Chinese University Students’ Attitudes Toward Chinese-English Classroom Code-Switching

This study investigates students’ attitudes towards classroom code-switching (CS) between Chinese and English, and how such attitudes are influenced by learning motivation and language anxiety, the two focal variables of the present study. A total of 550 students from a university in northwest China took part in an online survey. The results of quantitative analyses suggest a division of attitudes towards CS, acknowledging its usefulness but dismissing its symbolic value. Such attitudes can be predicted based on the focal learner characteristics. The implications of the findings are discussed vis-à-vis the social psychology of CS and an optimal use of CS to assist language learning and teaching.