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THE REASONS OF USING CODE MIXING AND SWITCHING IN UPDATING
FACEBOOK STATUS FOR ED STUDENTS AS THE IMPLICATION OF BEING
BILINGUAL
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Kharisa Fatriyana Pangestuti
112008096
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYAWACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
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THE REASONS OF USING CODE MIXING AND SWITCHING IN UPDATING
FACEBOOK STATUS FOR ED STUDENTS AS THE IMPLICATION OF BEING
BILINGUAL
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Kharisa Fatriyana Pangestuti
112008096
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYAWACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2013
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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any
other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2010. Kharisa Fatriyana Pangestuti and Anne Indrayanti Timotius, S.Pd, M.Ed.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, SatyaWacana University, Salatiga.
Kharisa Fatriyana Pangestuti:
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PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
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I verify that:
Name : Kharisa Fatriyana Pangestuti
Student ID Number : 112008096
Study Program : English Language Teaching Department
Faculty : Language and Literature
Kind of Work : Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free
right for my intellectual property and the contents there in entitled:
The Reasons of Using Code Mixing and Switching in Updating Facebook Status for ED
Students as The Implication of Being Bilingual_____________________________________
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This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in : Salatiga
Date : 11th February 2013
Verified by signee,
Kharisa Fatriyana P.__
Approved by
Thesis Supervisor Thesis Examiner
Anne Indrayanti Timotius,S.Pd, M.Ed Christian Rudianto, S.Pd, M.AppLing
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The Reasons of Using Code Mixing and Switching in Updating Facebook Status for ED
Students as The Implication of Being Bilingual
Kharisa Fatriyana - 112008096
Abstract
Facebook is the most visited sites in Indonesia (eBizMBA.com, 2012). There are
millions Facebook-ers in Indonesia who actively access this social network site. This study
analyses when and why ED students 2008 use code mixing and switching in updating their
Facebook status. The 20 participants who had fulfilled the criteria were chosen to share their
bilingualism experiences in updating their Facebook status through interview which last
around 10 minutes. The result shows that ED students mostly mixing and switching the
language when there were no suitable words, quoting people‟s statement, grumbling, etc.
This study also found that there were 5 reasons of mixing and switching languages, such as
showing off their bilingualism to other people, introducing new words, etc.
Keywords : bilingualism, code mixing and switching, Facebook.
Introduction
Bilingualism is a common issue in our society since English become a world
language. This phenomenon also happens in Indonesia that there are more people may use
code switching and code mixing in their daily communication. It can be shown by some of
unfamiliar words taken from English vocabulary that appears and adapted to be an
Indonesian words. For example: reception in English become “resepsionis” in Indonesian
word. The improvement of technology can also play a role in the language development
especially in the forcement of bilingualism. People may mix/switch the language to make
their language sophisticated as the result of their wider communication‟s scope.
The ability to switch between different languages is an interesting phenomenon in
bilingual speakers given that different languages partially share neuro-anatomical
representations (Klein, Milner, Zatorre, Zhao, & Nikelski, (1999). People feel more
comfortable to mix or switch the language because the meaning of the mixing and switching
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language may better represent their true message. For example : people tend to write “saya
lagi bad mood” rather than “perasaan saya sedang tidak baik”. The word “mood” here can
not be replace by “perasaan” because the meaning is not close to what the writer expected.
The current trend about linguistic expansion is closely related to the World Englishes.
The term of World Englishes can be found in Kachru‟s (1986) which is defined as
instituionalized varieties of English. Kachru further explains that he distinguishes three major
types of English speakers: (1) native users of English for whom English is the first language
in almost all functions, (2) nonnative users of English who use an institutionalized second-
language variety of English, and (3) non-native users of English who consider English as a
foreign language and use it in highly restricted domains. From his explanation, we can
conclude that English speakers in Indonesia is categorized in the second type of World
Englishes because eventhough the local language is still used in the society but Indonesian
and English are quite dominant. Moreover, Indonesian people not only use English in highly
restricted domain, for example at school or other formal institutions, but also in their daily
communication. It is proven by the way Indonesian urban-people who live in big cities
communicate by mixing the language both local language with Indonesian, or Indonesian
language with English.
