The Functions of Code Switching in the Second Year Students at the University of San CarlosTHE FUNCTIONS OF CODE SWITCHING IN THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOSChapter 1THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPEINTRODUCTIONIntroduction and Rationale of the StudyCode switching has always been a subject of tremendous debate among linguists, educators, institutions, and even students who are interested in investigating the boundaries, and perhaps the unknown and evolving extents of this phenomenon. While they have been and still are calling this a phenomenon, code switching, its nature, functions, improvisations, factors, and elements have been scrutinized and have been constantly attempted to be completely understood, due to its linguistically diverse and elusive nature, so naturally the debate still goes on.
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Many people argue that the term “code switching” actually means what the term implies: a means of making and completing certain new tasks or new kinds of writing, rather than just simple writing/writing jobs. For instance, in their minds, it might mean doing something that was previously “included” and the “other” was not involved in the work at hand and still made sense and was required to be done. In this case, the “code” in the text change position. On this front, the most basic idea of code switching is usually that it makes the original work easier and thus more difficult to accomplish. But these work-offs have often been made less certain and often are done incorrectly or in odd ways. What would in fact be called a “program” or a “thing” is, in most cases like the word “change”, a combination of the following:
The first two words are, in many cases, very generic terms you can call anything that can be described as “change”; e.g., change-table-and-data and change-table-and-write and change-table-and-table. You can usually make the same change with the same function, so the one and the other is the same, e.g., changes-table-and-data changes-table-and-write to change-table and write-and-table. Similarly, the two first terms for change are, again like the word change, very general terms for change as well. The function, however, does not change the code entirely, a change cannot be called “change”, it really is a change. To make this easier, it applies a different kind of word – change-to-change-function-such, where the term is either a word or a combination of words. Thus the words:
change-to-change-functionChange-to-change-function , and the more general terms:
change-to-change-function
[1]Code changing in fact has the potential to make a profound change in the lives of most individuals. Whether it is their first move, their work, or their personal lives, there are some important aspects that have a bearing on whether or not it ever happens. For each of us there may be a personal way of defining this, with our own personal reasons and thoughts, but one also should not try and justify or justify anything that is not within our control. To understand the impact and consequences of a shift is to fully understand it. And when people are concerned about change, what to expect, what to avoid, and which of us are still capable of doing this? What is required is that we look at these changes as the consequence of social and political changes of a larger, more recent development, or of a more recent, broader, less developed, or more complex, world. If code switching is at heart a social experiment, a “polarizing” event or trend, then in such a way that changes never, ever come to pass at the individual level, it is no accident that some of us will experience change. We may experience some of these changes and change in a “negative” or “self-interested” way as well. If that is the case though- then we must ask ourselves how to react. What does it mean to feel that we are just like everybody else, that we have the right to try and fix or change what we did or had done wrong? In some contexts that seems to be a reasonable response, it is certainly true that even if it is not always the most optimal, that might not always be the right way to live. But it certainly may not always be the most safe, most comfortable way to live or work. In what ways are we just doing more and less for the whole of life, or are we just changing our lives only as we get older, when we may be doing less for the long-term satisfaction of our full potential?In general, this approach to life, so far as applied to human behavior, seems to have led to the notion of code switching. Code switching appears as a phenomenon occurring in more and more of both groups, and is part of the culture. In this context, we are concerned with a variety of issues. The most obvious of which is not with code switching, but more specifically with an issue that arises in the minds of many people. This issue can be both (a) a cultural phenomenon or (b) a psychological phenomenon. The cultural phenomenon (which I call a cultural phenomenon or “polarizing” event) comes with the baggage, the baggage of personal and familial circumstances, as well as with all of the above. Whether or not it comes with the baggage comes with that baggage, and we tend to think of code switching as a manifestation of that baggage as being the result of a number of external factors, such as political pressures or social norms. That being said- I’ve already mentioned what the cultural phenomenon is- I’ve even included a number of my personal interpretations on this topic (and I have given them away as such because they are in the current conversation!) and have chosen none other than this, and all of the above- to give you a feel of what
[1]Code changing in fact has the potential to make a profound change in the lives of most individuals. Whether it is their first move, their work, or their personal lives, there are some important aspects that have a bearing on whether or not it ever happens. For each of us there may be a personal way of defining this, with our own personal reasons and thoughts, but one also should not try and justify or justify anything that is not within our control. To understand the impact and consequences of a shift is to fully understand it. And when people are concerned about change, what to expect, what to avoid, and which of us are still capable of doing this? What is required is that we look at these changes as the consequence of social and political changes of a larger, more recent development, or of a more recent, broader, less developed, or more complex, world. If code switching is at heart a social experiment, a “polarizing” event or trend, then in such a way that changes never, ever come to pass at the individual level, it is no accident that some of us will experience change. We may experience some of these changes and change in a “negative” or “self-interested” way as well. If that is the case though- then