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B. Problem Limitation
This study is a case study on the code-mixed utterances created by a bilingual child. It gives a portrait about a language phenomenon experienced by a
bilingual child. It focuses only on the code- mixing in the child’s utterances. The
main participant of this study is a bilingual child living in Semarang. The child became bilingual as her parents decided to introduce English and Bahasa
Indonesia to her since she was newborn. Her father often uses Bahasa Indonesia, whereas her mother always uses English when talking to Rose. In her daily
conversations, she often mixes both languages in an utterance. The research discussion is limited to identifying the types of code-mixing
and to finding the reasons for the child’s code-mixing. It focuses on the syntactic
aspect that it attempts to look at the contribution of each language in forming mixed sentences. The data collection used to address the research problems is
taken from noted observations of the main participant of the study and an
interview with the childs parents. The observations will be conducted in her daily
life interaction with the surrounding people, namely, family members, friends, and teachers. Those observations will be done during September 2012 to May 2013.
C. Problem Formulation
This study is aimed at addressing the following problems: 1.
What are the types of code-mixing created by the bilingual child? 2.
What are the possible reasons that may cause code-mixing in her utterances?
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D. Research Objectives
As stated previously, this study is aimed to examine the tendency of a bilingual child in mixing languages. The objectives of the study are to identify the
types of code-mixing and to discover possible reasons that may cause the bilingual child to produce code-mixing in her utterances.
E. Research Benefits
This study is expected to give benefits to many people. Firstly, this study is intended to help the parents who want to introduce two different languages to
their children. The results of this study gives an insight about a phenomenon that is potential to happen regarding child bilingualism, namely, code-mixing. This
study presents information that will help parents have a view of dealing with child bilingualism since early time.
Secondly, the results of this study can be used as a reference for teachers who teach children in international schools. International schools attempt to use
English as the main language of communication. However, because children are surrounded by Indonesian speakers in their daily lives, the tendency of using
Bahasa Indonesia is still high. Therefore, it might lead the children to use both English and Indonesian to communicate at school. Thus, the new knowledge
gained from reading this research paper will be beneficial to teachers who deal with child bilingualism.
5 Thirdly, this study is also beneficial to other researchers who are interested
in studying code-mixing and child bilingualism. This study provides information that can be the base of other research on the same topic.
F. Definition of Terms
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