The Sociolinguistic Aspects of Code-switching

The present study aims to investigate: 1. lecturers' and students' attitudes towards lecturers' use of the Georgian language in their general and business English courses; 2. functions and frequency of lecturers' language behaviors (code-switching (CS), code-mixing (CM), and translanguaging) in their general and business English courses. The migration process (for studying, working, and traveling purposes) has increased the number of bilingual and multilingual speakers since the XX century. Therefore, the demand for learning English as an international language, and business English has grown in Georgia. Moreover, as the study of scientific literature has shown, the mentioned issue needs to be examined using mixed research methods (quantitative and qualitative). The objectives of the research based on the general and business English teaching context are the following: 1. to identify the functions of the lecturers' language behavior; 2. to determine the role and frequency of lecturers' language behaviors; 3. to determine the structural classification of the lecturers' language behaviors; 4. to analyze examples of language behaviors, based on the theoretical frameworks discussed in the literature review section (conversation analysis approach, interactional sociolinguistics approach, contextualization cues, and markedness model); 5. To study the attitude lecturers and students have towards lecturers switching from English to Georgian; 6. To determine the correlation between the students' and lecturers' language attitude and their age and gender. We grouped the functions of lecturers' language behaviors (in both general and business English courses) according to three main categories: teaching material, classroom management, and interpersonal relationships (lecturers and students). From approximately 120 hours of general English recordings, 789 code-switching, 156 code-mixing, and 35 language-switching moments were identified. Within 80 hours of recordings (ESP), 549 cases of code-switching, 103 cases of code-mixing, and 177 cases of translanguaging were detected. In both contexts, the most common function for code-switching is organizing lectures and homework, while the least common is highlighting/showing pronunciation and the influence of another language (other than Georgian and English). In the above-given teaching contexts, code-switching is primarily expressed in narrative and translanguaging in interrogative sentences. The imperative sentence type is the fewest in number. In contrast to the studies conducted by Canagarajah (1995) and Ferguson (2003), in which the native/first language is unofficial, informal, and marked "we-code," and the foreign language is formal, unmarked, "they-code," in terms of teaching general and business English, English can be as marked or unmarked as the Georgian language. The English language, as well as Georgian, is characterized by the change of register Georgian. While the business English students' and lecturers' attitudes are negative, the General English students' attitude is more positive towards the lecturers' use of the Georgian language than the lecturers' attitude themselves. The lecturers' negative attitude is determined by the traditional view of teaching a foreign language (conventional view - which implies the use of only one language while teaching a foreign language); this opinion is strengthened by the fact that within the framework of qualitative research, 3-4 lecturers of teaching general English, and 2-3 lecturers of business English have not used any Georgian in their lectures. This issue is remarkably interesting because the contemporary view of teaching a foreign language is gradually gaining a foothold in the modern world. The relationship between students' gender, age, and attitude is as follows: the younger the student is (18-20, 21-25), the more positive their attitude toward the lecturers' use of the Georgian language. Regarding gender, students' attitude toward the English language is similar. The empirical material is obtained from the recordings of online lectures, with the help of the transcription method (within qualitative research) and responses collected through an online questionnaire (quantitative research). Statistical and meta-discursive analysis methods are used in the given study. The results obtained are significant for those students who will do linguistic or sociolinguistic research on language behaviors in the future; The research results can be used in theoretical and seminar courses in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics.