A study of code-mixing among students in an EMI secondary school

by Lee, C. M

(Uncorrected OCR) Abstract of thesis entitled A Study of Code-Mixing Among Students in an EMI Secondary School submitted by Florence C.M. Lee for the degree of Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong August, 2004 Why and how people code-mix was the focus of this study. Overall, the findings indicate that the reasons underlying code-mixing among these students were complex. Both linguistic and psycho-sociolinguistic factors were involved. Linguistic factors are as follows: the influence of English instruction on the participants?code-mixing in computer-mediated communication; the use of abbreviations for economy of expression; the need to use English due to the lack of Cantonese computer discourse; euphemism and peer influence. In terms of psycho-sociolinguistic reasons, code-mixing performed the function of negotiating identity. Gender difference was identified as a crucial factor in affecting the code choice of the participants. Through the utilization of qualitative research methodology the corpus indicated that code-mixed items occurred at both the lexical and syntactic levels. Limitations include a small socially homogeneous participant group with a resulting inability to generalize to the greater Hong Kong population? code-mixing behaviour in online discussion forums. The employment of qualitative research methodology and only the online discussion forum alone may have limited the objectivity and replicability of the research. A significant implication of the study is that it points towards further opportunities for research in the areas of the roles of Putonghua and gender differences in code-mixing behaviour.