Attitudes Toward Code-Switching Among Indonesian Junior High School EFL Teachers

Although English language teachers in Indonesia frequently employ code-switching (CS) in the classroom, its use is often sporadic and intuitive rather than guided by research-based strategic functions. In the Indonesian context, only a limited number of studies have examined how two local languages—the mother tongue and the Indonesian language—function differently in code-switching practices in EFL classrooms. This study investigates why and when Indonesian English teachers switch to Indonesian and Malay dialects while teaching English. In the quantitative phase, 83 teachers participated in the survey, whereas in the qualitative phase (interviews and classroom observations), 6 teachers were involved. The findings reveal that Indonesian and Malay dialects serve distinct functions in the English classroom, including knowledge construction, classroom management, relationship building, and contextual constraint accommodation. Furthermore, the study shows that teachers’ code-switching occurs in various situations, such as providing detailed explanations, clarifying complex concepts, giving advice, offering instructions and feedback, addressing student misconduct, making jokes, expressing anger, and motivating students.