PERCEPTION OF ESL AND EFL STUDENTS TOWARDS CODE-SWITCHING IN ONLINE CLASSROOMS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

COVID-19 pandemic resulted in paradigm shifts and changes in educational landscape especially in the field of English Language Teaching, thus requiring teachers to tailor instruction and even relax language prescription to aid students in the new normal. Code-switching, a linguistic phenomenon normally practiced by ESL and EFL students, penetrates online classrooms beyond doubt. The purpose of this study is to examine the ESL and EFL students' perception towards code-switching in online classrooms. Using a qualitative method, data were collected through a focus group discussion with 2 sets of participants: 9 Filipino ESL students and 7 Vietnamese EFL students. Moreover, this study used the sequential analysis by Creswell (2018) on data generation. Findings indicated that a majority of FGD participants believe that shifting from English to their native language enhances their language proficiency in the target language, increases their participation, and has become a normal linguistic practice in online classrooms. However, a few FGD participants have ambivalence towards code-switching such as poor English language proficiency and extreme dependence and reliance on their teachers. The analysis also revealed three ways how code-switching is used as tool for English language learning in the online classrooms: (1) achieving linguistic competencies prescribed in the curriculum, (2) managing online classrooms, and (3) building connection between teachers and students. FGD participants call ESL and EFL teachers to use code-switching as an accommodation strategy for more effective English language learning and teaching in the new normal.