Code-Switching in Social Media and Its Implications for Language Teaching

As one of the most favoured social networking sites, Facebook provides an important platform for contemporary plurilingual practices. On this site, an emerging phenomenon reflecting individual language use is code-switching, which is defined as the alternate use of more than one language or variety in a discourse. Research has shown that code-switching requires a high level of competence in the languages involved and that various functions can be assigned. As the relevance of multilingual and multicultural competences in foreign language learning increases, plurilingual practices like code-switching capture the interest of researchers. The purpose of this thesis is to identify functions of code-switching based on a classification by Halim and Maros (2014). In addition, implications for language teaching are discussed. Arguing that the construction of identity plays a crucial part when engaging in social practice, the results are also considered in light of this aspect. For the research the mixed methods analysis programme MAXQDA was utilised to code more than 1`000 Facebook timeline posts from six individuals. 13 different languages and 65 instances of code-switching could be identified. Furthermore, interviews with every participant were conducted to qualify the results. Findings suggest that code-switching in online communication occurs mainly to serve the function of addressee specification, message qualification or indicating emotions/emphasis. As the data derives from Facebook, where language and identity are explicitly linked, the superior function of identity construction can be assigned to all instances of code-switching