code switching among bilingual and limited english ... switching among bilingual and limited english...

�

Code Switching Among Bilingual and Limited English Proficient Students:

Possible Indicators of Giftedness

Claire E. Hughes University of Rhode Island

Elizabeth S. Shaunessy University of South Florida

Alejandro R. Brice University of Central Florida

Mary Anne Ratliff Hillsborough County, Tampa, FL

Patricia Alvarez McHatton University of South Florida

code switching includes the use of complete sentences, phrases, and borrowed words from another language (Brice & Brice, 2000). it is a common linguistic phenomenon noted among bilingual populations. in order to code switch effectively, students must possess a high level of understanding of the 2 cultures, as well as a deep understand-ing of the underlying structures and purposes of 2 language systems. code switching, rather than reflecting the traditional view of a disadvantaged and semiliterate back-ground, actually reflects an intellectual advantage. However, code switching has not commonly been perceived as a positive trait by schools, teachers, or the majority cul-ture. assessments for nomination and identification of giftedness have traditionally been either single-language oriented or use concepts and behaviors that are reflective of the majority culture. this article explores some of the aspects of code switching and possible resultant behaviors of bilingual children who are gifted.

ClaireE.HughesisAdjunctProfessorattheUniversityofRhodeIsland.ElizabethShaunessyisAssistantProfessorintheDepartmentofSpecialEducationandProgramCoordinatoroftheGiftedEducationProgramattheUniversityofSouthFlorida.AlejandroBriceisAssociateProfessorinCommunicationSciencesandDisordersattheUniversityofCentralFlorida.MaryAnnRatliffrecentlyretiredfromHillsboroughCountyPublicSchools,Tampa,FL.PatriciaAlvarezMcHattonisAssistantProfessorintheDepartmentofSpecialEducationandUndergraduateProgramCoordinatorattheUniversityofSouthFlorida.

Journal for the Education of the Gifted.Vol.30,No.1,2006,pp.7–28.Copyright©2006PrufrockPressInc.,http://www.prufrock.com

Journal for the Education of the Gifted�

Introduction

“Hola,readers!”astheintroductionforascholarlyarticleisanexam-pleofcodeswitching,ortheuseofcompletesentences,phrases,andborrowed words from another language (Brice & Brice, 2000) orfrom another context for emphatic purposes (Rader, 2002). Codeswitching is a common linguistic behavior noted among bilingual(e.g., Spanish-English speakers) and other culturally and linguisti-callydiversepopulations:AfricanAmericanpopulationsswitchfrom“home language” to “school language” or from African AmericanVernacular English to Standard American English (Novak, 2000),teenagersindicatewhois“in”andwhois“out”ofpeergroupcon-versations(Rader),gaymenlispanduseverbalexaggerationsmorewhencommunicatingamongthemselves(Bowen,2002),andInstantMessenger users demonstrate a shortened method of spoken lan-guagerules(Moore,2002).Codeswitchingisprevalentthroughoutour society, delineating differences between cultural, generational,andtechnologicalusers.Yet,itisnotclearwhat,ifany,differencesthereareincodeswitchingbehaviorsbetweenabilitylevels,particu-larlyinbilingualpopulations.

Certainly,culturallydiversestudentsareunderrepresentedamongidentifiedgiftedpopulations.Abilingualchild’sabilitytointerfacebetweentwolanguagesandcultureshasreceivedlittleattention,andtherehasbeenlimitedstudyofbilingualgiftedstudents’useofmul-tiplelanguagesasacharacteristicbehavior.Historically,codeswitch-ing has been discouraged in the educational system and society atlargebecauseofconcernsthatcodeswitchingwillinfluenceoneorbothofthelanguagesandleadtolanguagedecay(Aitchison,1991)orbecauseofaperceptionthatcodeswitchingisconsideredasignoflimitedlanguageproficiencyinoneorbothlanguages(Cheng&Butler,1989;Kogan,2001).Theuseofcodeswitchingisperceivedmostnegativelybymonolingualspeakersandmajorityculturalandgenerational groups in terms of understandability, attractiveness,andcorrectness(Hidalgo,1988).Inaddition,becauseofitsabilitytodemonstrateinclusionandexclusionfromgroups,codeswitchingcanbeperceivedasanegativesocialtraitbymembersexcludedfromthegroup(i.e.,monolingualspeakers).

Code Switching Bilingual and LEP Students �

Teachers’reactionstocodeswitchingaretypicallyquitenegative,evenwhentheythemselvesemployit.Phillips’1975seminalstudyofteacherusageofcodeswitchingfoundthat70%ofteachercodeswitching from English to Spanish is for “disciplinary-manipula-tive”purposesandservestoreinforcethedominantlanguageandtomarginalizethenativelanguageofthestudents.TeachersemphasizetheuseoftraditionalspokenEnglishandmarginalizetheeffortsofstudentstousealternativeformsoflanguage.Thetraditionalpolicythatmostschooldistrictshaveemployedhasbeentheeradicationoftheoriginal languageorcultureandassimilationintothemajoritylanguageandculture(Salluzzo,1994).

Relationship Between Two Languages

Bilingualismcanbeperceivedasasubtractiveoranadditivelanguageprocess.Inthesubtractiveaspect,asfluencyandvocabularygrowinonelanguage,fluencyandvocabularydecreaseintheother,replac-ingtheoriginallanguageasthe“primary”language.Theemphasisisonthereplacementofonelanguageforanother.Incontrast,additivebilingualismis theprocessofacquiringthetermsandfluency inasecond language without losing the skills with the first (Lambert,1975).Hakuta(1991)statesthatsubtractivebilingualismisthegoaleducators often set for those whose native language is viewed as abarriertoacademicandeconomicsuccess—Hispanics,Vietnamese,Filipinos,andothers.Additivebilingualism,whetherinLatin,classi-calGreek,French,Italian,orotherlanguages,isseenasanacademicboon for nonminority, middle-class students. Thus, insertion ofFrenchphrasesintospokenEnglishisconsideredasignofadvancededucation,addingacertainje ne sais quoiqualitytocommunication,whileinsertionofSpanishphrasesisoftenperceivedasaproblemo,addingatouchoflowerclasscommonness.

