Code-switching and code-mixing in bilingual communication: Language deficiency or creativity?

The study aimed to investigate the students' reasons of using code-switching and code-mixing in bilingual communication. Questionnaire exploring the uses of code switching and code-mixing and classroom observation were applied to 24 sixth semester students of English major at a university. The gathered data were then, categorized into two different tendencies: as a language deficiency or creativity of the English language users. The results show no significant difference between the reasons of using code-switching and code-mixing in bilingual communication as the tendency of language deficiency and as the creativity of language users. It means that both reasons become plausible tendencies why students switch and mix code. From the observation, the type of code-mixing congruent lexicalization was the most type found in classroom communication. Further, the result of study could be a basic data for the English teachers/lecturers to take an appropriate action to assist them in their communication strategy.