Functions of Code-switching in the Egyptian EFL Settings

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to explore the alternation between languages, or what is recognized as the code-switching (CS) phenomenon among English language instructors in Egyptian universities. This is conducted by investigating the various purposes that might urge university instructors to code-switch between English and Arabic in their class interactions. This study, therefore, probes the extent to which code-switching is dexterously used in classroom discourse to communicate particular conversational and educational purposes pertinent to the teaching and learning process. Data are taken from 10 classes taught by five university teachers (two classes each) at the English Department, Cairo University. Data are collected through audio recordings of teachers' interactions in the class, and extracts from the participants' speeches are transliterated and analyzed. There are two overarching research questions in this study: first, do Egyptian university teachers of English code-switch? Second, what are the functions of teachers’ code-switching in classroom interaction? Findings indicate that there are instances of code-switching in the discourse of all five participants at varying levels. Findings also reveal a variety of conversational and educational purposes triggering code-switching by the participants. Despite the fact that the findings revealed in this paper are solely thought to be relevant to CS among English language instructors in Egyptian universities, they can be further applied to other classroom discourses and in other EFL settings.