son in the first language and then moving into the second and back . Cook ( 1991 ) describes that this practice makes the lesson as communicative as possible and is like the ' New Concurrent Approach ' ( NCA ) presented by Rodolpho Jacobson . The approach helps teachers to balance the use of language switch at certain key points , such as during important concepts , when students are getting distracted , during revisions or when students are praised and told off . Based on this view , switching may be used as an effective teaching strategy for second language learning ( Skiba , 1997 ). Skiba ( 1997 , p . 10 ) delineates the function of code-switching and claims that it allows the students to become autonomous over a period . whereby the teaching is reciprocated from the teacher to the student . Cook ( 1991 ) suggests that the use of codeswitching in the classroom would provide for a bilingual norm whereby codeswitching is seen to be acceptable method of communication . Students then would feel comfortable switching languages within normal conversations providing for a bilingual society . It has also been outlined that codeswitching may facilitate language development as a mechanism for providing language samples and may also be utilized as a teaching method for teaching second language . Jacobson ' s
Cook ( 1991 ) describes that this practice makes the lesson as communicative as possible and is like the ' New Concurrent Approach ' ( NCA ) presented by Rodolpho Jacobson . The approach helps teachers to balance the use of language switch at certain key points , such as during important concepts , when students are getting distracted , during revisions or when students are praised and told off . Based on this view , switching may be used as an effective teaching strategy for second language learning ( Skiba , 1997 ).
( 1983 ) view is that languages are best mixed in the classroom by codeswitching , if languages are separated
then teachers must teach each subject twice once in English and once in Spanish . Moreover , language separation is based on content and then it will be impossible to decide which subject should be taught in which language . Per Jacobson ' s ( 1983 , p . 5 ) NCA , teachers should be permitted to use intersentential code-switching . Jacobson fears that in intra-sentential switches a child is not exposed long enough to any one language and then it would be difficult for him to derive the grammatical , semantic and lexical rules of both English and Spanish . Thus , with the settlement of these issues , both teachers and students can establish classroom discourse in accordance with the requirement of the EFL language learning paradigms . McLaughlin , Blanchard and Hammink ( 2000 , p . 14 ) maintain that codeswitching significantly enhances the expressive capacity of an individual ; and Genesee , Paradis and Crago ( 2004 ) also urge educators to recognize the communicative and metaphorical values of code-switching . Code-switching , according to these researchers is a device of ‘ great semantic power ’. Hammink ( 2000 ) further clarifies that children who codeswitch are expanding their codeswitching strategies from the merely communicative to the rhetorical , and a well-informed educator can assist in this development , just as he / she assists the development of other communicative capacities of his / her students . The need for a better understanding of code-switching phenomenon among classroom teachers is also emphasized by Valdes-Fallis ( 1978 ) in these words : “ An understanding of code-switching is especially important for those classroom teachers whose students include Spanish / English bilinguals ” ( p . 124 ). Very little has been said about the characteristics of bilingual speakers who habitually alternate between two languages in their communities . According to Aguirre ( 1988 ), language alternations or codeswitching in the classroom are obvious and unavoidable with culturally and linguistically diverse children and special educators should regard language alternations as a communicative strategy employed by the students learning a second language . Unfortunately , a true understanding of language alternation behaviors is a phenomenon still not understood by professionals in education and it may be perceived as a controversial issue ( Baker , & Jones , 1995 ). However , it is the consensus of many in the field of bilingual education that it is a normal occurrence , and its use as a language choice in instruction is perfectly legitimate ( Brice , 2000 ). Hammink ( 2000 , p . 8 cited in Macswan 1999 , p . 47 ) clarifies its significance and claims that children ’ s attitudes toward codeswitching are greatly affected by the attitudes of their caregivers . Recognition on the part of teachers of the expressive power of code-switched discourse and the sophisticated linguistic knowledge required to effectively employ the mode , should serve to alter the prejudicial opinions they have about the practice . It was observed by Haugen ( 1987 ) that codeswitching was consistently ranked as least acceptable by teachers . Moreover , bilingualism itself is very poorly understood by most educators and for that reason much of literature available to guide the classroom teaching misrepresents language mechanism ( Gulzar , 2010 ). The researchers agree with these comments that bilingualism is misunderstood by educators and course developers and due to this teacher misrepresents language pro-
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