With certain individuals, code switching can also serve as anindicator of subtractive development of language when studentsselectwordsandphrasesbecauseoftheinadequacyoftheirlanguageabilities.Whenastudentdoesnothavethegraspofasecondlan-guagefirmlyenoughtocommunicate,theymustreachfortheirpri-

Journal for the Education of the Gifted10

marylanguagetofillinthegaps.Codeswitchingservesasa“filler”to continue the flow of the communication process, but it also isindicative of a weakness in the second language, a subtractive ele-ment(Freeman&Freeman,2001).

Withadditivebilingualism, studentshavea solidbase in theirprimary languageandthe second languageadds to their linguisticrepertoire.Inthecommunicationprocess,speakershavearangeoflanguagechoicesandselectthelanguagethatmostcloselyconceptu-alizesthemeaning,thehumor,orthesocialpurposethatisneeded.Codeswitchingthenbecomesasocial,cultural,andlinguistictoolthatallowsthemtointegratetheirexperiencesoftwolanguagesandtwoculturesintoacohesivewhole.SeeTable1foracontinuumoflanguageandcodeswitchingabilities.

The concern that bilingualism is subtractive and the pervasivebelief even among bilingual educators that code switching reflects“semilingualism” and lower academic proficiency has led to tacittrackingofstudentswhocodeswitchintoloweracademictrackswithastrongeremphasisonbasicEnglishlanguageproductionandusage

Table 1 Continuum of Code Switching

LowSecondLanguageAbility HighSecondLanguageAbilityMixesbecauseoflackofvocabu-larybetweenthefirstlanguage(L1)andthesecondlanguage(L2).

Abletoalternatebetweenthefirstlanguage(L1)andthesec-ondlanguage(L2)withease.

DifficultyswitchingbetweenL1andL2.Longpausesindicatewordsearchingandretrievaldif-ficulties.Studentdisplaysfalsestarts.

ThestudentmayfreelychoosebetweenspeakingintheirL1,L2,orbyacombinationofthetwo.

Astrongpreferenceforanduseofonelanguage.

Thestudentcanfreelyalternatebetweenthetwolanguages.

Thestudentisconsciouslyawareofwhichlanguageisbeingspo-ken.

Noconsciousawarenessofspeak-ingineitherlanguageisnoted.

Code Switching Bilingual and LEP Students 11

(MacSwan,1997).Studentsinsuchtracksandthosestudentswhoexhibitlinguisticbehaviorthatisdifferentfromthemainstreamcul-turearerarelyconsideredforgiftedidentificationandprogramming(Ford&Harris,1990).Throughanexaminationofcodeswitching,itmaybepossibletodeterminethecomplexityandsophisticationof language usage—usage that may be an indicator of high-levellinguisticbehavior.Suchadeterminationofadditiveorsubtractivebilingualismrequiresanexaminationofthetypesofandpurposesforcodeswitchinganditsrelationshiptointellectualability.

Types of Code Switching

Althoughtherearemanydifferentaspectsofcodeswitching,inthispaperitisdefinedasatermthatincludestheuseofcompletesen-tences,phrases,andborrowedwordsfromalanguageotherthantheprimarylanguage(Brice&Brice,2000).Thestudyofcodeswitchingrequiresasophisticatedexaminationoflanguageusagethatlooksattypesofcodeswitching,aswellasreasonsfortheswitchwithineachtype.

Severalstandardprocessesofcodeswitchinghavebeenidenti-fied(Brice&Brice,2000;Hammink,2000;Poplack,1980),includ-ingthoselistedbelow. 1.Borrowing—usingasinglewordfromalanguagedifferentthantheprimarylanguage,whichissimilaringrammaticalusage,butisatermthatisnotavailableintheprimarylanguage.Suchuseofsin-glewordscanelaborateonmeaningsthatthesecondlanguagedoesnothaveorcapturehumortowhichthelistenermayrespond.TheFrenchadieuisanexampleofthissinglewordborrowing,becauseitimpliesalongerseparationthanispossibleinthesingleEnglishwordgoodbye.Similarly,inNewMexico,aphraseoftenusedforhumorouspurposes isbueno bye,a literal translationofgoodbye.TheuseofaSpanishwordfortheEnglishwordcapturessubtlehumorthattheuseofasinglelanguagedoesnot. 2.calque—literallytranslatinganexpressionfromanotherlan-guagewithoutuseofappropriatesyntax;forexample,el lote de par-quear (theparking lot). ThestandardSpanishforthetermwouldbe


