0 Bewertungen0% fanden dieses Dokument nützlich (0 Abstimmungen)
19 Ansichten10 Seiten
Research topic: English - Vietnamese code mixing and code switching among High School students in the Mekong delta. Communication is the process of transmitting and receiving information, thoughts and emotions among individuals or groups. The study examine how students use their first language and then switch to the second language when learning in groups or simply chatting with their friends.
Research topic: English - Vietnamese code mixing and code switching among High School students in the Mekong delta. Communication is the process of transmitting and receiving information, thoughts and emotions among individuals or groups. The study examine how students use their first language and then switch to the second language when learning in groups or simply chatting with their friends.
Research topic: English - Vietnamese code mixing and code switching among High School students in the Mekong delta. Communication is the process of transmitting and receiving information, thoughts and emotions among individuals or groups. The study examine how students use their first language and then switch to the second language when learning in groups or simply chatting with their friends.
code switching among high school students in the Mekong delta
- Object of study: High school students Grade 10 - Topic: Code mixing and Code switching - High School for Gifted Students Tien Giang Province - Location: The Mekong delta -
LITERATURE REVIEW
Communication is the process of transmitting and receiving information, thoughts and emotions among individuals or groups. Effective exchange of information happens when information can be received and understood correctly. Moreover, people of different ethnics have their own communication tool and they can use that tool to implement their goals, satisfy their needs and reach their ambition. Whether the exchange is effective or not, communication has become an integral part of our daily lives.
For all above, the study I am going to conduct is to explore the English Vietnamese code mixing and code switching among students when they communicate in class or outside the classroom. Particularly, I want to examine how students use their first language and then switch to the second language when learning in groups or simply chatting with their friends. The study discuss the patterns of language use for students at a high school in the Mekong delta as well as the possible factors that affect the choice of language in a certain context.
According to the study, while studying English as the second language at high school, the students are considered bilinguals. In some lessons, they directly change the language they are conversing into the other language when their friends ask them about something. They also switch or mix their language with other language when they are speaking. These all are social cases in term of communication. We can have a clear understanding when dealing with the issue on the aspect of sociolinguistics.
2 Fishman (1971, 15) defined that Sociolinguistics is the study of the characteristics of language varieties, the characteristics of their function, and the characteristics of their speakers as these three constantly interact, change, and change one another with a speech community. In this definition, language is a tool of communication and also a symbol of a community. Language contact is defined as the contact between different languages, especially when at least one language influences the other. Odlin (1989, 6) summarized that language contact situations arise whenever there is a meeting of speakers who do not share the same language and who need to communicate. The language learned in contact situations may or may not show some kind of language mixing. These two theories share something in common and by far fit the situation when we conduct a survey at a high school. In class, students use language to communicate with their teachers and friends Outside the class, they also use language to get them involved with the community. We can see that language is always a tool of communication for all circumstances.
Moreover, language contact is defined as the contact between different languages, especially when at least one language influences the other. In an English lesson at a normal class, Vietnamese students are encouraged to use their English, not Vietnamese, and sometimes they have difficulties expressing themselves in English due to the lack of proficiency. In this situation, Vietnamese is the main tool for them to gain their knowledge. They can ask their teachers and friends about the rules of certain grammatical items with their mother tongue for a complete understanding. Even though when they are forced to use English in the Speaking lessons, they also use their first language when working with their partner. On the other hand, students with high level of English have problems using certain Vietnamese words in their daily lives. This matter can be clarified when we deal with the terms code, code mixing and code switching.
A code refers to a system of signs which is developed by its community of users for purposes of communication (O Sullivan, 1983). In addition to these obvious systems, the term code is used to described different styles of a particular language variations within the same language. For examples, the students coming from the North of Vietnam are supposed to use a code which is different from those who live in the South, the male students use a code differently from female students and the students from traditional families have a different code with the ones from the modern families In this study, Vietnamese is one code and English is another code. Generally, in spite of the differences in the ways they use the code, the students seem to have more than one code besides their own code. When communicating with each other, they have a choice to choose the code and at that time code choice appears.
3 Studying English at school, the students are considered to be bilinguals, that means they have more than one code for communication. Bilingualism is the condition of knowing two languages rather than one (Valdes and Figueroa, 1994). This definition is often thought to imply equivalently high levels of proficiency in both languages. However, such balanced bilinguals are actually rare (Tickoo, 1993). Most bilinguals tend to be more proficient in one language than the other. Thus, researchers have come to accept that a person may be called bilingual even with very limited proficiency in the second language (Valdes and Figueroa, 1994). There are many ways in which the bilinguals can utilise their language resources.
