Identity and Language Functions: High School Chinese Immigrant Students' Code-Switching Dilemmas in ESL Classes

This study examines classroom code-switching in relation to individual and group identity and to functional use of two languages. It investigates how high school Chinese immigrant students perceive the use of first language (L1) and second language (L2) in class, and how they use these languages during group activities. The interview data demonstrate that the students in this study had multiple and contradictory feelings aboutL1andL2use. The observation data show that there were differences in the functions of these students' L1 and L2 discourse. These findings indicate that bilingual classroom code-switching involved dilemmas for the students. They appeared to be torn between identifying with compatriots in L1 and gaining membership in mainstream classes in L2, between maintaining L1 and developing L2, and between using L1 for academic discourse and developing academic discourse in L2. Identity and language functions seem two side-by-side components of the dilemmas. A complex vision that includes both may address code-switching dilemmas more adequately.