Code-switching in Communicationby Male and Female English-majored Students: A Case Study at Two Selected Universities in Binh Duong Province

Abstract

Nowadays, code-switching is a common and intricate phenomenon. Together with the rise of increasingly bilingual and multilingual communities, code-switching has become a critical linguistic and academic issue. The purposes of this study are to discover the features of code-switching toward male English learners on the impact of their first language and second language, to investigate the features of code-switching toward female English learners on the impact of their language (L1) and second language (L2), and to identify the differences and similarities in code-switching between male and female English learners on the impact of their first language (L1) and second language (L2). A total of 100 students from two universities in Binh Duong province was included in the study. The data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively through a mixed-method study using the tools of a questionnaire (for students) and a semi-structured interview (for teachers and students in charge of the experimental classes). According to the study results, English-majored students could only occasionally switch from L1 to L2 language during discussions and may require more effort to acquire higher IELTS scores. Furthermore, English-majored students rarely convert from their native tongue to another second language and should regard English as the classroom instruction language. However, alternating between native and L2 languages is beneficial.