Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: Reasons for Mixing English Words on Facebook Post

REASONS FOR MIXING ENGLISH WORDS ON FACEBOOK POST
Misael Aldo Walangitan
Satya Wacana Christian University

Abstract
In conversation, bilinguals may tend to do code mixing. The development of the internet
offers a new medium for communication, know as Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
where cod mixing continues to occur. The occurrence of code mixing is based on several reasons
(Hoffman, 1991; Kow, 2003). This research was conducted to investigate the reasons people mix
English words on Facebook. To fulfill the aim of this study, there were seven Indonesian English
as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners as Facebook users selected in this study. Two instruments
were used to get the data, observations and interviews. Observations were integrated to look for
posts consisting of mixes of Indonesian and English words. From the observations, 3 posts from
each participant were used as the data. After analyzing the posts, the participants were then
interviewed to investigate their reasons in mixing English words into their posts. The
occurrences of mixing English words were analyzed using Kow’s (2003) 10 conditions. The
results showed that there were reasons that were only 4 reasons identified under the 10
conditions and there were other reasons outside the 10 conditions. These differences might come
from the fact that Kow’s (2003) classifications were based on spoken interaction, while this
study was conducted under CMC environment where spoken and written features are both
incorporated in the interactions.

Keywords: Code Mixing, Facebook, CMC