Efl teachers beliefs and practice of code switching a case study at ba ria vung tau university master of tesol

iAbstract This study explores the practice, including the forms and functions, and beliefs of code-switching practiced by EFL teachers in classroom instruction in the Vietnamese Univers

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Abstract

This study explores the practice, including the forms and functions, and beliefs

of code-switching practiced by EFL teachers in classroom instruction in the Vietnamese University context Some research in this field conducted around the world highlighted some noticeable theories In the education context, many techniques, conclusions, and ideas of Vietnamese University professors' code-switching practice have been contributed by various significant research Furthermore, there have been few studies in the Vietnamese setting that compare the similarities and differences between instructors' views on code-switching and their actual practice of code-switching in teaching, research on the practice of code-switching should be done

at every school and university with various external components

For the context, this study was conducted at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University (BVU) with the participation of 9 EFL teachers and 59 students in teacher participants’ classes Data collecting stages were conducted using four major sources of data: classroom observations, questionnaires for both teachers and students, and interviews with the observed teachers

The Findings show that teachers practiced codeswitching very often in their teaching process for 19 different functions Among the functions found in the study, several appeared more or less than other previous ones Codeswitching was also presented under 4 forms in this study Three forms found in the previous studies, including inter-sentential, intra-sentential, and tag/fill/extra-sentential, appeared in this study and one new form of codeswitching named ‘Single Switching’ by the researcher also found in this study Also shown in the findings for the similarity and differences between teachers’ beliefs and practice of codeswitching, teachers’ belief have influenced significantly their practice of codeswitching Teachers with positive support toward employing codeswitching had most times practice codeswitching in their teaching process and vice versa However, several teachers with unsupportive attitudes toward codeswitching, in some teaching stages or skills, employed more codeswitching than they thought with pedagogy purpose or unintentional

Keywords: codeswitching, forms, functions, teacher, attitude, belief, English major students, BVU EFL teacher,

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Table of Contents

Abstract i

Table of Contents ii

List of Figures iv

List of Tables v

List of Abbreviations vi

Statement of Original Authorship vii

Acknowledgments viii

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Context 2

1.3 Purposes 4

1.4 Significance, scope, and definitions 5

1.5 Thesis outline 6

Chapter 2: Literature Review 7

2.1 Definitions of key terms 7

2.1.1 Bilingualism and code-switching .7

2.1.2 Definition of Codeswitching: 8

2.2 The practice of codeswitching in language teaching: 10

2.2.1 Functions of codeswitching: 10

2.2.2 Types of codeswitching: 12

2.3 Teacher’s perceptions and beliefs of code-switching in the language teaching context 13 2.4 Status of code-switching research in Vietnam: 15

2.5 Synthesis 17

Chapter 3: Methodology 21

3.1 Research context 21

3.2 Research method 21

3.3 Research participant 23

3.4 Instruments 24

3.4.1 Classroom Observations: 24

3.4.2 Questionnaires: 26

3.4.3 Interviews: 29

3.4.4 Summary of Research Tools: 30

3.5 Procedure and timeline 32

3.5.1 Pilot Study: 32

3.5.2 Data Collecting Procedure: 33

3.6 Analysis 35

3.6.1 Data from Observation: 36

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3.6.2 Data from Questionnaire: 36

3.6.3 Data from Interview 37

3.6.4 Summary of data analysis 37

3.7 Ethics and limitations 38

3.7.1 Ethics 38

3.7.2 Limitations 38

Chapter 4: Data Analysis Results and Discussions 39

4.1 Analysis of data 39

4.1.1 What teachers understanding of codeswitching and their opinion toward using codeswitching in EFL classrooms 39

4.1.2 When and how teachers use codeswitching 40

4.1.2.1 functions of codeswitching used by BVU EFL teachers 40

4.1.2.2 Forms of code-switching used by BVU EFL teachers 44

4.1.3 How teachers’ attitude and belief in using codeswitching 47

4.1.3.1 Teachers’ belief in the functions of codeswitching 47

4.1.3.2 Teachers’ attitude toward using codeswitching 50

4.2 discussion of result 57

4.2.1 BVU EFL teachers’ practice of codeswitching in terms of functions and forms .57

4.2.2 BVU EFL Teachers’ attitude and belief in using codeswitching 58

4.2.3 The similarities and differences between the teachers’ opinions about and their actual practice of code-switching 60

4.2.3.1 Similarities between teachers’ opinions and their practice of code-switching .60

4.2.3.2 Differences between teachers’ opinions and their practice of code-switching .63

Chapter 5: Conclusions 67

5.1 Summary of results and findings 67

5.1.1 Major finding for BVU EFL teachers’ practice of codeswitching in terms of functions and forms .67

5.1.2 Major finding for BVU EFL teachers’ belief and attitude toward using codeswitching 68

5.1.3 Major finding for the similarities and differences between the BVU EFL teachers’ opinions about and their actual practice of code-switching 68

5.2 Implications for EFL teachers 71

5.3 Limitations and further directions 74

Appendices 77

References 78

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List of Figures

[The List of Figures can be created automatically and updated with the F9 key – refer to Thesis PAM.]

Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework of the current study 17

Figure 3.1 Research and data collecting procedure 35

Figure 3.2 Research procedure 37

Figure 4.1 The total times teachers switched code 41

Figure 4.2 The number of codeswitching by function by each teacher 42

Figure 4.3 Forms of codeswitching 45

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List of Tables

[The List of Tables can be created automatically and updated with the F9 key – refer to Thesis PAM.]

Table 2.1 Summary of Hypothetical Codeswitching Identification 18

Table 3.1 Summary for the time and length of observations 26

Table 3.2 Summary of the questionnaire 28

Table 3.3 Summary of the research tools 31

Table 3.4 Summary of the revisions for research tools 32

Table 4.1 The total times teachers switched code 41

Table 4.2 The number of codeswitching by function by each teacher 42

Table 4.3 Forms of codeswitching 45

Table 4.4 Students’ answers for functions of codeswitching 48

Table 4.5 Teachers’ answers for functions of codeswitching 49

Table 4.6 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes to code-switching in teachers’ persona 51

Table 4.7 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes to code-switching to subject access 53

Table 4.8 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes to code-switching to classroom management 54

Table 4.9 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes to code-switching to interpersonal relations 55

Table 4.10 Number of codeswitching times at different skills 61

Table 4.11 The percentage and frequency of teachers’ codeswitching by function 62

