Frequent language shift for regulative functions 108!

As presented in Chapter Four, the teacher’s classroom local language (LL) is mainly used in Direct phase and Focus phase to regulate students’ behaviors, encourage students’ participation and mediate their roles in activities.

Instances of LL use in regulating students’ behaviours can be found among the dynamic exchanges (e.g. ch^rch) between the teacher and students in the current analysis. For example, in the guessing game, students challenge the teacher and refuse to propose the answer, as they complain about their peers’ failure to give a proper description on the animal. The teacher follows with a Direct phase in LL trying to control the situation:

T What is it? Focus dK1

Ss {keep

complaining loudly}

[WE CAN’T GUESS. HE DIDN’T DESCRIBE ITS SOUND]

ch

T [OK, WHO IS NOT LOOKING AT ME? YOU

DON'T NEED TO SAY ANYTHING NOW]

Direct rch

It can be noticed that how in this extract the teacher begins in English but switches to Mandarin when being interrupted by the students’ complaints enacted in a ch move. Language shift for regulating behaviors is often used in incidents which the teacher may consider disruptive to the ongoing teaching processes. The use of LL appears to successfully settle down the

situation as students become quiet and attentive shortly. This language shift from TL to LL for behavior management has been identified as a significant part in bilingual classrooms in previous studies, such as Erwin’s (2015) investigation into teachers’ code-switching between German and

English. Erwin argues that such a language shift is often created purposely to lead the whole class to a positive learning environment. Consistently, Harman’s (2015) study in the Thai context also suggests that LL use plays an important role in supporting classroom management. The language shift from TL into LL for behavioral issues is deep- rooted in the belief that their familiar LL can explicitly express the teacher’s authority and authentic power (Swain & Lapkin 2013).

However, it can also be noticed that in this incident the teacher’s use of LL does not address the teaching content in the task directly. The lack of instructional register in LL can partly explain why students in the end cannot propose the expected answers for this review task (Xiao, 2016). This is probably because the teacher is emotionally overloaded due to students’ behavior issues and becomes unaware of the instructional issue.

Another main regulative function of LL is to encourage students’ participation. For instance, in a role-allocation phase, the teacher uses LL in her K1 move at the beginning of an exchange sequenced as K1^dK1^K2^K1:

‘ , [OK, I AM GONNA ASK MY FAVOURITE ONE

BECAUSE HE PERFORMS VERY WELL TODAY]’ (see analysis in subsection 4.3.1).

The teacher explains why she appoints S49 to answer the question, by using the positive ATTITUDE (see Martin & White, 2005): ‘ [like] as Affect and ‘ [well] as Appreciation. This motivating language appears to function effectively, as it is followed by students’ active participation in practicing the dialogues voluntarily in the following review activities. According to Martin & White (2005), Affect and Appreciation are part of the linguistic resources for

expressing interpersonal meanings between speakers. The use of them in evaluating the learner’s behaviors seems to be the teacher’s strategy to set up a good model for other students and

encourage more participation. This finding echoes with previous research (Mahboob & Lin, 2016, 2018) on how to make LL as a valuable resource in ELT.

In some incidents of LL use, the teacher uses Proclaim (Expectation) in the Direct phase analysed in section 4.1.2: [THOSE WHO KEEP LOOKING AT ME SURELY KNOW THE ANSWER]. As shown in the analysis, the use of Proclaim (one of Engagement resources in

appraisal analysis in Martin & White, 2005) in LL shows the teacher’s expectation on the students. Such use of language resources gains some positive feedback as most of the students become attentive in listening. This engaging language is particularly important for these Year one students who have joined school for a short time and may need to be reminded of the classroom norms and regulation. It has also been pointed out as a teaching objective for early year

schooling in New Curriculum for primary English in China (2014).

LL is also found to be used in terms of mediating students’ roles in the review activities. During the role-allocation phase (see Table 4.7 in part 4.2.2.1), the teacher negotiates with an active student who tries to be the main role player:

S22 Me. {Some students raise their hands higher; S22 stands up without being appointed}

ch T Jerry (S22), next time OK?

Jerry, Cruise

[JERRY NEXT TIME. LET’S GIVE THE CHANCE TO CRUICE NOW, OK?]

rch

S22 . OK rrch

In this example, the teacher negotiates with S22 in English first and then translates it into Mandarin. The language shift happens from TL – (TL – LL) – LL in this exchange sequenced as ‘ch^rch^rrch’. In more details, the teacher uses ‘ (us)’ to refer to the student instead of ‘ (you)’ by including herself in her reply (rch) to students’ challenges (ch). It suggests that the teacher may try to establish a rapport with the student and ease the tension created by the unsatisfactory role allocation for S22. The use of LL for rapport building (Canagaraja, 2005; Forman, 2016; Harman & Khote, 2017) receives S22’s confirmation (rrch).

These findings on the regulative functions of LL are supported by recent research

(Mahboob & Lin, 2016, 2018) regarding the different pedagogic roles of LL (i.e. Cantonese) use in teacher talk to Year four learners. It shows that the teacher recognizes the value of LL use. Though some researchers (Manan, David & Dumanig, 2014) may argue that using local

language in class can impede their target language learning or other subject learning, this result is consistent with a significant body of research that affirms the value of LL use (e.g. Cook, 1999; Cummins, 2000; Harman, 2016, 2017; Wigglesworth, 2013). As Harman (2016) argued, using students’ familiar language not only benefits solidary and interpersonal development between the teacher and students, but also functions to make a good use of limited classroom time and ensure students comprehension.

However, there are also some cases in this lesson that the teacher uses TL effectively for regulative purposes (see findings on Page 65). To sum, both TL and LL in teacher talk can be applied for regulative purposes and can interplay flexibly according to different classroom circumstances and students' need. There should be no policy (e.g. English only policy, L1 use only for regulative purposes) constraining the multifunctional use of different languages in the class if they together serve to achieve the pedagogical goal.