Functions and Functional Preferences of Code Switching: A Case Study at a Private K-8 School in Turkish Context

Due to the changes in the approaches and methods in English language teaching throughout history, the use of mother tongue (L1) has been one of the most important topics discussed in the foreign language teaching field. Although most of the approaches used nowadays do not support the use of mother tongue, there is a change in the perception towards teachers’ code-switching in foreign language (L2) learning classrooms. There are various recent studies suggesting that using mother tongue facilitates foreign language learning. In this respect, the purpose of this study was to examine the teachers’ and students’ perceptions towards L1 use in L2 classrooms and under which circumstances they preferred using mother tongue. In addition, learners’ preferences of teachers’ code switching were also analyzed. Both teachers’ and students’ perceptions and beliefs on code switching were investigated using the questionnaires, classroom observations and interviews as data collection tools. There were 2 hour-observation periods (90 minutes) in the classrooms of 2 nd grade, 4 th grade and 7 th grade in which the circumstances of L1 use were analyzed to determine if there were any common characteristics of the L1 use. Findings of the revealed that there were some common circumstances where teachers code-switched to facilitate learning in the classroom and that students had some clear preferences for their teachers to switch to L1