An-Najah National University 

Faculty of Graduate Studies 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Code Switching as a Linguistic Phenomenon 

among Palestinian English Arabic Bilinguals 

with Reference to Translation 
 

 

 

 
 

 

By 

Iyad Ahmad Hamdan Mkahal 

 

 

 

Supervised by 

Dr. Sameer Al-Issa 

Dr. Ruqayyah HerzAllah 
 

 

 

 

 

This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the 

Requirements of the Master Degree of Applied Linguistics 

and Translation, Faculty of Graduate Studies, An-Najah 

National University, Nablus, Palestine. 

2016 





III 

 

 

Dedication 

This thesis is dedicated to the dearest people in my life, my 

father, my mother, my sisters and my brothers. 

I also dedicate it to my friends and colleagues and those who 

supported me through all this work. 

 

 

  



IV 

 

 

Acknowledgment 

I should strongly express my gratitude to  Drs. Sameer 

Al-Issa and Ruqayyah Hirzallah for their insightful 

comments, unceasing encouragement and patience. 

My thanks also should be extended to the instructors, 

specifically Dr. Sufian Abu Arra, Ekrmashehab, Ayman 

Nazzal and Fayez Aqel for sharing their illuminating views in 

the production of this work.  

I would also like to thank all colleagues, friends and my 

family for their support and guidance.  

  





VI 

 

 

Table of Contents 

Subject Page 

Dedication  III 

Acknowledgement IV 

Declaration V 

Table of Contents  VI 

List of Figures VIII 

List of Tables IX 

List of  Abbreviations   X 

Abstract  XI 

Chapter one: Introduction  1 

1.1. Introduction 1 

1.2. Dimensions of Studying Code-switching 3 

1.3. Code-switching in the Palestinian Context 4 

1.4. Statement of the Problem 5 

1.5. Goals of the study 6 

1.6. Significance of the study 7 

1.7. Questions of the study  7 

1.8. Limitations of the Study 7 

1.9. Organization of the Study 8 

Chapter Two:  Literature Review 9 

2.1. Theoretical Background 9 

2.1.1. Definitions of Code-switching 9 

2.1.2. The Markedness Model 9 

2.1.3. Competency Level and Code-switching 10 

2.1.4.  Social Associations of Code-switching 12 

2.2. Review of Relevant Studies  14 

2.2.1. Communicative Functions of Code-switching 14 

2.2.2. Speakers‟ Motives for Code-switching 20 

2.3. Types of Code-switching 27 

2.4. Procedures of CS Translation 30 

2.5. Conclusion 32 

Chapter Three: Research Design and Methodology 33 

3.1. Introduction 33 

3.2. Subjects 33 

3.3. Methods of Data Collection  35 

3.3.1. The Questionnaire 35 

3.3.1.1. Validity and Reliability of the Questionnaire  36 

3.3.2. The Semi-Structured Interview  37 



VII 

 

 

Subject Page 

3.3.3. Taped Material   38 

3.4. Conclusion 39 

Chapter Four: Results and Discussion 40 

4.1. Introduction  40 

4.2. Results related to the first question 40 

4.2.1. The Analysis of the Questionnaire Responses  41 

4.2.1.1. Motives and Functions of CS 42 

4.2.2. The interview discussions 49 

4.2.3. Transcribed Taped material Discussion 51 

4.3. Results related to the research second question  59 

4.3.1. Comments on the code –switching motives in taped- 

material lectures  

61 

4.3.2 The challenges that face the translators of code switched 

texts 

63 

4.4. Results related to the research third question  69 

4.4.1. Code-switching motives and the social variables of: age 

and gender 

69 

4.4.1.1. Motives and functions of code switching: age 

differences  

70 

4.4.1.2. Motives and functions of code switching: gender 

differences  

72 

4.5. Conclusion 77 

Chapter Five  Conclusion and Recommendations  79 

5.1. Conclusion 79 

Works cited  83 

Appendix  90 

 ة انًهخص

 



VIII 

 

 

List of Figures 

Fig. No. Figure Page 

Figure (1) Distribution of the study sample variables. 34 

Figure (2) Distribution of the interviewee sample. 38 

Figure (3) B. A. and M.A sample distribution according to their 

qualification. 

63 

Figure (4) Age differences in the motives and functions of CS. 70 

Figure (5) Male motives and function of CS. 73 

Figure (6) Female motives and functions of CS. 73 

 

  



IX 

 

 

List of Tables  

Table No. Table  Page 

Table (1) Below shows the questionnaire items 41 

Table (2) Results for Motives and Functions According to the 

Percentage of Responses 

43 

Table (3) Shows code-switching motives posing themselves as 

challenging in translation 

60 

Table (4) The common reasons of CS between students and 

instructors 

77 

 

  



X 

 

 

List of Abbreviations  

Abbreviation  The term 

CS Code switching 

CM Code Mixing 

RCT Rational Choice Theory 

RO Right and Obligation 

SL Source language 

TL Target language 

MSA Modern standard Arabic 

  



XI 

 

 

Code Switching as a Linguistic Phenomenon 

 among Palestinian English Arabic Bilinguals 

 with Reference to Translation 

By 

Iyad Ahmad Hamdan Mkahal 

Supervised by 

Dr. Sameer Al-Issa 

Dr. Reuqayyah HerzAllah 

Abstract 

Code-switching is a phenomenon by which speakers use more than 

one language in the same utterance or conversation and it is common in 

ESL contexts. Researchers have identified many communicative functions 

and motives which explain why speakers code-switch. In Palestine, and 

though English is a foreign language, the researcher noticed that some 

Palestinian students code-switch in their daily interactions and found it 

worthy of investigation. Therefore, in the current study, the functions and 

motives of Palestinian student‟s code-switching in their conversations were 

investigated, and the relation between their code-switching  and translation 

was examined. The research had both qualitative and quantitative 

dimensions.  

The qualitative research was conducted on 15 instructors from 

different faculties at AN-Najah National University. Those instructors were 

asked about their code-switching practices. Their answers were 

qualitatively analyzed. The quantitative research was conducted on 100 

university students. They filled a questionnaire that inquired about the 

functions and motives of their code-switching. Moreover, the students were 



XII 

 

 

asked to answer the translation section of the questionnaire. student‟s 

responses to code-switching motives and their translations were analyzed 

and represented by using statistical pack for science (SPSS). 

The results showed that Palestinian students do have functions and 

motives behind there code- switching. The three major ones were:- 

compensating for the lack of vocabulary, expressing feelings and habitual 

use. Other important ones were:- discussing western societies, responding 

to an English utterance and showing Knowledge of technology. Regarding 

the translation, the researcher noticed that such code - switching motives 

pose themselves as challenges to translator. Moreover, students translation 

results indicated that transliteration is the student‟s common method of 

translation. The study also reveled that students  lack the necessary skills to 

translate English words in to Arabic, and that indicates weakness in their 

competence.   

 

 

 

 

 

 



1 

 

 

Chapter One 

1.1. Introduction: 

Code-switching is a widely-spread phenomenon in bilingual 

communities all over the world by which a speaker uses more than one 

code, a language or even a dialect, in the same discourse while interacting 

with someone who understands these languages. This is why switching 

between languages is seen as an inimitable act that only bilinguals are 

capable of performing, while monolinguals are not (because their code-

switching occurs from Standard to Colloquial versions of their first 

language or between dialects).  

Some researchers consider the phenomenon of code-switching as the 

norm of language use in most communities where two languages or more 

are used. Kohnert, et al (2005) sees it as an effective communication mode 

which proficient bilingual speakers switch to in interactions with other 

individuals who share both languages. It is also argued, in (Foley & 

Thompson 2003), that being able to code-switch represents a dimension in 

the development of the language of bilinguals, and that a speaker may 

resort to code-switching as a wide-ranging linguistic resource from which 

s/he can draw choices in order to communicate effectively.  

Quite the contrary, imposing one of the spoken languages on the 

interaction limits the communicative options that speakers with multiple 

languages in their repertoire can use to express their selves or to convey 



2 

 

 

their messages. Other researchers argue that code-switching in itself is not 

only a linguistic phenomenon, but also a psychological one, and they even 

believe that extralinguistic motives cause it. 

The researcher of the present study noticed a strange behaviour on 

the part of Arabic-speaking students who switch English codes with Arabic 

ones to communicate with each other, in a context where English is a 

foreign language. Literature says that such code-switching behaviour 

usually occurs in bilingual communities where L2 is used outside the 

classroom formal setting, i.e. where L2 is a second and not a foreign 

language. Noticing the strange behaviour and knowing about what the 

literature says made the researcher believes that this would be an 

interesting area of investigation.  

The researcher decided to explore the reasons why this phenomenon 

takes place among Palestinian Arabic-speaking students. The literature on 

this topic analyzed the motives behind code-switching and the functions 

served by it in the ESL context, and the researcher thought that it would be 

interesting to find out if such motives and functions exist in the EFL 

context. Seeing that such a domain has rarely been researched makes the 

grounds for engaging in this topic strongly appealing and the researcher 

hopes it will add to the knowledge in the field of code-switching. 

Researchers got interested in code-switching because it is a practice 

that involves interference between languages (even though some believed it 



3 

 

 

is a psychological and not a linguistic one). They studied the phenomenon 

in relation to various social factors including age, gender, education, topic 

and setting which add to its complexity. Some researchers considered the 

interlocutors, the function, and the situation to be the most important ones. 

However, there are more influential factors present in the literature. 

One important factor is the period of exposure to the languages being 

switched, as Genesee (1989) concluded. The longer the period of exposure 

extends the more frequent and complicated the code-switches become. On 

the other hand, Kanakri & Ionescu (2010) focused on the influence that the 

relationship between the interlocutors imposes on their code-switching. It 

introduced an interesting influential factor which is the social distance 

between the interlocutors. It claimed that a short distance of this type has 

an escalating influence on the rate of the practice and that  

“the familiarity and friendship relation between the speakers 

might have been, therefore, the reason why there was a 

higher incidence of a type of code-switching. It is possible 

that the degree of intimacy and the social context in which 

bilinguals find themselves are clear factors that influence the 

type and frequency of code-switching.” (p. 186) 

1.2. Dimensions of Studying Code-switching: 

Code-switching has been investigated in two main dimensions: the 

translational one  which decide on what code – switching motives pose 

themselves as challenging to translation, and the communicative functions 

that are aimed at by the speakers. 



