A comparison of code switching behavior, attitudes, proficiency, and home language use of a selected group of bilingual adults and children

النوع : Mémoire

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the code switching behavior (CS) and attitudes of a selected group of fifty grade six students and twenty te achers. The study also described the home language practices of the respondents, as well as assessed the connection between their linguistic proficiency, their CS behavior, and their attitudes towards CS. Collected data were analyzed using quantitative measures to address the study questions. The study employed a survey design, which involved administering two questionna ires; the attitudes towards English and Arabic questionnaire and the attitudes t owards CS questionnaire. A free response item was used to determine the particip ants' home language use. To determine the students' English language proficiency , their English language scores were used. An interview was used to determine th e participants' CS behavior. Regarding the attitudes towards Arabic and English held by sixth grade students and their teachers, the results of the study showed that both the adults and the children had very positive attitudes towards bilingualism in general. Also, the re were no statistically significant differences between attitudes towards CS be tween Arabic and English of sixth grade students and their teachers, t (68) = .2 1, p = .67 except on items 7, 8, and 9 of the survey used. In addition, the stud y doesn't show any statistically significant difference between low and high pro ficient students with respect to their attitudes towards CS t (48) = .00, p = .6 16. Furthermore, the results showed that, the sixth grade students' attitudes to wards CS do not play a statistically significant role in their CS behavior (r =. 76, p = .58). The same goes for the teachers' attitudes towards CS (r = -.130, p =. 58). The findings also reveal that there is no statistically significant di fference between the home language use of sixth grade students and their attitud es towards CS (F= .37, p = .69). This also goes for the teachers' home language use and their attitudes towards CS (r = .33, p = .71). The results above are discussed and compared to those of other research. Finally , limitations as well as suggestions for further research are also presented.