1.They can use one language in one setting and another in another setting, choosing the one that is appropriate. This seems to be true when we take an English lesson into consideration. In the English class, they have to use English to fit the communicative approach and reach their goal in improving listening and speaking skill. But when they are at home, they must use their first language to interact well with the families. In Vietnam, English is one of the compulsory
subjects for the graduation exam. Therefore, whether the students like English or prefer another subject, they have to use it as a second language at school. In class, they can start the greeting with Good morning, teacher! and when at home, their greeting tends to be Chu cho ng!
2. One person can also choose to use one language while another may choose to use another language in the same conversation. This happens when we conduct a study on students with different levels. In class, the good students always use English to practice skills for communication and if their partners have a limited proficiency in English, they are about to respond in Vietnamese, just a few Vietnamese words or Vietnamese for the whole sentence depending on their level. In a Speaking lesson, when students make an interview to collect information, we can hear Whats your address? ng Nguyn Tri, phung 10, qun 5 Thank you
3. They can choose to use two or more codes in one conversation. Students may choose to complete an utterance in one language and start another in another language. It is quite common in everyday life. (Chiu nay 7 gi tim net nha. Ok. ng 7 gi ti n.). Students also use two codes in one utterance for some purposes. They may merely insert bits here and there in the utterance. This happens among both good students and the weak ones, sometimes they find it difficult to express certain words in one code. For examples, in an Internet service, we often hear the conversation like this: Hm ry luyn game d ta? Level tng cht no cha? Mng c lag hai, chn qu. Mng ADSL m cng b lag ? or we can see from the students essay: Vi s pht trin ca Internet, ngy nay chng ta c th lin lc vi bn b nm chu d dng qua Yahoo 4
For all above, we can see that in addition to bilingualism, code mixing and code switching are the two key points of the matter. Code is widely considered in the linguistics fields as the synonym for language. In this research, the term code mainly refers to the two linguistic systems that are Vietnamese and English.
Firstly, according to Wardhaugh (1986), when you insert a piece of word other than that of your language , and you have no specific purpose or intention when doing that means you code-mix. Code mixing occurs when speakers use both languages together to extent that they change from one language to the other in the course of a single utterance. This is absolutely true when we observe the students in their everyday speech. Bn cho chu 2 ci sandwich. , ngy mai i xem phim khng ti book v trc? Ngy mai chc khng ok qu v ti bn i coi show thi trang vi nh ri.
Code mixing is sometimes referred to as conversational code switching. As stated earlier, code mixing occurs when two codes are used within one sentence. In other words, code mixing takes place within clauses and sentence boundaries. The difference between code switching and code mixing is that code mixing involves issues of grammar. Code mixing is governed by two constraints the free morpheme constraint and the equivalence constraint (Jacobson, 1997 in R.Jacobson). A morpheme that can stand alone is called a free morpheme.
According to the study of Hoffmann, language mixing may occur, as following: 1. When an item has been acquired in one language but not yet in the other and a speaker may use the device that he or she has available to express a certain lexical or grammatical meaning. 2. When an item is temporarily unavailable and the subject is likely to resort to a requirement from the other language. 3. When the item is more complexes and or less salient in one language, a speaker may make use of the corresponding one from the other. 4. When a speaker is exposed to mixed input he will often respond productivity.
A conversation recorded in a class will clarify J acobsons and Hoffmans point of view. Do ny nh nhn ng v i tour m t thy ng online? Chc lun invisible h? C g th ng e-mail cho ti nha. The students themselves can use all Vietnamese in this situation, but they prefer mixing the code for no specific purpose, and the codes they mix are free morphemes. Take the code e-mail for example. It is used as a verb in a sentence and is mixed in the correct order to replace the equivalence phrase gi th in t in Vietnamese in the same type of word order, but we just see or hear the word e-mail instead of e-mails though ng is a singular 5 subject. Moreover, take invisible for example, instead of using trng thi n, they use the word invisible because at the time they are talking, the phrase in Vietnamese seems to be more complex and not common when they talk about their status on the net. Nowadays, students at high school make full use of the Internet, so they soon get used to some technical term when dealing with it. The word tour is another example. The students sometimes find it hard to say the word in Vietnamese because it is temporarily unavailable and even though at that time they think out the word in Vietnamese, they also use the English word because they want to respond productivity.
Secondly, when you change language intentionally and you do it because of specific purposes, for example the presence of the third person that does not share the same language, in other words, the switch is functional, that means you code-switch. According to Victoria and Rodman (1998), code switching is a term in linguistics referring to using more than one language or dialect in conversation.