Table 5.1: Summary of major findings from the current research 69

Table 5.2 Summary of implications based on the major findings 73

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List of Abbreviations

If appropriate, list any abbreviations used in the thesis

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Statement of Original Authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution To the best

of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made

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Acknowledgments

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the dearest individuals who were willing to support me and provide their priceless assistance during the research process for me

to complete this M.A thesis

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Le Hoang Dung, for his encouragement, guidance, and support during

my study I am very grateful for being his student in this MA program and I highly appreciate his enthusiasm and patient in instructing me and giving suggestions throughout the long process of conducting the research and writing this thesis

In addition, I would like to thank all my professors for their helpful instructions,

as well as all my classmates in MTESOL 2017 for their friendship and invaluable suggestions during the Master's course at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University

I would like to send my sincere thanks to the teacher and student participants and all of my colleagues at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University I could not have finished

my data collecting stages as well as the research without their precious support Finally, I would be remiss If I did not send my most sincere thanks to all my family members who always encouraged and supported me a lot during my research

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter outlines the background of the research, its purposes describe the significance and scope of this research, and provide definitions of terms used Including an outline of the remaining chapters of the thesis

1.1 Background

Code-switching (CS) is a phenomenon that exists in the community of people who are bilingual or multilingual, or who command over more than one variety of languages People equally aware that in some contexts, one language serves their needs better than the other and switch their language use (Meyerhoff, 2006) According to Myers (2008), Code-switching is referred to as a linguistic term when the user of a second language adds their first language in their speech In a globalized society, codeswitching becomes popular and affects many aspects of life Researchers around the world often study codeswitching from linguistic and social perspectives, which lead to different definitions From a social setting, many researchers study the types and functions of the phenomenon of codeswitching (Poplack, 1980; Gumperz, 1982; Myers-Scotton, 1993) and in an education setting, many other researchers study types and functions of code-switching based on the previous background (e.g., Macaro, 2001; Liu, 2004; Kim & Elder, 2008; Kang, 2013) There are more and more educational researchers place their focus on studying codeswitching in language classroom context around the world for different types of codeswitching, reasons for using codeswitching, the attitude of using codeswitching from teachers and learners, and the effects on the users Within the background, Vietnamese education of language

is also a part of a broader picture in studying codeswitching in the classroom context The use of mother language (L1) in L2 learning (ESL, EFL) has been always a contentious issue causing considerable controversy between SLA researchers and education policymakers Employing codeswitching often appears in a classroom where teachers share the same L1 as students to ensure the smooth delivery of class instruction, especially with low proficiency students (Selamat, 2014) On one hand, the practice of using L1 in the learning and teaching process is considered as the deficit and incompetence of linguistic, supported by the Reform Movement and the Direct Method (Milroy & Muysken, 1995; Boztepe, 2005; Probyn, 2009) According to the

over-1.2 Context

In Vietnam, the education system has been through a long time under the feudal influence which has a high opinion of a teacher in teaching and learning relationship Teachers were moral leaders and students should follow some rules in the class and only speak when were asked by their teachers The opinion still affects on teaching and learning process in nowadays education which is students tend to be affected by teachers’ choice of code used in classrooms (Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013)

In 1986, Vietnam started to renovate, and English became the main language to

be educated in the education system and be examined in level-changing examinations Then in 1995, Vietnam officially became a member of The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and also ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) The opportunities require English, as an international language, to become popular in Vietnam to communicate and collaborate with people from other countries English then has become the number one choice of a foreign language to be learned in Vietnam However, the effect of the language teaching and learning process was not as expected Students have considered English as a subject to pass the exam, not a language to use For the above reasons, in 2008, the Government of Vietnam perform a national project entitled “Teaching and learning foreign languages in the national educational system from 2008 to 2020” which contains a general objective that students graduating from Universities should be able to communicate and work in an international environment Teaching and learning a foreign language have become a movement

Chapter 1: Introduction 3

throughout the country However, there is still not any official policy mentioned to the languages which should be used in the classroom for teachers (Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013)

Narrowing the context to the research site, General English in BVU is a compulsory credit to all majors, except English language majors Students will take a full course with 6 credits from Beginner level to B1 level of English with 45 periods

of class time per semester The number of students in each class is between 25 to 30 students There is a placement test to classify students’ levels before they officially take English classes in the second semester However, the effect of the placement test seems not to be high, lead to the fact that there are different major students with different levels of English in the same general English class, and teachers have to use codeswitching to ensure the effect of teaching and learning process As a result, employing code-switching in BVU is unavoidable

Typically, classes of general English at BVU are assigned to Vietnamese teachers

At the beginning of the new academic year, there is a meeting where teachers decide the curriculum and marking method for the whole semester Using L1 (Vietnamese) in L2 (English) class is one of the main topics that appeared in the meeting, almost all teachers agree to limit using L1 in their classroom, but no clear method is approved, and teachers also agree that the action of using code-switching is unavoidable

The belief and attitudes of the teachers may affect their choice of language usage and their behaviors in the classroom A brief interview with some EFL teachers in BVU after the professional meeting and regular classroom observation showed that the awareness of the teachers about codeswitching and the method of using codeswitching

in the class were not the same and clear Some teachers even showed their negative attitudes toward codeswitching even though they were using codeswitching in their class Their practice of code-switching also happened unconsciously and unnecessarily

in some cases The topic of teachers’ practice of code-switching appears in almost every professional meeting later on without any suggested solutions

While there are pros and cons in using codeswitching and the strategy only supports language development if being used in the appropriate way (Emelie, 2014), there are not any official talks or policies about using code-switching in the class, using codeswitching then depends on each teacher In Vietnam, a few studies on code-switching in English classrooms are conducted but mainly focusing on the students’

4 Chapter 1: Introduction

attitudes toward their teachers’ code-switching (Hoang, Jang, & Yang, 2010; Pham Hoang Hiep, 2005) Even some valuable studies are contributing many methods, findings, and suggestions of Vietnamese University teachers’ code-switching practice (Nguyen Quang Tien, 2012; Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013), for such a broad field, several studies however cannot represent the whole educational system Additionally, up to date, very few studies in the Vietnamese context compare the similarities and differences between teachers’ attitudes toward code-switching and their actual practice

of code-switching in teaching activity For the above reasons, the studies about the practice of code-switching should be conducted in every school and university with different external elements, combined with the confliction in the teachers’ opinions and actions The study thus aims to research the issue with the purposes mentioned in section 1.3 below

1.3 Purposes

The issue of practicing code-switching in the educational context has been attached to numerous attention from teachers and researchers around the world In Vietnam, however, there have been very few studies that can be named relating to this topic Besides, after an unofficial verbal interview with the researcher’s colleagues, a quick conclusion has been drawn that almost (8/10) interviewed teachers may be deprived of a basic understanding of code-switching With the desire to investigate the method that non-major English teachers from BR-VT University use codeswitching and their attitudes toward using codeswitching in their teaching progress, the study, therefore, aims to (1) investigate the functions and forms of code-switching that teachers employ in their classroom since this is an opportunity for the teachers to self-reflection on their teaching practice; (2) investigate how teacher’s belief and attitudes toward employing code-switching; (3) research for the similarities, and differences between teacher’s opinion and their actual practice of code-switching

From the above purpose, the research will focus on 2 research questions:

1 What functions and forms of code-switching do the EFL teachers use codeswitching in the teaching process?

2 What are the teachers’ attitudes towards employing codeswitching in the teaching process and the similarities and differences between the teachers’ opinions and their actual practice of code-switching?

Chapter 1: Introduction 5

1.4 Significance, scope, and definitions

From the researcher’s experience and observation of the EFL classroom, switching is a common phenomenon, employed by EFL teachers in both communication and classroom instruction since there is no policy or instruction about language using in Vietnamese EFL classrooms These are very few valuable studies in the Vietnam context for the issue of teacher’s code-switching practice and contribute many methods, findings, and suggestions of Vietnamese University teachers’ code-switching practice (will be in detail in chapter 2) However, for such a broad field, several studies cannot represent the whole educational system, the study of the practice

code-of codeswitching is then believed should be conducted in every school and university with different exterior elements

Based on what has been discussed so far, this thesis is hoped to bring some benefits to educators, university management people, and policymakers in considering

an effective method for choosing codes in a language institution First of all, the thesis was conducted to raise deeper awareness of language choice to the researcher’s colleagues, not only in the chosen university but also in other educational institutions, hopefully, come to a realization of the effective ways to apply codeswitching in the teaching process by trying to answer three research questions for the forms, circumstances and the actual practice of teachers in using code-switching Moreover, from such issues, the study is hoped to be an opportunity for the participant teachers

to show their perception and beliefs through their experience of using codeswitching

in their classroom The findings in this study, therefore, will contribute to the improvement of EFL teaching and learning activities at BR-VT University Finally, the study hopefully complements the previous studies about employ L1 in L2 classrooms with a specific context

Considering the feasibility, the scope of the study should not be too broad or too narrow This thesis is a case study conducted at Ba Ria – Vung Tau University (hereafter BVU) with the participation of nine teachers teaching non-major English students at the elementary level The study is focused on teachers’ practice of code-switching for the situations, the forms, and the contrast between the opinion and practice of code-switching The study does not cover the practice of code-switching

by students or the effect of teachers’ using code-switching in the class due to

Chapter 2: Literature Review 7

Chapter 2: Literature Review

As mentioned in chapter 1, section 1.3 about the aims of the study to (1) investigate the method teachers employ code-switching in their classroom instruction and (2) investigate how teacher’s beliefs and attitudes toward employing code-switching affect their classroom behavior and language choices, this chapter provides some findings from the literature review on the topic of codeswitching relating to the research purposes The chapter is divided into four sections The first section presents definitions of key terms including sociolinguistic and bilingualism, codeswitching, code-mixing, and borrowing The second section provides findings of functions and types of codeswitching in language teaching The third section is devoted to reviewing the status of code-switching research in language teaching in Vietnam The last section will present the conceptual framework and a summary of the reviewed points

2.1 Definitions of key terms

2.1.1 Bilingualism and code-switching

Wikipedia defines sociolinguistic as the studies on all and any aspects of society

on language choice The aspects may include the culture, expectations, and context of society In the book An Introduction to Sociolinguistics – second edition, Holmes (2001) said that sociolinguistics studies explained the reason why people speak differently in different social contexts and concerned about the social functions of language to convey a social meaning which is relevant to the existence of a mix-used

of two or more different languages known as code-switching In this study, researchers approach code-switching through sociolinguistics to recognize and identify the factors that affect code-switching and also determine the functions of code-switching in discourse

Under the sociolinguistic theory, the concept of bilingualism seems to be a common phenomenon and has been defined by numerous researchers In research in

2013, Nguyen Thi Hang presented about three groups of definitions for bilingualism The first group of definition can be named as fully fluent since this group focus on the bilingual people who are master in both languages used, or in another word, they have native-like control of two languages (Mackey, 1970, 2000; Romaine, 1995 as cited in

8 Chapter 2: Literature Review

Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013) The second group of definition, however, defines bilingualism as a group of people with proficiency in one language and the ability to produce meaningful utterances in other languages (Haugen, 1953; Hamers and Blanc, 2000; Myers-Scotton, 2006) The third group of opinion produces an in-between definition of bilingualism mention only the ability to use two languages, not refer to the proficiency level of either language

From what has been discussed so far, it can be concluded that it is difficult to find the best definition of bilingualism in the sociolinguistic concept In this thesis, the researcher prefers using the definition of the third group as the theory base since the definition without mentioning the proficiency level of users may broaden the research area This study hence refers to Vietnamese teachers teaching the English language as bilinguals

2.1.2 Definition of Codeswitching:

In the bilingualism concept, codeswitching happens when people have two linguistic repertoires One language is often people’s mother tongue, the other languages may the languages that they are learning (high or low level) or the language that occurs frequently in their social life For example, many Vietnamese people use English words in their daily life without being in the learning English process Many English words are used in Vietnam without relevant Vietnamese meaning, such as Facebook, pizza, piano… from this point of view, codeswitching can be defined differently in numerous concepts as present below:

Poplack (1980) defined codeswitching as the mix-used of two languages in a single discourse, sentence part This definition is cited the most in this field In 1995, Poplack and Meechan also stated that “codeswitching may be defined as that juxtaposition of sentences or sentence fragments, each of which is internally consistent with the morphological and syntactic rules of its lexifier language” This version of the definition seems to be an update of the 1980 version This definition is also similar to the definitions of Grosjean (1982, p.145) and Milroy & Muysken (1995) Spolsky (1998 in Pratiwi, 2009: 1) defined codeswitching as replacing language in one to another in the middle of utterance This definition of Spolsky seems to be simpler and also in line with Cook (2008) as codeswitching is the process of changing between two languages in mid-speech when both speakers share the same languages More recently, codeswitching is defined by Jamshidi & Navehebraim (2013) as “the alternation of

