same state, Toribio (2002) found a considerable range of attitudes including utter rejection,
apprehensiveness and even positive opinions. Montes-Alcalá (2000) noted in her research that whilst
attitudes gave an insight to the perceived status and stigma of the practice of code-switching, such
opinions did not necessarily dictate whether the user was able to or actually did engage in code-
switching. However, Toribio noted that when a participant expressed strong disapproval or the
sentiment that the behaviour was antithetical to their identity, code-switching occurrence and ability
was drastically reduced, thus confirming the idea that such practice is not necessarily a part of
bilingual experience (2002). Whilst there is a strong code-switching presence in the media, Johnson
commented that outside the Hispanic community there is also a sense of negative opinion from the
US Anglo population, who assume that code-switching is indicative of a rejection of full participation
in American society and a refusal to learn ‘proper’ English on the part of Latinos (2000).
According to Johnson (2000) code-switching is deeply linked to the issue of identity. It was noticed
by Johnson (2000) that those who had the highest rates of code-switching were also those who had the
most significant and balanced contact with the rest of their community. One way in which code-
switching can be seen to link to identity is the fact that it functions to preserve Spanish as the use of
English does not in fact change the structure of Spanish. Anzaldúa is quoted in Johnson (2000, p.177)
as describing ethnic identity as being “twin skin to linguistic identity” and Stavans has argued that
language constructs our worldview (Johnson 2000). In this sense, learning a new language for many
immigrants to the US is like learning a new cultural identity. However, what we see in code-
switching is the mediation of two languages and two cultures, which can be interpreted as an act of
“self-reflection” and construction (Toribio 2002, p.98) or even more radically as the creation of a “new
powerful voice” (p.110). Finally, what is crucial about code-switching is that whilst it is important to
understand the speaker’s bilingual ability in both languages, it is equally as crucial to understand
how the particular monolingual codes are used within the community as well as community specific
cultural and bilingual patterns (Poplack 1988). For example even though a speaker may have the
bilingual ability to code-switch, without membership to a code-switching community he or she will
lack the necessary practice and social knowledge (Toribio 2002). The significance of community in this
sense seems to suggest the importance of the phenomenon beyond a purely linguistic nature.
Given the importance of code-switching in language learning and the opportunities that it provides
the present study addresses the following questions:
Does code-switching have any significant effect on the improvement of the elementary EFL students’
oral performance?