A comparative study of learner and teacher attitudes towards codeswitching: Insights from Ghana and Turkey
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61307/gjl.v13i1.532Keywords:
Foreign language teaching and learning, Code-switching, Ghana, Turkey, Tertiary educationAbstract
The present study sought to investigate students’ and teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards codeswitching in foreign language classrooms. The study was conducted in tertiary education contexts in Ghana and Turkey that differed in a variety of aspects including target language and number of languages spoken by participants. A survey was administered to 189 learners and 6 teachers of Spanish as a foreign language from a Ghanaian public university, and to 101 learners and 8 teachers of English from a Turkish public university. The data were analysed quantitatively using SPSS. To compare the contexts, chi square and Mann-Whitney U Test were employed according to the question types used in the survey. The findings showed that although learners from both the Ghanaian and Turkish contexts prefer the use of CS, students from Turkey appeared to have more favourable attitudes towards CS. Likewise, in the case of the teachers, although participants from both countries generally supported the use of CS, teachers from Turkey had more positive attitudes towards its usage than those from the Ghanaian context. Learners from both contexts believed CS was necessary for explaining difficult concepts or ideas, for grammar and vocabulary teaching and metalinguistic purposes. In general, the study showed that a dominant use of the own language (L1) was not supported in either context neither by the teachers nor the learners. Rather, its judicious use was advocated for.
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