JIMPS: Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa Pendidikan Sejarah, 8(4), 2023. Hlm.

3515-3522
JIMPS P-ISSN: 2964-7231, E-ISSN: 2614-3658
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24815/jimps.v8i4.26510

Reasons of Students Using Code Switching in English

Language Teaching
Syarifah Rischa Nadya1, Rani Herning Puspita2
1,2Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan,

Universitas Muhammadiyah Samarinda1,2

Correspondence Author: rhp546@umkt.ac.id

Article History
Received : 2023-01-22
Revised : 2023-04-26
Accepted : 2023-06-12
Published : 2023-08-04
Keywords:
Language, Code
Switching,
Sociolinguistics,
Bilingual
Available online at
https://jim.usk.ac.id/sejarah
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine why students
employed code switching during the learning process in English class. Six
students from SMKN 4 Samarinda in the 2021/2022 academic year
participated in this study. The subjects were students with the greatest
English score, the median English score, and the lowest English score. The
English teacher contributed to the score. The descriptive qualitative
method was used in this investigation. The data for the study was gathered
through observation and interviews. Hoffman theory was used to examine
the data. The study's findings revealed the reasons why students use code
switching for repeat for explanation and interruption.
Abstrak: Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menentukan mengapa
siswa menggunakan peralihan kode selama proses pembelajaran dalam
kelas Bahasa Inggris. Enam siswa dari SMKN 4 Samarinda pada tahun
akademik 2021/2022 berpartisipasi dalam penelitian ini. Subjek penelitian
terdiri dari siswa dengan nilai Bahasa Inggris tertinggi, nilai Bahasa Inggris
median, dan nilai Bahasa Inggris terendah. Guru Bahasa Inggris juga
berkontribusi dalam penilaian tersebut. Metode deskriptif kualitatif
digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Data untuk penelitian ini dikumpulkan
melalui observasi dan wawancara. Teori Hoffman digunakan untuk
menganalisis data. Temuan dari penelitian ini mengungkapkan alasan
mengapa siswa menggunakan peralihan kode untuk mengulangi penjelasan
dan interupsi.

INTRODUCTIOM Multilingualism is the ability of an individual

Language is crucial in communicating
with others. People will be able to
communicate with one another more readily
and efficiently if they use language (Kasneci et
al., 2023). Many people are fluent in more than
one language, which occurs when the person
is not in a location where they may use their
mother tongue, and it also occurs when the
person learns another language in addition to
their mother tongue. A multilingual or
bilingual society is one in which people
converse in more than one language.
or a group to communicate using three or
more languages (Bin-Tahir et al., 2020).
Bilingualism, on the other hand, is a
phenomena in which people can communicate
in two languages (Shabani, 2023).
In a bilingual or multilingual situation,
code switching additionally occurs. Someone
who knows two languages might also know
the cultural historical past of the two
languages, and sometimes will become gifted
in each languages and as a consequence
adopts code switching during language used