The revolution of technology will also create different ways of people interactions. It
happens in English Department as the bilingual basic Faculty in SWCU. English Department
was no longer using announcement board to inform everything to the students. The internet
accessibility is used for practicality and modern way of informing any issue. Sometimes the
lecturer put the information on Flexible Learning UKSW (FLEARN), blackboard on google,
or Facebook. ED has provided a group account in Facebook for ED students to gather any
information about the faculty or “angkatan”. This forces the students to be familiar with those
media and finally they must be able to access and communicate through the media. For those
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who still have limitation in using English may use code mixing and code switching when
they want to interact in the media, particularly Facebook.
Facebook is one means of social networking. Social networking or known as virtual
networking is any networking done with people you may not have met face-to-face or the act
of networking using interactions that are not face-to-face (Dulworth, 2008). This means that
the form of networking can be done via email, as long as we have the account and connected
to the internet. However, Dulworth (2008), maintains that virtual networking tends to be
dominated by social networking sites, which have become all inclusive portals of networking
data and communication.
One of the most popular social networking sites is Facebook, founded by Mark
Zuckerberg in 2004, that gives people a new way to interact and socialize via internet
through spoken (video chat) and written language (written chat, wall posting and
commenting). Moreover, Indonesia is the biggest Facebook users in the world, as retrieved
from kompasiana.com (2012). SocialBakers.com (2012) also releases an article that Facebook
is the most frequent site being accessed by Indonesian. The source further explain that this
phenomenon happens in Indonesia since Facebook accomodates the habit and characteristic
of Indonesian people who like to get together and share what they feel. With the use of this
social media, people may become more open in expressing their feeling. One of the ways is
by using code mixing and switching.
Therefore, becoming suddenly bilingual for ED student is not easy since it creates
transformation of language development. In this transformation and development process, ED
students will go through so many language rehearsals to improve their language skills. One of
the rehearsal methods they use is by practicing their English when they update their Facebook
status, through the use of code switching and code mixing. The study aims to analysed the
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reasons and time of using code mixing and switching among ED students in updating their
Facebook status as mean to learn English and influenced by their bilingualism as a member
of English Department.
There are two significances of this study. Academically, this study can enrich the
linguistics and language research field especially about code-mixing and code-switching.
Practically, this study can give more data about language choice that is used by a group of
community, especially from undergraduate students group which can be used as one of data
for language maintenance, or language shift. This study can be the measurement for English
Department to know the condition when ED students mixing and switching English and the
reasons why ED students apply mixing and switching. The ED students comprehension and
application of code mixing and switching in sociolinguistic also turn into the significant of
this study for English Department that can be the further observation for the lecturer in
teaching code mixing and switching.
Thus, I would like to answer the research question “When and why do ED students
code mix and switch in updating their Facebook‟s status?” We can learn more about code
mixing and switching among ED students and see the reasons behind this phenomenon
through this study.
Theoretical Framework
One of the communication media presented in this study is Facebook. Thurlow (2003)
outlines three sociolinguistic principles that affect the way people write in Facebook status—
“What‟s on your mind”. They are: 1) brevity and speed, 2) paralinguistic restitutions (to mark
emphasis, emotional states, etc.), and 3) phonological approximations (such as „u‟ for „you‟).
Brevity and speed are related to the briefness and the speed itself. Although there is no
characters limitation in writing on facebook status, wall or comments, the wordings have to
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be efficient. This means that the word should be short, meaningful, and understandable.
Facebook status can be seen as the representation of someone‟s feelings, which makes the
paralinguistic restitution also take part as the factor that influence the written communication
in Facebook. Paralinguistic is the study of vocal and non-vocal signals beyond the basic
verbal message of speech. Whereas, restitution is the act of restoring something. Not only
that, a phonological approximation which is the number of the production of unintended
syllables, words, or phrases, occur in Facebook as the result of making the sentences concise.
From bilingualism side, Bautista (2004) suggested that bilinguals could use code-
switching and mixing to maximize their communication efficiency (i.e., using the fewest
possible characters or keystrokes to convey a message) in the domain of messaging. Thus,
she proposed that the combination of technology and multilingualism could produce a new
function for code-switching. In this essence, multilingual Facebookers should be able to
choose the shortest words and phrases from each language, perhaps by mixing several
languages together, to reduce the number of characters or amount of keypressing required to
deliver a message.