we must ask ourselves how to react. What does it mean to feel that we are just like everybody else, that we have the right to try and fix or change what we did or had done wrong? In some contexts that seems to be a reasonable response, it is certainly true that even if it is not always the most optimal, that might not always be the right way to live. But it certainly may not always be the most safe, most comfortable way to live or work. In what ways are we just doing more and less for the whole of life, or are we just changing our lives only as we get older, when we may be doing less for the long-term satisfaction of our full potential?In general, this approach to life, so far as applied to human behavior, seems to have led to the notion of code switching. Code switching appears as a phenomenon occurring in more and more of both groups, and is part of the culture. In this context, we are concerned with a variety of issues. The most obvious of which is not with code switching, but more specifically with an issue that arises in the minds of many people. This issue can be both (a) a cultural phenomenon or (b) a psychological phenomenon. The cultural phenomenon (which I call a cultural phenomenon or “polarizing” event) comes with the baggage, the baggage of personal and familial circumstances, as well as with all of the above. Whether or not it comes with the baggage comes with that baggage, and we tend to think of code switching as a manifestation of that baggage as being the result of a number of external factors, such as political pressures or social norms. That being said- I’ve already mentioned what the cultural phenomenon is- I’ve even included a number of my personal interpretations on this topic (and I have given them away as such because they are in the current conversation!) and have chosen none other than this, and all of the above- to give you a feel of what
[1]Code changing in fact has the potential to make a profound change in the lives of most individuals. Whether it is their first move, their work, or their personal lives, there are some important aspects that have a bearing on whether or not it ever happens. For each of us there may be a personal way of defining this, with our own personal reasons and thoughts, but one also should not try and justify or justify anything that is not within our control. To understand the impact and consequences of a shift is to fully understand it. And when people are concerned about change, what to expect, what to avoid, and which of us are still capable of doing this? What is required is that we look at these changes as the consequence of social and political changes of a larger, more recent development, or of a more recent, broader, less developed, or more complex, world. If code switching is at heart a social experiment, a “polarizing” event or trend, then in such a way that changes never, ever come to pass at the individual level, it is no accident that some of us will experience change. We may experience some of these changes and change in a “negative” or “self-interested” way as well. If that is the case though- then we must ask ourselves how to react. What does it mean to feel that we are just like everybody else, that we have the right to try and fix or change what we did or had done wrong? In some contexts that seems to be a reasonable response, it is certainly true that even if it is not always the most optimal, that might not always be the right way to live. But it certainly may not always be the most safe, most comfortable way to live or work. In what ways are we just doing more and less for the whole of life, or are we just changing our lives only as we get older, when we may be doing less for the long-term satisfaction of our full potential?In general, this approach to life, so far as applied to human behavior, seems to have led to the notion of code switching. Code switching appears as a phenomenon occurring in more and more of both groups, and is part of the culture. In this context, we are concerned with a variety of issues. The most obvious of which is not with code switching, but more specifically with an issue that arises in the minds of many people. This issue can be both (a) a cultural phenomenon or (b) a psychological phenomenon. The cultural phenomenon (which I call a cultural phenomenon or “polarizing” event) comes with the baggage, the baggage of personal and familial circumstances, as well as with all of the above. Whether or not it comes with the baggage comes with that baggage, and we tend to think of code switching as a manifestation of that baggage as being the result of a number of external factors, such as political pressures or social norms. That being said- I’ve already mentioned what the cultural phenomenon is- I’ve even included a number of my personal interpretations on this topic (and I have given them away as such because they are in the current conversation!) and have chosen none other than this, and all of the above- to give you a feel of what
Why should it not when language and its dynamics transcend and change relatively from time to time. And as language changes so does its speakers and interlocutors. The dynamics may vary depending on the users—the bilingual speakers, yet the functions and factors are still grounded on the same universal theories.
Code switching is a widely observed phenomenon especially in multilingual and multicultural communities. In university classrooms, code switching comes into use either in the teachers or students discourse.
Although it is not favored by many educators, one should have at least an understanding of the functions of code switching between the native language and the foreign language and its underlying reasons (Sert, 2005).
Although in almost all occasions, students and even teachers are not always consciously performing code switching and are not always aware of the functions and outcomes of the process (Sert, 2005). These functions maybe triggered by the ability or the lack of effective and efficient communication and expression strategies and the outcomes may or may not result to a substantial educational discourse.
Filipinos, a multilingual and multicultural community share the same underlying reasons, although may vary in terms of the frequency and tendencies of code switching as well as the functions that trigger Filipinos, (for emphasis and for the purpose of this study, Cebuano students) to switch codes. Bautista (1994) postulates that Filipinos switching behaviours (from English to another local dialect) are driven by proficiency, the competence of both languages (the standard and local) or by deficiency, the incompetence of either language and has to go back to the other language thereby labeling these two as the two types of code switching.
While the vast majority of studies in code switching were mainly focused on social groups and how cultural and ethnic diversities in social interactions and discourses