3515
(Özşen et al., 2020). Code switching
phenomenon is not only occurs in society but
also in education field. English as a foreign
language was formally taught in schools from
elementary school until university. It also
become an obligatory subject and as one of the
subject examined in the national examination.
In teaching English as a second language,
teacher ask student s to speak English more
than speak in Bahasa. In this situation code
switching phenomenon occurred because
students do not master English vocabulary so
that in class activities they use 2 languages at
the same time. Code switching is an event
where someone speaks by mixing words,
phrases or sentences in 2 different
grammatical systems (Ezeh et al., 2022).
Definision of code-switching as the process of
going from one language to the other in mid-
speech when both speakers knew the same
language. Using 2 languages in
communicating is a natural thing and happens
in many parts of the world (Mohammad,
2019). This is in line with what (Candra &
Qodriani, 2019) stated which states that the
ability to move from one language to another
is normal.
The use of code switching in education
context is not forbidden, it could be as a
strategy as proposed by (Hu et al., 2022) that
Code-switching can be one of the strategies
used by teacher in the classroom interaction.
In teaching process of speaking classes, the
teacher is determine the code choice to used
in communication, code switching happened
when teacher shift from one language to other
either it is sentences, clause, word, and even
on conducted particularly in switch to
language in one teaching process. Stated that
expressed code-switching as an inspirational
strategy for the learners because it provides a
‘care-free classroom atmosphere’ and ability
of students’ comprehension, he also asserts
code switching and assisted students
positively. Teacher generally used English and
Indonesian in teaching English as a foreign
language to their students in order to make
students understand the material better. Code
switching occurs between students and
teacher in English classrooms when they
speak using using two languages. Therefore,
this study would discussed more focusing on
the reasons of students by examining what are
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the more detailed reasons for using code
switching in the english classroom.
There are sone reasons why people or
students using code switching. Stated there
are seven reasons people switch their
languages:
1. Need to discuss a particular topic. People
sometimes feel more comfortable to speak
or discuss some topic using a certain
language.
2. Kutipan. Pembicara beralih kodemengutip
ungkapan, peribahasa, atau ucapan
terkenal dari beberapa tokoh terkenal. Di
Indonesia banyak orang mengutip kata
atau kalimat dari tokoh yang ahli dalam
bidang tertentu dan banyak dari tokoh
tersebut berasal dari luar negeri sehingga
kutipan langsung akan ditulis secara utuh
dalam Bahasa Inggris.
3. Solidarity. Many people speak using their
first language (L1) in many situation, while
some particular situation make them to
speak using second language (L2) for
example students in Indonesia that
common to speak using Bahasa have to try
to speak using English in English Language
Teaching class.
4. Interjection. Interjections are words used
to describe expressions, emotions or to
attract attention. Interjections are usually
exclamatory words such as: Wow1, Look!,
Ouch!. These words have no grammar but
are often spoken verbally.
5. Repetition for clarification. When a
bilingual speaker wants to explain or
clarify something he can use two languages
at the same time. Repetition is not only to
clarify but also to emphasize something.
6. Necessity of intention. When a speaker has
the ability to use another language, there
will be a lot of code switching in his
communication and to make it easier for
the listener to understand the message to
be conveyed, the person (speaker) will use
another language in a modified way.
7. Express group identity. The way of
communicating and choosing the language
of people in a particular disciplinary group
will certainly be different from groups with
different disciplines. In other words the
communication of a community will be
different from people who are not included
in the community and the way of
communicating people who are in the same
 community shows the identity of that
person.
In general, code switching is a natural
phenomenon for foreign language learners in
communication activities or interacting in
social groups.
There are several concerns of this
research from previous related studies. The
first is a study conducted by (Syaiful et al.,
2021) on code switching used by teacher for
English language mastering in class I SMPN 2
Sumbergempol academic year 2013/2014.
She has some purposed that are (1) To find the
types of code switching which used by the
teacher in teaching and learning process at
first grade of SMPN 2 Sumbergempol (2) To
describe the reason of the teacher when use
code switching in their teaching and learning
process at first grade of SMPN 2
Sumbergempol. The result of the study shows
that there is kind of types code switching.
There are two types of code switching used by
the teacher in teaching and learning process at
first grade of SMPN 2 Sumbergempol, they are
(1) Inter-sentential switching (2) Intra-
sentential switching. Second result of this
research was the reasons teachers use codes
switching primarily based on interviews, they
are (1) To make students recognize better; (2)
To help students better understand the lesson
on improving speaking and listening
potential; (3) To make college students use
English in small contexts including praying,
asking questions permission and many others.
The second study was done by
(Anggraeni et al., 2023). She analyzed about
the reason of English Language and Arts
students switch code in facebook. Anggreni
used descriptive quantitative in analyzing the
data. The result of the study shown that there
were seven reasons of students switch the
code with the dominant reason was talking
the particular topic (25%). The previous study
about code switching also conducted by
(Ferretti et al., 2020) about the phenomenon
of code transfer used by university leader in
West Sumatera. The purpose the study was to
identify the reasons of the university leader in
using code transfer. Lismay used descriptive
qualitative in analyzing the data. The results
shown that the reason why the university
leader using code switching due to the
educational background and the language
3518
habits in multilingual itself (Syafi’i et al.,
2023).
METHODS
This research used qualitative research
method, Moleong in Margono (2009) stated
that qualitative study is studied procedure
that produces descriptive information within
the form of words written or spoken of the
people and behaviors that can be determined.
Qualitative used for conversation, document
analysis, recording and interview. This study
analyzed code switching and explains about
reasons students use code switching in their
English classrooms. The subjects of this
research were six students of grade eleven
consists of two students with the highest
English scores, two students with the middle
English scores, and two students with the
lowest English scores. The scores was got
from English teacher.
In collecting data from individuals,
researcher used several units. The researcher
used interview, and observation as technique
of data collection. (Goddymkpa & Akpan, n.d.)
stated that there are two types of participants
in observing. There are researcher who is as
participant and researcher who is non-
participant. The technique used in this
research were observing and listening
without participating, this means that
researcher do not participate in the discussion
of the teaching and learning process.
In this study, some students were
interviewed or recorded their classroom
experiences while learning English. Data was
gathered from students who responded to
specific questions posed by the researcher
about why they sometimes code swap.
Because of the use of two languages in this era
and when learning English classes, the
researcher chose this data subject.
If the reality data is available, qualitative
data analysis is performed. Data was collected
in a variety of ways (observation, interview,
document digests, tapes) and is generally
processed before it is ready for use (via
recording, typing, editing, or transcribing), but
qualitative analysis still used words that were
generally arranged into expanded text and did
not use mathematical calculations or statistics
as analytical tools. (Raharjo, 2023) There are
three forms of facts analysis. Data analysis is
classified into three types: data condensation,
data display, conclusion drawing, and
verification.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Observation
In concluding observations, this study
used field notes observations written during
the observation session in class. It contains
the language used by teacher and students
and also researcher used observation sheet to
support the data, in which there are students
activities in the classroom. After observing
and analyzing all the data, the researcher
analyzed the types of code switching (Astani
et al., 2020) theory and the types of code
switching used by students is: intra-sentential
switching, inter-sentential switching and tag
switching. From the results of observations
and transcript analysis, it can be concluded
that the teacher and students used intra-
sentential switching in 24 times. In intra-
sentence transition, teacher switching
involves shifting language at the first or in the
middle of a sentence, and is usually done
without paused, interruptions, or hesitations.
For example, “Setelah ini I will ask you to write
a personal letter, so be prepared”. From the
results of observations and transcript
analysis, it can be concluded that the teacher
and students used inter sentential switching
in 21 times. the transition between sentences,
the teacher switch to phrase, sentence, or
discourse boundaries, for example: "So, there
are here are doing research. When you go to
college, you will also do this, kakak mahasiswa
disini sedang melakukan penelitian, saat
kalian kuliah nanti kalian bakal melakukan
seperti ini juga”. For the last type of code
switching researcher found that students and
teacher used tag switching in 12 times. In tag
switching the teacher puts tags and phrases
into one language becomes the opposite in
other languages, for example: “What does
mean daughter in law? Apa?"
2. Interview
From the result of the interview with
the students of SMKN 4 Samarinda, the
researcher got the different answer toward
her research question about the reason
student using code switching in english
classroom. After conducting researcher
3519
interviewed found four answers from
students related to the first research question.
Two students have the same answer, actually
the reasons is not all students understand
what the teacher said in English, because
actually they still lack vocabulary and still
don't understand make sentences in English.
So, for this is the reason students used code
switching in English class subject in class to
clarify meaning, repetition for clarification.
The teacher also changed his language when
teacher want to clarify their speech so that it
will be understood by students.
In addition to their lack of English, there
are also students who are still not confident
because they are afraid of mispronouncing
English so that they don't speak English too
much, so they are more comfortable using
language code switching when speaking, not
fully using English even though actually they
can. From the results of in-depth interviews, it
was found that the most reasons from six
students, four students answered that they
were still lacking in using English. There were
several reasons why the students used code
switching in the English classroom. Based on
the result of interviewing the researcher
connected all the answers with the Hoffman’s
theory about the reason using code switching.
a. students used code switching to make it
easier to speak English, sometimes when
students misunderstand or don't
understand what the teacher is saying,
students ask the teacher for repetition to
make students understand better, this
