Code-switching between Arabic and English during Jordanian GP consultations
Etaf Alkhlaifat
Western Sydney University, AustraliaEtaf Alkhlaifat is currently a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University. Her current research is “A Sociolinguistic Study of Doctor-Patient Interaction in Healthcare Settings: AJordanian Perspective”. She has completed her bachelor’s degree inGerman and English (double major) at the University of Jordan in 2002 and a Masters in English Language Teaching and Curriculum at Mutah University in Jordan in 2007. Etaf has worked as an English teacher in the Ministry of Education in Jordan from 2002 to 2008 and then she started her work as a lecturer in both universities King Faisal University and Dammam University in Saudi Arabia from 2008 to 2015. She has also worked as a casual lecturer and tutor at Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9831-6377
Ping Yang
Western Sydney University, AustraliaPing Yang is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and an Academic Course Advisor for the Master of Arts (TESOL) course in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. Dr Yang holds a PhD in Linguistics from Macquarie University, Australia. His teaching and research areas include intercultural communication, nonverbal communication, socio-cultural linguistics, TESOL teacher education, and English-Chinese translation studies. Dr Yang has supervised PhD candidates and has actively published books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles in these research areas. (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/doctor_ping_yang).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-438X
Mohamed Moustakim
Western Sydney University, AustraliaMohamed Moustakim is a Senior Lecturer in Education in the School of Education, Western Sydney University, Australia. He completed a Doctorate in Education at Exeter University in the United Kingdom. Before joining WSU, Mohamed held academic posts in a number of Higher Education Institutions in the UK, including, the University of East London, the University of Greenwich, the College of St Mark & St John and St Mary’s University College. His teaching and research are focused on equity and diversity in Education and he is currently supervising several PhD students whose research focus is on sociolinguistics. (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/WSU/doctor_mohamed_moustakim)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2847-1619
Abstract
This study draws conceptually on communication accommodation theory (CAT) to describe and analyze conversations between doctors and patients to identify the psycholinguistic and social motivations for code-switching (CS) between English and Arabic languages during medical consultations in Jordan. The researchers employ a thematic qualitative approach to interpret the phenomena under study. GP doctors (n=9) and patients (n=18) were observed and video-recorded in real medical settings and subsequently interviewed. This generated a comprehensive audio and videotaped corpus of data, which revealed that doctors and patients used code-switching during the medical consultation for two main reasons: 1) filling lexical gaps and 2) accommodating the other party. Jordanian bilingual doctors code-switched from English to Arabic and from Arabic to English to bridge lexical gaps, while both doctors and patients adapted their speech styles for the purpose of convergence. This study is significant as it investigates and examines the phenomenon of code-switching among Jordanian doctors and patients from psycholinguistic and social perspectives to gain a clearly defined sociolinguistic explanation of code-switching phenomena during their clinical interaction.
Keywords:
bilingualism, code-switching, Communication Accommodation Theory, health care settings, thematic analysisReferences
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Western Sydney University, Australia
Etaf Alkhlaifat is currently a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University. Her current research is “A Sociolinguistic Study of Doctor-Patient Interaction in Healthcare Settings: AJordanian Perspective”. She has completed her bachelor’s degree inGerman and English (double major) at the University of Jordan in 2002 and a Masters in English Language Teaching and Curriculum at Mutah University in Jordan in 2007. Etaf has worked as an English teacher in the Ministry of Education in Jordan from 2002 to 2008 and then she started her work as a lecturer in both universities King Faisal University and Dammam University in Saudi Arabia from 2008 to 2015. She has also worked as a casual lecturer and tutor at Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9831-6377Western Sydney University, Australia
Ping Yang is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and an Academic Course Advisor for the Master of Arts (TESOL) course in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. Dr Yang holds a PhD in Linguistics from Macquarie University, Australia. His teaching and research areas include intercultural communication, nonverbal communication, socio-cultural linguistics, TESOL teacher education, and English-Chinese translation studies. Dr Yang has supervised PhD candidates and has actively published books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed journal articles in these research areas. (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/uws_profiles/doctor_ping_yang).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-438XWestern Sydney University, Australia
Mohamed Moustakim is a Senior Lecturer in Education in the School of Education, Western Sydney University, Australia. He completed a Doctorate in Education at Exeter University in the United Kingdom. Before joining WSU, Mohamed held academic posts in a number of Higher Education Institutions in the UK, including, the University of East London, the University of Greenwich, the College of St Mark & St John and St Mary’s University College. His teaching and research are focused on equity and diversity in Education and he is currently supervising several PhD students whose research focus is on sociolinguistics. (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/staff_profiles/WSU/doctor_mohamed_moustakim)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2847-1619