campo de estacionamiento.Itistheliteraltranslationofeachelementofaphrasefromonelanguageintoanotherwithouttheuseofthesecondlanguage’sgrammar.Ratherthanborrowingthephrasefromthe first language, the second language translates the phrase. AnEnglishexamplewouldbeSuperman,which isadirecttranslationfromNietzsche’sGermanubermensch.AreverseexamplewouldbeFrench’sgratte-ciel and German’s wolkenkratzer, both of which aredirectly translated from English’s skyscraper. Each compound ele-menthasbeentranslatedintotheotherlanguagetoformasimilarconcept. 3.intersentential—interjectinganentiresentenceorphrasefromonelanguageintotheprimarylanguage.Languagealternationcanbedividedintothetwolinguisticcategoriesofintersententialcodeswitching(i.e.,alternatinglanguagesacrosssentenceboundaries)andintersententialcodemixing(i.e.,alternatinglanguageswithinasen-tence;Kamwangamalu,1992).Incodeswitching,theteachermaysay, “Ya, se acabó (it is over). Siéntate (Sit down). The time is up.”Anotherexampleiswherethechildmaysay,“ahora es buena hora para dormer(Itisnowagoodtimetosleep).Turnoffthelights.”Anintersententialcodemixedexampleiswherethepersonmayincor-poratewordsorphrasesintohisorherEnglishfromtheotherlan-guage.TheSpanishchildmaysay,“la voy a poner enfryingpan(Iamgoingtoputitinthefryingpan)”ortheGreekmothermaysay“Becarefulwhenyoudothat—siga, siga(slowly,slowly).” Intersententialcodeswitchingmayserve toemphasizeapointmadeintheother language;tosignalaswitchintheconversationparticipants;toindicatetowhomthestatementisaddressed;ortoprovide a direct quote from or reference to another conversation.Suchintersententialcodeswitchingisconsideredtobethemostcom-plexlanguagealternationbecauseitrequiresthatthespeakercontroltwolinguisticsystemssimultaneously(Poplack,1980).AnexamplewouldbetheGreekphraseooposlenewhichmeans“astheysay”inEnglishandisusedasa“spacer”intheconversationalflow,similartothefunctionofthephraseyou knowinEnglish.Inintersententialcodeswitching,speakersmustmanipulatethegrammaticalstructureoftwolanguagesatthesametime,incompletesentences,ratherthansimplewordswitchesthatmightbemoresimplistic.


In addition to a developmental aspect of code switching thatreflectsanincreasingsophisticationofusage,Poplack(1980)identi-fiedpointsatwhichmoreablespeakerswouldbemostlikelytocodeswitch.ExamplesthatHammink(2000,¶16)providedinclude:

1. beforeandaftertags(You’re almost done with school, ver-dad? [You’realmostdonewithschool,right?]);

2. beforepredicateadjectives(Es muy cute. [It’sreallycute.]);and

3. andbetweenclauses(that’s the lady que tiene cuatro hijos. [That’stheladywhohasfourchildren.]).

Noneoftheseviolatethegrammaticalstructuresofeitherlanguage.Intersententialcodeswitchingandintersententialcodemixingwillbehereafterreferredtoasthegenerictermofcodeswitchinginthisarticle.

However, there are several restrictions to code switching thatmore sophisticated bilingual speakers recognize. The first of theseisthefreemorphemeconstraint(Poplack,1980;Skiba,1997).Thisconstraintsuggeststhata“speakermaynotswitchlanguagebetweenawordanditsendingsunlessthewordispronouncedasifitwereinthelanguageoftheending”(Cook,1991,p.65).Intheexampleof nicknames, nicolaki is an acceptable Greek nickname becauseNicholasisalsoacommonGreekname,whileclaireakiwouldnotbeanacceptablenicknamebecausethenameClaireisnotaGreekname and does not follow Greek pronunciation rules. However,theSpanishassimilationofparkinghasresultedinparqueandoandparqueo(parkinglot).Therefore,thisruledoesnotseemtobefixed(Poplack). Thesecondconstraintisreferredtoastheequivalenceconstraint(Skiba,1997).Inthiscodeswitchingconcept,“theswitchcancomeatapointinthesentencewhereitdoesnotviolatethegrammarofeither language” (Cook, 1991, p. 65). The example Cook uses toillustratetheequivalenceconstraintisaFrench-Englishswitchwiththesuggestionthatswitchessuchasacar americaineorune american voitureareunlikely,astheyareincorrectlystatedinbothlanguages.J’ai acheté an american car (IboughtanAmericancar) ispossiblebecause both English and French share the construction in which


theverbisfollowedbytheobject.Similarly,inexamplesprovidedbyHammink(2000),speakersdonottendtoswitchlanguagesbetweensubjectandverb,El niño le hit (Theboyhithim),orbetweennega-tiveandverb,El jefe no want to pay us(Thebossdoesnotwanttopayus),becausethesesentenceconstructionsviolategrammaticalrulesinSpanishandEnglish.Poplack(1980),referringtofirstlanguage(L1)andsecondlanguage(L2)usage,statedthat,

CodeswitcheswilltendtooccuratpointsindiscoursewherejuxtapositionsofL1andL2elementsdoesnotviolateasyn-tacticruleofeitherlanguage(i.e.,pointsaroundwhichthesurfacestructuresofthetwolanguagemapontoeachother).Accordingtothissimpleconstraint,aswitchisinhibitedfromoccurringwithinaconstituentgeneratedbyarulefromonelanguagewhichisnotsharedbyanother.(p.586)

Thus,ablespeakerswerefoundtoavoidsentencestructuresinwhichonerulefromonelanguagedidnotapplytothesecondlanguage.AnexampleofthisequivalencyconstraintgivenbyPoplack(1980)wouldbethesentencespokenbyapoorcodeswitcher,“El Man que caME ayer WantS John comprar a car nuevo”(p.587).SuchasentenceviolatesthegrammarrulesofSpanish.Suchauseofa“thirdgrammar”(DeBrabanter,2004)thatrespectsthegrammaticalstruc-tureofbothlanguagesisoftenflexible,dependingupontheneedsofthespeaker.

Purposes for Code Switching

Codeswitchingisalinguisticfeatureofstablebilingualcommuni-ties.Itisrarelyasignofconfusionorinadequacy,eveninveryyoungchildren(Cook,2003).Whenbilingualstudentsorstudentsfroma culture other than the traditional school culture are present ina classroom, code switching will and does occur (Aguirre, 1988;Hammink,2000).

Thereareseveralreasonsforcodeswitching.Thefirstissimplybecause the speaker does not have the facility in the primary lan-guagetoexpresshimselfeffectivelyoristranslatingforsomeoneelse

Code Switching Bilingual and LEP Students 1�

with limited English proficiency. The speaker shifts to the secondlanguageinordertocapturehisorherthinkingprocessesortoreflectthe inadequate understanding of the other person (Cook, 2003).Thisgenerallyoccurswhenthespeakerisupset,tired,ordistracted(Soho, 2000). When code switching is used to compensate for alanguagedifficulty,itmaybeviewedasinterference(Skiba,1997).However,thistypeofcodeswitchingmaybeconsideredastrengthwhenitisusedasasociolinguistictooltoaidtheunderstandingofanotherpersonwhoisnotfacileinbothlanguages.

