Paper Title
Assessment of Code-Switching: Its Function on Teaching-Learning Process in Selected Maritime Professional Courses

Abstract
The study is descriptive which is mainly focused on the code-switching activity of selected maritime students and professional. The paper aimed to assess the function of code switching during classroom. Simple random sampling was used to 4th class students in gathering responses on the purpose on code switching. Meanwhile, purposive sampling was used for the population of maritime instructors who are all teaching maritime subjects for the 4th class cadets. Data for the present paper were collected from the respondents through classroom observation, interview, and survey questionnaire. Findings showed that apart from the purpose of code switching, the occurrence of the activity was also highlighted in which the subject of the students was taken as an important factor on engaging code-switching. It is noted that code switching may be used as a useful strategy during classroom interactions if the aim is for better understanding and/or for knowledge transfer. Indeed, the overall usage of code-switching in a classroom interaction is still considerable in a sense that it was usually used by the cadets for better understanding while maritime instructors are using it only for self-expression. The pedagogical implications of the study depicts that, with the awareness on the purpose used by the maritime instructors and cadets in engaging themselves in code-switching, continuous support and encouragement may be given to the students during classroom interaction. Allowing them to code switch may somehow bridge the gap –focused on an intended purpose–among the speakers who are considered bilingual. It is to commend both instructors and fourth class midshipmen in strictly following the EOP rules; continuous monitoring in the occurrences of cadets’ code-switching must be done during classroom interaction. Keywords - Bilingualism, Code-switching, Communicative Competence, English Only Policy, Multilingualism Area: Maritime Education and Training