4 

 

 

Malik (1994) classified them into nine broad categories: "authority, 

communication, conceptual, emphasis, ethnicity, interlocution, lexicon, 

psychological and trigger” (p.7) and the researcher claimed that five of 

them include the most common reasons that trigger switching. They are: 

1. Communication such as „excluding a person from the dialogue ‟ 

2. Conceptual such as „experience practiced only in one language‟ 

3. Emphasis such as „making a point‟ 

4. Interlocution such as „expressing group solidarity‟ 

5. Lexicon such as „conveying precise meaning‟ 

1.3. Code-switching in the Palestinian Context: 

Code- switching is practiced in different settings and on various 

scales. it is practiced by teachers and college educators. It is also practiced 

in workplaces and homes.  

Instructors of such languages code-switch in the classroom to ease 

the processes of teaching and learning, and their practices (as a part of a 

widespread phenomenon) have been widely investigated. The presence of 

foreign employees, especially in non-governmental organizations, and also 

the need of specific domain-related terminology result in code-switching in 

workplaces. Similarly, some Palestinian workers and merchants switch 

Arabic with Hebrew because of their business relations with Israelis. In the 



5 

 

 

previous two settings, the need for code-switching can be detected and 

comprehended. 

Prepared with more reading about the nature of the phenomenon and 

what researchers had to say about it, the researcher decided that  students' 

practices needed to be investigated and explained. This need emerged from 

the fact that Palestinian students  could speak Arabic very well and yet they 

chose voluntarily to switch it with English, which is the foreign language 

they learn at school.  

This study was therefore based upon analyzing students  motives for 

code- switching and  extracting the ones which make challenges to 

translation.  a belief that the Palestinian students have specific motives 

standing behind their code switching practices, and that they aim at 

achieving particular functions. These motives and functions were the center 

of the study and it may be claimed that both are not merely linguistic and 

that the students saw code-switching as a useful communicative resource 

and not merely a means of fulfilling a linguistic need. 

1.4. Statement of the Problem: 

In the Palestinian context, English is learnt as a foreign language and 

it is seldom needed outside the formal setting of learning – teaching 

process. Nevertheless, the Palestinian students switch between their first 

language (L1), i.e. Arabic, and English in their daily casual interactions. 

Palestinian students use English-Arabic code switching as an aspect of 



6 

 

 

communication among peers, and what motivates them to do so is a need to 

fulfill some communicative functions and sometimes to fill linguistic gaps. 

The motives and the desired functions for this switching deserve to be 

investigated in order to explore linguistic and cognitive insights into such a 

linguistic performance which seems to have rarely been investigated in a 

context where the second language (L2) is learned as a foreign language. 

Moreover, regarding translation, the present study intends to explore 

students  motives which pose themselves as a challenge to  translators, 

highlighting the difficulties and challenges  while translating switched and 

mixed words. 

1.5. Goals of the study: 

This study aims at investigating the motives that Palestinian students 

and academicians at An – Najah national university  have to practice code-

switching in their teaching – learning and  process and peer conversations 

and the functions that this practice achieves. It is specifically significant to 

investigate such motives because they sometimes form difficulty and a 

challenge to the translator. 

The researcher aspires for findings that explain the motives and the 

functions that stand behind the phenomenon of code-switching in the 

Palestinian  context, and to compare them with motives which exist in the 

students translations of code – switched sentences. 

 



7 

 

 

1.6. Significance of the study: 

The significance of the study has sprung from the importance of the 

nature of CS and CM that involves the shift between two languages, 

revealing the way this process takes place, and the factors that motivate it 

in the Palestinian community. In addition, the researcher intends to point 

out the impact of CS on the social behaviour of Palestinian learners of 

English , to decide if they use CS in their interaction in the informal 

contexts such as with family and friends. 

The study is also important for people interested in preserving the 

Arabic language as the language of the country and Palestinian heritage.  

1.7. Questions of the study:  

1) What are the motives and situations of the Palestinian students and 

academicians Code-Switching between Arabic and English?  

2) What are the “Code switching” reasons which pose themselves 

challenging in translation? 

3) Are there any significant differences between cod- switching and the 

social variables of :- age , gender? 

1.8. Limitations of the Study: 

This study is restricted to account for code-switching which occurs 

alternately between Arabic and English. It covers both formal and informal 



8 

 

 

situations as well as academic and non-academic usage of the English 

language in which this linguistic phenomenon occurs, but largely focuses 

on the academic situations. 

Moreover, the target group of this study is related to the Palestinian  

university academics and students who define themselves as speakers of 

English and whose their native language is Arabic. Nonetheless, it locally 

covers An-Najah National University in Nablus and it is conducted within a 

duration of one year whereby research procedures are performed. 

1.9. Organization of the Study: 

The thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter attempts to 

offer introductory information about CS and CM, and presents a theoretical 

frame, the purpose of the study, the significance of the study, the 

limitations of the study, definition of terms, research questions, and the 

research hypotheses. Chapter two tries to review previous studies on CS 

chronologically. Chapter three deals with the research methodology which 

is adopted in this paper such as sampling, and research methods (qualitative 

or quantitative). Chapter four analyzes the subjects' responses to CS and 

CM in details based on theoretical frames. Lastly, chapter five presents 

research conclusion and recommendations. 

 

 

 



9 

 

 

Chapter Two 

Background and Literature Review 

2.1. Theoretical Background: 

2.1.1. Definitions of Code-switching 

 The present study was based upon a selection of theoretical 

assumptions related to the phenomenon of code-switching, one of which 

was the definition itself. The various proposed definitions of the term itself 

reflect an intense interest in the phenomenon by the researchers and also 

their different interpretations of its nature and causes. Muysken (2000) 

defined it as “the rapid succession of several languages in a single speech 

event” (p.1) while Bentahila and Davies (1983), defined it as “the use of 

two languages within a single conversation, exchange or utterance” (p. 

302). The latter even went as far as considering it a third code which is the 

product of mixing two codes together, as contrasted with that of choosing 

one code over the other. Myers-Scotton (1990), whose definition will be 

adopted in this study, defined it as “the use of two or more linguistic 

varieties in the same conversation. It can be intra- or –extra sentential and 

also intra-word” (p.85). 

2.1.2. The Markedness Model: 

 Explanations of why bilinguals switch codes were another base to 

build upon in this study. Myers-Scotton (1995) presented the Markedness 



10 

 

 

model to propose an explanation. The idea proposed in the model was that 

the bi- or multilingual speakers choose to use a specific linguistic code in 

an interaction in order to determine the type of relation they desire to have 

with the other interlocutor and to define a specific image of themselves. 

The model has three main elements that were clarified in Jagero & Odongo 

(2011). The first is the „unmarked code‟ which is the most expected one as 

a medium of interaction in regard to the components of a situation,  such as 

the interlocutors, the topic and the setting. Obviously, the second is the 

„marked choice‟ and it is the unexpected one. The third is the „exploratory 

choice‟ which is manifested when the speaker switches codes when s/he is 

not sure of the choice that would be best for achieving their goal. Bi- or 

multilingual speakers usually make unmarked choices because they are 

aware of the fact that these choices are safer. However, this is not always 

the case because “speakers assess the potential costs and rewards of all 

alternative choices, and make their decisions, typically unconsciously” 

(Myers-Scotton, 1995, p.75). 

2.1.3. Competency Level and Code-switching: 

 It is presumed that the level of complexity of a language reflects a 

person‟s competence in that language. The complexity of code-switching 

practices is also believed to depend on the level of competency in the two 

languages and researchers have investigated this area. Poplack (1980) 

found that a good knowledge of the grammars of two languages (or more) 

enhances the complexity of code-switching between them, and that a high 



11 

 

 

level of bilingual competence is required for alternating between two 

languages. Hammink (2000) suggested that a good command of the two 

languages is required for producing intra-sentential code-switching. Jalil 

(2009) claimed that the “most complex type of code-switching is the 

intrasentential one” (p.4) and explained its complexity by the fact that it is 

most likely to result in producing ungrammatical code-switches due to the 

necessity of a great knowledge of the grammars of the two languages and 

how they map onto each other.  

Similarly, Poplack (1980) claimed that intra-sentential code-

switching type requires a high level of knowledge of the grammar of L2. 

Next in Poplack‟s scale was „full sentences‟, i.e. intersentential type, and 

lastly came tag-switching which “include interjections, fillers, tags, and  

idiomatic expressions, all of which can be produced in L2 with only 

minimal knowledge of the grammar of that language” (p.605). 

Nevertheless, other researchers claimed that intra-sentential code-switching 

is easier than inter-sentential code-switching arguing that it is easier to 

switch shorter language sequences than longer ones (Iqbal, 2011).  

Other researchers studied the impact of acquiring different levels of 

competency in a second language on the speaker‟s choice of a specific 

pattern of code-switching to use in an interaction. This was the focus of 

Pfaff‟s (1999) study which was conducted on a child who was born and 

brought up in Germany by his Turkish parents. The findings of this case 

study revealed that the child‟s proficiency in the second language seemed 



12 

 

 

to govern his choice of specific patterns of code-switching and that he 

developed new linguistic code-switching behaviours as he acquired higher 

levels of competency in his L2, i.e. German. The sharp diversion that he 

showed in using the types of these behaviours reflected his ideas about the 

linguistic competence of his interlocutors, whether German or Turkish, and 

his notions of the different communicative norms in the community. 

2.1.4.  Social Associations of Code-switching: 

 “Language choice and mixing behaviour reveal early sensitivity to 

the preferred language of the interlocutor, whose perceived language 

preference he attempts to match” (p. 117-118). The interpretation of the 

person‟s behaviour might shed light on and better explain what Abdel-

Fattah (2010) stated about the inconsistency in the code-switching 

behaviour of single individuals who may choose to switch codes on 

specific occasions and to withhold on other occasions.  

Moreover, the findings of Pfaff‟s study might be supported by the 

claims of MyersScotton (2002). The latter pointed out that the speaker‟s 

choices of switching codes can  sometimes be a social technique which the 

speaker uses in order to present his/her self in relation to others, and she 

added that many people do have specific social and psychological 

associations with the different languages available for use in a community 

and by using one over another the speaker sends a message of who he or 

she is.  



13 

 

 

Code-switching may be triggered by many factors, as Kim (2006) 

clarified, such as interlocutors, emotions, situations, attitudes and 

messages. These factors are the basis for making a language choice by 

bilingual people and Bhatia & Ritchie (2004) classified them to „with 

whom‟ referring to the participants including their backgrounds and 

relationships, „about what‟ including the topic and content, and „when and 

where‟ a speech act occurs. Fishman (1965) agreed and stated that it is such 

factors which are outside the speaker that determine the choice of language 

among bilingual speakers. In other words, it might be said that code-

switching practices are not isolated from the culture in which they occur.  

