Volume: 19  Number: 2  Page: 208–219

Codeswitching in EFL Group Work in China

Runyi Chen1 and Bernard Hird2 1School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, P.R. China and 2School of Education, Edith Cowan University, Mount Lawley, Western Australia

Communicative techniques in English Language Teaching (ELT) have their origins in Western English-speaking contexts and have been transplanted into EFL environments. This has occurred without a great deal of research about how they work in these new situations. Group work is one well known technique of communicative language teaching now commonly used in many EFL settings. This paper reports on what actually happened when Chinese students worked in groups as part of their normal English classes. It found that one feature of the students' behaviour included codeswitching between English and Chinese during discussions. Evidence from an examination of group discussion transcripts and student interview data showed that codeswitching can fulfil a variety of functions in group discussions. It is possible that some of these functions may limit the range of communicative English outcomes originally intended for group work.

Keywords: EFL, China, groupwork, codeswitching

© 2006 R. Chen & B. Hird

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