Blog 6

Source 1: Does Code Switching Work for Young Children? A Case Study of English Language Learners

Anselmko, Geena, and Mohogany Williams. "Does Code Switching Work for Young Children? A Case Study of English Language Learners." Proceedings of the National Conference of Undergraduate Research 2012 (2012): n. pag. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.

The pre and post scores taken before and after the use of code switching between English and Spanish in the Elementary classroom showed overall improvement in fluency, Pronunciation, grammar, and expression. Overall, this study showed that the code switching technique, when used in the classroom, supports young English learners who are coming from a Hispanic background. It is very important that teachers are prepared to teach English learners.

-         - Songs on CD

-         - Charts written in English and Spanish

-         - Books with CDs in English and Spanish (helps with words and sounds)

-          -Variety of instructional activities

Source 2: Code switching versus borrowing in Bilingual Children

Centeno, Olena. "Code-Switching vs. Borrowing in Bilingual Children." Bilingual Kids Rock. Bilingual Kids, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

When a child starts switching between languages mid-sentence it has been mischaracterized as “confusion”. According to pop culture and academic literature, mixing languages is bad and this is also believed by some teachers. Teachers and “old-fashioned critics” are wrong. It is a positive sign of development in bilingual learners.

Two types of mixing languages:

-         - Code switching

-         - Borrowing

Code switching: Child or adult switches between two languages in the same sentence. (both with fluency). They are thinking bilingually and actively using both languages to better express themselves. This is done more out of comfort than out of confusion or excitement. A child is less likely to code switch around someone who they do not feel comfortable around or that would not recognize both languages. For example, going to a monolingual school, a child is much more likely to code-switch at home than at school where they would be much less understood.

Borrowing or Mixing Languages: Using one language primarily and mixing in occasional words from another. The child speaks one primary language and the vocab from the other is altered to fit into their primary language. (Usually when the child doesn’t know the word they want to use in the language that they are using but they know it in another language. While some think this shows the child’s lack of intelligence, it really shows that they are bright enough to think of the best way they can to express a specific word; it is simply in another language.

What to do about code switching: It’s good that a child is using both languages because that is the point of having a bilingual child that can speak more than one language. It does not mean they don’t know the difference between the two languages; however, it may be a problem when a child speaks two languages to someone who would not understand them both. [conjunctive adverb]

In my pattern of the week I used a conjunctive adverb to bring to points together. There is a semi-colon before the however to put a stop to the first statement and a comma after the however to allow the rest of the statement to flow. I chose to experiment with this pattern because I thought that it would be a good way to bring similar statements together while creating a slight emphasis on the second part. I think that I use conjunctive adverbs occasionally but it isn’t usually intentional. If I start to push them into my writing more then it could create more emphasis and variety in my writing.