Malik (1994) explained that cultural conditions may control the 

reasons for code-switching. Some lexical items and expressions are not 

acceptable in specific cultures, or even do not exist. As a result, when a 

speaker has to mention them, he/she borrows the exact item or expression 

from the other language in which the „forbidden‟ or „strange‟ concept 

exists. Other conditions, Malik clarified, are related to particular 

professions such as law, medicine and engineering where the professionals 

prefer to use terms from the language in which they got their education 

simply because they are the ones available for them, and not terms from 

their mother tongue. 

  



14 

 

 

2.2. Review of Relevant Studies:  

The present study focused on the communicative functions and the 

motives related to the phenomenon of code-switching, and this section 

includes a review of them in which the researcher sorted what some of the 

researchers found out into two main categories: communicative functions 

and speakers‟ motives. 

2.2.1. Communicative Functions of Code-switching: 

 In certain conditions, speakers find themselves switching codes, 

consciously or unconsciously, in an attempt to communicate more 

effectively and to achieve specific communicative functions. Listeners to 

recognize these functions as pointed out by Genesee (1980) who said that 

some children who do not actually switch codes recognize the 

psychological and the social objectives of the practice. Karen (2003) 

discussed some of the possible conditions in which code-switching is most 

likely to happen and following are some of them: 

 Lack of one word in one of the switched languages 

 Some concepts are easier to be expressed in one of the languages 

 Some activities have been experienced only in one of the languages  

 A misunderstanding must be clarified 

 One wants to exclude another person from the conversation  



15 

 

 

 One desires to create a specific communication effect 

 One continues to speak the language used lastly due to the trigger 

effect 

 One wishes to express group solidarity 

 One wants to make a point 

 Malik (1994) listed situations according to the functions that they 

aimed at achieving. The following were some of them:  

 The speaker‟s mood  

 Emphasizing a point  

 Habitual Experience  

 Semantic significance 

 Showing identity with a group 

 Addressing a different audience 

 Attracting attention 

 Looking closely at the two previous lists, one can detect some 

common points between them such as emphasizing a point, showing 

solidarity with a group and excluding somebody from the conversation. 

Similarly, Sert (2005) revealed that code-switching in the teaching – 

learning  context was meant to be a reflection of the interlocutors‟ ethnic 



16 

 

 

identity and aimed at building solidarity among them. Sert (2005) also 

discussed some of the functions.  

One of them was the equivalence function by which students show 

their ability to bridge a gap in communication when they spoke in the 

foreign language, in which they are not competent, by using the native 

word instead of its equivalent foreign word. This equivalence function was 

the first condition to be included in Karen's list as a condition where the 

lack of one word in one of the two languages enhances the  chances of 

switching codes. Tarone (1980) also mentioned this function and 

considered it a communicative strategy through which a speaker tries to 

solve a difficulty in the second language by retreating to the first language.  

Færch and Kasper (1984) classified such a communicative attempt as 

a non-cooperative achievement strategy by which the speaker tries to solve 

the problem without resorting to the help of others, as opposed to the 

cooperative strategies of the same type and to the avoidance ones. In such 

cases, the speakers try to fill the gaps in their vocabulary repertoire in order 

to guarantee the continuity of the interaction and to avoid a breakage in 

communication. Abdel-Fattah (2010) claimed that such attempts arise from 

the speakers feeling that “their language is imperfect” (p.101) especially 

when it comes to expressions of technology and science.  

Talking about the same function, the personal experience of the 

writer with code-switching is included in Hamilton (2011). She explained 



17 

 

 

that she often switched languages in the middle of sentences when she 

forgot a word, in an attempt to find a suitable one. She added that, 

sometimes, it was the lack of an equivalent way to say a word, phrase or 

emotion in her native English that made her use phrases in another 

language. This is because, she thought, that some concepts are more easily 

stated and discussed in one language, and that they might lose an important 

part of their meaning when they are described in another language.  

In Shizuka (2006) it was concluded that speakers, whose code-

switching had been studied, code-switched more often from English into 

Japanese (their dominant language). They did so when they forgot the 

Japanese word or in situations where it was easier to use English words.  

Emphasis and clarification through reiteration, which was proposed to be 

one of six code-switching functions in Gumpertz (1982), were also reported 

as functions to be achieved by code-switching. Students in Eldridge (1996) 

switched languages for such purposes. They said a message in the target 

language and then they repeated it in the native language to signify to the 

teacher that they really understood what they have said, and/or to make 

sure that they have conveyed the meaning in the target language correctly.  

They also switched languages in order to control conflict in the 

intended meaning, i.e., to avoid possible misunderstandings arising from 

the lack of words that are culturally equivalent. Similarly, in Bailey (2000), 

Dominican American high school students used code-switching through 

reiteration to confirm their understanding of a friend‟s message and to 



18 

 

 

serve emphasizing or clarifying such a message. They code-switched to 

discuss formal topics such as the school rules and their code-switching 

functioned “as a particularly powerful framing device to repair a 

misunderstanding” (p.180). The school children in Reyes (2004) also used 

code-switching for the purposes of clarification and emphasis in addition to 

topic shift and accommodation. They were found to switch codes more 

frequently while changing topics because they spent much of their time 

talking about social events and teasing each other.  

Shizuka (2006) included emphasis as a function for the code-

switching of two young children, and explained that the code-switcher in 

such a case repeats the same meaning in the other language. The function 

of clarification was also stated in Karen (2003) as a possible condition for 

code-switching when a speaker attempts to clarify a misunderstanding, and 

that of emphasis was mentioned in Malik (1994) as a situation in which a 

speaker aims at emphasizing a point. Elsaadany (2003) concluded that 

Arabs in America use code-switching, from Arabic to English, to replace 

the Arabic expressions with English ones in order to facilitate 

understanding.  

They did so when they thought that the use of Arabic expressions or 

words may result in confusion. In addition, he clarified that their code-

switching emphasized the English expressions as being important, and 

'[t]hus, the choice of English expressions shows accuracy, emphasis and 

clarity' (p.83). He gave the expression of 'annual fee' as an example. It was 



19 

 

 

used in a conversation between a Jordanian man and an Egyptian one, by 

both of them. The speaker used it to make sure that he is fully understood, 

and the listener repeated it to show that he understands what the meaning of 

the phrase is. McLaughlin, Blanchard, & Osanai (1995) saw that 

clarification of statements and clearing ambiguities are functions aimed at 

by young children, while the older children, together with adults, do the 

same in order to convey social meanings Some speakers switched codes to 

mark quotations, i.e. to report what has been said by another person in the 

same language he/she used.  

This is a function that Gumpertz (1982) mentioned among other six 

functions. Another was the speaker's feeling that one language is more 

suitable for a specific topic than another. Cook (2001) mentioned that 

function and gave two examples to elaborate: “Mexican Americans … who 

prefer to talk about money in English rather than Spanish and one of my 

Malaysian students who told me that she could express romantic feelings in 

English but not in Bahasa Malaysia” (p. 104).  

The second example clarifies well, the researcher believes, what 

Abdel-Fattah (2010) meant by saying that it is the speaker‟s wish to 

idiosyncratically express affective feelings such as anger that makes 

him/her switch codes. More examples were provided by Nortier (2011) 

who said that a Turkish/Dutch girl told her that she preferred to curse in 

Dutch because cursing in Turkish sounds more serious and severe.  



20 

 

 

2.2.2. Speakers‟ Motives for Code-switching: 

1. Lack of topic-related vocabulary was one of the repeatedly-

mentioned reasons for switching codes.  

In Muthusamy (2009), a study which investigated the 

communicative functions and reasons for code-switching among 

Tamil speaking undergraduate university students in Malaysia, 

students said that they found themselves switching codes whenever 

they encountered a difficulty in finding an appropriate word when 

talking about a specific topic. Consequently, they resort to another 

language to choose words they feel are more comprehensible and 

achieve more effective communication. Similarly, bilinguals' code-

switching was explained as inefficiency in finding an appropriate 

word or expression or even translations for the needed vocabulary, 

(Grosjean, 1982, p.150). 

2. Habit was another reason the students gave to explain their code-

switching behavior, also in Muthusamy (2009).  

This behaviour was seen, as the responses of the students showed, as 

a normal psychological one emerging from their being accustomed to 

switching languages in the environment they were raised in. Their 

behaviour included not only the choice of language, but also their 

selection of lexical items and grammatical structures. In other words, 

one may say that these students were influenced by and imitated 



21 

 

 

other people in the community who switched codes. Malik (1994) 

discussed and elaborated on the habitual practices of code-switching 

by giving examples of words and expressions used in this way. Some 

of these are frozen expressions “of greeting and parting, commands 

and request, invitation, expressions of gratitude” (p.5). 

3. The same students said that they aimed at making a point by 

switching codes. Using a word in another language emphasized its 

semantic importance.  

4. They also switched codes for the purpose of identifying with a 

specific group. At a specific point of an interaction, they wanted to 

be identified with the speakers of an admired linguistic group or with 

the majority in order to bond with the intended group. 

5. They were also motivated by a need for expressing a specific mood, 

i.e., the speaker switches codes when he/she feels happy, sad or 

furious. 

Muthusamy (2009) expressed this reason by saying that “[t]he 

speaker may choose to switch … for the mere pleasure of switching” 

(p.9), and Grosjean (1982), reported that some bilinguals usually 

code-switch and code-mix when they are tired, lazy, or angry and 

that “[i]t is rare that a bilingual can lock out one language completely 

when speaking the other, especially when he or she is tired or under 

stress” (p.290). 



22 

 

 

6. The same study observed an interesting reason for code-switching 

during the interviews and discussions with the students.  

This was showing command over the language of power, which can 

be associated with the speakers' desire for getting the best possible 

rewards. The latter was a reason that Myers-Scotton (2002) 

discussed. It was pointed out in this study that the choice a speaker 

makes, on which language to use, is a highly subjective one based 

upon a belief that this choice is the best one. The writer illustrated by 

giving an example of a Hungarian bilingual child living with his 

family in the United States. This child chose to switch to English, 

while having a meal, at a point where he wanted to inform his mother 

that he preferred to prepare his salad by himself. In his attempt to 

achieve this goal, he chose the language of the powerful and 

dominant culture to show his own power and independence.  

Taweel & Btoosh (2012) stated that “Code-switching is sometimes 

used as a symbol of power. In a study conducted on a 4-year-Chinese 

child, Bain and Yu (2000) find that the child switches to English as a 

way of having a certain power in a 21 situation. Similar findings 

about two children but with French-English code-switching are also 

reported in Jisa (2000)” p.(3) 

7. Getting the prestige of one language over another is the reason why 

some speakers choose to use it. 



