Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Code Switching

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School Psychology

Code switching is a linguistic phenomenon that involves the use of two languages within the same conversation. While what was previously viewed as a mode of communication for those with language deficiencies and lower intelligence, current research has shown to be a complex form of communication between bilinguals with psychosocial and cultural implications. The following is an example

Code switch: ‘Voy para el mall para comprar sneakers’

Translation: ‘I’m going to the mall to buy sneakers’

Sociolinguistic Factors

Why do bilinguals code switch? At a linguistic level, code switching has been used involuntarily during translation. As a result of not being able to recall a word or phrase in either the dominant or secondary language, code switching has been used as a form of word retrieval. The inability to recall the word or phrase has been shown not to be a failure of word knowledge, but rather reminiscent of the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) phenomenon that involves the inability to recall...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 599.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Suggested Reading

  • Becker, K. R. (1997). Spanish/English codeswitching: A syncretic model. Bilingual Review, 25(1), 3–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson, E. J. (2001). The neglected early history of codeswitching research in the United States. Language & Communication, 21(1), 23–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clauss, C. S. (1998). Language: The unspoken variable in psychotherapy practice. Psychotherapy: Theory, research, practice, training, 35, 188–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, Department of Educational Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.A.

    Jose Mercado

Authors
  1. Jose Mercado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology, The State University of New Jersey, Rutgers, U.S.A.

    Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology) (Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Mercado, J. (2010). Code Switching. In: Clauss-Ehlers, C.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9_74

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9_74

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-71798-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-71799-9

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation