Sociolinguistics and Language Education.pdf

128 Part 2: Language and Society
Slotte-Luttge (2007) in Finland; etc. The central quest of this research has
been to explain why bilingual teachers and students use CS in the classroom
and especially whether classroom CS is an impediment or a resource
to learning.
The literature including that listed above has shown that classroom CS
is not detrimental to the acquisition of the target language or variety.
Rubdy (2007: 320) notes that on the contrary and far from being a dysfunctional
form of speech behavior, as some educational authorities have
implied, classroom CS can be an important, even necessary, communicative
resource for the management of learning. As such, classroom CS is a
teaching/learning aid that can be used to meet a wide range of classroom
needs: it can be used to build rapport and provide a sense of inclusiveness
(Peires, 1994; Rubdy, 2007), to compensate for a lack of comprehension
(Edstrom, 2006), to manage the classroom and transmit content (Butzkamm,
1998), to express solidarity with the students (Camilleri, 1996; Elridge,
1996), to praise or scorn (Moodley, 2003), and so on.
For instance, in an investigation into the use of Singlish (Singapore
Colloquial English) in education in Singapore, Rubdy (2007) reports that
despite the stigma with which it is associated, Singlish is more often than
not used in the classroom. Indeed, the offi cial mandate stipulates that only
Singapore Standard English should be used in the classroom. However, it
seems that teachers switch to Singlish because it best serves their teaching
needs: it empowers them to explain diffi cult points or concepts, to inject
humor, to establish a warmer, friendlier atmosphere in the classroom, to
encourage greater student involvement, etc. (Rubdy, 2007: 314, 322).
In a similar but practitioner research study, Edstrom (2006) documents
her own teaching practices using English in an otherwise Spanish classroom
in the United States. In particular, the author sought to discover how
much English she used in a fi rst-semester Spanish course, to identify the
functions or purposes for which she used it, to compare her perceptions,
and those of her students, with her actual practices, and to critique her
L1/L2 use in light of her own pedagogical belief system. Edstrom reports
that she found Spanish/English classroom CS useful. She used it, for
instance, for grammar instruction, classroom management, and for compensating
for a lack of comprehension (Edstrom, 2006: 283). Edstrom
cautions teachers not to adhere blindly to a professional guideline, but
rather to identify, and perhaps re-evaluate their moral obligations to their
students and their objectives for the language learning process (Edstrom,
2006; 289). Likewise, Hadjioannou (2009: 287) remarks that instead of
alienating or disenfranchising dialect speaking students by rejecting their
mother tongue and stigmatizing its use in school, teachers should develop
a healthier attitude toward diglossia to foster student academic success.
Ferguson (2003) anticipated this point, in noting that as both members of
a profession and members of the local community, teachers may wish