Chapter 2: Literature Review 9

two languages within a single discourse, sentence or constituent” codeswitching is used by bilingual speakers more frequently but not always intentionally than monolingual speakers (Kutas, Moreno & Wicha, 2008) Cancino & Díaz (2020) have cited a more holistic definition by Poplack (2010) that code-switching in the following terms: “[code-switching] refers to the mixing, by bilinguals (or multilingual), of two

or more languages in the discourse, often with no change of interlocutor or topic Such mixing may take place at any level of linguistic structure” (p 15) The definition is in line with Schendl and Wright’s (2011, p.23) definition of code-switching as the use of elements from both languages in a single discourse, and the insertion of single words

or alternation of larger segments In short, the above review has highlighted some popular definitions of codeswitching

Nevertheless, besides codeswitching, the terms code-mixing (here as CM) and borrowing are also mentioned as an alternation of the language used CM is known as

a form of inter-sentential codeswitching which means two languages with lexical items and grammatical features appear in one sentence Or as defined by Kachru (1978, p.28), CM is “the use of one or more languages for consistent transfer of linguistic units from one language into another” and for him, CM too can occur at intra-sentential

CS Borrowing is another term of codeswitching for adapting words from one language

to use in another by interlocutors (Makulloluwa, 2013) From the above discussion, code-switching is used to cover both the inter-sentential level and intra-sentential level, hence, in this study, codeswitching is also considered as an umbrella term for other different forms of bilingual features such as Code Mixing (CM) and Borrowing (Milroy and Muysken, 1995, Milroy and Gordon, 2003, Cangarjah, 1995, Eastman, 1995)

From the above review, the definitions of code-switching are numerous depends on the scholars’ point of view However, regarding the teaching and learning context of this research, the research author prefers to adopt the definition of code-switching relating to EFL classroom from Lin (2013, P.195 as cited in Cancino & Díaz, 2020) stated that “the alternating use of more than one linguistic code by any of the classroom participants [ ]and this can include both code-mixing (intra-clausal/sentential alternation) and code-switching (alternation at the inter-clausal/sentential level)” since this definition is adopted by several researchers in the same context and this study,

10 Chapter 2: Literature Review

both the teachers and students are using Vietnamese as their mother tongue and English as their foreign language

2.2 The practice of codeswitching in language teaching:

Multi factors are influencing the practice of codeswitching in language teachings such as the teachers’ purpose of codeswitching, students’ level of learning ability, or teachers’ proficiency of the language Since there is no obvious difference between the roles of instructors and the reasons for their change; researchers tend to mix the duties

of teachers and the reasons for their switching or perceive these two elements as overlapping In this study, the practice of codeswitching in language teaching would

be studied in terms of functions and forms of codeswitching

2.2.1 Functions of codeswitching:

Mention the functions of codeswitching there is much research about this subject

in many contexts of language, or we can say, almost all of the research on codeswitching share the same purpose of studying about functions of CS Some’s can

be mentioned below

Basically, there are a number of reasons for people to code-switch and factors that affect their language choice in their conversation According to Verschueren (1999, as cited in Makulloluwa, 2013), people can make negotiable linguistic choices

to fulfill their communication needs Starting with a group of people in a community with linguistic diversity can be able to mix and develop the language, the fact then explains for the development of diverse types of English from many different countries such as Manglish (English of Malaysian) or Singlish (English of Singaporean) According to Myers-Scotton (1993), code-switching may be various in different languages, dialects, or even styles of the same language They can choose their code using based on communication topics, solidarity, listeners, social, and cultural distance (Wardhaugh, 2006) Gumperz (1982) also named some functions of codeswitching such as quotation, interjection, repetition, personification, or objectification People can codeswitch their pronunciation, word using, or dialect to fit the situation or for personal safety In some situations, people even do not aware that they are using codeswitching mean codeswitching appears unconsciously (Bista, 2010 as cited in Nguyen Khoa Nam, 2018) For the monolingual speaker, codeswitching is representative of poor education and low social status that they try to avoid, however,

Chapter 2: Literature Review 11

with the global connection in every field, codeswitching is becoming wider and increasingly concerned with many anthropological, sociological, and psychological problems in the field of linguistic However, the lists of the function above seem to be

“problematic” since the conversational categories are often “ill-defined” (Auer, 1995) For that reason, any available list of functions of codeswitching seems to be subjective and therefore, researchers should observe and take note of forms of codeswitching in the actual observation site

In the language teaching context, according to Turnbull and Arnett (2002), there are three macro-functional purposes of using codeswitching in the classroom: for pedagogical purposes, communication and interaction between teacher and students, and also classroom management An effective using codeswitching in a classroom can increase efficient understanding of a topic in learning L2 (Cook, 2001) As the study

of Johansson (2013) for codeswitching using in Sweden upper secondary school, teachers often codeswitch in situations such as grammatical or test instruction, classroom control, vocabulary comprehension process, or personal interaction with students This result is also in line with the study of Nguyen Quang Tien (2012) for codeswitching in Vietnamese Tertiary Educational Context According to him, some factors affect the purpose of employing codeswitching in the L2 classroom, such as the in-class time budget, topic content, students’ L2 proficiency, cultural values, teachers’ evaluation, and cognition The study also confirms the conclusion of Kachru and Nelson (2006) that teachers of Outer- and Expanding-Circle contexts using a bilingual method to teach L2 Liu et al (2004) also observed in their study that teachers using codeswitching when they want to convey the intended message for time-saving

In Makulloluwa’s study, her findings also confirm previous research of Polio and Duff (1994), Rolin-Ianziti and Brownlie (2002), Jingxia (2009), Sheweers (1999), and Lin (1996) that teachers using L1 for pedagogical purposes, explaining difficult concepts, grammatical and vocabulary explanation and she also added the idea that codeswitching is used to deal with administrative matters

Functions of codeswitching in a language classroom context can be grouped into four main functions: linguistic functions, social functions, discourse functions, and classroom-related functions (Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013) Among them, the linguistic functions explain the use of codeswitching by teachers to deal with new and difficult concepts; The discourse functions of codeswitching help teachers in their instruction

12 Chapter 2: Literature Review

to facilitate their students’ comprehension, the social function of codeswitching appears when teacher wants to remark a social value; the last function, classroom-related function serves the purposes of language teaching such as explaining grammar and vocabulary For more specific, in the questionnaire of the study of code-switching

in the Malaysian ESL classroom, Selamat (2014) also listed out 12 functions of codeswitching, basically related to four main functions mentioned above The list is closed to the researcher’s experience of functions of code-switching and will be employed in the questionnaire of this research

