Elementary Teachers’ Attitudes and Beliefs Towards Their Students’ Use of Code-Switching in South Texas

Abstract

This study was an attempt to investigate some of the academic consequences of elementary teachers’ attitudes and beliefs towards their students’ use of code-switching in a South Texas border area. The study presented both qualitative and quantitative data to examine and compare the teachers’ discourse patterns from fourteen different elementary schools, seven South Texas and seven North Texas schools located in a southern region of the United States. A non-parametric test including descriptive statistics was used. The focus of this study consisted of describing the impact of elementary teachers’ attitudes and beliefs towards their students’ use of code-switching and their implications in elementary education.