I think children are always the best example to showcase what our society could look like if we did not let our biases and egos cloud our judgment. I am really glad to hear that you are not discouraging your students from language mixing and instead are treating them as multilingual speakers. Too often, we see teachers and parents correcting students’ use of code-switching with the assumption that they are lacking vocabulary in one of the languages.
-MunPat
Thank you for sharing your experience. I am so happy that you allow for a welcoming space for your students to speak more than just the “targeted” language. Your students are extremely lucky!
When my son was younger, he would get all mixed up and speak both English and French at home. Now that he is 3.5 he tends to speak ONLY English and home and mostly French at the daycare. In fact, sometimes when I just pick him up from daycare he will begin talking to me in French and then just say “oops” and switch over. Never have I said that French was not welcomed, in fact, we read French books and I talk to him in French when we read. So this is an interesting phenomenon.
Hi Silvia,
I feel happy for your students because they are able to use other languages in your classroom! In Asian countries, especially cram schools, teachers are asked to perform monolingualism, which is to speak English only, in classrooms. Teachers have no choice but to follow the rules even if the students have different language levels. During classes, when students have unclear concepts, teachers have to use more simplified language, body gestures, or other ways to clarify their meanings. I always think this would result in a more vague situation when teachers aren’t able to convey the exact meaning of the term in the target language. Why not let the students use their own repertoire to explain it? It would be interesting if they are able to connect their L2 usage to their daily lives! I personally think plurilingualism or multilingualism are cures for this situation!
Sabrina Chang
Hi Silvia:
Thanks for this interesting and informative blog with your impressive experiences. I learned more about the flexibility between the ability to consciously control our language choices and the unconscious mind after reading your blog. I think
language decision on when and how to mix the languages we use is sometimes a subconscious behavior. Just like your example, it is your habit of using your native language to express feelings to intimate people around you. Similarly, sometimes, we don’t really think too much when we speak but unconsciously use more familiar or comfortable ways of expression. And I think language choice is also closely related to the occasion of speaking and interlocutors. It is definitely true that we have the ability to control the language use, but how to use this ability, whether it is necessary to use it will depend on different situations.
-Wenwen