Code switching is the embedding or mixing of words, phrases and sentences from two codes within the same speech and across sentence boundaries (Sridhar 1980). Mc Laughlin (1984) refers to code switching as language changes occurring across phrase or sentence boundaries. Richards (1992, 43) defines code switching as a change by a speaker from one language variety to another.
The findings of researchers have something in common that is code switching can take place in a conversation when one speaker asks in one language and the other speaker answer in another language. In an English lesson of a normal class (their major is not English), code switching is rather easy to be found among students. In class, students have their own favourite subject, some like English so they focus on practicing it, others prefer Maths or Biology, which means their level of English is quite different. No matter how they like the subject, they have to study English for their final exam. Therefore, there come the two bilingual groups, the first group are the balanced bilinguals, the second one are the limited proficiency bilinguals. When making a discussion on one issue in an English lesson, we can see the second group they tend to switch the code more often. It is for specific purposes, for an effective and understanding conversation and in this situation, it is somewhat compulsory and quite different from the way they code mix unintentionally.
Students may start speaking one language and then change to another in the middle of their speech. To communicate well, especially when the students need to use a target language, but their linguistic knowledge is insufficient. Language transfer occurs when the students learn English, which is not their mother tongue. The second language is often transferred to the first language. One can ask Whats your name? and the other answers My names A because they have to use the target or second language when studying. However, when the two bilingual groups 6 refer to more complicated questions, both the first language and the second language are used. According to you, can you tell me some recommendations for this issue? Now the answer may be switched into body language or Vietnamese among low-level group for a mutual understanding, for an effective and affluent discussion, that means they want join the discussion by sharing the ideas but must be in their own way due to the lack of language knowledge. Theo ti, chng ta c th thc hin mt s bin php sau. The first, chng ta nn ci to t. The second, chng ta nn trng cy chng xi mn (Recorded in a normal class). Here we can see that they embed phrases and sentences from two codes within the same speech and across sentence boundaries.
However, on some occasions, elements of the first language are usually transferred to another language, particularly in the class where the students major is English. In the break time, we often catch the conversation like this Ra chi ri, chng ta xung cn tin ch? Ok. Lets go! With the balanced bilingual group, even though it is not the time for a target language in use, they also switch to the second language for the purpose of clear, easy understanding as well as a quick respond to the answer because they get used to using English.
After some serious debates, scholars seem to have some united findings about the distinction among code mixing, code switching and borrowing. The general conclusion is that code switching is always grammatical (Myers-Scotton 1993), therefore its nature is determined by the individuals fluency in the two languages.
In addition to code mixing and code switching, borrowing is also an issue to be discussed. Several writers such as Sridhar and Poplack have treated borrowing as being quite separate from code mixing. They believe that borrowing and code mixing are based on different mechanisms. According to Sridhar (1996, p58), borrowings are different from code mixing. Borrowings occur when there are no words in the first language that can express the meaning of the borrowed words. On the other hand, code mixing does not necessarily fill lexical gaps. The finding of Sridhar is quite relevant to the ways students make their everyday speech. Khi no bn thi TOEFL? Ti xem TV thy TOEFL IBT phi thi online trn Internet phi khng? In this situation, online is code mixing while TOEFL, TV and Internet are considered borrowings. We hardly find any Vietnamese words which can replace TOEFL, TV and Internet in the speech of the students, but instead of using online we can use trc tuyn in Vietnamese. Here online does not necessarily fill lexical gaps, its just the way students use unintentionally due to their habit or they want to respond productivity. The term borrowings based on Sridhars finding lead to lots of words such as TV, TOEFL, IELTS, Internet, headphone, meeting, workshop, live show, acid, radio, tennis, guitar, piano, cowboy, container They are now all used in the 7 conversation among Vietnamese students and considered borrowings for their dominant role in another language.
Many researchers have studied the relationship between code switching and borrowings. Pahta (2004) claims that code switching involves the use of two languages in one utterance , whereas the term borrowing is used of embedded elements that have been integrated into the host language. Crespo (2006) argues code switching requires speakers to be bilingual while borrowing does not have such a requirement. Chiu nay lp mnh c ngh, mnh r c nhm i nh tennis i Ok. Lets go! The two sentences Ok. Lets go! are code switching. On the other hand, tennis is an English word which is embedded to Vietnamese to name a sport and from time to time, it is integrated into Vietnamese language as a borrowing and everyone can use it even though they hardly know English. Here the first speaker do not have to be bilingual but h can use the English word tennis because it is now widely used in Vietnam as the first language.
According to Hoffmann (1991) there are some reasons for bilinguals to switch or mix their language and they seem to fit the situation in Vietnamese classes.