23 

 

 

According to Muthusamy (2009), Romaine (2000) and Abdel-Fattah 

(2010). Muthusamy (2009) noted that in the Malaysian context, the 

language of power and prestige is often English and the students 

usually desire to show their knowledge of this language. Romaine 

(2000) pointed out that educated people are expected to know 

another language, such as French in most European countries and 

even in Russia before the Revolution where it was used by polite and 

cultured people.  

Abdel-Fattah (2000) further said that when the society gives prestige 

to those who know a foreign or/and a second language, they are 

psychologically motivated to switch codes in order to show their 

knowledge ability and thus attain the prestige. Suleiman (2004) 

thought of switching codes as “an attempt at identity negotiation 

whereby the speaker seeks symbolically to ascribe to the self some of 

the attributes associated with a more prestigious group” (p.31). 

Myers-Scotton (2002) believed that both power and charm are 

elements of one motive which is prestige. 

8. Wanting to express oneself in all the linguistic resources available at 

one's disposal motivated some children to switch codes.  

Ayeomoni (2006) concluded that Yoruba children start code-

switching between English and Yoruba language and start merging 



24 

 

 

the two grammatical systems of the two languages in the primary 

school stage for that reason.  

9. One more reason, mentioned in Cook (2001), is showing the 

speaker‟s role. A good incident to exemplify this reason is one from 

western Kenya, presented in Romaine (2000), in which a sister 

speaks to her brother, in his store, in their mother tongue spoken at 

home in order to get a 21 special treatment. However the brother 

insists on using Swahili, being the neutral choice, to emphasize his 

role as a seller and a store owner and not a brother.  

10. Including oneself in informal personalized activities that pertain to a 

specific group of persons was another reason that Romaine (2000) 

proposed. Genishi (1976) expressed the same idea by saying that 

those who switch codes are motivated by a desire to accommodate. 

Similarly, Romaine (2000) pointed out that children see code-

switching as a means to accommodate and not as one for 

emphasizing a point, nor for marking an ethnic identity. Nortier 

(2011) simplified the idea when she said that a Dutch-Arabic 

bilingual who lives in Netherlands would probably feel more 

comfortable talking in Arabic with family members and Dutch with 

friends. 

11. Quite the contrary, Romaine (2000) and McCormick, K. M. (1994), 

pointed out that codeswitching may be used as a strategy of 



25 

 

 

neutrality by using it continually during an interaction to avoid 

having the interaction defined in terms of a specific social sector, by 

using the language associated with it, or as a way of trying to decide 

upon the appropriate or acceptable code to be used in a specific 

situation. Nortier (2011) saw that a person might choose to switch 

codes in order to show that he/she knows the language, even though 

poorly, and would like to be identified as so. She pointed out that 

“[code-switching] is a powerful tool for identification” (para. 9). 

Other researchers investigated situations which are similar to Karen‟s 

conditions and which people created to pass on meaning. One of 

these researchers was Gumperz (1982) who included some of these 

situations. They represent reasons for code-switching that will most 

probably be relevant to the present study. Following are they:  

 to convey precise meaning - to ease communication, i.e., utilizing 

the shortest and the easiest route  

 to negotiate with greater authority - to capture attention, i.e. 

stylistic, emphatic, emotional - to communicate more effectively 

 to close the status gap 

 to establish goodwill and support Commenting on the use of 

code-switching in Gumperz‟s situations, Muthusamy (2009) 

claimed that effective communication depends on fulfilling the 



26 

 

 

relational and referential function of language which is achieved 

by code-switching practices. 

 Nilep (2006) clarified this statement when he described code-

switching as a contextualization cue which enables the speaker, by giving 

information that is not referenced in the content of the utterance, to guide 

the listener in the process of interpreting the utterance. In such a case, the 

listener himself is expected to come to a better understanding of what has 

been said. Although other researchers studied other aspects related to code-

switching, such as the code-switcher‟s knowledge of the behaviour itself, 

their studies provided useful information about the types and functions of 

the practice. One of these studies was Hammink (2000).  

Despite the irrelevant general topic of this study, it contained some 

useful information. In its abstract, the researcher said that “Poplack found 

that the complexity of intrasentential code switching required that the 

speaker has a sophisticated knowledge of the grammars of both languages 

… Less proficient bilinguals favored single-word and tag switches, while 

more proficient bilinguals code switched at the phrase and clause level as 

well”. In the body of the study, the researcher referred to the results of 

Genishi (1976) which showed that young children switched codes driven 

by a motivation to accommodate their friends who had a different level of 

language ability.   



27 

 

 

In addition to her own experience about code-switching and its 

functions, the writer of Hamilton (2011) listed reasons for code-switching 

such as … “hiding a person‟s level of fluency, …, indicating a change from 

an informal to formal situation, …, exerting control over a situation, …, or 

easing interpersonal relationships” (para. 3). 'Motives' were referred to by 

'causes' in Ayeomoni (2006) and the researcher listed many causes that 

stand behind the phenomenon of code-switching. He said that „[s]ome are 

status, integrity, self-pride, comfortability and prestige (Akere, 1977; 

Bokamba, 1989; Hymes, 1962; Kashru, 1989; Kamwangamalu, 1989). 

Other causes include modernization, Westernization, efficiency, 

professionalism and social advancement (Kashru, 1989; Kamwangamalu, 

1989). According to these scholars, some of the functions of code-

switching and code-mixing are intragroup identity (Gumperz, 1982); poetic 

creativity (Kashru, 1989) and the expression of modernization 

(Kamwangamalu, 1989)‟. 

2.3. Types of Code-switching: 

 This chapter has been started by presenting different definitions of 

the term „code switching‟ which reflect the strong debate on how to view 

and explain the practices of this phenomenon. The broad term includes 

various forms of linguistic communicative behaviour of bilingual people 

which researchers most commonly classified as borrowing, mixing and 

switching. However, defining clear-cut boundaries between these 



28 

 

 

classifications has not been an easy mission and has been considered a non-

necessary process by some researchers.  

Boztepe (2005) claimed that, in order to correctly understand the 

cultural and social processes related to code-switching, it is essential that 

researchers free themselves from the need to classify instances of non-

native utterances in language as being code-switches or borrowings. „After 

all, there are  more similarities than differences between the two concepts‟ 

(Boztepe, 2005, p.8). The researchers have generally agreed on the 

classification proposed in Poplack (1980) which was based on the linguistic 

structures of code-switched utterances. This classification differentiated 

between three kinds of code-switching: inter-sentential code-switching, 

intra-sentential code switching and tag-switching. Inter-sentential code-

switching refers to switching languages across the sentence boundaries.  

It is most common among fluent bilinguals and it is believed to be a 

mechanical and an unconscious linguistic process that “fills in unknown or 

unavailable terms in one language” (Bista, 2010, p. 3). A good example 

would be the title of Poplack‟s (1980) study which is „Sometimes I will 

start a sentence in English y terminό in español‟, [Sometimes I‟ll start a 

sentence in Spanish and finish in Spanish]. 

 Intra-sentential code-switching (which is also referred to as code-

mixing) occurs within the sentence boundaries, without hesitating or 

making pauses that may indicate the shift (Lipski, 1985). It is more 



29 

 

 

complicated than the first type. “The complexity of this type of switching is 

explained by the high probability of violation of syntactic rules, as well as 

the requirement of a great knowledge of both grammars and how they map 

onto each other” (Jalil, 2009, p. 4). According to the Matrix Language 

Model, the word structure of the dominant language, i.e. the matrix 

language, governs the practice in this type. The material from the other 

language, namely the embedded language, is just inserted in the frame of 

the matrix language. In fact, Muysken (1997) referred to this type as 

insertion and explained it with the ABA structure in which A and B stand 

for two languages and the constituent of B can be a word or multiple 

words. 

The third type is tag-switching which involves the insertion of a tag 

(e.g. no way, oh my God, you know, right, etc) in a language other than 

that of the whole sentence and these tags may 25 freely inserted at any 

point in a sentence. It does not require a high competence in L2 and it may 

be claimed that it is the easiest type to be practiced since its use does not 

usually involve grammatical violations. Poplack (1980) added that “[t]he 

ease with which single nouns may be switched is attested to by the fact that 

of all grammatical categories, they have been found to be the most 

frequently switched” (p. 589).  

Another type of code-switching is the intra-word type in which the 

switch occurs within the boundaries of a word, such as in workbooki 



30 

 

 

(English workbook with the Arabic first person singular possessive 

pronoun (i). 

2.4. Procedures of CS Translation: 

Although CS involves two languages or more at times, the 

translation of its phrases or words is subject to the ethics and approaches of 

general translation, since translation is mainly the transfer of meaning from 

Source Language (SL) to Target Language (TL). In this context, translating 

CS. For example, in an Arabic context into English, e. g. Khaleena nroh 

a'la Labs, one should transfer the meaning of the word inserted in the 

discourse or text, the same applied to translation of CS and CM from 

English to Arabic, Labs in the example, thus, the sentence to be translated 

into English as Let's go the labs,  as far as this research is concerned. 

Harvey et. al. (1995) says in this regard that 

"the translator of an ST containing CS should convey in the 

TL the effects it has in the ST. For written dialogue, the 

possibility of explaining the CS without reproducing it in the 

target text (TT) does exist, as in "he said, suddenly relapsing 

into the local vernacular‟." (Hervey et. al., 1995:104) 

Additionally,  

"it would be more effective, if possible, to reproduce ST code 

switching by code switching in the TL‟. Such cases place 

even greater demands on the translator's mastery of the TL, 

two or more noticeably different varieties of the TL needing 

to be used in the TL". (Hervey et. al., 1995:104)  



31 

 

 

Cincotta, in her paper, limited the strategies, methods, and ways of 

translating CS into the following four solutions as she calls it: (Cincotta, 

1996: 2-3):  

(1) Make no distinction between the two different source languages and 

keep the entire text in the same target language.  

(2) Keep the transfer in the original source language, i.e. the original 

second source language.  

(3) Use a slang or a colloquial form of the main target language.  

(4) Find another language or dialect, i.e. a “second” target language in 

the passage. 

As the present researcher notices, Cincotta (1996) is correct to some 

extent, except for the use of slang or colloquial form of the word, because it 

is not necessary for the translator to know the colloquial language since 

there are many types of English dialects and the same is applicable to 

Arabic. 

