Week 6 reading reflection

The article I chose is Revisiting Code-Switching Practice in TESOL: A Critical Perspective (Wang & Mansouri, 2017). This is a conceptual article and gives me a lot of inspiration in terms of the topic I am going to investigate. On the basis of poststructuralism, postmodernism and multilingualism, the authors articulated the defects of monolingualism, English only theory and native speakerism, and at the same time stated the significance of code-switching and its relationship with identity, capital and power.
I agree with the author that English maximum approach in classroom creates boundaries between languages and marginalizes learners and their L1, and I think this kind of marginalization has detrimental influence on students’ cultural identity. So, it is important for educators to think about how can correct English be taught without devaluing students L1 and culture. Using code-switching is one of the strategies that can empower students to disturb the hegemonic postition of English language, and also facilitate student’ critical language awareness towards their L1 and target languages.

According to the authors, there are a large number of empirical research that has proved the significance and effects of code-switching in ESL/EFL classroom, which has, in other words, also clarified the role of L1 use in teaching practice. But the problem still confused me a lot is that to what extent should L1 be used in English language teaching? To be more specific, when and how should L1 be used that can maximize the effect of promoting students’ L2 proficiency development without devaluing their L1 identity and culture? These are the reasons why I want to study about Teachers’ and students’ perceptions on code-switching.

Link to the article: https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/article/10.1007%2Fs40299-017-0359-9

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