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7 Code-Switching: From Theoretical to Pedagogical Considerations
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C H A P T E R 7 Code-Switching FROM THEORETICAL TO PEDAGOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS Ana M. Carvalho, University of Arizona T HIS CHAPTER REVIEWS the major issues in the study of code-switching (CS), which is defined as the alternate use of two or more languages in the same utterance. Initially, CS was seen as aberrant linguistic behavior (Weinreich 1953), but the current consensus is that bilinguals code-switch simply because they can, and they use it to serve a variety of functions, as is demonstrated in this chapter. CS is a routine linguistic behavior among bilinguals when they interact with community members in numerous bilingual contexts around the world, and it is a well-established bilingual practice among Spanish-speaking immigrants and their offspring in the United States. As such, the main findings regarding the nature of, functions of, and attitudes toward CS merit the attention of anyone involved with heritage language pedagogy. Of all bilingual practices, CS is the most salient, and thus it is frequently perceived by both insiders and outsiders as indicative of disfluency or an inability to speak only one language at a time. These popular views treat CS as the result of incomplete acquisition (i.e., a failure to master both languages) or of language convergence (an inability to separate the languages). In contrast, the last thirty years of research have consistently shown not only that fluent CS is a hallmark of bilingual competence (not lack thereof) but also that it is rule-governed, serves a plethora of discourse functions, and functions as an important marker of group membership. This chapter aims to inform heritage language pedagogues, teachers, and developers of curricula and material about this essential characteristic of the linguistic repertoire that students bring to class. It presents a brief historical overview of CS research, followed by a discussion of the differences between CS and other language contact phenomena; the relationships between contact 139 140 ANA M. CARVALHO phenomena and language competence; and the most important linguistic, social, and discursive aspects of this language practice. Finally, it addresses the use of CS in the heritage language classroom and explores the main implications of research findings for heritage language education. THE HISTORY OF RESEARCH ON CS Erica Benson (2001, 26), in reviewing the history of CS research, stated that the term was probably first used in Vogt’s 1954 review of Weinreich’s Languages in Contact, but that both Baker and Espinosa had already documented and studied the phenomenon itself in the first half of the twentieth century (Benson 2001, 27). Both seminal works investigated Spanish-English bilingual communities in the US Southwest. Baker (quoted by Benson 2001) examined the linguistic behavior of Mexican American bilinguals in Tucson. He observed that Mexican Americans used English to speak with Anglo-Americans and Spanish to speak with family members, but that communication among bilinguals was characterized by frequent shifting from one language to the other (Benson 2001, 29). Interestingly, the conclusions that Baker reached in the 1940s—that CS was more frequent among youth, varied depending on the topic of conversation, and served as a strong marker of group membership—still hold true, given that numerous studies since Baker’s have identified these factors as characteristic of CS behavior. The other seminal research on CS was conducted by Espinosa, whose series of studies on New Mexican Spanish (1909–17, cited by Benson 2001, 34) detected CS behavior predominantly in the cities (where English-Spanish bilingualism was more common) and among schoolchildren (usually more fluent bilinguals than their parents). Both educated and uneducated speakers used CS; the important factor was whether they spoke English well (Benson 2001, 30–31). Espinosa’s and Baker’s early descriptive perspective that identified CS as a common bilingual behavior contrasted sharply with Haugen’s (1953, 1956) and Weinreich’s (1953) later prescriptive view of CS as an aberrant behavior. Unfortunately , as Benson (2001, 33) pointed out, subsequent scholars have been more influenced by Haugen and Weinreich than by Espinosa and Baker. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the emergence of systematic studies of the sociolinguistics of US Spanish and, concurrently, investigations on CS in Spanish-English bilingual conversation (Amastae and Elı́as-Olivares 1982; Bowen and Ornstein 1976; Durán 1981; Hernández-Chávez, Cohen, and Beltramo 1975). Timm (1975), Pfaff (1979), and Poplack (1980) completed seminal work on English-Spanish CS, demonstrating that this bilingual practice not only serves social functions but...