Professors’ and Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes Toward the Use of Code-Switching and Its Function in Academic Classrooms

Abstract

This paper aims to determine the usefulness and functions of code-switching in the classroom when used by both lecturers and students. The study was conducted at a Saudi university campus and follows a quantitative approach using sets of questionnaires to collect the data. Then, the data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Based on the analysis, the given study shows that professors and students consider code-switching from English into Arabic in the classroom as a beneficial instrument in enhancing the learning process. That is because it allows otherwise insurmountable problems for two-way communication in the L2 target language (English) to be overcome. Also, the findings of the current study reveal a range of positive attitudes toward using code-switching in two ways, Saudi-English immersion classrooms. Specifically, the majority of the professors use this technique in certain situations to achieve a better understanding by the students. In the same vein, students in this study show huge acceptance and prove how such a phenomenon has worked as a learning facilitator. It is hoped that the results of this study will be useful for professors and researchers investigating the importance of code-switching in the classroom.