Another linguist stated that the phenomenon of bilingualism results in the occurence
of code switching and code mixing. It happens when a speaker requires a particular code, in
order to switch or mix one code to another and even create a new code in process (Wardaugh,
1986 :101). This phenomenon is a signal of how bilingualism influence to the language
creation and development which occur through code mixing and switching.
Studies of code-mixing and switching enhance the understanding of the nature,
processes and constraints of language (Myers-Scotton, 1993a; Boeschoten, 1998; Azuma,
1998), and of the relationship between language use and individual values, communicative
strategies, language attitudes and functions within particular socio-cultural contexts (Auer,
1998; Jacobson, 1998; Myers-Scotton, 1993b; Lüdi, 2003). It happens as a result of mixing
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and switching that allow people to be creative with their language to express their feelings or
show the bilingualism as the pride.
Refering to bilingualism as the pride, Peter Trudgill, in his sociolinguistic
presentations also stated that for this behaviour normally concentrate on the possibility,
through using code-mixing and switching as a strategy, of projecting two identities at once,
for example to look modern, sophisticated, educated person and that of a loyal, local patriot
(Trudgill 2003:23). This statement supports one of the reasons why bilingual people tend to
use code mixing and switching as a way of communication.
According to Hoffman (1991), there are a number of reasons for bilingual or
multilingual person to switch or mix their languages. Those are: interjection, quoting
somebody else, expressing group identity, because of real lexical need, talking about a
particular topic, repetition used for clarification, being emphatic about something, to soften or
strengthen request or command, intention of clarifying the speech content for interlocutor,and
to exclude other people when a comment is intended for only a limited audience.
There are three process of code mixing (Muysken,2004). They are :(1) insertion of
material (lexical items or entire constituents) from one language into a structure of the other
language, (2) alternation between structures of languages, and (3) congruent lexicalization of
material from different lexical inventories into a shared grammatical structure. These three
process usually occur unconciusly toward bilingual people because of several reasons stated
by the linguists above.
The frequency of bilingualism appears in Facebook and the reasons of ED students
mixing and switching the language turn into interesting points which not yet observed and
examined.
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This study aimed to analyze :
1. When do ED students applied their bilingualism through code switching and code
mixing in updating Facebook status?
2. Why do ED student tend to apply their bilingualism through code switching and code
mixing in updating Facebook status.
The Study
Context of the study
The setting of the study was Faculty of Language and Literature or English
Department of Satya Wacana Christian University. It was located in a small town of Salatiga,
Central Java, Indonesia. English was not a common language used for communication among
people who lived in this town because there were only few expatriates or foreigners lived in
Salatiga. The opportunity for practicing English was not much. The International events and
programmes, such as International Seminars held by English Department is helpful for
practicing English language for ED students to train English are more often supported with
the circumstances.The lecturers usually taught and gave feedbacks, comments, and
announcement in English. The handouts provided for the students were written in English.
All the assignments had to be written in English, and the students‟ communication in class
(such as asking or answering questions and discussion) should also be delivered in English.
English also appeared outside the class, like in the ED students‟ extracurriculars (for
example ED Pool of Writing, English Debating Society, Access Magazine, etc). English
Department students also have to update all information about their faculty through internet,
such as group in facebook or blogs. This condition contribute much to the study because ED
students are bilingual and have wider information accessibility especially in social network,
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Facebook. Therefore, their bilingualism through code mixing and switching in Facebook can
be observed as the data for this study. Another reason for selecting this university was it had
already got ISO certificate which showed its good quality in international education.
Moreover, English Department was one of the faculties in SWCU which got an “A” for its
accreditation status as the result of their hardwork in educating people.
Participants
The participant were 20 ED students of 2008 who had a Facebook account and
actively used their account. I picked ED student 2008 because they had passed more than
three years experiences of using English in this faculty. There would be some experiences in
their interaction, both in class or outside the class, as the result of being forced to be bilingual
in English Department.
This study used purposive sampling that allowed the researcher to select a group of
people that fullfil the criteria. Other stategies used for this research was snowballing sampling
based on recommendation from the previous participant. McKay (2006) notes that using
combination of choosing the participant should be related to the purpose of the research and
a representative sample of the population. The student participants had been selected based
on the following criteria:
20 students who experienced updating status with full English, or mixing the
language between English and Indonesia.