2.2.2 Types of codeswitching:

Discussing the types of codeswitching Poplack (1980) put forth the Three Proficiency levels They are Intra-sentential codeswitching which means codeswitching happens within a single sentence/talk, Inter-sentential codeswitching means codeswitching happens in turn as a full sentence and the last one is Tag codeswitching mean codeswitching appears as a filler or tag part of a sentence This conclusion of Poplack was researched more by Wei (1998) and also has The Three Levels, but instead of Tag codeswitching Li proposed the last types without a specific name: a codeswitching happens in phrases, words, idioms, or expressions in a sentence Similar to a group of types described by Merritt et al (1992, as cited in Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013), the first and second types of Merritt et al has the same points

as intra-sentential and inter-sentential of Poplack, the last types, however, has the difference description as extra-sentential CS Poplack’s types of codeswitching category are also confirmed by the study of Lee (2010) conducted in Malaysia In his study, all three types of codeswitching named by Poplack were found Among them, extra-sentential appeared less Also in 2010, Xu researched the practice of codeswitching by FL teachers in China and found inter-sentential and intra-sentential types appeared in her study without extra-sentential types or any new types The research of Brice, 2000; Rezvani & Raskh, 2011 and Tyjasanant, 2014 also share the same result since they found all three Poplack’s types of codeswitching in their studies From the revision so far, the types of codeswitching classified by Poplack (1980) have been used as the framework for plenty of studies later and confirmed with almost no difference

Above are some reviews about the functions and types of codeswitching in language teaching contexts From the personal experience of the researcher and

Chapter 2: Literature Review 13

evidence discussed above paragraph, this study will be conducted with the conclusion

of Selamat (2014), Nguyen Thi Hang (2013), and Poplack’s theory of three types of codeswitching as the theoretical framework for functions and types of codeswitching and help design the questionnaires for data collection Specific questionnaires will be discussed in chapter 3 of this study

2.3 Teacher’s perceptions and beliefs of code-switching in the language

On the other hand, Kieu Hang Kim Anh (2010) cited in her literature review that Nguyen Xuan Quynh (1999, p.40) and Zacharias (2003 P.74) concluded in their study about the use of L1 in L2 classrooms that most of the teachers held supportive views

on the role of L1 in L2 classroom in explaining new words, teaching grammar, giving instruction, checking students’ understanding and giving feedback In her study, all of the participants show positive view towards codeswitching which is similar to the opinion of L1 as a great classroom resource of Atkinson (1987, as cited in Kieu Hang Kim Anh, 2010) and this conclusion is in line with Ellis (1984, cited in Mattioli, 2004) Nevertheless, the majority of the teachers agreed that codeswitching should not be overused and adapted to the context of the class

14 Chapter 2: Literature Review

In another research, Nguyen Thi Hang (2013) showed in her finding that the participant teachers pointed out both advantages and disadvantages of using CS There are three advantages shown in the finding Firstly, they showed that codeswitching helps facilitate students' understanding and even to pass the examinations Sometimes,

as the second one, switching from L2 to L1 is a solution to the teachers’ lack of proficiency in L2 The last one, codeswitching is an effective way for teachers to solve classroom issues (breaking tension, making an exciting environment, creating a positive atmosphere…) since teachers and students share the same cultural background and sense of humor In one study on the attitudes to teachers’ code-switching in EFL classroom, Yao (2011) presented the results that the students and teachers who are the participants in the study shared a similar positive attitude to the topic and suggested that the use of code-switching should be adapted to the practical teaching In the study, Yao used 2 sets of questionnaires, for students and teachers, to study teachers’ persona according to the teachers’ codeswitching use and functions of codeswitching in subject access, classroom management, and interpersonal relations These categories in the questionnaires are in line with other research for teachers’ functions of codeswitching

of Nguyen Khoa Nam (2018), Nguyen Thi Hang (2013) The reliability in the questionnaires for teachers is high and for students are acceptable with the Cronbach alphas figure are 0.852 and 0.713, respectively Sharing the same aims to study when, why, and how teachers employ codeswitching with this research to build up the questionnaire about teachers and students’ attitudes toward codeswitching, Yao’s questionnaire then was adapted in this research with some additions to suit the context

of the research

But as mentioned above, there are some disadvantages showed in the research First, L1 only brings advantages when being used in an appropriate way to support the learning process then once L1 is overused, students will rely much on L1 and become passive as well as fail in creating an English learning environment This conclusion is

in line with the research of Bozorgian and Fallahpour (2015) that codeswitching is used more frequently will make students lazy and interferes with L2 learning Also, in the researcher’s own experience, once the teacher stops translating the instruction into L1, Students seemed not to try to understand the instruction themselves and automatically think that they do not understand the lesson

Chapter 2: Literature Review 15

The next point about disadvantages is that even when appropriately using codeswitching, teachers sometimes realize that codeswitching causes an interruption

to the flow of the lesson The point of view for the disadvantage of codeswitching is also mentioned in another research Harmer (2007) presents the view that using L1 in

an unappropriated amount may limit L2 exposure The argument is also in line with Xiaoli’s (2013) that “If the teacher frequently code-switches in the classroom this will lead to the risk of students limiting their use of the TL” Cummins and Swain (1986) also stated that “progress in the second language is facilitated if only one code is used

in the classroom, asserting that the teacher’s exclusive use of the target code will counteract the ‘pull’ towards the native code” (p 105) This point of view may affect the language choice of the teachers and was investigated in this research

There are some other research studies about teacher’s perspectives towards using codeswitching but in general, there are both positive and negative points of view from teachers depends on the method of using CS In most cases, there are suspicious views about code-switching from teachers, therefore, this study will also investigate and present the teachers and their students’ attitudes toward code-switching in EFL classrooms in Ba Ria – Vung Tau University The next section will discuss some literature about the status of code-switching research in the Vietnam context

2.4 Status of code-switching research in Vietnam:

English language learning in Asia in general and in Vietnam are more developing with every passing day There are numerous researches on codeswitching

in Asian countries for teacher’s codeswitching practices and attitudes toward using

CA, types of codeswitching functions of codeswitching, and factors that affect using codeswitching in Asian English learning environment Some highlighted research as cited in Grant and Nguyen Thi Hang (2017) such as the research in China of Cheng (2013), in Taiwan of Raschka, Sercombe & Huang (2009), Nguyen Quang Tien (2009), in Thailand of Tayjasanant (2014), in Malaysia of Lee (2010) and Japan of Hobbs, Matsuo & Payne (2010) have claimed that codeswitching is used more frequently and plays important roles in EFL classroom throughout Asia, despite the ban policy

