Investigating?a?scaffold?to?code‐switching?as?strategy?in?multilingual?classrooms?

摘要

There? is? an? urgent? need? to? find? strategies? to? assist?multilingual? learners?who? are? taught? by means?of?English?as?the?language?of?teaching?and?learning?(LoLT)?in?coping?with?subject?matter, especially? as? learners? show? different? levels? of? English? proficiency.?One? important? strategy? is code‐switching.? The? possibility? of? using? a? glossary,? notes? and? tests? given? in? English? and Setswana? as? scaffold? for? the? code‐switching,? was? investigated? in? a? qualitative? study.? An intervention? was? launched? in? a? region? where? the?main? language? is? Setswana.? Two? schools participated?in?the?study,?one?school?in?a?rural?area?and?the?other?in?a?township.?The?teaching?of a?geometry?unit?was?undertaken? in?which?notes,?a?glossary?and? tests? in?English?and?Setswana were?used?to?assist?the?learners.?The?teachers?used?a?strategy?of?code‐switching.?Interviews?withthe? learners?and? the? teachers? revealed? that? learners?had?a?positive?attitude? towards? the?use?of both? languages? in?written?work.? In?contrast,? the? teachers?had?mixed? feelings,?especially?about the?use?of?mathematical?terminology?in?Setswana.?Difficulties?experienced?and?positive?features regarding?the?use?of?new?Setswana?terminology?are?discussed.