The Use of Code Switching during Peer Interactions in the Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract

Code switching (CS) has been a topic of interest for many theoreticians and researchers in the field of bilingualism who have studied this phenomenon for almost thirty years. However, very few studies have been carried out in Colombia. This study provides an analysis of student code switching in a semi bilingual (EFL) context in Bogotá. The purpose of this project is twofold: to describe how a small group of students at intermediate English level in a university setting used code switching and what positive or negative attitudes they held towards this. The study is situated within a qualitative research perspective, as a case study. Data was collected over a three and a half month period by using the following instruments: field notes, video tape recordings and reflective logs. By means of an analysis base on Grounded Theory, it was found that code switching was used by the students to accomplish functions, such as, to establish cultural allegiances, to reformulate previous ideas and to complete lexical gaps