Studying codeswitching also attracts many Vietnamese researchers Almost all schools and universities in Vietnam select English to be taught and learned as a foreign

16 Chapter 2: Literature Review

language English is taught as “a compulsory subject in the first two semesters of the first academic year” The size of each class is large with more than 20 students and limited to 45 minutes for each class Vietnamese university students have diverse educational and socio-economic backgrounds, but all are enrolled in the same class at the same level (Grant and Nguyen Thi Hang, 2017) Vietnamese English language teachers are bilingual speakers teaching bilingual students who share the same L1 (Vietnamese) With a large amount of knowledge to be taught in limited class time, the teacher also uses codeswitching as a tool for timesaving and solutions to fulfill their teaching duties (Nguyen Quang Tien, 2012), hence using codeswitching in classrooms is unavoidable

However, from other previous research (Nguyen Quang Tien, 2012 and Nguyen Thi Hang, 2017) it is evident that teachers may not be aware of their practice of using

CS Teachers often use codeswitching as scaffolding to provide a less tense learning environment and avoid a breakdown in classroom communication That leads to the risk that students automatically ignore English and wait for Vietnamese translation, causing a bad effect on student’s listening skills Therefore, in the conclusion of her research, Nguyen Thi Hang (2017) also suggested that because of the spontaneity of using codeswitching using instruction and practicing should be included in a teacher training program to help teachers apply codeswitching better in their teaching This idea is also supported by Nguyen Thi Hang (2017) and Turnbull and Dailey-O’Cain (2009) with their recommendation for “bilingual practice to facilitate students’ interlanguage development” (Nguyen Quang Tien, 2012) and raising awareness of the usefulness of using codeswitching in the classroom, then the teacher will not feel guilty when using CS During 6 years of teaching the students, the researcher shares the same point of view with the above conclusions and will employ them partly in the interviews for teachers in this research

Kieu Hang Kim Anh (2010) investigated the Vietnamese University teachers’ attitude towards using L1 in ELT in the context of Vietnam by questionnaire and semi-structured interview and highlighted the finding that L1 is useful in some situations but should not be overused the use of Vietnamese is not the same in all ELT classrooms and should be adapted to suit the context of each class and objective of the lesson

In conclusion, the above studies confirmed that the use of L1 (Vietnamese) in a classroom context does not have a clear negative or positive effect on teachers’

Chapter 2: Literature Review 17

education activities However, there are not many pieces of research comparing teachers’ attitudes toward codeswitching and their actual classroom practice The issue then was one of the subjects of this study

2.5 Synthesis

Above are some valuable findings from studies about codeswitching in general and in Vietnamese EFL classrooms, especially in the university educational environment in which this study was conducted There are several theories about the functions and types of codeswitching among them, this research adopted Poplack’s three levels of codeswitching (inter-sentential codeswitching intra-sentential codeswitching and extra-switching) and the conclusion of Nguyen Thi Hang (2013) as the theoretical framework for functions and types of codeswitching for the reasons as discussed in above chapters

From the literature review, there are some valuable findings of teachers’ perspective towards using codeswitching found that there is both negative and positive point of view in using codeswitching in EFL classroom and come to the following conceptual framework

Figure 2.1 Conceptual Framework of the current study

Teachers’ belief of Codeswitching

When:

Context of using codeswitching

How:

The extent towards the teachers uses Codeswitching

Teachers’ practice of codeswitching

18 Chapter 2: Literature Review

From the above framework, code-switching from teachers’ view can be considered from two sides: teachers’ beliefs and practice The above conceptual framework defines the relevant variables for this study and maps out how the variables relate to each other and can be further elaborated and detailed in the following table (Table 2.1)

Table 2.1 Summary of Hypothetical Codeswitching Identification

Codeswitching, Inter-sentential Codeswitching and Tag/ Filler Codeswitching (Poplack, 1980)

of codeswitching

- Linguistic functions, social functions, discourse functions, and classroom related functions (Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013; Nguyen Khoa Nam, 2018)

using codeswitching

- 12 functions of Codeswitching (Selamat, 2014)

1 To explain vocabulary meaning

2 To explain a grammar point

3 To explain activity instruction

4 To explain a difficult concept

5 To introduce a new and unfamiliar topic

6 To explain the differences between L1 and L2

7 To control classroom discipline

8 To give feedback or compliment to students

9 To motivate students in their learning

10 To build relationship between teacher and students

11 To check for comprehension

12 To reduce students’ anxiety in learning

Chapter 2: Literature Review 19

the teachers uses

- Balanced perception toward Codeswitching: both advantages and disadvantages of using CS (Nguyen Thi Hang, 2013)

- Both teachers and students shared a similar positive attitude to the use of codeswitching / the use of code-switching should be adapted to the practical teaching (Yao, 2011)

Table 2.1 can then be used as guidelines for the current study which aimed to answer three research questions as mentioned in chapter 1.3 The above theories were accepted and employed by numerous studies in the world and Vietnam In BVU, where the current study was going to be conducted, the context must be different from others

in the world and Vietnam in particular However, there had been almost no study carried out in this context so far Therefore, the last column in table 2.1 became a base

to design the research tools which would be aimed at investigating what, why, when, and how teachers employ codeswitching in their classroom comparing with teachers’ own opinions For more specific, the researcher will employ the case study method, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, to collect data, including the observation method for what, why, and when the teachers practice code-switching in their classes

Chapter 3: Methodology 21

This chapter is divided into 6 sections, in turn, mentioning research design, participants, the feature of participants, and the basics for the selection, instruments, the specific stages and method for data collecting, the description of how the data is analyzed, structured and also the method for data analysis Finally, the chapter closes with discussion ethical consideration, potential limitation and threats may affect the validity of the result

3.2 Research method

As discussed above in chapter 1, the research aims to (1) investigate the reasons and forms of code-switching that teachers employ in their classroom since this is an opportunity for the teachers to self-reflection on their teaching practice; (2) investigate how teacher’s attitudes toward employing code-switching; (3) research for the similarities, and differences between teacher’s opinion and their actual practice of code-switching Therefore, below research questions were raised to guide this study:

