Riska Linawatii, 2015 Code switching : The use of L1 in teaching English speaking skill at a junior high school in
Bandung Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter is an introduction of this study. It presents a brief description of the background of the study in the use of code switching to ALL in teaching
English speaking skill, which is the explanation part. Subsequently, the background of the study is followed by the purpose, questions, significance,
scope, methodology, and clarification of terms of the study. At last, this chapter also presents the organization of the paper.
1.1 Background of the Study
Code switching takes place in many occasions of p eople’s conversation. It
could be found in daily interaction and in classroom teaching and learning process. The occurrences of code switching in those two conditions are
understood as naturalistic code switching and classroom code switching Macaro, 2014, p. 11. In relation to the naturalistic code switching, it is defined as a way to
communicate in bilingualism speech people. The multilingualism in Indonesia permits the code switching shows its existence; whether it is switching between
official Indonesian with a traditional language, or a traditional language with another, or Indonesian with international language such as English. Lowi 2005,
p. 1393 expresses that code switching is looked as a “bilingual multilingual practice that is used not only as a conversational tool, but also as a way to
establish, maintain, and delineate ethnic boundaries and identities.”
Riska Linawatii, 2015 Code switching : The use of L1 in teaching English speaking skill at a junior high school in
Bandung Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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The occurrence of code switching also takes place in classroom whether it is a Teaching English as a Second Language TESL or a Teaching English as a
Foreign Language TEFL classroom as a tool in the classroom interaction between teacher and the students to learn or to improve or to advance their target
language TL. Related to this, in Indonesia, English is taught since the very beginning level of education. In real classroom, the teacher does not really use
English as the instructional language. Indonesian is used in the larger portion than English itself, even in the whole lesson. Based on the researcher’s experience in
primary and secondary level of education, the teacher used Indonesian in the whole lesson. The teacher used English when reading text on the course book
only. This condition causes the researcher and her friends do not have chance to use English. It is caused by the lack of exposure in practicing the spoken
language. Besides, it is felt as a disadvantage because there is no effort from the
teacher to create appropriate atmosphere and to encourage the students’ interest in learning English. Moreover, based on the researcher
’s experience in doing teaching practicum, it is not a weird situation for the students where Indonesian is
used much more than English itself in the English course. In contrast, there is a point of view which states that using English-only is an appropriate way in
teaching and learning English. It requires the teacher and students use English only in the classroom, such as the policy of using English predominantly in the
classroom in Japanese education Humphries, 2014, p. 65. There must be positive and negative effects of that English-only use in classroom activity, also for
education in Indonesia. In line with this, the present study investigates the occurrence of code switching to L1 where English is not used exclusively in the
classroom. The present study intends to see whether the use of code switching to ALL helps both teacher and students in completing the lesson.
Riska Linawatii, 2015 Code switching : The use of L1 in teaching English speaking skill at a junior high school in
Bandung Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
| repository.upi.edu
| perpustakaan.upi.edu
As stated previously, code switching could be used in teaching English as a target language TL, as in Indonesia. It allows the teacher and students use their
mother tongue and practice their TL in classroom. It gives a place where the L1 and TL are used together in achieving learning objective. Related to this, using
English in the teaching and learning process still become a prominent thing. When the students have limitation in producing the sentence in the TL, the code
switching to L1 can be used to cope problem that happens in the class. This code switching allows the teacher to use English and L1 in proper portion where it
could provide a chance for the students to learn English better Cook, 2001, as cited in Jingxia, 2010.
Using English in the English course is needed because it is about teaching a language. Practice is needed. It is noticeable that there is a lack of exposure in
practicing English in Indonesia. The only prepared place to use English is school, that is, when they are learning English course. When they are in an actual social
environment, there is a low intensity of exposure to use English. Hariyanto 1997 holds that several students will be successful to speak English when they are
learning as a student in school. This condition will change after they graduated from school. The ability of speaking English would descend because of the lack of
exposure in using the language as cited in Haris, 2006, p.1. As stated before, the phenomenon of code switching may occur in TESL
and TEFL classroom since they use more than one language in the teaching and learning process. In this situation, code switching refers to alternate use of the first
language and the target language Jingxia, 2010, p. 10. It is found that TESL classroom where perceives English as the second language, has high exposure in
using English or target language because English is used as a tool or medium in the classroom interaction. Besides, English is also used as a way in maintaining
social relationship. On the other hand, the students of TEFL classroom get low
Riska Linawatii, 2015 Code switching : The use of L1 in teaching English speaking skill at a junior high school in
Bandung Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
| repository.upi.edu
| perpustakaan.upi.edu
exposure in using English compared with TESL classroom because the students may do not have enough exposure in using the target language outside the
classroom interaction, as in Indonesia. Obviously, there are many studies have investigated the occurrence of
code switching in classroom situations. Many of them investigate teacher’s use of L1 in delivering the lesson and how the teacher responds when the students do not
understand the English or the target language Jiangxia, 2010; Tien, 2014; Tian, 2014; Canh, 2014. In line with that, while other studies inspecting code switching
in the teaching and learning process in a whole lesson, the present study investigates the phenomenon of code switching in specific area, that is code
switching in teaching English speaking skill; when the teacher is explaining a topic. In addition, the present study wants to find out whether or not code
switching is beneficial for the teacher and students. Still in context of code switching, it has more chance to happen in spoken
area than the written one Barnard McLellan, 2014, p. 7. The spoken highly takes place in the classroom interaction, moreover in teaching the speaking skill
when the teacher gives details of the lesson and the students are expected to be able to produce or utter something in line with what the teacher has shown and
explained. Related to this, the teacher should be able to give more exposure for the students to use the English in the classroom interaction and be able to clarify
or deliver the meaning. In the teaching and learning process, although the teacher has prepared
everything well, there must be unpredictable things occur in the teaching and learning process itself. One of them might be the lack of students’ knowledge in
term of vocabulary that will distract and challenge the teacher in conveying the meaning. This limitation should not make the teacher just mentions the meaning
directly, but there will be other ways to make them understand. This kind of
Riska Linawatii, 2015 Code switching : The use of L1 in teaching English speaking skill at a junior high school in
Bandung Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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| perpustakaan.upi.edu
conditions will affect the teacher’s preference in switching the language in conveying the purpose to the students. Related to the preference in switching the
language in the teaching and learning process, teacher has to use the English as much as possible and encourage the students to use English or target language as
much as they can Gao Dai, 2007, as cited in Tian, 2014, p. 43. In teaching and learning process, both teacher and students have important
role in achieving objective of the lesson completely. As an organizer, the teacher should be able to organize them in doing activity, give instruction, put them in
group, etc to improv e the students’ competence and performance in English
Harmer, 2007, p. 58. Related to this condition, investigate the teacher’s switching, know about causes of his her switching to L1, and know about
students’ perception toward this switching are considered essential. A teacher should be able to show his her capability and know what he she exactly doing is,
to help the students in understanding the lesson. This kind of teacher’s professionalism will affect the students’ respect to the teacher him herself
Harmer, 2007, p. 128. Therefore, know about the students’ perception will
benefit the teacher to make some changes or developments in doing the better teaching.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
