This presentation describes three reasons for students of the bilingual classroom to code switch: because they were struggling in using English, they were concerned that peers may not understand, and they wanted to express solidarity with cultural identity.

1. Paper presented at 8th University of Sydney TESOL Research Network
Colloquium in conjunction with Macquarie University
7 September 2013
Beyond a language deficit: Students’
code switching in Indonesian tertiary
bilingual classrooms
Hilda Cahyani
PhD Scholar, University of South Australia

2. Background
A debate about reasons for Code switching (CS):
language deficiency or bilingual strategy?
Research of CS on syntactic aspects (Poplack,
1980) and sociolinguistic aspects (Blom and
Gumperz, 1972)

3. Background
Why bilingual program?
Status of English:
In ASEAN, English is becoming formalised as the
official working language (Kirkpatrick , 2012)
In Indonesia, international education is not a new
phenomenon (Zacharias, 2013)

4. Background
Why students’ CS?
Students are the central objective of the
teaching
Students struggle in learning content and
partly using the additional language
Research in CS is more interested to see
teachers’

5. Context
The program:
Bilingual program
vocational tertiary level
Diploma 3
Located in Malang,
East Java, Indonesia
Established in 2010
2 Departments:
Accounting,
Business Administration

6. Context
Students: 1st & 3rd year
bilingual program
Male:34% female:66 %,
Classroom size: 22-25
students
Medium of instruction:
English and
Bahasa Indonesia

7. Research question
What are the reasons for students to code
switch?
Research methods
Ethnographic case study
Prolonged observation and multiple data collections
(Creswell, 2013)
Grounded theory

8. Data
Observation
3 classes in one bilingual program:
2 Computer Accounting/MYOB
courses, 1 Introduction to Business
over one semester (23 sessions)
Questionnaires
– In the 3 classrooms observed
(56 students)
Interview
One on one interview with 6 students
Stimulated recall with 3 students
Focus Group with 7 students (2 times)

9. Reasons for students to code switch:
struggling in
using English
concerned that
peers may not
understand
expressing
solidarity with
cultural identity

10. Struggling in using English
Example 1:
(S5) Okay now I will explain to you about capital of limited
company, capital of limited company, eh the first eh the first capital
is the base capital atau yang disebut dengan modal dasar yakni
keseluruhan nilai perusahaan..(or we usually call authorised capital,
that is the maximum amount of capital owned by a company).

11. Reason:
I did not know the equivalent words in English.
I was afraid if I made mistakes. Well, because in
fact it is really hard. (S5 stimulated recall)

12. Struggling in using English
Structuring questions in English related to the
topic discussed is not easy (S2 interview)
For asking questions, I frequently structure it
first before asking it (S6 interview)
In English presentation, we begin with English but in
question session, when it gets very complicated, we
will switch into Bahasa Indonesia.(S7 focus group)

13. Concerned that peers may not understand
Example 1:
P1: Presenter 1, Ss: students, S4: student asking question
(P1) Any question?
(Ss) [Some were raising right hands]
(P1) [Pointing to one peer]
(S4) Okay thank you eehh Can you explain to me about
[reading a note] capability of limited managerial
[hesitating with her E, looking at the presenters and
smiling], bisakah anda jelaskan mengenai kemampuan
menejerial yang terbatas (Can you tell me about the
limited managerial skills)?

14. Concerned that peers may not understand
Reason:
First I had difficulty to transfer the content
when I delivered in English. Second I was afraid
if my friends could only listen and they could
not understand the message (S4 Stimulated
recall)
When my friends listened to me, they would say,
well the presentation has two languages,
mixing...not just English. So they would get
more attracted with in our group (S4 interview)

15. Expressing solidarity with cultural identity
Example 1
(S6) So the first I wanna give entertain to our friends but the
presentation is very wahh tidak mendukung (not supportive)
[referring to the blackout]. This is for you all please cekidot
(check it out).

16. Expressing solidarity with cultural identity
Reason:
We use Bahasa Indonesia because we want to
respect the nation, especially for Bahasa
Indonesia as the national language.
(S6 Stimulated recall)

17. Expressing solidarity with cultural identity
Example 2
Silahkan berdiri (stand up please) [talking
to other presenters in his group] Thank you
for your attention and I beg you an apology
if I make mistakes, I end this session (S4)
Reason
Because it is the language used by our culture, that
is the way we close the meeting. So I translated all
using English (S4 stimulated recall)

18. Discussion
Code-scaffolding (Cook, 2001; Fennema-Bloom,
2010)
Emotional support (Swain 2013)
Nationalism as the result of the spread and use of
Bahasa Indonesia through the country (Hamied,
2012)
CS behaviour in a certain group is influenced by
both cognitive and social factors (Seidlitz, 2003)

19. Conclusion
CS as a tool which not only served
as a ‘make-up’ for
their language
insufficiency, but also
as a response to the
perceived needs of
peers
to express their
national identity and
social attachment to
their cultural group

20. Conclusion
a positive perception of code switching
 to ease of
communication
 to social and
national identity and
social attachment to
their cultural group

21. References
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