Title

English, Spanish, and code-switching use in the ESL classroom: An ethnographic study

Abstract

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the schools, and English as a second language (ESL) teachers currently face the challenge of how to best provide instruction for students who are learning English. The purpose of this study was to describe the results of a qualitative study performed in an ESL classroom to determine teacher and student functional uses of language (i.e., pragmatics), particularly language involving code-switching and code-mixing use. The data for this study were gathered via classroom observations and interviews with the ESL teacher and ESL teacher aide in an elementary school with a 30% Hispanic/Latino population. Overall, the ESL classroom appeared to be teacher directed as evidenced by a high degree of questioning, commands, feedback, and informatives. Of all the instances of code-switching and code-mixing, none were judged to be grammatically inappropriate for either English, Spanish or the combined switched/mixed language form. The authors have developed a clinical intervention approach focused on Real, Experiences, Acknowledgment and Language (REAL). Taken from the data, REAL can be used by both SLPs and teachers to make language more meaningful. © 1998 The Division for Children's Communication Development.

Publication Date

12-1-1998

Publication Title

Communication Disorders Quarterly

Volume

19

Issue

2

Number of Pages

11-20

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/152574019801900202

Socpus ID

79955935935 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/79955935935

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