The second purpose for code switching is that the individualmay want to establish him- or herself as a member of a particulargroup.Gumperz(1982)andMiller(1984)notedthatcodeswitch-ingismotivatedbythelistenerand/orpurposeoftheconversationalinteraction. Code switching is typically situation motivated. Achangeinthesocialsituationcanmotivateachangeincode,suchasthearrivalofanewspeaker,orthefocusofthetopicmayfacilitateachangetotheotherlanguage.Forexample,aspeakermaychangeuponthearrivalofanewlistener,“Sabes qué tomas viene a la ses-sion?(DidyouknowthatThomasiscomingtothesession?)Oh,hi,Tom.”Gumperzreferstothislanguagesolidarityasa“wecode”.Inessence,“rapportisestablishedbetweenthespeakerandthelistenerwhenthelistenerrespondswithasimilarswitch”(Skiba,1997,¶3).Codeswitchingisperceivedasamodeofspeechthatisreservedforgroupmembersonlyandawayinwhichspeakerscandemonstratetheir bilingual and bicultural identity (Dobovsek-Sethna, 1996).Similarly,codeswitchingcanbeusedtoexcludeothermembersofagroupwhoarenotasfamiliarwiththelanguage.

Definingwhois“in”andwhois“out”ofaparticulargroupisaneffectivemannerofestablishingmembershiporloyaltytoaparticu-larsocialgroup(Labov,1972).Theseunitingphrasesandexpressionsareoftencalled“shibboleths”becausetheyservetounitemembersofaculturalgroupanddifferentiate themfrommembersofothergroups.Suchphrasesandexpressionsaresymbolsofseparationfromthedominantculturalgroupand,assuch,aresubjecttomisinterpre-tationorstereotypingbyoutsiders,andyet,paradoxically, theyactassymbolsofprideinasharedculturalidentitybyinsiders(Novak,2000).Anexamplewouldbetheuseofthe“n-word,”whichisconsid-


eredanepithetandaninsultwhenusedbynon-AfricanAmericansbut,amongAfricanAmericans,indicatesarelationshipbetweenthespeakers.

Finally, code switching can be used as a sociolinguistic tool.Whereas some speakers can convey a certain effect or attitude bychangingthe formalityof their speech,bilingual speakerscancodeswitch(Skiba,1997).Codeswitchingallowsthespeakertoalertthelistenerthattheupcomingphraseistobeinterpreteddifferentlywithashiftinemphasis(Chan,2004).Bilingualspeakersalsocanavoidmiscommunication by using a term more adequately expressed intheotherlanguage(Sert,2005).Codeswitchingisusedforclarifica-tion,emphasis,toseparatefactsfromfeelings,andtoachieveacer-taindramaticeffect.Differentlanguagesmayhavedifferentconcepts(Cook,2003),anditisthecontrasteduseoftheselanguagesthatmayallowamultilingualspeakertomoreclearlymakehisorherpoint.Forexample,thesubtledifferenceinconnotationfoundbetweentheFrenchadieu (goodbye—don’tknowwhenI’llseeyouagain) and au revoir(goodbye—seeyousoon) isnotonethatcanbecapturedintheEnglishgoodbye.Humorisaneffectoftencreatedbycodeswitching(Cook,2003)becauseplaysonwordscanbecomeevenmorerichorcontrastingconceptsoftwolanguagescanbehighlighted.

Code Switching in Teaching and Learning

Intheclassroom,codeswitchingmayhaveveryspecificreasonsorfunctions.GuthrieandGuthrie(1987)conductedastudyofabilin-gual(Chinese-Englishspeaking)teacher’sapproachtolanguageusewithChinese-EnglishspeakingstudentsinCalifornia.Thebilingualteacheremployedfivedistinctpurposesforcodeswitchinginread-inglessons:(a)fortranslation;(b)asa“wecode”(Gumperz,1982)forestablishingandmaintainingsolidarityandgroupmembership;(c)forgivingproceduresanddirections;(d)forclarification,espe-ciallywiththeintroductionofnewvocabularywords;and(e)asacheck for understanding. Similarly, Pennington (1995) observedfiveCantonese-EnglishspeakingsecondaryEnglishclassroomteach-ersduringawritinglessoninHongKong.Herstudyfocusedonthe


teachers’languagealternationpatterns.Shefoundthattheteachers’functionaldistributionofCantoneseusewasasfollows:individualtalk,definingwords,givinginstructions,expeditinglessons,explicat-ingideas,readinginthefirstlanguage,tagginganutterance,discus-sion,expressingsolidarity(wecode),disciplining,andmotivating.

Sánchez(1983)observedthattherearespecificcontextsinwhichcode switching is the predominant mode of expression, as well asperceivedas themostappropriate style.Suchmanipulationof lin-guisticskillsisonethatcanstartveryyoung.Inastudyofbilingualkindergartners’codeswitchingbehaviors,Genishi(1981)observedthatyoungbilingualchildrenchoosetheirlanguagestructuresbythelanguageabilityoftheirconversationalpartners.Theywereabletoswitchbetweenthetwolanguages,dependingonthelanguagespo-kenbythepeers.McLaughlin(1995)reportsthat“[y]oungerchil-dren mix languages to resolve ambiguities and clarify statements,butolderchildrenandadultstypicallyswitchcodes(orlanguages)toconveysocialmeanings”(¶17),includingtheuseofdirectquotesor the addition of humor. Genesee (1980) noted the use of codeswitching to identify ingroup/outgroup and sociocultural statusasearlyasadolescence,whereasyoungerchildrenweremoreapttorespondtothelanguageactuallybeingspoken.Inastudyofadultsandyoungchildren,Hammink(2000)foundadultsweremorelikelytobeawareofgrammaticalnuancesofcodeswitching,andyoungerstudentswerelessawareofthesocialimplicationsandsocialusesofcodeswitching.Suchresultsclearlyprovideadevelopmentalviewofcodeswitching.