Depending on the research questions, researchers have to choose an appropriate research methodology and data collecting method In this research, the case study research method was approached as case studies may be used to describe, compare, evaluate, and comprehend various facets of a study issue There are three reasons for the case study method to be employed in this research which are (1) the researcher aims to answer the questions “why” and “how” codeswitching is employed in the specific case, (2) The actions of those involved in the analysis cannot be manipulated

by the researcher, (3) Researcher focuses on happening phenomena that are set in world contexts (Yin, 2009) Most qualitative approaches are used in the case study analysis, but quantitative methods are sometimes used as well

real-To reach the aim of the first question research, a qualitative approach was employed to investigate the social interaction of users in a given situation In this study, the observation stages were conducted to help answer the method of using codeswitching, especially the functions and forms of code-switching that were employed by the teachers

For the second research question, the quantitative methodology was adapted to the study The main purpose of the second research question is to identify the attitude

of teachers of using codeswitching during a classroom on students’ learning processes Data for this stage was collected through questionnaires Through classifying features, analyzing them, and constructing statistical models, the researcher can answer the research question

For the second clause of the second question, the aim is to identify and understand the reasons for the similarities and differences between teachers’ opinion and their actual practice of codeswitching The qualitative methodology was adapted

to the study A semi-structured interview was employed to clarify the data collected from the observation stage and questionnaire stage According to Berg (2009), the semi-structured interview gives teachers a chance to reflect on their beliefs about the

Chapter 3: Methodology 23

teaching and learning experience The method provided a less formal discussion format and gave teachers more room to discuss what matters to their code-switching experience with both structured and unstructured features and the researcher could also clarify flexibly the questions in case they were not clear to the interviewees

In conclusion, the triangulation method of classroom observation, questionnaires, and a semi-structured interview was adopted in this research to avoid bias and distortion for the investigating process In qualitative analysis, triangulation refers to the use of various approaches or data sources to establish a systematic interpretation of phenomena (Patton, 1999) The triangulation method also ensured the credibility, reliability, validity, and confirmability of the research Therefore, to answer three research questions as mentioned above, a mixture of data collection methods was chosen, including qualitative and quantitative methods

3.3 Research participant

For most social science research, selecting participants to play a very important step and requires thinking early in the research design process The participants of the research are teachers teaching general English elementary level in BVU for several reasons as following

3.3.1 Teacher Participants:

Referring to the participants, there are 30 Vietnamese EFL teachers, both time and visiting, teaching in the faculty of foreign languages and social science of BVU Among them, there are 9 teachers from non-English major elementary level classes of BVU who agreed to be participants in this study All the teachers hold education diplomas from Vietnamese education and training attitudes with at least five years of EFL teaching experience All the teachers are the researcher’s colleagues and have a social relationship with the researchers All 10 teachers agreed to attend three data collecting methods including structured classroom observation, questionnaire, and semi-structured interview Before the data collection progress, each teacher received an email for information note which explained the purpose of the research, the method to collect data, teachers’ role in data collecting states and the researcher also organized an individual meeting with them to explain and answer any question may have about the procedure of the research

full-3.3.2 Student Participants:

24 Chapter 3: Methodology

There were 59 students to be participants in this research and answered the questionnaires about their attitude toward their teachers’ code-switching These students were attending in EFL classes of the teacher participants The main subject of this research is the teacher participants, however, the researcher still employed students as participants of the research because the answers of the student participants

to the questionnaire helped discourage the researcher from drawing conclusions based

on her abstract logic or imagination The researcher informed students of some information about the research, explained the data collecting stage for students, and answered some questions from students about the research Students took the questionnaires home and had 03 to 05 days to finish the questionnaires before the researcher came and recollect the questionnaires

3.4 Instruments

As mentioned in section 3.2 about the research method, the collected data need

to be able to help answer research questions 3 instruments will be employed in this research for data collection: classroom observation, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews

3.4.1 Classroom Observations:

For classroom observation, the primary focus is accessing the real situation where the act of using codeswitching between teachers and students happens during the lesson (Matthews & Ross, 2010) The observation method is also described as the heart of every case study by Cohen et al (2007) for several advantages First, the classroom observation will reveal the uninformed information from other data collection tools since participants may not be aware of or unwilling to share in the interview (Patton, 2002) Second, through observation, the researcher can obtain in-depth information about language phenomena Third, the researcher can observe the first-hand information of the setting and can be inductive when on site Therefore, observation should be conducted at the first stage of data collection in this research and can be used to answer the first research question for the form and functions of code-switching practice

The main purpose of the classroom observation is to study how the teachers use codeswitching during the teaching progress, especially, the form and the function of codeswitching and the data of observation tool is also used to explore the similarities

Chapter 3: Methodology 25

and differences between teachers’ opinions and their actual practice of code-switching

In this research, the researcher preferred using a structured observation form which means data collected through actual observing rely on a ready checklist but also include a free note The reason for the choice is that a structured form will enhance the reliability of the process and the data will be analyzed later by the statistical procedure

In the structured observation which is processed under standardized conditions (EFL classroom with a planned lesson in a syllabus), the researcher is also a “focused participant” observer as only focused on using codeswitching of teachers in the class For the design of the observation form, with the theories mentioned in table 2.1, the researcher preferred to adapt the observation scheme from the research of Nguyen Khoa Nam (2018) (please refer see Appendix 1) for several reasons First, the scheme was built by adapting other schemes from Spada and Frohlich’s, Spada’s and Allen’s (1985) which allowed other researchers to modify the scheme according to the research purpose, for example, Nguyen Khoa Nam (2018) modified using a detailed grid with

29 category columns The dependability of an observational research can be improved

by assuring clearer classifications therefore the lesson content had been divided into detailed stages and skills (9 stages and skills as presented in Appendix 1) to help the researcher observe the important variables closely In this research, to answer the question for forms of code-switching, the researcher also modified the scheme by adding three columns for forms of code-switching and modified the function columns based on the list of functions as named in table 2.1 (please refer to Appendix 1) Second, the method was also chosen to adapt and research by several researchers in the field such as Mattsson (1999), Zhao (2008), Tian & Macaro (2012) Third, the noting in the scheme was made by tally marks to quickly record the situations when teachers changed their language usage There was a field note area for the researcher

to take note of the activities of the teachers After the piloting, some items in the original form were changed to suit the research aims Moreover, to enhance the credibility of data, each teacher was observed four times, one hour for each time The data was coded and then compared and analyzed for a conclusion The below table present the number and the length of observations

