The Occurrence of Code-Switching on Whatsapp Group Application by EFL Learners: A Case Study

Abstract

Abstract: This research is conducted to investigate the linguistic the phenomenon about the occurrence of code-switching on WhatsApp group application at The State Islamic University of Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten. It is conducted based on some problems: 1) What are the types of code-switching of the eight-semester students of the English department in Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten? 2)What are the reasons for the students do code-switching in WhatsApp group Application? The data collection was done through observation and questionnaire. In the observation, the researcher captured off the screen of the chats in the WhatsApp, while the questionnaire is open questionnaire with consist of nine questions. The group consist of 136 students. Further, the questionnaire conducted from 40 students. The result of the research shows that there are three types of code-switching occurs in WhastApp, namely, tag-switching 6%, intra-sentential switching 71%, inter-sentential switching 23%. The most frequent reason arises from 40 students answer are being emphatic about something and real lexical need. Thirty-nine students switch code because they talk about particular topics. Further, quote somebody else and habitual expressions are 20 students. Ten students switch code because they were inserting sentence filler or sentence connector, mood of speakers and because switch code makes communication is more efficient. Seventeen students switch code when they repetition for clarifications.