Code choice in a multilingual academic setting

This paper reports the results of a study that examined code choice dynamics among multilingual students and faculty (N=12) at a university foreign language department. The goal was to determine which language dominates in one-on-one oral conversations and what motivates the choice of the particular language in each case. This study differed from previous research in several aspects. Firstly, one of the languages (German) used by members of this speech community is not only the means but also the subject of academic study. Furthermore, student participants were trilingual graduate students of varying first language background and all of them had learned both German and English as foreign languages. Since the cultural and linguistic makeup of the student population of the department is in constant flux, there are no established rules or norms governing which language to use in what situation. Interviews with students and faculty were tape-recorded and analyzed. German and English were used as the dominant conversational language in approximately equal proportion. The principal factors influencing participants' code choice were speakers' characteristics, aspects of their language competence and their values and desires. A model explaining and predicting code choice among members of this multilingual micro-community was drawn to show how the choice of English versus German results from a decision-making process involving these factors. Central to this mechanism is the speaker as a rational actor who chooses a language either to gain benefits for herself/himself or to assist her/his interlocutor in obtaining those benefits. It is argued that similar investigations at other foreign language departments in the U.S. could test the validity of the model and help create a richer perspective on code choice in educational settings.