Code-Switching as an Interactional Strategy: A Case of First Year University Students and Lecturers

Abstract

Code-switching is an important aspect in the teaching and learning process. This study critically evaluates the types of codeswitching that were used by both the lecturers and the students in Communication and Study Skills (CSS) classes of the University of Botswana. The study employed the mixed methods by discussing both the qualitative and the quantitative research approaches. Seven CSS classes were studied and the number of students ranged between 30 and 50 per class. From the results, three significant components emerged and these are that; (i) there was only the use of tag switches and the inter-sentential switches (ii) there were some discrepancies in the code-switches that were used by the lecturers from all the seven classes (iii) There were students’ code-switches which also explained the interactional strategy that was used in CSS classes. One of the conclusions of this study is that the lecturers and the students always codeswitch in the classrooms and this is done for a number of reasons such as nomination of students, checking the students’ progress on the assigned tasks and posing of rhetorical questions. Finally, the findings of this study could be an eye-opener to the lecturers and other educational practitioners in ensuring that code-switching is done cautiously to ensure that there is an improvement on the pedagogical practices rather than leading the practices to a decline.