Teachers’ code-switching in classroom talk: A case study at an English center

Codeswitching, defined as switches between two languages in a discourse, has been discussed with its linguistic and social aspects.In the context of EFL classrooms, some researchers prioritize target language (TL) while many others support the interference of L1.Despite the differences in perspectives, from our observation, code-switching is commonly used in the Vietnamese context where no official language policy in classroom interaction has been published.Also, according to Le, there is little research on codeswitching in Vietnamese EFL teaching, especially studies employing a multi-method to gather data and analyze the teacher use of code-switching in Vietnamese EFL online classes [1].For those reasons, in this paper, the authors desire to investigate this phenomenon with its functions in EFL classrooms and the factors that inspire teachers to code-switch. LITERATURE REVIEW Code-switchingThe definitions of codeswitching have varied among ABSTRACTUsing a first language (L1) in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) has been an intriguing topic with scholars.Accordingly, this study explores teacher codeswitching's functions in Vietnamese online EFL classrooms for adult learners and the factors that motivate those switches.This study adopted a qualitative research method with a case study approach.First, the researcher asked the participant teacher to provide video recordings.Afterwards, data was gathered from a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions with the teacher participant and the teacher's self-reflection on her practice of code-switching between L1 and L2 in the recorded lessons.The findings comprise the functions the teacher code-switching serves, including linguistic, social, and classroom-related functions.Additionally, the findings showed that numerous factors might lead to this phenomenon.The implications of the findings were discussed.