Bandia (1996) in his treatment of CS and CM translations of an 

African novel (Une Vie De Boy) gave examples on CS and CM along with 

a translation of the quotes taken which disclose the inaccuracy of the 

translation and lack of cultural content considerateness, so Bandi concludes 

that "Translating code-switched and code-mixed texts requires thorough 

knowledge of the pragmalinguistic functions of CS and CM in the texts". 

(Bandia, 1996:151) 



32 

 

 

2.5. Conclusion: 

 Reviewing the literature revealed that there are two main models 

followed for investigating of the phenomenon. One model focused on 

observation of code-switching practitioners. Conversations were recorded 

and code-switching instances were then calculated and analyzed, both 

structure and function wise. In the other model, questionnaires were the 

means of collecting data. The researcher, being aware of the rareness of 

code-switching studies conducted in an EFL context, decided to carry out a 

study that is a mix of both models. The phenomenon existed in the 

interactions of the students and it was a necessity to observe them in order 

to collect data. To prove that it existed in other settings and peer 

interactions, a questionnaire procedure was required to provide supporting 

evidence 

 

  



33 

 

 

Chapter Three 

Research Design and Methodology 

3.1. Introduction: 

This chapter is devoted to specify the steps and the methodology 

taken in carrying out the study. The researcher presents the study 

instruments which are a questionnaire, a structured interview and taped 

material. The purpose behind choosing these methods is to reveal the 

reasons which make Palestinian faculty academicians and students at An-

Najah National University (ANNU) code-switch, the situations where they 

can CS. sociolinguistics assume that the reasons are  sub conscious 

therefore they can be inferred by analysis of data not by questionnaires.  

3.2. Subjects: 

The subjects in this study are Palestinian students, whose mother 

tongue is Arabic, and academicians. The students sample average age 

between 18 and 23, and who are studying at An-Najah National University 

in the city of Nablus. At An-Najah National University, English issued as a 

medium of instruction in many majors such as: Engineering, Pharmacy, 

Economy … etc. The selected sample consists of 99 university students. 

The total number of the male students in this sample is 39 and that of the 

females is 60. The number of females is larger in this sample due to the fact 

that the majority are females students. The sample is distributed according 

to the demographic variables of sex, age, qualification and faculty. The 



34 

 

 

questionnaire is distributed among the students and its purposes are 

explained by the researcher himself to ensure that the subjects fully 

understand the objectives and instructions of completion. 

Figure (1): Distribution of the study sample variables. 

Male students constitute 40% of the total of the study sample, while 

female students percentage is 60%, which makes up the majority of the 

sample as they are the majority of An-Najah National University students.  

The students aging  between 21-23 years old constitute 54.5%, while 

those aging between 18-20 years constitute 37.4% of the total sample, and 

those aging more than 23 have the lowest percentage of 8.1%. 

The majority of the subjects where students studying to obtain a B. 

A. degree with a percentage of 85.9%, whereas the percentage of M. A. 

students is 14.1%, of the whole study sample. 

As for the study sample distribution according to field, the highest 

percentage of students is 47.5% for the students of the faculty of 

39.40% 

60.60% 

37.40% 
54.50% 

8.10% 

85.90% 

14.10% 11.10% 
20.20% 

7.10% 

47.50% 

14.10% 

The distribution of the study sample 
Gender Male Gender Female Age 18-20

Age 21-23 Age More than 23 Degree B. A.

Degree M. A Field  Science Field  Engineering

Field  Economic Field  Humanities Field  Graduate studies



35 

 

 

humanities, then the Faculty of engineering with a percentage of 20.2% and 

the third highest percentage is for the faculty of graduate studies with a 

percentage of 14.1%, while the lowest percentage is 7.1% for the Faculty of 

economic. 

The academicians sample consisted of fourteen instructors who were 

chosen from An-Najah National University. The sample of the interviewees 

consisted of ten male instructors and four females, six of the interviewees 

are lecturing at the faculty of humanities. Those make up the majority of 

the sample, 5 instructors lecture at the faculty of science, 2 at the faculty of 

Engineering and only one interviewee from the faculty of Economics. 

3.3. Methods of Data Collection:  

 Due to the uniqueness of the context of the present study, three 

different types of methods were used to collect data; with students, the 

researcher used a questionnaire. As for the instructors, the researcher used 

interviews and taped material. 

3.3.1. The Questionnaire: 

 The first procedure was using a questionnaire (see the Appendix, 

page 102) which was tested for validity by a group of experts in the field of 

linguistics and translation at An-Najah National University
1
. It included 

questions about the causes and desired functions of CS. It was distributed 

for university students to explore their causes and the functions they desire 

                                                             
1
 Sameer Al-Issa and RuqayyahHerzallah.  



36 

 

 

to achieve. Conducting such a questionnaire aimed to elicit students‟ 

reasons for code switching among Palestinian students, and to compare its 

results with the interviewed ones. 

 The questionnaire consisted of three main parts, the first have 

questions about age, sex, faculty and specialization. Nineteen of the 

situations, in which (CS) commonly takes place, and causes that trigger 

(CS) were included in the second paragraph. Each participant had to 

identify the ones that are true for his/her own case. The last paragraph was 

about translation in which students were asked to translate specific words 

in 30 sentences. 

 The researcher distributed a questionnaire of 19 items among the 

study sample which consisted of 99 students and 30 sentences to be 

translated by the English language M.A and B.A students (graduates and 

undergraduates). 

3.3.1.1. Validity and Reliability of the Questionnaire:  

To ensure the validity of the questionnaire, it was rated by a group of 

experts in the field of Linguistics and Translation at An-Najah National 

University. The questionnaire, then, was distributed to 15 students with 

similar level of proficiency. The purpose of the primary distribution of the 

questionnaire was to determine whether the questions were comprehensible 

and could be interpreted by the target population. The students who were 

involved in the pilot study were excluded from the actual research. The 



37 

 

 

respondents' comments and the group of experts suggestions were taken 

into consideration to modify and improve the questionnaire's content and 

wordings. 

The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated through Cronbach 

Alpha formula and which was (0.90) a high degree and suitable for the 

purpose of the study 

3.3.2. The Semi-Structured Interview:  

 The second procedure was to interview instructors at An-Najah 

National University in order to ask them about their code-switching 

practices. Basically, the items of the questionnaire (to be discussed) later 

were the basis for the interview. Specifically, they were asked whether their 

CS was a conscious or unconscious practice. They were also asked if 

mixing English with Arabic made them feel more comfortable or made; 

their communication easier. 

 Each interview consisted of (4) questions. It was conducted after 

reviewing related literature and considering an authority in the field of 

Linguistics. (15) interviewees were selected randomly, all of them were 

males, and every interview lasted for (15) minutes. Figure (2) below 

represents the interviewee sample distribution. 



38 

 

 

Figure (2): Distribution of the interviewee sample. 

The figure  shows the interviewees sample distribution according to 

their gender, which the males were 71.4% and females consisted only 

28.6% of the study sample. 

The majority of the interviewees are instructors at the faculty of 

Humanities with a percentage of 42.9%, then comes the faculty of Science 

with a percentage of 35.7% and the lowest percentage is 7.1% for the 

faculty of economic. 

3.3.3. Taped Material:   

The researcher used taped material based on taped lectures for 

different subjects. The sample chosen consisted of (10) lectures that the 

researcher transcribed. The lectures included courses in management 

information systems (MIS), toxicology, writing and research, tourism 



39 

 

 

guidance, principles of mathematics, general physics 101, and marketing 

communication. 

The transcribed material provided the study with rich corpus and 

examples on CS in the educational context, more precisely, the teaching 

process, which directly affects the students' choice of language and their 

linguistic behavior. 

3.4. Conclusion: 

This chapter has dealt with the methodology and design of the study. 

In other words, the researcher talked about the methods which were used in 

the collection of data which were a questionnaire, structured interviews and 

taped material. Moreover, the researcher presented the population 

distribution and the sample of the study in accordance with the study 

variables (sex, age, qualification and specialization). Additionally, the 

researcher tested the validity and reliability of the instruments used. 

Finally, the chapter displayed the procedures followed in conducting the 

study. 

  



40 

 

 

Chapter Four 

Results and Discussion 

4.1. Introduction:  

 After presenting a detailed description of the subjects and the 

methods of collecting and classifying the data, this chapter presents the 

researcher's analysis of the collected data which consists of three types: the 

questionnaire, the interviews and taped lectures for some subjects.  

 The purpose of this chapter is to find answers to the research 

questions concerning the motives which stand behind Palestinian students 

and instructors and the analysis of code-switching with its relation to the 

social variables of:- age, gender, qualification and faculty. Moreover, this 

chapter sheds lights on the motives which pose themselves as a challenge 

to the translator.  

4.2. Results related to the first question: 

 This section answers the research's first question which is the following: 

What are the motives and situations of the Palestinian students and 

academicians Code-Switching between Arabic and English? 

 In order to provide a satisfactory answer to this questions, the 

researcher used various tools including the questionnaire, taped material 

and the interview, through which the following results were obtained.  



41 

 

 

4.5.1. The Analysis of the Questionnaire Responses:  

 The questionnaire presents the respondent‟s answers to the reasons 

and motives that make them code-switch between Arabic and English, and 

the situations in which they can switch. Moreover, it presents the students' 

translation of certain given sentences with code-switched words. 

Table (1): Below shows the questionnaire items. 

