Strategies employed by learners of related languages: code-switching

Abstract

In this paper we examine code-switching, an achievement strategy consisting in the use of a word or phrase from L1, L3 or L4 within an utterance in L2, as employed by learners of Italian as a foreign language who have Brazilian Portuguese as their mother tongue, while performing a written task in pairs. The research, based on tools provided by an ethnographic approach, shows that code-switching constitutes a potential for developing interlanguage and for the acquisition/learning of a foreign language and that such strategy, in addition to compensating eventual linguistic gaps originated by a lack of proper resources for expression in L2, is used by speakers as a typical procedure in bilingual conversation, in order to facilitate the communication.

code-switching; communication strategies; bilingual conversation