The Use and Perception of Codeswitching among Teachers and Students

This study involves a small-scale investigation of codeswitching in university classrooms. The perceptions of
the use and the effectiveness of codeswitching were investigated from the perspectives of 23 instructors and
765 students in various fields at a Korean university. In addition, the actual use of codeswitching in the
classroom by an instructor, teaching the theories of English Language Teaching, was investigated. These two
data sources have served as the subsequent main study. The results show that both instructors and students
perceive the use of codeswitching is effective in learning English skills overall, but the instructors consider it
more effective in reading while students perceive it more effective in listening. This study also explored the
functions of codeswitching in the classroom. The findings suggest that codeswitching is employed to
accommodate the participants’ language preference or competence.