After asking for teachers’ names and phone numbers from the office staff of

BVU, the researcher contacted the teachers through Zalo (a phone-based social

platform) to inform them about the research, as well as asking for their email An

information note was sent to them via email, introduce the researcher, brief

information about the research, definition of key terms and data collecting procedure,

also respond to some questions from the participants After understanding the research

as well as agreeing to take part in the research as teacher participants, the teachers sent

back a confirmation email and informed the researcher time and date to process the

observation stage The researcher had contacted 10 teachers but only 9 teachers agreed

to join the research, one teacher did not reply mail or answered the researcher’s phone

call

3.4.2 Questionnaires:

A questionnaire is an effective way to collect information from a large group of

participants in a short time and the researcher can decide the format of the data

gathering to be easy for analysis It helps the researcher approach directly to

understand the attitude, value, belief, and motives of participants (Robson, 2002) Data

collected from the questionnaire were tabulated, and percentages were conducted by

the SPSS program The data collected from the questionnaires were used to

cross-Chapter 3: Methodology 27

check the finding through observation activity then the questionnaires were sent after the last time of observations for no effect on the teaching activities of the teachers The questionnaire was partly adapted from related studies mentioned in table 2.1 More specifically, for studying about functions of codeswitching, the list of functions from Selamat’s research had been adapted This list was based on the research of several researchers such as Ahmad and Jusoff (2009), Canagarajah (1995), and closed

to the researcher’s experience For the questions about teachers’ belief in codeswitching, the questions from Yao’s study were adapted for several reasons First, Yao’s study has similar aims of study with this research, for teachers’ attitudes towards employing codeswitching in EFL classes Second, Yao’s questions list was divided into four sections including teachers’ persona, subject access, classroom management, and interpersonal relation It means these questions included both teachers’ own opinions towards their use of codeswitching and the three main functions of codeswitching in the classroom Finally, the questionnaires focused on teachers’ attitudes and students’ attitudes toward teachers’ codeswitching with the Cronbach alphas figure were 0.852 and 0.713 respectively, which means that the teacher questionnaire's reliability is very good, and the student questionnaire's reliability is reasonable However, Yao’s research did not present how teacher participants practice codeswitching comparing with their belief, then this study hopes to fill the gap through employing his research tool

There are three parts to the question The first part (1) is for the teachers’ personal information, the second part (2) investigates the situations that teachers using codeswitching the third part (3) investigates teachers’ attitudes about using codeswitching in the classroom (Appendix 3) The questions in each part are closed questions with a Likert scale and allow the teachers to choose only one answer per question and one open question for teachers to write their ideas Teachers can take the questionnaire home to answer and return within a week from the given date

For more detail, in part (1), there are 5 questions with open answers (1.1 to 1.5

in Appendix 2) help to understand the general background of the participants, include age, years of teaching, types of English program they are teaching, and level of classes Part (2) for the functions of code-switching, questions from 2.1 to 2.12, the researcher adapted the list of functions from the research of Selamat (2014) as mentioned in chapter 2 above The questions from 2.13 to 2.16 presents other functions

of codeswitching that the researcher found out from the observation stages These

28 Chapter 3: Methodology

answers for closed questions were presented under a Likert-based 5-point scale (Never

- Hardly ever – Often - Almost all the time - Every time) and the last question of the group (2.17), as shown in Appendix 2, is an opened question for teachers to freely express their ideas

Part (3) serves the purpose of answer the second research question for the teachers’ attitudes towards employing codeswitching in the teaching process, also one

of the ground information to answer the third research question for the similarities and differences between teachers’ beliefs and practice of code-switching There are four groups of questions that refer to teacher’s personal (3.1 to 3.5), subject assessment (3.6

to 3.10), classroom management (3.11 to 3.15), and interpersonal relations (3.16 to 3.20) These questions are also presented under a Likert-based 5-point scale (Agree - Agree little - Neutral -Disagree little - Disagree) There were some changes applied to the questionnaire as a result of the pilot test presented below in 3.4.1 The last question (3.24) is also an open question

The questionnaire was presented in English and not using confusing words to

be sure that all teachers will understand clearly the questions The table below is the summary of the questionnaire based on table 2.1

Table 3.2 Summary of the questionnaire

PART 3 – How teachers’ belief

in codeswitching (How and

Why)

Teachers’ opinion toward the value roles of codeswitching and The extent towards the teachers uses Codeswitching

3.1 to 3.20 3.1 to 3.5 3.6 to 3.10 3.11 to 3.15 3.16 to 3.20 3.21 to 3.24

Chapter 3: Methodology 29

To cross-check the information provided by teachers, the questionnaire was modified and given to students in the same classes (Appendix 3) The students' answers were compared with the teachers’ data through a T-test to determine if the means of the two groups differ Students’ questionnaires were presented in both English and Vietnamese There were 9 teachers and 59 students (from the teacher participant classes) doing the questionnaires

To enhance the validity of the questionnaire, a pilot questionnaire was tested

by two teachers and 5 students then there were some changes in format and wording

in the official questionnaire

3.4.3 Interviews:

One of the methods used in qualitative research is interviews with a range of topics and questions used depending on the purposes of the research Interview help researchers to gain the opinion, attitude, and perspective of participants (Seidman, 2006) In this study, the researcher prefers using semi-structured interviews for a less formal discussion format of questions and give participants more room for sharing their opinion and thought

In this research, the interview was conducted after the observation and questionnaire stage since it was used to triangulate with the result collected from the questionnaire and classroom observation notes to answer the third research question and also to enhance the validity of the research All of the interviews were recorded and then transcript later to study

For the design, the structure of the interview questions is designed based on the aim to study the teacher’s belief and practice on codeswitching the question board then was designed with 2 parts of open questions The first part (A) includes 14 questions about the teachers’ opinion towards codeswitching (A1 to A14 as in Appendix 4) and the second part (B) is questions added after the questionnaire and classroom observations to clarify information collected from the methods for the differences between teachers’ responses from questionnaires and what actual teacher behaved in the observation stage

In part A, the questions were designed based on the theories in table 2.1, initially starting with the question for teachers’ basic knowledge of codeswitching, 4 groups of questions to clarify the information from the answers in the teachers’ questionnaire, and 9 other questions for teachers’ opinion of codeswitching In part B, there is a table

30 Chapter 3: Methodology

with 3 columns The first column stated the situation when the actual practice of teachers was different from their opinions, the second column is teachers’ explanation for the differences and the last column is for the researcher to note after analyzing the teachers’ answers

Even though all participants are English teachers, the English-speaking proficiency of each teacher is various To avoid the effect of this factor on the quality and quantity of the responses, also to help build a friendly environment between the interviewer and interviewees, the interview questions were presented in both English and Vietnamese The transcripts were also presented in both English and Vietnamese 3.4.4 Summary of Research Tools:

The table on the next page is the summary of all research tools as mentioned and described above: