Undergraduate Students’ Uses of Code Switching (CS) in Pakistani Universities: A Reflective Study

Abstract

Pakistan is a multicultural, multilingual and multiethnic society, therefore, code switching (CS) is a common feature of the Pakistani society. The study has deployed the qualitative and quantitative methods to answer the research questions. The data was collected from the undergraduate students and their teachers of two public sector universities located in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The findings reveal that both undergraduate students and university teachers are using CS as a tool beneficially for multiple reasons in universities such as, teaching, translation, classroom discussion, comprehension, and explanation, conversation, asking for clarification and responding to teachers’ questions. The code switching alleviates students’ language anxiety. It is recommended that CS as an effective bilingual strategy of teaching should be included in teacher education programs to train the university faculty members for implementing it successfully in their classrooms for achieving the objectives of their academic courses.