Reflectingthisdevelopmentalcomponent,thereisevidencethatmiddleschoolstudents,evenfromthemajorityculture,employcodeswitchingasameansofidentifyingwiththeirownpeergroup.Theywillshifttheiruseoftheirprimarylanguageaccordingtotheaudi-ence to whom they are speaking. For example, the child may ask,“Do you feel sick?” to a teacher, but ask a peer, “Do you feel likebarfing?”(Pattillo,1999)or“RUOK?”throughInstantMessenger(Associated Press, 2002). Such manipulation of words, while notdirectlyinvolvingtheuseofasecondlanguage,indicateadevelop-mentaspecttosophisticatedlanguageusage.

Journal for the Education of the Gifted1�

Code Switching as Evidence of Intelligent Behavior

On any standardized test, there are numerous issues an evaluatormustconsiderwhentestingachildwhoisasecond-languagelearneror from a nonmajority culture. Cultural differences, backgroundknowledge, and English competency may all negatively affect testscores (Ford & Harris, 1990; Gonzalez, 1974). Many test makershaverespondedbyproducingtests translated intoother languagessuchasSpanish.However,suchtestseitherhavevalidityproblemsbecauseofthechallengeoftranslatingstandardEnglishconceptsintoanotherlanguage,capturingvariousculturalconcepts,orbecausethenumerousdialectsoftheotherlanguagehavecomplicatedeffortstotestnativespeakers(Bernal,1980).

Other test makers have responded by producing tests that donotdependuponlanguageoruponaspecificculturalbackground.Numerousauthorsrecommendsuchmeasurestoimproveidentifi-cationprocessesforgiftedprograms(Bernal,1980;Ford&Harris,1990;Frasier,1993).However,someresearchhasfoundthatstudentsfromdifferentculturalbackgroundsdonotfareanybetteroncul-ture-fairteststhanonmoreconventionaltestsandarguethateffortsto create truly culture-free tests are exercises in futility (Kitano &Kirby,1986).

Codeswitching,ratherthanreflectingthetraditionalviewofadisadvantagedandsemiliteratebackground,reflectsanintellectualadvantagetomanystudents.Culturallydifferentstudentswhoaretryingtointegratetwoculturalsystemsmayhavegreatercognitiveandsocialflexibility.Suchstudentscanadapttothediscontinuitiesof home and school cultures because they can successfully accom-plishsituationalproblem-solvingprocessesthroughlanguagemanip-ulations(Gonzalez,2001).Thetensionthatarisesfromthe“schoolworld”ofEnglishandthe“homeworld”ofthenativelanguagepro-ducesaneedtonavigateandintegratebothworldsintoacohesivewhole(Freeman&Freeman,2001).Studentsusecodeswitchingasamanifestationofastrongintegrationoftwoormorecultures.Inorder to code switch for multiple purposes, students must possessahighlevelofunderstandingofthetwocultures,aswellasadeepunderstandingoftheunderlyingstructuresandnuancedpurposesof


twolanguagesystems.Inordertoaccomplishthesetasks,therearenumerouscognitiveabilitiesrequiredofstudents.

Thegeneraleducationsettingdemandshigherlevelsofauditoryprocessing and short-term memory skills for students from variedlanguagebackgrounds(Brice&Brice,2000).Listeninginonelan-guage and simultaneously holding and accessing another languagestructureinthememoryrequiressignificantmemorystores.LambertandFillenbaum(1969)statethatthereis“adefinitecognitiveadvan-tageforbilingualchildreninthedomainofcognitiveflexibility”(p.69)becausestudentswhoareabletounderstandsubtlesemanticdif-ferencesbetweenthe languagescanselectthephrasethatcapturesthe meaning that they wish to impart. Furthermore, according toHarris (2003), code switching is an example of learned behavior,ratherthanmerelanguageuse.Childrenwhohavelearnedsocialandcontextcuesarequicktorealizethatdifferentbehaviorsareappro-priate.Thus,childrenwhocanoperatesmoothlybetweentwolan-guages seem to be especially good on subtests that require mentalmanipulationandreorganizationofvisualpatterns(Pattillo,1999).Thereissomeevidencethatbilingualspeakersareabletothinkmoreflexibly,haveincreasedandadvancedlanguageawareness,andspeakandreadmorerapidlyintheirinitiallanguage(Cook,2003).Such“methodologicalcontrolofculturalandlinguisticconfoundingfac-tors”(Gonzalez,2001,p.5)isindicativeofsignificantcriticalthink-ingskillsandisahallmarkofadvancedcognitivedevelopment.

Code Switching as a Factor in Gifted Identification

Thetrendofthoughtoverthepast40yearshasbeenthatbilingualchildren enjoy either equal abilities with or cognitive advantagesover their monolingual peers (Albert & Obler, 1979; Anisfield,1964;Ben-Zeev,1977;Bialystok,1991;Vygotsky,1962).Vygotskystressed that being able to express the same thought in more thanonelanguageenablesabilingualchildtocompareandcontrasthisorhertwolanguagesystems.Thisabilitythusallowsagreatercogni-tive-metalinguisticawareness.ThisnotionwasauthenticatedinthatsameyearbyPealandLambert(1962)inwhatisconsideredaclas-


sicstudy.Theyfoundthat10-year-oldCanadianbilingualchildren(from Montreal-Canadian schools) performed better than theirmatchedmonolingualpeersonallverbalIQtestscores.Thisseminalstudy overturned earlier notions that bilingual children were cog-nitivelydisadvantaged.However,althoughitisclearthatbilingualchildrenarenotcognitivelydisadvantaged,itisnotclearwhatrolecognitivestrengthsplayinthedevelopmentanduseofcodeswitch-ing.

