| Abstract: | The paper attempts to investigate the reasons for teachers’ Code
Switching (henceforth CS) and its effect on quality of higher education at
St. Mary’s University in Ethiopia. According to Ullah et al (2005),
quality of higher education could be defined based on the way it fulfills
the national goals and objectives which could be grouped into Social,
National and Academic excellence. The study focuses on Academic
excellence, which refers to the academic literacy of the students; these
are their ability to read and write academic texts and their
competitiveness in the international market. Observations, interviews and
classroom recordings were used to gather data. The study concludes that
teachers in Accounting and Marketing classes at St. Mary’s University
code switch due to Interjections, Personalization or Objectivization,
Situational code-switching, Addressee specifications and Reiteration.
Also, students at St. Mary’s university believe that CS affects their
reading and writing academic texts in English, though the teachers do
not think it affects students’ academic skills. |
