Different Tongues: Why Children Code Switch?

By Patrick A. McCarthy

Different Tongues (Why Children Code Switch?) is a valuable book that gives us answers to endless questions that we have as parents who wish to raise bilingual children: Will teaching the child two languages end up with the child not speaking any language clearly? What role do parents play in controlling their childrens code switching? When children switch languages when speaking, should this be seen as meaningful, insightful or not to be tolerated? Does where I live have an impact on how my children code switch? ; The father is the only one who speaks the minority language, is this enough input for the child to be brought up bilingually.
These questions and many others that parents are faced with are discussed in this book. Actually, Different Tongues (Why Children Code Switch?) proved quite valuable to me when I began my own family. I was an Anglophone married to a French Quebecer and I lived in Quebec Canada, which is French. I was the only English speaking person in my childrens lives for the first five years of their lives, so I was not sure if bilingualism was feasible for our family since I spoke the minority language. In fact, this book has enabled me to understand how children learn two languages at the same time; how children may mix their languages in the early years, but soon after this stage, the child begins to code switch, within his two languages, in meaningful ways.
Different Tongues (Why Children Code Switch?) gives a new perspective on childrens code switching in todays world. In the past, it was seen as inherently bad, whereas in this book, it shows how a child can now use code switching to more clearly transmit his language, as a contextualization tactic; and this is now seen as a clear advantage that the child possesses as compared to others who are not bilingual. In fact, this advantage is definitely a paradigm shift for todays parents when it comes to their childrens code switching.

Patrick McCarthy has contributed to the literature on bilingual development by providing an excellent overview of issues surrounding code-switching in young children.
As his book points out, code-switching is normal behavior in children exposed to two or more languages, as it is in adults. Parents and teachers will find useful information about childrens bilingual development in this book.

Kirsten Hummel
Professor
Director in charge of the Bachelor of Teaching English Second Language
Universit Laval Qubec G1V 0A6

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781504351492

Patrick A. McCarthy

Patrick A. McCarthy has been an ESL language teacher for more than 20 years. He has taught at the elementary, collegial and equally at the university level. He has just recently completed his Masters in Teaching Languages in 2013. He lives in Quebec, Canada with his wife, and three daughters.

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Copyright © 2016 Patrick A. Mccarthy.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-5148-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-5149-2 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/03/2016

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Why Should I Read This Book?

1.0 Chapter One: Research Problem and Rationale

1.1 The Research Problem

1.2 Importance of the essay

1.3 Scope and Limitations

2.0 Chapter Two: Theoretical Framework

2.1 Definition of Terms

2.2 Theoretical Approaches

2.2.1 Communication Accommodation Theory CAT

2.2.2 Markedness Model

2.2.2.1 The Negotiation Principle

2.2.3 Conversation Analysis (CA) Approach

2.2.4 Vygotsky and the Socio-Cultural Approach

03 Chapter Three: Why Do Children Code-switch?

3.1 Parental Discourse Strategies

3.2 Language Proficiency

3.3 Contextual Situations

Conclusion

References

Appendix

Acknowledgements

I would like to sincerely thank my thesis supervisor Kirsten Hummel for her patience and continuous support throughout the years that I needed to complete this masters. In fact, I was often overwhelmed or simply felt lost in the writing of this essay, and each time, Kirsten was always ready to offer feedback; this was so appreciated. Actually, this never-ending willingness to be there for her students was the key factor that allowed me to finish this Masters.

I would also like to thank Dr. Zita De Koninck for accepting to act as a reader in the evaluation of my essay. Moreover, Zita De Koninck was a professor whose ongoing encouragement to complete this Masters was invaluable. Not only has her courses on doing research contributed in significant ways to completing this Masters, but our spontaneous conversations in the hallways of the university have also been, where by she would always be both curious as to how I was doing on my Masters, and helpful in offering answers to any of my questions.

Other individuals who need to be thanked are indeed my family: Laurie-Ann and my three amazing daughters: Rosalie, Julia and Kamille. The time that I took to do this Masters was longer than I had anticipated; yet Laurie-Ann supported me even though at times it was not easy. I thank her dearly for this act of kindness and courage. As for Rosalie, Julia, and Kamille, they need to be thanked as well for their unconditional love and endless support for Papa to complete his Masters. In reality, my family is the rock behind which I stand. They are precious and had they not chosen to support me as they did, I could not even have fathomed completing this Masters. I am forever grateful.

Abstract

This essay examines the general topic of child code-switching by primarily focusing on sociolinguistic variables that influence code-switching in a child’s speech. Three factors were discussed. First, it is claimed that parents play an important role in their child’s speech by the strategies that they choose to influence their child’s language development. In addition, a child’s proficiency in either of the two languages that he is using can also have an influence on whether a child code switches. Finally, it was also found that contextual situations could have a strong impact on a child’s code switching.

Why Should I Read This Book?

My interests in this topic started when my wife announced that she was pregnant with our first child. I was truly ecstatic that we were starting our family, as I had always wanted. Yet, I had mixed feelings about which language our child was going to speak, and which ones would be or not be used to communicate with her.

Questions about which language I would use with my child stem from my culture. I come from New Brunswick, Canada, and although this province is officially bilingual: English and French, I was raised in an English family. Now, I live in the province of Quebec, which is French, and I am married to a woman whose mother tongue is also French.

In essence, we had two cultures in our new life together, and a baby was arriving soon. You would expect that linguistically speaking, our child would do as her parents, speak two languages, but it was not that easy.

One preoccupation I had was that my home was located in the outskirts of Quebec City, so it was very French; it was rare to hear children