Code-Switching By Kindergarten Teachers In Selected Schools In The Dormaa Municipality.

ABSTRACT Several studies have been conducted in educational settings in Ghana and other parts of the world regarding the linguistic behaviour of teachers, and the implication of such behaviour on the learning outcome of the pupils they teach. In Ghana, where English is learned as a second language, most teachers are unaware of how and when to use code-switching as an L1 resource in their teaching. This situation negatively affects uniformity in instructional procedures. While the use of code switching in academic settings is still a relatively new area of research, it must be mentioned that such studies in Ghana have always neglected the pre-school levels of our educational system. Since code-switching is not an acceptable practice in our schools, the goal of this study is to find out if pre-school teachers use code-switching in their interaction with their pupils, and if they do; their motivation for employing such code choice. The study is conducted with the pool of 418 pupils and 25 teachers in the Dormaa Municipality in the Brong Ahafo Region. The data were collected through responses to questionnaire surveys and audio recordings of classroom discourse. The Markedness model of Myers-Scotton (1993) was used to analyze the speech data. The study revealed that teachers use code-switching to perform various functions in their classroom interactions. Based on these results, it is argued that code-switching between Akan (Twi) and English within the lessons enhances students‟ understanding of concepts in both languages and also encourages active participation among students during lessons. The study is significant because it will enable policy makers recognize that code-switching occurs at all levels of education and must be given the needed attention.