INVESTIGATING FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ ENGLISH-SPEAKING SKILLS AT PAAET, KUWAIT (Published)

The study aims to identify the difficulties encountered by EFL undergraduate students with their English-speaking skills in the English department at the College of Basic Education, Public Authority of Applied Education and Training (PAAET). The study was conducted using the descriptive approach which contained a questionnaire comprising 27 items applied to a sample of 420 female students. The results found that students encountered moderate difficulties among the five factors. Students ranked the factors according to which contributed to the development of their English-speaking skills the most in the following order: preference of native speakers as teachers, followed by English language proficiency, teaching methodologies, environmental influences, and emotional influences. The results also indicated that there is a significant relationship between the factors that influence the development of English-speaking skills and demographic variables such as year of study, major GPA, and grade in conversation class.

Keywords: Code Switching, Code-Mixing, L1, L2, Mother Tongue Interference

The Lexis Praxis of Code-Switching By High School Teachers in Elucidating Multifaceted Problems in Sciences and Mathematics Fijian Classrooms (Published)

This explanatory study has investigated the use of code-switching by high school teachers in elucidating multifaceted problems, who are subject-area specialists in sciences and mathematics Fijian classrooms. The data for this study were obtained from twelve science teachers and twelve mathematics from randomly selected high schools ranging from Ba to Rakiraki corridors, Fiji. English as the second language and Fiji-Hindi as the first language was used for the comparative analysis of data throughout this study. A structured and semi-structured research questionnaire was used as a tool to collate the data needed for this study. The collected data was analysed through a coding system using Gumperz’s semantic model of conversational code-switching. According to the results of the research, sciences and mathematics high school teachers used code-switching as an applied linguistics learning strategical tool towards assisting the learners in acquiring complex problems using natural language verbalisation.

Keywords: Code Switching, Mathematics, Multilingualism, Natural language, bilingualism, sciences

Functions of Code Switching in the English Language Teaching Classroom Discourse: Perspectives of Lecturers and Students (Published)

In the bilingual classrooms of higher education institutions of Pakistan, instructors and learners of English language tend to apply two or more than two languages alternatively and competently for diverse reasons and multiple functions. The study aimed at exploring the functions of code switching between English to Urdu languages, employed by English instructors and students in the English Language Teaching (ELT) classrooms’ discourse. In the present quantitative study, survey research method was brought into play. Simple Random Sampling was used. The study unearthed the fact that majority of students alter language code to overcome their incompetence in English language, whereas instructors utilized code switching strategy to deal with students’ language incompetence and to explicate concept that does not have an equivalent match in English language. The study recommended formulating explicit policies for the proportionate switch between Urdu and English languages at all diverse levels of education in the higher institutions.

Keywords: Code Switching, ELT classrooms, English language teaching, bilingual classrooms, classroom discourse