No. Item  Mean Degree  

1.  I mix English in my conversation when I do not 

find the suitable word or expression from Arabic  3.8452 
6.2% 

2.  I code switch between Arabic and English in order 

to show how much I'm highly cultured  and 

civilized 3.7755 
6.1% 

3.  I use code- switching when discussing Western 

matters. 3.7318 
6.0% 

4.  I use some English expressions in my 

conversation due to their strength and impacts on 

others. 3.64 
5.9% 

5.  I use code- switching in responding  to another 

person who uses it. 3.6616 
5.9% 

6.  I code switch between Arabic and English With 

high frequency social phrases are as 'thanks', 

'hello', 'sorry', 'bye', 'excuse' me…etc. 3.55 
5.8% 

7.  I use code- switching to show my knowledge off.  3.6 
5.8% 

8.  I mix English with Arabic  while shopping for 

electronic devices such as computers, hardware, 

mobiles and some software.   3.5886 
5.8% 

9.  I use code- switching when talking about Western 

societies   3.1834 
5.2% 

10.  Occasionally, I practice code switching to reflect 

happiness and excitement. 3.2222 
5.2% 

11.  I mix English with Arabic  to increase my self- 

esteem  3.1399 
5.1% 

12.  I code switch between Arabic and English because 

my academic qualifications allow me to do so. 3.15 
5.1% 



42 

 

 

No. Item  Mean Degree  

13.  I use English expressions to emphasize my 

speech. 3.0505 
4.9% 

14.  I mix English with Arabic  to exclude a person 

who does not understand English from the 

conversation  3.05 
4.9% 

15.  I code switch between Arabic and English because 

it is a habit that I have acquired through time. 2.9069 
4.7% 

16.  I mix two languages in my speech to reflect 

sadness and anger.  2.75 
4.5% 

17.  I code switch between Arabic and English in order 

to show off my knowledge and skills of using 

English. 2.7879 
4.5% 

18.  I code switch between Arabic and English in order 

to imitate actors, singers and other prominent 

figures. 2.6566 
4.3% 

19.  I mix English with Arabic to show that I'm 

educated and have the ability to speak English. 2.4242 
3.9% 

4.5.1.1.  Motives and Functions of CS: 

The first and second questions of the research were about the 

motives and functions that make the participants Code Switching between 

Arabic and English. The number of the situations and reasons were 

fourteen and the distribution of the responses of the participants as a whole 

group is presented in the following figure: 

 In order to simplify the results, the researcher divided them into three 

groups: high-percentage results, medium–percentage results and low-

percentage results based on their percentages as presented in the following 

table: 

  



43 

 

 

Table (2): Results for Motives and Functions According to the 

Percentage of Responses. 

 Item  Degree  

Very high  I mix English in my conversation when I do not find the 

suitable word or expression from Arabic  
6.20% 

I code switch between Arabic and English in order to 

show how much I'm highly cultured and civilized 
6.10% 

I use code- switching when discussing Western matters. 
6.00% 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High  

I use some English expressions in my conversation due 

to their strength and impacts on others. 
5.90% 

I use code- switching in responding to another person 

who uses it. 
5.90% 

I code switch between Arabic and English With high 

frequency social phrases are as 'thanks', 'hello', 'sorry', 

'bye', 'excuse' me…etc. 
5.80% 

I use code- switching to show my knowledge off.  
5.80% 

I mix English with Arabic while shopping for electronic 

devices such as computers, hardware, mobiles and some 

software.   
5.80% 

I use code- switching when talking about Western 

societies   
5.20% 

Occasionally, I practice code switching to reflect 

happiness and excitement. 
5.30% 

I mix English with Arabic  to increase my self- esteem  
5.10% 

I code switch between Arabic and English because my 

academic qualifications allow me to do so. 
5.10% 

 

 

 

 

Medium  

I use English expressions to emphasize my speech. 
4.90% 

I mix English with Arabic  to exclude a person who 

does not understand English from the conversation  
4.90% 

I code switch between Arabic and English because it is 

a habit that I have acquired through time. 
4.70% 

I mix two languages in my speech to reflect sadness and 

anger.  
4.60% 

I code switch between Arabic and English in order to 

show off my knowledge and skills of using English. 
4.50% 

I code switch between Arabic and English in order to 

imitate actors, singers and other prominent figures. 
4.30% 

Low  I mix English with Arabic to show that I'm educated and 

have the ability to speak English. 
3.90% 



44 

 

 

Examining these four groups shows similarities to the researcher 

analysis of the interviewed instructor‟s CS analysis in which some of the 

functions classified in the high percentage group, namely expressing 

happiness, expressing the feeling of pride, privilege were found to be more 

dominant than other ones. In the analysis of the interviewed instructor‟s 

CS, and though the prominent functions were feeling proud and privilege, 

the analysis showed that the interviewed instructors mainly expressed 

positive feelings in their CS practices such as happiness and excitement. In 

the above division of groups, the function of expressing happiness and 

intimacy was much more emphasized by the participants than that of 

expressing sadness and anger which got the lowest percentage in the group. 

In other words, the qualitative analysis of the instructor‟s CS responses 

matches the present quantitative analysis. This result may be connected to 

the fact that the instructors use CS to create some intimacy with students. 

As for the motive of (I mix English in my conversation when I don‟t 

find the suitable word or expression from Arabic) which has a percentage 

of 6.2%. The researcher attributes this result to the fact that most of the 

students are not fluent in English, besides that, their majors don‟t include 

many English terms with which they face difficulties in finding an 

equivalent word or expression  from Arabic. 

As for the item (I code-switch between Arabic and English in order 

to show how much I‟m highly cultured and civilized) with a percentage of 

5.8%, the researcher relates this result to the fact that most of the students  



45 

 

 

know that the English language is the language of civilization and culture 

so they have a tendency to CS in order to show how much they are cultured 

and civilized. 

The next item in the high percentage group was (discussing Western 

societies) which has a percentage of 5.2%. The researcher relates this result 

to some students' tendency to link between languages and the issues 

discussed and have some connection to the culture of the foreign language. 

Moreover, the researcher noticed that this motive is commonly used among 

the students who are studying in the English language department due to 

the fact that they have a knowledge of English and they have taken many 

courses concerning the English society. 

In the high-percentage group were the situations of (increasing self-

esteem) and (my academic qualification allows me to do so). 

The highest percentage 5.9 is for the item (I use some English expressions 

in my conversation due to their strength and impacts on others), which 

implies the students' attitudes of using English words during their discourse 

where they believe that English provides them with the chance to leave an 

significant impression on their colleagues and surrounding community. As 

for the item (I use code- switching in responding to another person who 

uses it) indicates the influence of spontaneous response, for the majority, 

and few who response with code switching behaviour purposely. The 



46 

 

 

researcher attributes such a result to the difference between the 

respondent's degree of influence or the ability to be influenced by others.  

As for the motive (I mix English with Arabic while shopping for 

electronic devices such as computers hardware, mobiles and some 

software) with a percentage of 5.8%.The researcher connected this result to 

the fact that most of the students if not all use such words (computer, 

mobiles..etc) while shopping because such words are commonly used in 

our daily life, and can be considered borrowed words at least in the 

colloquial form. Moreover, some of the technological words do not have an 

Arabic equivalent because Arab linguists do not find other names for such 

words so they still use them as they are.  

The result (I code-switch between Arabic and English because of 

some common English frequently used words that are known to many 

people such as: “thanks”, “hello”, “sorry”, “bye”, “excuse me” … etc) with 

a percentage of 5.8%. The researcher connected this result to the fact that 

such words are used in our everyday life and they dealt with as Arabic ones 

and most of the students use these words to show their prestige in specific 

situations and to show that they know English. 

The item (I code-switch between Arabic and English because my 

academic qualification allows me to do so) with a percentage 5.10%. The 

researcher believes that the students have some common thought  that links 



47 

 

 

the language to the qualification believing that the higher the qualification , 

the more they should show knowledge skills and proficiency. 

Then comes the result of (I mix English with Arabic to increase self–

esteem) with a percentage of 5.10%. This result reflects a shared belief 

among the students who speak foreign languages in general, and English in 

particular, can raise their appreciation and confidence in themselves.  

The item of (Exclusion of an interlocutor) prevailed with a 

percentage of 4.9%, indicating that a good percentage of code switchers act 

in this way, either because of personal attitude towards the people involved 

in the conversation or an attempt to keep tell a secret the speaker does not 

want others to know. 

 In the item of (I code-switch between Arabic and English because it 

is a habit that I have acquired through time) with a percentage of 4.7%.The 

researcher attributes this result to the fact that the students don‟t use 

English  frequently, for instance, students who study English or their 

education requires the use of  English.  

The sixth item is (I use CS to show my knowledge of technological 

and cultural advancement) with a percentage of 5.8%. The researcher 

explains that this result is due to the accelerating advancements in the field 

of technology and their impact on the student‟s lives and community in 

general, and their competence to acquire such advancement.  



48 

 

 

In the medium group of motives were the motives of personal 

feelings and abilities. 

 As for the item of (I mix two languages in my speech to reflect 

sadness and anger) which has a percentage of 4.6%, the researcher analyses 

for this result is that it is easier for the students to use the Arabic language 

as a medium for emotional expressions as it includes many words and 

forms of expressing sadness and anger. Besides, such expressions are 

closely related to one‟s culture and feeling expressions.  

In the low percentage group were the situation of showing that I‟m 

educated and have the ability to speak English.  

 The final result is (I mix English with Arabic to show that I‟m 

educated and have the ability to speak English)with a percentage of 3.9%. 

From the researcher‟s perspective, this result reflects the student‟s general 

belief that education is not limited to speaking English. 

 The above discussion shows clearly the similarity between the 

quantitative analysis of the questionnaire and the qualitative analysis of the 

instructor's responses. This similarity is positive because the objectivity of 

the quantitative analysis supports the subjectivity of the qualitative 

analysis. 

 

 



49 

 

 

4.5.2. The interview discussions: 

The researcher conducted 15 interviews with 15 instructors lecturing 

in different faculties. The sample of the interviewees consisted of 10 males 

and 4 females. The interviewees were given a sheet of 4 questions and were 

asked to answer freely, and the interview lasted for 15 minutes. Here in this 

section, the researcher is discussing the results of the interviewees' 

responses to the 4 questions they were asked. 

Response to the first question: How do you feel when you switch 

between Arabic and English? 

Most of the interviewees' responses were positive towards CS, some 

felt happy with switching, while others related it to the factor of easiness to 

convey the information for the students, and the general view they shared is 

that it was a must to code-switch, while one expressed shame and 

provocation over switching and another stated that there was no need to 

Code-Switch unless the term used had no equivalent in Arabic. One of the 

interviewees expressed his feeling of pride and privilege with regard to CS, 

while another saw that it contributed to decreasing the degree of formality 

and created some intimacy between the instructor and his students.  

Generally speaking, the results of the interviewees' responses reflect 

a positive attitude towards CS and a tendency to code switch in the 

classrooms, most of the time for the sake of the students' interest as it 

indicates the comprehension of the information being delivered. 



50 

 

 

Response to the second question: Do you feel privileged or do you 

become proud when you code switch? 

Out of the 15 interviewees, 7 expressed their feeling of pride and 

privilege to code switch, which reflects a general feeling among the 

instructors, contrary to 4 instructors who expressed that they do not feel 

any pride or privilege with code-switching. Three instructors see that it is 

related to necessity more than pride or privilege, and one instructor said 

that it is a habit now at the Palestinian universities to deliver the 

information in Arabic despite the fact that the text books are in English. 

Response to the third question: When and under what circumstances 

do you switch from Arabic to English? 

