A Study Of Code Switching In Junior Secondary Physical Science Classrooms In Selected Schools In The Oshana Education Region

ABSTRACT 

Namibia has a small population of about 2.1 million but about 30 languages are spoken. English was chosen as the official language although it is only a home language to about 1.9% of the population. Moreover, English was also selected to be the language of instruction from Grade 4 up to the tertiary level. Studies indicate that English proficiency is poor amongst most Namibian teachers as well as learners and that teachers sometimes resort to mixing English with mother tongue during instruction. This study was intended to determine the prevalence of code switching in the Junior Secondary Physical Science classrooms in the Oshana Education Region. This study also sought to find out the reasons for the occurrence of code switching in the Physical Science classrooms, the impact that code switching has on the teaching and learning of Physical Science as well as to explore the teachers? perception of code switching. The study followed a mixed research design approach, where a sample of 22 teachers was drawn from 10 schools of the population of the Junior Secondary Physical Science teachers in Oshana Education Region. In an attempt to get a representative sample of the population, stratified random sampling method was employed for this study. Triangulation was used in the study by incorporating quantitative and qualitative data obtained from lesson observations, questionnaires as well as by conducting structured interviews to cross-validate the research findings of the study. The findings of this study revealed that code switching was prevalent in the Oshana Education Region Junior Secondary Physical Science classrooms. The teachers were found to be using code switching as a strategy to make their learners understand better and to overcome the learners? and teachers? English language proficiency in their classrooms. The findings also established that some teachers avoided code switching as a preventative measure for their learners not to code switch in the examinations as it would contribute to the learners performing poorly. It was also found that some teachers did not code switch because the subject and language policies did not allow it.  The findings pointed out a number of advantages of code switching indicating that it is beneficial to the teaching and learning of Physical Science. Some disadvantages of code switching were identified, which pointed out that it can hamper the learners? performance in the examinations as well as their perfection of the English language. The findings further revealed that the Junior Secondary Physical Science teachers in the Oshana Education Region were in a dilemma; 60% of the respondents indicated that code switching should be allowed. The respondents expressed mixed feelings on how code switching impacted the teaching and learning of Physical Science. About 9% of the respondents stated that the Namibian Language Policy forced them to use English as the language of instruction and they would like to have the native languages used as the media of instruction. This research has recommended that the Ministry of Education should take cognizance of these findings and formulate guidelines on the use of code switching in schools.  In addition, there is a need to initiate and fund research activities on the code switching phenomenon in Namibia so as to determine and emulate the best practices from othermultilingual countries.