Exploring The Use of Teacher’s Code-Switching in The Context of Teaching English in Senior High School: A Case Study

Abstract

This study aims to explore the use of teachers’ code-switching in the context of teaching English in senior high school. This study was designed as a descriptive case study research, conducted at one of the state senior high schools in Jember. In collecting the data, I conducted classroom observations in four different classes. The classroom observations were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the content analysis method proposed by Krippendorff (2004) to identify and describe the types and functions of code-switching used by the English teacher. The types of code-switching were categorized into three types based on the framework proposed by Poplack (1980), and the functions of code-switching were classified into seven functions based on Hoffmann’s (1991) framework. Moreover, I also interviewed the English teacher to find out the teacher’s point of view on her code-switching practice in the teaching-learning process. Based on the results of the observations, the three types of code-switching: inter-sentential switching, intra-sentential switching, and tag-switching, occurred during the teaching-learning process. The findings indicated that Inter-sentential switching was the most frequently used type by the teacher. The teacher said during the interview that she often code-switched to translate the utterances, which is in accordance with the concept of inter-sentential switching that occurs at a sentence boundary or between sentences where each sentence is in one language and another (Poplack, 1980), and it is closely related to translating utterances. For the functions of code-switching, the findings showed that the teacher also used all seven functions by Hoffmann (1991). This study found that the teacher’s code-switching most often occurred with Intention of clarifying the speech content for interlocutors. This study also revealed that each function of code-switching occurred in various situations, such as when explaining or discussing the learning material, giving instructions, or managing the class.