Eight of the interviewees said that they code switch to illustrate and 

explain terms that may be difficult for the students to understand. Three 

interviewees expressed their use of CS to communicate with people equal 

to them in their educational level. One interviewee said that he/she code 

switches all the time for no purpose, while another related it to his/her 

mood and said it was a spontaneous behavior he practices unconsciously, 

whereas another said that he/she Code-Switches in some subjects. One of 

the interviewees said he/she code-switches to enrich the students linguistic 

competence while another said he/she code switches to show knowledge 

and prestige. 



51 

 

 

Response to the fourth question: list down 3 situations in which you 

code switch between Arabic and English? 

1.  The interviewees' responses reveal that they code switch in formal 

and informal situations, but mainly, in the formal educational context 

related to terms explanation or words used commonly in the 

educational context such as midterm, first, second test etc. 

2.  One of the interviewees stated that he uses it as a strategy to draw 

students' attention. 

3.  Other interviewees stated that they use CS in their everyday 

interaction with people who know English well, on the phone, and to 

shop for electronic devices, while others use it when necessary. 

4.5.3. Transcribed Taped material Discussion: 

The sample of the taped material was 10 taped lectures taken from 

the taped lectures published in An-Najah National University website, and 

transcribed them. The lectures were taken from different faculties of the 

university. 

The researcher here is using the transcribed  material as evidence of 

CS among the Arabic speakers in Palestine specifically, in the educational 

context with concentration on An-Najah National University. 

The first lecture is taken from the faculty of engineering and 

information systems, a management information systems course, where the 



52 

 

 

lecturer was supposed to lecture in English. However, he code switched all 

the time, for example, the lecturer started the lecture by greeting the 

students in Arabic and then said: 

 web services المرة الماضية اخدنا عن

(The last lecture, we studied web services( 

Instead of saying for example (our previous lecture was about web 

services) or say it all in Arabic since (web services) have an Arabic 

equivalent which is خذيبد انؾجكخ , but in the following excerpt, there are 

words that cannot be translated as they do not have Arabic counterparts: 

يخزهف فؾكٍُب ع اعبط َؾم يؾكهخ انهغخ   system ثكٌٕ انٓب organization ؽكٍُب غشٌقخ كم 

 xml يٍ خاللweb services ثذَب َعًم كٍف ؽكٍُب يٍ خالل ؽٕ انًخزهفخ

Xml  صيhtml  ٍّثظ ثُقذس َخضٌ فdata 

 عهٍّ fileثفًٕٓا ْبد انـ   systemsْذٔل ثقذسٔا ٌخضَٕا ٔكم انـ  systemsكم انـ 

اعطٍُب يضبل انًشح انًبظٍخ أي ؽشكخ انطٍشاٌ أ ؽشكخ انؾغٕصاد ٔال ؽشكخ انجبصبد أ 

 accessٔثٍكٌٕ انٓى  xml fileٔال  web serviceاالٔرٍالد كهٓى ثٍصٍشٔا ٌخضَٕا عهى انـ 

 ٔثٍصٍشٔا ٌعشفٕا ايزى انطٍبسح غبنعخ ايزى ثذْب رٕصم صؼ

We said that each organization has its own system ,we also said that 

in order to solve the problem of the different languages, what we have to 

do ?We said through web services and xml we can solve it. 

Xml is like html, but we can store data in it. 



53 

 

 

All these systems can store, and all these systems understand this file 

on it. 

In the last lecture, we provided an example of airline company, 

reservation, buses or hotels, that all store on web services or xml file, and 

they have access to it, so they can learn when the plane takes off and lands, 

right? 

The words xml and html have no Arabic equivalent, thus cannot be 

translated and they must be mentioned in English, but the other words have 

Arabic counterparts. 

Another lecture taken from the faculty of humanities, a writing and 

research course, the researcher kept the lecture most of the time in English 

with little CS to Arabic when she notices that her students are not keeping 

up with her or do not understand, although the language was simple and 

direct. An example of her code switching is as follow: 

With MLA it is a very stupid idea for me to ask you to memorize this  اثذا . 

Why? Because even I don't memorize it اعًهً ٌؾكٍهً ؽذا ٌغً اَب ْال صشاؽخ 

MLA style ّثؾكٍه give me a minute, I look this up and apply it. 

 .I don't expect you ever to memorize itفـ 

Medium means is it print or electronic ٍْك قصذَب   medium ٌعًُ انٕعٍػ   

With MLA it is a very stupid idea for me to ask you to memorize this 

ever? 



54 

 

 

Why? Because even I don't memorize it. Honestly, if someone now 

comes and tell me to cite MLA style, I'll tell them to give me a minute, I 

look this up and apply it. 

So, I don't expect you ever to memorize it. 

Medium means is it print or electronic, that's what we meant by 

medium. 

In the previous example, it appears that there is influence of the 

colloquial Arabic language and insertion of it during the lecture, which is 

unacceptable in the educational context, and the words she code switches to 

in Arabic can be replaced by simple utterances in English, although the 

major problem perceived by the researcher is the students who seem to face 

some degree of difficulty to comprehend the citation method illustration. 

Another example:  

 Student: write the full name of each one of us (ٌعًُ ٍْك ثصٍش) Hamad, 

Rawan and Heba Daraghma (ًَُب أٔل ٌعًُأ نٍؼ ٌع ) Student. 

Student: write the full name of each one of us (this is not proper) Hamad, 

Rawan and Heba Daraghma (why me first) Student. 

In the previous example the first student gave the definition in 

English, but the second student commented in Arabic which reflects the 

students' tendencies and attitudes towards code switching. 



55 

 

 

In the lecture of Biology about Test Tube Babies, the lecturer used 

Arabic insertions in his lecture to explain some facts that some student may 

find hard to grasp, but kept using specialized terms related to the lecture 

subject, as in the following example: (اَّ ٌعًم انـ) (to do the) fertilization 

inside the maternal body (what we call it) (ًٍّْبد انهً ثُغ) fertilization (it's 

idea is that instead of doing) ( ثذل يب ٌصٍش اَّ ٌعًم انـ ٌٍٔ فكشرٓب كبَذ إَ ) out 

conventional IVF invetro fertilization (which is) (ْٕ ًانه)developed into 

ICSI ICS Iintracytoplasmic sperm (after which happens the) ( ًٔصبس ثعذْب انه

 .injection (ْٕ ثعذْب

The example contains specialized terms but the lecturer didn't use 

Arabic to explain them, he used Arabic to connect the pieces of 

information. 

In the Tourism Guidance lecture, the lecturer used English words as 

if he was trying to prove he knows English; showing off his language, as he 

inserted very simple phrases in his lecture as in: ( كٍف ٌذخم ثبنًٕظٕع)step by 

step (must have) (ٔالصو ٌكٌٕ عُذ ) general 

ثعط االؽٍبٌ الصو ٌزعشف  يعهى عٍبؽً الصو ٌعطً فكشح عٍ انًُطقخ أليانغبئؼ  اصطؾبةقجم (

  )انذنٍم انغٍبؽً عهى عُغٍزٓى ْبي داًٌب ؽكٍُبْب اَّ كًبٌ ٌعًم

)Before taking the tourist to any archeological site, he must be given idea 

about the area, sometimes ,the tourist guide must learn the nationalities of 

the tourists ,we said he must always do this) 



56 

 

 

Comparative (with comparisons with it or in one's imagination) ( يع يقبسَبد

 comparative study (another/second) ( يعٓى ٌعًم أٔ ْٕ ثًخٍهزّ فً داخم عقهّ ٌعًم

 .study between nationality (صبٍَخ)

All of the English words inserted as obvious can be replaced totally 

with Arabic words, as this is the case, there is no need for CS in this 

situation, except if the lecturer wants to show off his academic qualification 

and linguistic proficiency.The lecturer's speech context is all in Arabic and 

only some terms are in English, though these terms have an Arabic 

equivalent that the lecturer knows for sure. 

In the Toxicology lecture where English should be used more 

frequently than the researcher has noticed, the lecture is delivered totally in 

Arabic except for some sentences or phrases that as well have Arabic 

equivalents, for example: 

انٍٕو ساػ َؾكً ) types of toxic substances (انهً يًكٍ رعًم رغًى غجعب اؽُب)

انٍٕو ساػ ) drugs (ًْ عهى انـ ؽكٍُب انًشح اَّ انًٕاد انغبيخ انهً فً انجٍئخ كضٍشح عذا انٍٕو عُب

 byأ  over the counter (ٌكٌٕ فً صي رقغٍى انٓب، فعُب أل قغى يُٓب انـً ًْب انًقصٕد ثبنـ

prescription (األدٌٔخ أ انًخذساد كهٍبرٓب ْبي يب ًْ رعزجش ًْ)drugs. 

Today we are going to talk about the types of toxic substances, that 

may be poisonous to us. Today it'll be like drugs. The last lecture we said 

that poisonous material are many in the environment today around us and 

we have categorizations of it, the first is prescription drugs.    



57 

 

 

Although the words used are topic-specialized but they have Arabic 

counterparts as (types of toxic substances) which means إَٔاع انًٕاد انغبيخ 

(types of toxic material) but the lecturer wanted to keep the students linked 

to the English name as they are going to study it in their text books 

frequently. 

The same can be said about the principals of Mathematics, where the 

lecture was delivered in Arabic more than English except for some words, 

as in the following instance (اصجزُب  اٌؼ، اصجزُب اَّ انزبنً، عهى اؽزغهُب ظًٍ ْزا انزعشٌف

َٕدانف  + اَّ انف َٕد   even natural numbers (عهى َفظ انًجذأ انهً ْبٌ انف َٕد = 

 even natural (اخزَب اصجزُبْب، كٍف َٔزكشكٕا) cardinality (نٕ كبٌ انـ ْظ ًْ، انهً)

numbers (انـ انهً انٓى انف َٕد اٌؼ). 

The same can be said about the principals of Mathematics, where the 

lecture was delivered in Arabic more than English except for some words, 

as in the following instance within this definition, we worked on the 

following, we proved what? That alph note which is even natural numbers 

(note + alph note= alph note) on the same principal of  even natural 

numbers, and remembering how we prove it, we took cardinality… 

The lecture of the subject of principals of mathematics used Arabic 

as medium of teaching instead of English and code switched to English 

using mathematical terms that have Arabic equivalents ( االعذاد انطجٍعٍخ ٔاألعذاد

 .(االعبعٍخ



58 

 

 

In the general physics lecture, the researcher provides the following 

example: 

انٍٕو غجعب ايهً اَكى اعزعذٌزٕ عهى ثعط انًغبئم ثظ ارا يباعزعذٌزٕػ ساػ َهزضو ثبنًغبئم انهً )

) chapter 8 (ؽذدَبْى ثبنـ ّ اسقبو انًغبئم انهً ؽذدَبْى ثبنـيٍٍ يع ) discussion ( ثذَب َُبقؼ

 oh, that's too bad that's too bad (يٍٍ) (ؽذا يعٕ اسقبو انًغبئم) discussion (يغبئم يٍ

عُب انًغبئم انًطهٕثخ  أكً ْبد رؾٕف اسقبو انًغبئم يعٕ ٔال ؽذا رؾذدٔ اسقبو انًغبئم انهً) ) 

My hope today is that you have come prepared on some of the questions ,

but if you haven't, we are sticking to the questions assigned in chapter 8. 

