Code-Switching as a Teaching Strategy: A Case Study of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Pakistan

Abstract

English enjoys a prestigious status as an official language in Pakistan. However, despite being a compulsory subject in schools and colleges in the Pakistani education system, English poses serious challenges to the students. Due to the problematic examination system and outdated course books, students often do not perform effectively in the English language. As a result, even at university level, students lack proper proficiency particularly in speaking and listening skills. Keeping the predicament of students in mind, sometimes teachers opt to use L1 to facilitate the language learning process. The present study has been conducted at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Pakistan to investigate whether code switching is approved as a teaching methodology by teachers and students. Data have been collected through two different questionnaires from students and English teachers of three campuses of CIIT. The results show that the majority of teachers and students prefer code-switching as a teaching strategy. However, they are of the opinion that use of L1 should be purposeful, limited and judicious. The present study also answers the ongoing debate about the use of code-switching as a teaching strategy by proving that teachers and students approve of it as an effective component of the teaching methodology. This research would guide English language teachers to modify their teaching methodologies in order to improve the learning process in English language classes.