Code Switching “as a Bilateral Tool” in Cameroonian ESL/EFL Classrooms

Abstract

This study discusses teachers and students’ views regarding the practice of code switching in Cameroon English as a second language/English as a foreign language (ESL/EFL) classrooms at the tertiary level. It also addresses the role of code switching to students’ L1 (French to Francophones and English to Anglophones) in their ESL/EFL classrooms, and looks at whether it expands interaction in these classrooms. This study falls within the framework of applied linguistics and sociolinguistics specifically in second/foreign language teaching and learning. It was conducted in the University of Yaounde I – Cameroon - mainly in the Department of Bilingual Studies -, it involved ten randomly selected bilingual lecturers and 219 students. Data was collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, interviews and classroom observations. The findings generally reveal that code switching is employed by both lecturers and students to perform various functions in the ESL classroom. It was observed that code switching by the lecturers is used mainly to translate difficult notions and to explain part(s) of the lesson students have not understood; even though they try as much as possible not to code switch. Code switching is also used by students as a learning strategy to compensate for their limited competence in the target language.

Keywords: Code switching, French, English, Camfranglais, second official language (SOL), first official language (FOL), English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL), classroom interaction, bilingualism, mother tongues