Variations of Code-Switching in Arabic Classroom Interaction: Strategic Efforts in Managing Bilingual Instruction

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21580/alsina.8.2.32378

Keywords:

Arabic as a foreign language, bilingual instruction, classroom interaction, code-switching, language policy

Abstract

Intensive Arabic programs in Indonesia are built on a contradiction: they are designed to maximize exposure to Arabic, yet they enrol beginners who cannot yet use Arabic to learn Arabic. This study examines how lecturers in one such program manage the boundary between Arabic and Indonesian during instruction, and what that management implies for language policy in comparable settings. A qualitative case study was conducted at the Language Development Center of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. It combined nine weeks of classroom observation across eighteen beginner classes, in which 444 switch events were recorded, with semi-structured interviews with nine lecturers and eighteen students. Analysis proceeded interactively, with structural categories fixed a priori and pedagogical motives derived inductively. Rather than treating switching as a lapse in target-language discipline, the study argues that it is better understood as part of the instructional design of intensive programs. Teacher preparation and institutional language policy should therefore be organized around that recognition.

References

Adriosh, M., & Razı, Ö. (2019). Teacher’s code switching in EFL undergraduate classrooms in Libya: Functions and perceptions. SAGE Open, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019846214

Alazzam, S., & Alamaren, E. (2022). Syntactic analysis of intra-sentential Arabic–English code-switching within verb phrase. e-Bangi Journal of Social Science and Humanities, 19(5). https://doi.org/10.17576/ebangi.2022.1905.09

Bahri, R. B. H., Hula, I. R. N., Pakaya, N. A., Samad, M. A., & Arrashedy, Y. A. M. G. (2026). The effect of anxiety and self-confidence on Arabic speaking proficiency in the International Class Program (ICP). Alsina: Journal of Arabic Studies, 8(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.21580/alsina.8.1.29134

Bell, P., & Payant, C. (2024). Comprehensible input in language instruction: Approaches and techniques. In The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition and input processing (pp. 315–328). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003041412-28

Brown, A. (2023). Monolingual versus multilingual foreign language teaching: French and Arabic at beginning levels. Language Teaching Research, 27(6), 1634–1659. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168821990347

Cahyani, H., de Courcy, M., & Barnett, J. (2018). Teachers’ code-switching in bilingual classrooms: Exploring pedagogical and sociocultural functions. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(4), 465–479. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2016.1189509

Cook, V. (2016). Second language learning and language teaching (5th ed.). Routledge.

Crawford, J. (2004). Language choices in the foreign language classroom: Target language or the learners’ first language? RELC Journal, 35(1), 5–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/003368820403500103

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Dostal, H. M., Holcomb, L., Lawyer, G., Silvestri, J., & Falk, J. L. (2023). A transition to multimodal multilingual practice: From SimCom to translanguaging. Languages, 8(3), Article 190. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8030190

Grant, L. E., & Nguyen, T. H. (2017). Code-switching in Vietnamese university EFL teachers’ classroom instruction: A pedagogical focus. Language Awareness, 26(3), 244–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2017.1402915

Green, D. W. (2018). Language control and code-switching. Languages, 3(2), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages3020008

Hanafiah, R., Mono, U., & Yusuf, M. (2021). Code-switching in lecturer-students’ interaction in thesis examination: A case study in Indonesia. International Journal of Instruction, 14(1), 445–458. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2021.14126a

Hasan, M., & Masruroh, L. (2024). Investigating the implementation of language learning strategies in alleviating foreign language anxiety among university students. Alsina: Journal of Arabic Studies, 6(1), 81–102. https://doi.org/10.21580/alsina.6.1.22948

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x

Kalkan, T. İ. (2026). An examination of foreign language learning anxiety and stress factors on the path to success from the perspective of undergraduate students. Romaya Journal: Researches on Multidisciplinary Approaches, 2026(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18414693

Lichtman, K., & VanPatten, B. (2021). Was Krashen right? Forty years later. Foreign Language Annals, 54(2), 283–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12552

Liu, Y., & Fang, F. (2022). Translanguaging theory and practice: How stakeholders perceive translanguaging as a practical theory of language. RELC Journal, 53(2), 391–399. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220939222

Lu, C., Gu, M. M., & Lee, J. C.-K. (2025). A systematic review of research on translanguaging in EMI and CLIL classrooms. International Journal of Multilingualism, 22(2), 1033–1053. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2023.2256775

Maghfurin, A., & Ebeed, E. M. (2026). Pedagogical issues in Arabic language teaching: A case study of learner readiness and classroom practice. Alsina: Journal of Arabic Studies, 8(1), 219–248. https://doi.org/10.21580/alsina.8.1.31527

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

Poplack, S. (1980). Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en español: Toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics, 18(7–8), 581–618. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1980.18.7-8.581

Poplack, S. (2020). A variationist perspective on language contact. In The Routledge handbook of language contact (pp. 46–62). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351109154-5

Poplack, S., & Meechan, M. (1998). Introduction: How languages fit together in codemixing. International Journal of Bilingualism, 2(2), 127–138. https://doi.org/10.1177/136700699800200201

Sahib, H., Hanafiah, W., Aswad, M., Yassi, A. H., & Mashhadi, F. (2021). Syntactic configuration of code-switching between Indonesian and English: Another perspective on code-switching phenomena. Education Research International, 2021, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/3402485

Saou, K. (2022). The effects of L1 interference on the occurrence of code-switching in the Algerian context. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies, 22(1), 221–240. https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes2000.22.1.12

Suleiman, Y. (2023). Arab linguistics, Arabic linguistics, and language ideology. Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics, 1(1), 98–122. https://doi.org/10.3366/arabic.2023.0007

Turnbull, M. (2001). There is a role for the L1 in second and foreign language teaching, but… The Canadian Modern Language Review, 57(4), 531–540. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.57.4.531

Youssef, I. (2016). English-Cairene Arabic classroom code switching: An interactional-sociolinguistic approach. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies, 16, 7–28. https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes2000.16.1.1

Downloads

Published

2026-08-31 — Updated on 2026-10-22

Versions

How to Cite

Anisatin, L., Bahruddin, U., Mustofa, B., & Esmatt, S. A. (2026). Variations of Code-Switching in Arabic Classroom Interaction: Strategic Efforts in Managing Bilingual Instruction. Alsina : Journal of Arabic Studies, 8(2), 330–341. https://doi.org/10.21580/alsina.8.2.32378 (Original work published August 31, 2026)

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2026)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Alsina : Journal of Arabic Studies

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Copyright

Upon acceptance, the author transfers to Alsina : Journal of Arabic Studies the copyright of the article, including the right to publish, reproduce, and distribute it in all forms and media, including reprints and translations. The journal becomes the copyright holder of the published version.

Author rights

The transfer does not reduce the author’s rights. Authors may reuse their own article without written permission from the journal, provided the original publication in Alsina : Journal of Arabic Studies is acknowledged, for:

  1. teaching, lectures, presentations, and conference use, including distribution of copies to participants;
  2. distribution to colleagues for research use;
  3. compilation in the author’s subsequent work;
  4. inclusion in a thesis or dissertation;
  5. reuse of sections or excerpts in other works;
  6. preparation of non-commercial derivative works;
  7. deposit in an institutional or subject repository, and posting on the author’s personal or institutional website.

The full terms are set out in the Copyright Transfer Agreement.