Teacher's code-switching and bilingual children's heritage language learning and cognitive switching flexibility

Area of Science:

• * Bilingual Education
• * Developmental Psychology
• * Sociolinguistics

Background:

• * Code-switching (CS) is a common practice among bilingual teachers, presenting a dilemma regarding its impact on child development.
• * Heritage language (HL) classes in Singapore provide a unique context to study the effects of teacher CS on young bilingual learners.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To investigate the influence of teachers' code-switching (CS) on bilingual children's language and cognitive development in preschool HL classes.
• * To examine the relationship between teachers' CS frequency and type and children's language output, vocabulary development, and cognitive flexibility.

Main Methods:

• * Analysis of recorded and transcribed teacher and child utterances from 20 preschool HL classrooms (Mandarin, Malay, Tamil).
• * Assessment of 173 students using receptive vocabulary and cognitive flexibility tasks (dimensional card sort).
• * Correlational and mixed-effects analyses to evaluate the impact of teacher CS on child outcomes.

Main Results:

• * Teacher CS frequency (both inter-sentential and intra-sentential) positively correlated with children's intra-sentential CS frequency.
• * Teachers predominantly code-switched habitually rather than for explicit instructional purposes.
• * No significant relationship was found between teacher CS and children's HL vocabulary development.
• * Intra-sentential teacher CS significantly and positively related to children's improved cognitive flexibility.

Conclusions:

• * Teacher code-switching has a nuanced impact on young bilingual learners.
• * While not directly boosting heritage language vocabulary, teacher CS can enhance children's cognitive flexibility and their own code-switching behaviors.
• * Findings highlight the complex interplay between pedagogical language choices and child development in bilingual educational settings.