Student who had taken sociolinguistic class because they were familiar with the
term of code mixing and code switching.
Student who had facebook account.
Student who were active users of Facebook.
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From the characterics above, I planned to find when ED students code mixing and switching
in updating Facebook status and why ED student tend to mix and switch in updating
Facebook status.
Instrument of data collection
To answer the research questions above, the data was collected through interviews. It
was because elaborate explanations and reasons were needed to support the data. Moreover,
Facebook was a private account that could only be accessed by the owner. So, I would like to
be more personal in gaining information from the Facebook owners and see whether their
answers were relevant to the information needed in this study. The interview focused on their
experiences in mixing and switching language while updating Facebook status. The interview
was scheduled to last for around 10 minutes and would be divided into two parts, general to
specific questions, with 15 questions all together.
Procedures of data collection
A semi-structured interview type was used for this study to get more relevant data
because the questions were mostly related to the participants‟ experiences. Semi-structured
interview was similar to structured interview but it allowed for greater flexibility (Patton,
1990). The flexibility included changing the order of the questions to provide opportunity for
follow-up questions. The interview would take for about 10 minutes on average and would be
transcribed. The interview would consist of a two parts; the first one asked about their
background information and knowledge, and the second one gave more opportunities for the
participants to share their experiences when they applied their bilingualism through mixing
the language in updating their Facebook status. The data would be captured by recording of
the interview sessions then three of them would be transcribed as the attachment. The
transcription would be a clean transciption that focus on the content of the interview.
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The Data Analysis Procedure
After done with the data collection and transcribed the interview, the data analysed
based on the classification focusing on the content or themes across the participants or called
content/thematic analysis (Riessman, 2008). The interview transcript were extracted,
classified, and gathered into several catagories. The interview results were coded into three
heading parts followed by severeal subheading parts as a finding for this study. First part
discussed about the importance of updating Facebook for ED students. Second part discussed
about when the bilingualism through code-mixing appears in updating Facebook status. This
part divided into five smaller parts as the subheadings. Third part discussed about the reasons
of bilingualism through code-mixing in updating Facebook status. This part also devided into
five smaller parts as the subheadings. Coding was used to fracture the data and rearrange into
catagories that facilitate comparison between things in the same catagories and that aid in the
development of theoretical concepts (Maxwell, p.96). The data interpreted in statistical
through chart as an attachment to clarify the result of the interview. Zegarelli stated in
statistics, qualitative data divides a data set into discrete chunks based on a specific attribute
then find information such as percentage amounts and mode (www.dummies.com).
Discussion
After collected the data by doing an interview with 20 participants, there were several
facts that answered my research questions related to code mix and switch among ED students
in update Facebook status that become the topic for my research. This discussion used the
clear transcription of the interview result to classify the answers belong to the classification
provided. The classification were arranged based on the answer of my participants, some
factual information taken from their facebook account as the evidence, and refering to the
Hoffmann perspective‟s about the reasons of using code mix and switch. It was based on the
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importance of having Facebook account, when the participants mix the language, and why
the participants mix the language.
1. The Importance Of Updating Facebook Status
English Department students of 2008 are the trends-followers of becoming
“Facebooker” by updating anything happened to them in this social network. When asked
about the importance of updating facebook status, most of ED students believe that updating
Facebook status can show their existance as well as showing their personal feelings or for
promotion. They also think that being update in Facebook is not something important. It is
just for fun and entertainment. Below is the diagram that show the polling statement of the
participants.
Figure 1. The importance of being update in Facebook.
The diagram shows 40% of ED students 2008 think that having Facebook account are
not important. One of the participant (Yaya) said, “ Updating Facebook is not important. It
just for fun.” Around 35% of ED students 2008 stated that being update in Facebook is in
between important and unimportant. Ambar said, “I think its not really important but it is also
important because in Facebook I can share my feelings or problems”. My finding is that
being update in Facebook is not something important for ED students. It is just for fun and
entertainment.
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2. When The Participant Mix and Switch The Language
From the research question for this study about when English Department students
tend to mix and switch the language between Indonesia and English or Indonesia with
Javanese or even Javanese with English, there were 5 possible occasions that show when the
participant mix/switch their language. Below is the chart of the frequency of using mix and
switch the language in several occasion based on the interview result.
