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Code Switching In English Language

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The Concept of language development was a concept that was relevant to my service learning experience. One particular aspect of this topic was code switching; this was primarily evident in children who spoke two languages, primarily in those who had English as their secondary language. Since they had not fully mastered either language the children struggled to express themselves with someone who did not speak their native language. They had trouble properly conveying their thoughts or feelings, and they went back and forth between languages, in attempt to further express themselves. They struggled significantly when they were told to only speak in English because they would often misuse or make up words that sounded a lot like a word in their …show more content…

Two particular aspects of this topic I saw play out was their economic status, and linguistic background. The learning cite where I participated was aimed at helping children who came from a low income household, and also those who had English as their secondary language. Due to the fact that their families struggled financially I noticed many of these children where behind in school, and primarily in their English development. This could be a direct effect of low economic status because perhaps they lacked resources which could aid their learning, or their parents where not as involved because they were constantly at work. Therefore, they had very limited schedules and their involvement in their child’s education was short. Their linguistic background played a significant role in how they performed at school, because their practice was strictly limited to the time they spent at school they showed detriments in how well they acquired other languages such as English. They came from homes where they only spoke Spanish or otherwise and therefore they were taught to not practice it at home and leave everything they learnt or acquired at school, restricting them from further developing skills, which would develop their English. The environmental context in which children are brought up has a very significant role in children’s development; in my experience, I particularly saw the effect it had within their cognitive

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