Investigating the Pedagogical Role of Code-Switching in Bridging the Linguistic Gap between the Arabic and Target Languages

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the pedagogical role that code-switching plays to relate the students with the lesson content during EFL classes .Moreover, this study aims to investigate the role of code-switching in enhancing students' interaction in classroom. Also the study addresses the role of code-switching in saving lesson time and teacher's effort. The study takes on the descriptive analytic method and it incorporates two data gathering tools after checking their validity and reliability which are classroom observation checklist and teachers' questionnaire .The sample included 90 students at Alnokhaba Secondary School in Omdurman Locality besides (15) EFL secondary teachers whom randomly selected. The data has been statistically analyzed by (SPSS) programme. The findings generally indicate that code-switching achieves the students' satisfaction and makes them more comfortable and more connected with the lesson content. Also code-switching can enable the students to participate in classroom discourse. In addition to the previous mentioned findings, code-switching minimizes both the time spent by the teacher to explain the difficult concepts and the effort exerted in it. According to the findings of the study, the researcher recommends that the study should be expanded to cover different schools across the country. Moreover, the sample should include other educational stages as basic schools and colleges and different ages so as to investigate the effectiveness of using code-switching as an instructional tool in bridging the linguistic gap between the Arabic and the target languages. Also the researcher recommends that, EFL teachers should be fully aware of the specific pedagogical purpose behind using code-switching for the sake to avoid using it excessively.