A later study by Lambert and Tucker (1972) argued that aschildrengainedproficiencyinimmersionprogramsthatdevelopedhigh levels of language proficiency, they learned to contrast thesyntax and vocabulary of their two languages. What is of interestisthenotionthatbilingualchildrenmustreachacertainhighlevelof proficiency before cognitive advantages may be noticeable. ThefindingbyLambertandTuckerwaspartiallysupportedbyBen-Zeev(1977)andDoyle,Champagne,andSegalowitz(1978).Ben-ZeevandDoyleetal.foundthatbilingualchildrenperformedbetteronsomeaspectsoflanguagebutnotaswellonmeasuresofvocabulary.It is apparent that bilingual children have to learn two names foreverything.Ameasureofvocabularyinonelanguageisonlyapar-tialmeasureofthatchild’sdualvocabulary.Ifthebilingualchildismeasuredinonlyonelanguage(Englishonly)orseparatelyineachlanguageandnotcombined(Spanishvs.English),atruemeasureofhisorhertruevocabularymaynotbeobtained(Gutierrez-Clellen,1999).Acombinedmeasuremaybeabetterestimateofvocabularybecausechildrenmayhavesomewordsforsomeobjectsinonelan-guagebutnotintheother.

Certainly, the use of vocabulary and code switching has beensomewhat addressed in the field of special education, where psy-chologists, teachers, and administrators have been repeatedly cau-tionedthatcodeswitchingshouldnotbeviewedasacharacteristicoflanguageproblems(Brice&Rosemary-McKibbin,2001;Dodd,Nelson,&Sprint,1995;Ruiz,1988).Distinguishingthebilingualchild with language disabilities from the child who is strugglingwithanewlanguagecanbechallenging.Teachersandevaluatorsareexhortedtobelinguisticallysensitivetotheneedsoftheirstudentsbymakingeveryefforttodiagnoseatruelanguagedisabilityinboth


languagesandnotsimplifythedifficultiesfoundinnormalsecondlanguageacquisition.

One of the challenges that multicultural and linguisticallydiversestudentsfaceisbeingrecommendedforgiftedprogramsinthefirstplace.Kogan(2001)notedthatteachersoftendonotrec-ommendsuchstudentseitherbecauseteachersarelookingforhighlevels of academic performance, which minority or bilingual stu-dentsmaynotexhibitbecauseoflanguageissues,orbecauseoftheteacher’snegativeattitudestowardsstudentsofdiversebackgroundsandaresultantperceptionofstudents’lackofproficiencyinEnglish.Harris (1993) notes that teachers often are lacking an awarenessof the process of code switching and increased training should besought to increase linguistic awareness of the possibility of gifted-nessamongnewEnglishspeakers.Ifteacherswereawareofthechal-lengesandrequirementsofcodeswitchingasevidenceofintellectualbehaviors,thenthisperspectivecouldchange.

When bilingual students can alternate between their two lan-guages with ease and can maintain grammaticality of both lan-guages,thenthisappearstobeevidenceofadvancedlanguageandhigher order thinking skills. Code switching thus appears to beevidenceofintelligentbehaviorthatrequiressignificantmanipula-tionoflanguage,grammaticalstructure,nuances,andsubtleties.Theexaminationofapossiblerelationshipbetweencodeswitchingandintellectualabilitiesbearsfurtherstudy.

Examination of such behavior warrants attention because it isnotclearwhatcharacteristicsagiftedchildwhoisbilingualexhib-its.Examinationofcodeswitchingcouldbeanalternativetotestingmeasures that seekto identifyculture-freenorms.Codeswitchingisanobservableproblem-solvingbehaviorthatiscreatedbecauseofdifferencesbetweencultures,anditisthisresultingtensionthatpro-videsrichopportunitiesforresearchandidentificationofgiftedstu-dents.Anexaminationofcodeswitchingmaybeaviablemeansofidentifyinggiftedstudentswhocomefromunderrepresentedgroupsandwhosehomeculturesarenotthesameastheschoolculture.Theease with which students negotiate these cultures, manipulate theintricaciesofvariouslanguagesandtheirmeanings,anduselanguageforsocialmeaningsmaybeindicativeoftheirhighpotential.


Itisclearthatcodeswitchingisnotasignofinferiorlanguagedevelopment.Whenitisusedduetoalackoflinguisticexpression,codeswitchingprovidescontinuityinspeechratherthanpresentinginterference in language (Skiba, 1997). Code switching should beperceivedasprovidingalinguisticadvantageratherthananobstruc-tiontocommunication.Throughcodeswitching,speakerscancon-veyattitudes,sharemembershipwithinaculturalgroup,andexcludeothersfromthatinsiderstatus.Theuseofthesecondlanguageallowsspeakerstomoreeffectivelycommunicatenuancesofmeaningthatare restricted within one language. MacSwan (1997) affirms thatcodeswitchingsignificantlyenhancestheexpressivecapacityofanindividual, and McLaughlin (1995), and McLaughlin, Blanchard,and Osanai (1995) encourage teachers and parents to recognizethatcodeswitchingisastrategyof“greatsemanticpower.”Ifteach-ers were to recognize the expressive power of code switching andunderstandthesophisticatedlinguisticknowledgerequiredtoeffec-tivelycombinetwolanguagesforasocialpurpose,theirprejudicedbeliefsaboutthepractice,thestudents,andstudents’possibleneedforgiftedprogrammingmayimprove.Studentsshouldnotbekeptoutofthegiftedidentificationprocessorprogrammingbecauseoftheir use of sophisticated linguistic abilities that teachers may notunderstandnorapproveof.Rather,iftherearedifferencesintheuseofcodeswitchingamongstudentsofdifferentabilities,thatinforma-tionshouldbeusedapositivestrengthintheidentificationprocess.