reason is the same as Hoffman's theory
which is called the used of repetition for
clarification. meaning that when a speaker
wants to clarify his speech so that it is
better understood by his listeners,
sometimes he can used both languages
(codes) that he is fluent in to pronounce the
same massage. Based on the explanation
above, the researcher concluded that one
of the reasons students used code
switching is repetition which is used for
clarification.
b. Students used code switching to express
emotions through language using English.
Sometimes when students are in the
learning process and want to learn English.
They always used several interjections in
English, this reason is the same as
Hoffman's theory of code switching
 reasons called Interjection. Interjections
are words or expressions, which are
inserted into sentences to convey surprise,
strong emotions.
Interjection is a short interjection and
has no grammatical value, but speakers use it
in conversation so the researcher concluded
that one of the reasons students used code
switching is interjection.
DISCUSSION
Researcher had already taken data from
eleventh grade students of SMKN 4
Samarinda. In this study, the researcher
focused on analyzing the reason of code
switching used by students when they learn
English subjects in class. Researcher have
made observations for explain how students
used code switching in English class subject.
The researcher also transcribed the teacher's
speech when they were teaching English.
(Myers-Scotton, 2006) defined that
code switching is bilingual variations in the
same conversation. Code-switching can occur
in conversations between speakers' turns or
in-house single speaker turn. In the latter case
it can occur between sentences (inter-
sentential) or in one sentence (intra-
sentential) or tag switching.
The used of English from teacher at
SMKN 4 Samarinda is quite good, they tried to
convey the material with English, but some
students did not understand the material. It's
because students are still difficult to learn
English, they still need to improve their
English especially in vocabulary and
grammar. After observing and analyzing all
the data, the researcher analyzed the types of
code switching and found that English teacher
used code switching. Type of code switching
used by the teacher is: intra-sentential
switching, inter-sentential switching and tag
switching. Intra-sentential switching occur in
the middle of a sentence.
This type of code switching, in this case
the speaker can replace parts of clauses,
lexical items, or even morphemes. Alternating
between sentences occurs between sentences,
as the name suggests show. Switching
between sentences refers to transitions in
sentences or speech boundaries, and Tag-
switching involve exclamation points, tags, or
a parenthetical in a language other than
another sentence means that tag-switching is
3520
the insertion of tags from one language into
utterances that are entirely in another
language. Often very short although it rarely
happens in class activities, sometimes the
teacher switch from Indonesian to English and
English to Indonesian.
The results of interviewed with
students, researcher got different reasons
from them about the code switching used by
them in the classroom. five students agree to
code switching used by teacher when they
teach English in class, but there are also one
student who give reasons that teacher should
used English when they teach English in class.
The used of code switching in teaching
English subjects at classroom can have both
positive and negative effects. As a positive
effect, Code switching helps teacher deliver
their material so that students also
understand what the teacher is said, and can
also avoid misunderstanding between
students and teacher. For negative effects, the
used of code switching English subjects in the
classroom make students too lazy to
memorize English words because they still
maybe ask what it means in Indonesian every
time they forget meaning of word.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study was to
analyzed the reasons students use code
switching in English class. Based on the
research findings, the researcher can draw the
following conclusions:
1. Teacher and several students at SMK
Negeri 4 Samarinda used code switching
when they teach English in class, and all of
them used three types of code switching
based on Muyskn's theory, namely: intra-
sentential switching, intersentential
switching and tag switching.
2. The students said that not all students
understood what the teacher said in
English, because they were still lacking in
vocabulary and grammar. So for that the
teacher changed their language when
teaching to clarify the meaning so that
there are no misunderstandings between
students and teacher and to improve
communication in the classroom during
learning.
3. Some students gave a positive perception
of code switching used by the teacher, and
also there were students who wanted the
teacher to used full English in teaching
English to make them think hard and make
them improve their English.
Suggestion Based on the results and
discussion
The researcher wants to provide some
suggestions, as follows:
1. For Teacher
a. Teacher should use code switching in
teaching English as a way to make
students understand the material better
and to avoid misunderstandings
between teacher and students.
b. Teacher should speak English when
they meet students outside the
classroom to train their students to
speak English.
c. Teacher must clarify the mention of
English words so that students can
understand the pronunciation of
English words a little and ask again
whether students understand the
lesson.
2. For students
a. Students should practice speaking
English by using code switching at
school or in everyday life to improve
their English.
b. Students should improve their
vocabulary and grammar by studying
hard and reading more. Because in this
era of globalization, English is an
important subject for students to learn.
c. Students should have more confidence
in themselves in learning English,
confidence is also needed when they
want to communicate in English.
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