Code switching: A Communicating and Facilitating Strategy in the Undergraduate Classrooms of District Zhob

Abstract

Code switching in the multilingual countries is common phenomenon and has many functions in a multicultural country like Pakistan. This common technique can be used for the communication in the educational institutes. Students at any level often tend to switch between English, Urdu and their native language during the conversation to reduce the language gap. This study is basically an aid to identify the communicative function of code switching in the undergraduate classrooms of district Zhob. Descriptive approach is used in the study. Markedness model and Matrix Language Frame model of Myers-Scotten is used to build and frame this study (Gross, 2000). A close ended questionnaire was used to collect the data from the students of four different undergraduate institutes of district Zhob Baluchistan. SPSS software was used to analyze the data. The findings of this study highlight the reasons behind code switching as a communicative strategy are to enhance students’ confidence level, promotes the culture of debate, improves the communicative skills of the students, increases the participation poor background students in the conversation and enhances the learning skills of the students in the learning environment.