- Talking about a particular topic: Students prefer to mix or switch to another language when they talk about particular topic. When discussing a new game (Half- life for example), students tend to mix or use borrowing more than usual. The words such as nickname, upgrade, level, boss, add, account, game card, top, game, lag, standby, freeze, commander, short gun appear commonly during their chat. At that time, they can express their experience and they know for sure when using these words in English, their partner can understand better than in Vietnamese
- Quoting somebody else: Sometimes, students like to quote a famous saying of certain characters. If these characters come from an English speaking country, students tend to switch the code when they quote the saying to keep its original form, especially when they make a presentation on Literature lessons. Of course, when students have to present something about Shakespeare, their language in use is their first language Vietnamese. They will present all they know about Shakespeare in their mother tongue except for the famous saying from Hamlet To be or not to be. Similarly, when they talk about the presidents of the United States, the famous slogan Change we need will be kept unchanged for a close analysis.
- Expressing group identity: Code switching and code mixing can also be used to express group identity. The way of communication of academic people in their disciplinary group are quite different from other groups. The way of communication of one community is different from the people who are out of the community. 8 (Barnett, 1994). The community at a high school is supposed to be a class with its major. The English class with English major is one community different from the one from the Biology class, that means the students in the English class they prefer to mix or switch to English when talking more than the students in the Biology class do. According to Hoffman, they tend to express and keep their group identity.
- To soften or strengthen request or command: This appears quite common depending on the situation. When a student wants to ask for some help, and he find it hard to use formal language in Vietnamese, then the code mixing happens. Please and Ok are mixed to soften or strengthen the request in the followings. Bn rng gip mnh lm 2 bi tp nha, please! or Ngy mai bn phi tr ti quyn sch . Ok?
- Because of real lexical need: As mentioned above, the most common reason for bilinguals to switch or mix their language is due to the lack of equivalent lexicon in the first language. At present, the word chat is used more commonly than tn gu among students. Tn gu seems to be a hard word for them to use at once. When talking about this issue, chat instead of tn gu happens first in their mind. Ngy mai bn rnh khng, online chat vi ti i? Ti cha c nickname sao chat c?
- To exclude other people when a comment is intended for only limited audience: When students in the English class talk to their English teacher, they tend to use their target language in the schoolyard among students from other classes. Its just because they want to practice communicative approach more often even in the Vietnamese environment. Moreover, when students meet a foreigner in the street, they tend to switch to English to communicate, whether the people around can understand or not.
In a word, there are many reasons why people use code mixing and code switching in their communication with other people. From the study I am conducting on English Vietnamese code mixing and code switching among high school students only, I want to examine how a variety of code switching and code mixing characterized the speech of both types of bilinguals in the academic environment. The language the students are using in class is quite different from the one they are using at home or in their everyday speech. From the survey results, the topic is recorded to coincide with the general trend which has been studied before in the community. Less-proficient bilinguals tend to switch single item. On the other hand, proficient bilinguals are able to switch grammatically at the same sentence level or even within a sentence.
Language is a means of communication while adaptation or integration is a process associated with borrowing activities in the context of language exposure. Whether 9 the conversation is effective and comprehensive or not, language choice is always an integral part in our everyday life as a symbol of sociolinguistics, including the aspects of linguistics applied toward the connections between language and society, and the way we use it in different social situations.
REFERENCES
Milroy & P. Muysken (Eds.), P. (1971). Bilingual conversation. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
Fishman (1971). The Pragmatics of code-switching: a sequential approach.
Odlin (Ed.). (1989). Code-Switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity. Routledge, London.
Auer, P. (2005). A Postscript: code-switching and social identity. Journal of Pragmatics 37, 403-410.
Bokamba, E. (1988). Code-mixing, language variation, and linguistic theory: Evidence from Bantu languages in Lingua 76 (1988) 21-62
Tickoo, (1993). Sociolinguistics: The study of speakers choice. Cambridge:
Valdes and Figueroa, (1994). Bilingual speech of migrant people in L. Milroy and P. Muysken (eds) One speaker, two languages. Cambridge: CUP
Hoffmann (1991). The sociolinguistics of society. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gibbons, J. (1987). Code-mixing and code choice: A Hong Kong case study. 10
Jacobson, R. (1997). Conveying a broader message through bilingual discourse: An attempt at contrastive codeswitching research in R. Jacobsen (ed) Codeswitching worldwide.
Sridhar (1980). Bilingualism. Oxofrd: Blackwell.
OSullivan. (1983). Code-convergent borrowing in Louisina French.Jounal of Linguistics 7 (1).
Wardhaugh, R (1992). Introduction to sociolinguistics.
Myers-Scotton (1993). Identity at play: language preference and group membership in bilingual talk in interaction. Journal of Pragmatics 37, 301-315.