Opportunities for Research

Therearenumerousresearchpossibilitiesinareconceptualizedviewofcodeswitchingasa signofadvanceddevelopment.Thefirst,ofcourse, is a determination of possible differences in types of codeswitching employed by bilingual speakers. Do gifted students usecodeswitchingfordifferentpurposesthannongiftedstudents?Dogiftedstudentsusecodeswitching inmoresophisticatedmanners,applying the grammatical and semantic rules more consistently?Althoughtypesofcodeswitchinghavebeenestablished,istheuseof thesecategoriesdevelopmental?Dogiftedstudentsmove faster


along a continuum of language development that includes codeswitching,ordotheyemploymoresophisticatedlanguagestrategiesasafactorofbeinggifted?Itisnotclearhowastudent’scognitivestrengths impact thedevelopmentandusageofcodeswitching.Adeeperexaminationofcode switchingbehaviorsasadevelopmen-talactivityiswarranted,becausesomanyteacherdecisionsandper-ceptionsarebaseduponstudentusageoflanguage.Althoughcodeswitchinghasbeenseenasanegative,itisasignificantlanguageandsocial strength. Research is needed to determine if and how thisstrength can be used as means of identifying gifted students fromdiversebackgrounds.

References

Aguirre, A. (1988). Code switching, intuitive knowledge, andthe bilingual classroom. In H. Garcia & R. Chavez (Eds.),Ethnolinguistic issues in education(pp.28–38).Lubbock,TX:TexasTechUniversity.

Aitchison,J.(1991).language change: Progress or decay? Cambridge,UK:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Albert,M.L.,&Obler,L.K.(1979).the bilingual brain.NewYork:AcademicPress.

Anisfield,E.(1964).a comparison of cognitive functioning of monolin-guals and bilinguals.Unpublisheddoctoraldissertation,McGillUniversity,Montreal,Canada.

AssociatedPress(2002,November11).Teachersh82cdatNetlingo. acron Beacon Journal. RetrievedMay29,2003, fromhttp://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/local/4492318.htm

Ben-Zeev,S.(1977).Theinfluenceofbilingualismoncognitivestrategyandcognitivedevelopment.child development, 58,1009–1018.

Bernal,E.(1980).Methods of identifying gifted minority students(ERICDocumentReportServiceNo.72).Princeton,NJ:ERICClearinghouse,EducationalTestingService.(ERICDocumentReproductionServiceNo.ED204418)


Bialystok,E.(Ed.).(1991).language processing in bilingual children.Ontario,Canada:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Brice,A.,&Brice,R.(2000).language in the classroom: comparisons of four bilingual environments.RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://www.asha.ucf.edu/SouthAfrica2000.html

Brice,A.,&Rosemary-McKibbin,C.(2001).Choiceoflanguagesin instruction: One language or two? teaching Exceptional children, 33(4),10–16.

Bowen,C.(2002).Beyond lisping: code switching and gay speech styles.RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/codemix.htm

Chan,B.(2004).Beyond“contextualization”:Codeswitchingasa“textualizationcue.”Journal of language and Social Psychology, 23(1),7–27.

Cheng,L.R.,&Butler,K.(1989).Codeswitching:Anaturalphe-nomenonversuslanguagedeficiency.World Englishes, 8,293–309.

Cook,V.(1991).Second language learning and language teaching. London:EdwardArnold.

Cook,V.(2003).Portraits of the l2 user: Background to the second language user.RetrievedJune12,2003,fromhttp://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~vcook/portraitsC1.htm

DeBrabanter,P.(2004,September).foreign-language quotations and code-switching: the grammar behind.PaperpresentedattheEuropeanSocietyfortheStudyofEnglish(ESSE),Saragosse,Spain.

Dobovsek-Sethna,J.(1996). Japanese-English codeswitching: a study of bilingual teenagers in international schools in Japan (Doctoraldissertation abstract, University of Surrey, 1996). AbstractretrievedJuly12,2006,fromhttp://www.surrey.ac.uk/ALRG/dissertations/list.php

Dodd,J.M.,Nelson,J.R.,&Sprint,W.(1995,Winter). Prereferral activities: one way to avoid biased testing. the Journal of Educational issue of language Minority Students,15.RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/jeilms/vol15/preferral.htm


Doyle,A.,Champagne,M.,&Segalowitz,N.(1978).Someissuesontheassessmentoflinguisticconsequencesofearlybilingual-ism.InM.Paradis(Ed.),aspects of bilingualism(pp.13–20).Columbia,SC:HornbeamPress.

Ford,D.Y.,&Harris,J.J.(1990).Ondiscoveringthehiddentrea-sureofgiftedandtalentedAfrican-Americanstudents.roeper review, 13,27–32.

Frasier,M.(1993).Issues,problemsandprogramsinnurturingthedisadvantagedandculturallydifferenttalented.InK.A.Heller,F.J.Mönks,&A.H.Passow(Eds.),international handbook of research and development of giftedness and talent(pp.685–692).Tarrytown,NY:PergamonPress.

Freeman,D.E.,&Freeman,Y.S.(2001).Between worlds: access to second language acquisition.Portsmouth,NH:Heinemann.

Genesee,F.(1980).the social psychological significance of code switch-ing for children. (ERICDocumentReproductionServiceNo.ED200024)

Genishi,C.S.(1981).Code-switchinginChicanosix-year-olds.InR.P.Duran(Ed.),latino language and communicative behavior(pp.133–152).Norwood,NJ:Ablex.

Gonzalez,G.(1974).Language,culture,andexceptionalchildren.Exceptional children, 40,565–570.