Who has the numbers of the questions assigned in the discussion? We want 

to discuss the questions from the discussion .Anyone have the questions? 

Who? oh, that's too bad that's too bad .The numbers of the assigned  

questions, no one has them? Okay let us see. 

 discussion  ًف chapter 8 صالربػ عؤال ،(12) رُبػ عؤال اسثعخ، ساػ ٌكٌٕ عُب عؤال 

 انًغبئم انهً ساػ ٌكَٕٕا يطهٕثٍٍ لْذٔ  twenty nineٔ (19) رغعزبػ ،(18) صًُزبػ ،(13)

sorry نهـ discussion نهـ ٔفً يغبئم غجعب homework غجعب  ْذٔل َؾٕف انًغبئم ٍَغً خهٍُب

 .اٌٍٍى انًغبئم ْبي اَب يؼ عبسف اسقبو

The discussion in chapter 8 ,we will have questions  4 ,12 ,13 ,18 ,19 

and twenty nine .These are the questions will be required for the discussion 

and of course homework questions. Let us see the questions, of course I 

don't know the numbers of these questions ,hmmmm. 



59 

 

 

Clearly, the English words inserted are unnecessary, and can be 

replaced by Arabic words, but it seems that the habitual use of these words 

in English was behind the lecturer's tendency to insert them. 

The researcher noticed that some lecturers tend to give the Arabic 

and English words in the same sentence as in the following example taken 

from the Marketing Communication lecture, (عٍ انًٍذٌب) (about the media) 

advertising planning ( ْغب اؽُب ثذَب َٕخز عٍ ثذٌٔ انًٍذٌب انًُبعجخ انهً ثزجش فً انٕقذ

 now we are going to study the) (انًُبعت ٔانًكبٌ انًُبعت ٔانضيبٌ انًُبعت ٔال

suitable non media that is advertized in the right time and place and 

frequency) frequency (انزكشاس انًُبعت). 

The lecturer tends to give the English equivalent of the Arabic words 

to enrich the students' linguistic competence and to qualify them to the field 

work that mostly uses English terms. 

The use of CS in the lectures is frequent and seems to naturally occur 

as the text books are written in English but the students' English language 

competence is not sufficient in various fields, thus the instructors tend to 

use Arabic as the language of teaching but switch to English to teach the 

terms of the subject that are vital to understand the book's material and 

major topics.  

4.3. Results related to the research second question:  

The second question of the research is 



60 

 

 

What are the “Code switching” reasons which pose themselves 

challenging in translation? 

The researcher used an empirical design as a test to find out the code 

switching reasons, which make a challenge to the translator.  

After the researcher analyzed the students translations to specific 

code-switched words, he concluded that there are common motives which 

pose themselves as challenging to translators and these motives are 

consciously used by the students in the questionnaire and academicians 

through taped- material.  

Table (3): Shows code-switching motives posing themselves as 

challenging in translation. 

Motives  Percentage 

1. Common English borrowed words 34.6% 

2. Not finding a suitable word from the native language 

of the speaker and lack of equivalence  

20.2% 

3. Habitual use  14.7% 

4. Inclusion of some technical and technological terms   30.5% 

The graduate and undergraduate students' translation reflects lack of 

competence in Arabic and English, in addition to insufficiency of Arabic 

equivalents to English words and phrases.  

The students translated many words as they use them in their daily 

life and these were problematic for students' to translate because they lack 

knowledge of them regarding their Arabic counterparts, these include (visa, 



61 

 

 

receiver, satellite, bank, aids, digital, camera, broadband, mall/s, 

physiology, like, cinema, occupational therapy).  

Although these words are simple, and used occasionally, but the 

students do not know their Arabic counter parts, except for numerous 

students, such attitude reflects lack of competence and shortage of 

knowledge in both the target language and the source language, 

prophesying a future decrease in the highly skilled professional translators. 

Another challenge faced the students was inclusion of some technical 

and medical terms that are not recurrent in the community, but specialized, 

and are used as they are in English refraining from using their Arabic 

equivalents which weakened the students' vocabulary. 

4.3.1. Comments on the code–switching motives in taped- material 

lectures:  

Technological reasons are one of most prevalent causes of code 

switching in daily life and educational settings as proved in the 

management information systems course, where the lecturer switched 

between Arabic and English using some terms, e. g. xml and html, that has 

no Arabic counterpart. 

In the writing and research course, the lecturer switched to Arabic to 

express proximity to the students as they find it strange to speak pure 

English, and the lecturer has spoken in a personal tone to express so, thus it 

is linked to the reason of expressing emotions, that has evoked the students 



62 

 

 

code switching, where they shifted from English to Arabic in a response to 

the way the lecturer has been talking. 

In the biology lecture, the shifting is from English to Arabic, the 

majority of the biology terms have Arabic equivalents but are not used 

frequently, if known, and the researches in the field are English, and rarely 

Arabic is available, so the lecturer has to use English for scientific 

purposes. 

In the Tourism Guidance lecture, obviously, the lecturer was 

showing off his English language, as he tended to insert unnecessary 

English phrases to his Arabic context, with no urgent or true need to do so. 

In the Toxicology lecture, the lecturer code switched between Arabic 

and English, for both showing off his language and scientific purposes, 

since he was talking Arabic in confidence but then shifts to English when 

talking about toxics types and categories, giving both English/Arabic 

equivalent of the word. 

The principals of Mathematics code switching behavior by the 

lecturer is related to scientific purposes since the symbols used in the 

lecture have no Arabic equivalents, and the lecturer aimed to provide the 

students with the terms of mathematics both in Arabic and English. 

However, the general physics lecturer was showing off his 

knowledge of English as he shifted for no clear scientific reasons, and to 

express his feeling of disappointment using (oh, that‟s too bad). 



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4.3.2. The challenges that face the translators of code switched texts: 

 This section of the questionnaire was designed and distributed only 

to students of the English language studying to obtain B.A and M.A in the 

English language (graduates and undergraduates). 

 The students were asked to translate specific words in 30 sentences, 

and the general differences between the responses of the students' sample 

were analyzed to test the challenges encountered while translating CS 

discourse and to know the translation methods which are used by the 

students themselves. In addition, the researcher wants to reveal the motives 

which pose themselves as challenging to translators. The fourth coming 

section will engage in the analysis of the results that emerged from this 

process. 

 The following table demonstrates the students' percentages according 

to their qualification: 

 

Figure (3): B. A. and M.A sample distribution according to their qualification. 



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As indicated in the above figure, the B.A sample consisted of 12 

students studying to get a bachelor degree in the English language with a 

percentage of 46.2%, while the M.A sample consisted of 14 students 

studying at the faculty of graduate studies in order to obtain a degree in 

applied linguistics and translation. Their percentage was 53.8%, making up 

the majority of the sample. 

In this section the researcher is discussing and analyzing the students 

translation of 30 sentences and the translation method they use while 

translating code-switched words. moreover, this section answers the 

research question which is about the code-switching motives which pose 

themselves as a challenge to translator  sentences are English and the 

students were asked to translate them into Arabic, where the researcher 

noticed that the majority of the translations appeared as code switching 

sentences.  

Visa and passport:  

The word (visa) is a borrowed word and it is still used as it is (visa). 

The word )رأؽٍشح( is acolloquial Arabic counterpart to the word (visa). Most 

of the students transliterated it as (visa) not )رأؽٍشح( due to the fact that the 

word (visa) is aborrowed word and most of the student habitually use it. So 

there is a mistranslation here. Moreover, the habitual use of the word (visa) 

in our daily life affected the students translation and made theme to 

translate it as (visa) not رأؽٍشح() . 



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Air Condition: 

Most of the students transliterated the word (air condition) as 

 by adapting a  transliteration method. This translation could be)كَٕذٌؾٍ( 

because the word is commonly used in their daily life and maybe they lack 

knowledge of its Arabic counterpart. Therefor, the commonly use and the 

lack of knowledge affected the students translation as it appears in their 

translations.    

Petrol:  

This word (petrol) was transliterated as )ثزشٔل( by the majority of the 

students. The researchers analysis to this translation could be this word 

 is widely used in the media and students may not find the suitable )ثزشٔل(

word for it from Arabic. 

Receiver and satellite:  

A lot of the students used )سٌغٍفش(   as a transliteration to the word 

(receiver) and  )عزبالٌذ( for the word  (satellite). As it appears from the 

students translation, there is an inclusion of some technical terms that are 

not recurrent in the community. Moreover, such words could be borrowed 

words and students prefer to use the borrowed term over the colloquial one.  

Bank 

The students translation to this word was a )ثُك(. The correct 

translation is )يصشف(. The students transliterated the word as  )ثُك( because 



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the commonly use of the word in their daily life as well as they lack 

knowledge of its Arabic counterpart and maybe they forgot the Arabic 

equivalence to this word.   

Hummer (no Arabic equivalent available): 

Most of the students transliterated such word as )ْبيش(. As it seems 

this word is a borrowed word first and second there is no arabic equivalent 

available for the word. The word here was used to point to a brand of cars, 

and the differences in translating it was counted through specifying that it 

is a type of cars using عٍبسح or عٍبسح غشاص/َٕع and the researcher considered 

the students who transliterated it as hammer only as mistranslation. 

AIDS 

This is an acronym for (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and 

in Arabic it is يشض فقذاٌ/َقص انًُبعخ انًكزغجخ. most of the students if not all of 

them transliterated this word as )إٌذص(. This term is a medical term and its 

used in a medical  discourse. Students translation reflects weakness in their 

competence because they lack knowledge about the meaning of such term.   

Camera: 

The students translation to this word was a (كبيٍشا) . The correct 

translation is (انكبيٍشا انشقًٍخ) . The students transliterated the word as (كبيٍشا )  

because the commonly use of the word in their daily life as well as they 



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lack knowledge of its Arabic counterpart an