Gonzalez,V.(2001).Theroleofsocioeconomicandsocioculturalfactorsinlanguageminoritychildren’sdevelopment:Anecologi-calresearchview.Bilingual research Journal, 25(1–2).RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://brj.asu.edu/v2512/articles/art2.html

Gumperz, J. (1982).discourse strategies. NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Guthrie,L.F.,&Guthrie,G.P.(1987).TeacherlanguageuseinaChinesebilingualclassroom.InS.R.Goldman&H.T.Trueba(Eds.),Becoming literate in English as a second language(pp.205–231). Norwood,NJ:Ablex.

Gutierrez-Clellen, V. (1999). Language choice in interventionwithbilingualchildren.american Journal of Speech-language Pathology, 8,291–302.


Hakuta,K.(1991).Educator attacks double standard in bilingual education.RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://www.stan-ford.edu/dept/news/pr/91/911008Arc1127.html

Hammink,J.(2000).a comparison of the code switching behavior and knowledge of adults and children.RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://hamminkj.cafeprogressive.com/CS_paper.htm

Harris, C. R. (1993). identifying and serving recent immigrant children who are gifted.Reston,VA:ERICClearinghouseonDisabilitiesandGiftedEducation.(ERICDocumentServiceNo.ED358676)

Harris,J.R.(2003).Why are birth order effects dependent on context?RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://home.att.net/~xchar/tna/birth-order/context.htm

Hidalgo,M.(1988).Perceptions of Spanish-English code-switching in Juarez, Mexico(ResearchPaperSeriesNo.20). Albuquerque,NM:UniversityofNewMexicoPress.

Kamwangamalu,N.M.(1992).Mixersandmixing.Englishacrosscultures.World Englishes, 11,173–181.

Kitano,M.,&Kirby,D.F.(1986).Gifted education: a comprehensive view.Boston:LittleBrown.

Kogan,E.(2001).Gifted bilingual students: a paradox?NewYork:PeterLang.

Labov,W.(1972).Thestudyoflanguageinitssocialcontext.InP.Giglioli(Ed.),language and social context(pp.283–298).Middlesex,UK:PenguinBooks.

Lambert,W.E.(1975).Cultureandlanguageasfactorsinlearningandeducation.InA.Wolfgang(Ed.), Education of immigrant students (pp.55–83). Toronto,Canada:OntarioInstituteforStudiesinEducation.

Lambert,W.E.,&Fillenbaum,S.(1969).Apilotstudyofaphasiaamongbilinguals.canadian Journal of Psychology,13,28–34.

Lambert,W.E.,&Tucker,G.R.(1972).Bilingual education of children: the St. lambert experiment.Rowley,MA:NewburyHouse.

MacSwan,J.(1997).a minimalist approach to intrasentential code switching: Spanish-nahuatl bilingualism in central Mexico. (Doctoraldissertation,UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,


1997).RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://www.public.asu.edu/~macswan/diss.html

McLaughlin,B.(1995).fostering second language development in young children: Principles and practices(NationalCenterforResearchonCulturalDiversityandSecondLanguageLearningEducationalPracticeReport14).RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/ncrcdsll/epr14.htm

McLaughlin,B.,Blanchard,A.G.,&Osanai,Y.(1995).assessing language development in bilingual preschool children (NCBEProgram Information Guide Series, 22). Washington, DC:National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. (ERICDocumentReproductionServiceNo.ED388088)

Miller,N.(1984).Languageuseinbilingualcommunities.InN.Miller(Ed.),Bilingualism and language disability: assessment and remediation(pp.3–25).London:CroomHelm.

Moore,V.(2002).Standardization of certain symbols in online com-munication.RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://www.geoc-ities.com/vmoore2003/topic.html

Novak,S.M.(2000).american Shibboleth: Ebonics.RetrievedMay28,2003,fromhttp://www.csa.com/hottopics/ebonics/oview.html

Pattillo,V.(1999).class notes: chapter 8.RetrievedMay27,2003,fromhttp://webclass.lakeland.cc.il.us/vpattil/chapter_8.htm

Peal,E.,&Lambert,W.(1962).Relationofbilingualismtointel-ligence.Psychological Monographs, 76, 1–23.

Pennington,M.C.(1995).Eight case studies of classroom discourse in the Hong Kong Secondary English class(ResearchReportNumber42).HongKong,Japan:DepartmentofEnglish,CityUniversityofHongKong.

Phillips,J.M.(1975).code-switching in bilingual classrooms. (ERICDocumentReproductionServiceNo.ED111222)

Poplack,S.(1980).SometimesI’ll startasentence inSpanishytermino en español: Toward a typology of code-switching.linguistics, 18, 581–618.

Rader,W.(2002).the online slang dictionary: a collaborative proj-ect. RetrievedJuly12,2006,fromhttp://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang

Journal for the Education of the Gifted2�

Ruiz,N.T.(1988).the nature of bilingualism: implications for spe-cial education [Monograph].Sacramento,CA:Resources inSpecialEducation.(ERICDocumentReproductionServiceNo.ED300978)

Salluzzo, M. M. (1994). and i like . . . bilingualism. RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://www.culturelink.org/review/s94/martina.html

Sánchez,R.(1983).chicano discourse: Socio-historic perspectives.Rowley,MA:NewburyHouse.

Sert,O.(2005).ThefunctionsofcodeswitchinginELTclassrooms.internet tESl Journal, 11(8).RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://iteslj.org/Articles/Sert-CodeSwitching.html

Skiba,R.(1997).Codeswitchingasacountenanceoflanguageinter-ference.online internet tESl Journal, 3(10).RetrievedOctober2,2005,fromhttp://iteslj.org/Articles/Skiba-CodeSwitching.html

Soho,R.(2000).three faces of carla: a case study in code switching.RetrievedMay30,2003,fromhttp://www.ecok.edu/dept/eng-lish/faculty/lrp/langa2/rlw/discourse.html

Vygotsky,L.S.(1962).thought and language. Cambridge,MA:MITPress.

code switching among bilingual and limited english ... switching among bilingual and limited english...

Documents