19
4
11
2
20
0
5
10
15
20
25
The appropriateof words tosubstitute
Quoting Grumbling Check-inlocation
Habitual activity
The Time of Mixing and Switching Language in Facebook Status
Figure 2. The time of mixing and switching language in Facebook status.
Below is the further explanation about the time when ED students tend to mix and
switch the language in updating Facebook status based on the higher frequency from the
diagram above.
2.1 Habitual activity
There were 20 participants stated that mixing and switching the language in updating
Facebook status had become their habitual activity. Since ED students have been accustomed
in using L1 and L2 altogether, it makes ED students unconciously write in Facebook status
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by mixing the language. All of the participants claimed that being forced to be bilingual in
English Department brings some changing in the way ED students communicate. They tend
to practice their English anytime and anywhere. “It suddenly happens like that. I mix the
language without any preferences,”said Petra, one of the participant. It indicates that when
people become bilingual in particular situation, the way they communicate mostly use mix or
switch the language unconciously.
2.2 The appropriateness of words to substituted
From 20 participants I have interviewed, there were 19 participants stated that when
they do not know the meaning of a particular word they would mix or switch the language.
The purpose is to clarify their statement and close to the what they want to express.
Based on the chart above, ED students 2008 realized that there were several words
that suitable written originaly without intrepreting into other language because of the
meaning and communicative factor. Below is the example of the mixing language between
Indonesia and Javanese that I found in one of the participant account.
Figure 3. Facebook account 1.
The word “nglimpenan” could not be interpreted in Indonesian or English language
because there are no suitable word that has same meaning like “nglimpenan” which means
suddenly disappear for other activities. Crystal (1987) explain that a speaker may not be able
to express himself or herself in one language and switches to the other to compensate for the
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deficiency. It proves that bilingualism can be applied through mixing language by written the
words originally if there is no word that can replaced in the same meaning.
2.3 Grumbling For Explicitly State Feelings.
Grumbling is one of the people communication style, although this is closely to the
personal feelings and psychological of people. Gumperz (1982: 69) notes that “most
bilinguals have at least a comprehensive knowledge of usage norms other than their own, and
that they can use this knowledge to judge speakers‟ social background and attitudes in much
the same way that monolinguals use pronunciation and lexical knowledge in assessments of
social status.” It is catagorized as the psycholinguistic of people using a particular language. I
found that there were 11 participants mixing the language when grumbling people to express
their feeling. They said that, there is a beneficial side grumbling using English or mixing
because they can still share their ideas, feelings and experiences without disturbing their
privacy if it is too extreme, rude or negative for certain people.
Petra said, “It is about emotional feeling when I feel like I want to express my anger
or concern about something if I don‟t want everyone to know what I am saying. Sometimes I
can tell my friends but I can‟t tell the other friends then I will express it in English. And not
all people know English, but well maybe my friends from ED will understand, but well
English will express my mood, anger and my bad mood.” They believe it is such a good way
because not all of their Facebook‟s friends know English even for other ED-ers.
From the interview result, it is found that grumbling in L1 may be understood by
others easily since the meaning can be retrieved more explicitly, whereas grumbing in L2
(English) or in mixing languages will only be understood by those who understand English.
Since grumbling contains mostly negative feelings and presents in negative words, the writers
does not want to express their feeling openly and explicitly. Therefore, most of the
participants choose to grumble in English or mixed languages because not all people can get
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the meaning. One of the participants said that grumbling in English has become a new trend
among ED students. People tend to keep their secret while grumbling through Facebook.
Below is the example taken from the participant account about showing bilingualism through
mixing in Facebook for grumbling.
Figure 5. Facebook Account 3.
2.4 Quoting People’s Statement, Lyrics, or Any Wise Words.
I found that there were 4 of 20 participants stated that they are mixing the language
when they find a good quotation that refers to what they feel. Below is the transcribe
statement of participant showing that English and mixing use when quoting :
Me : When do you usually use English in updating your status?
Eta : Sometimes, it is taken from songs lyrics, where I go to, or maybe
what I am doing at the time.
Based on the interview above, the purpose of quoting someone‟s statement using
mixing or switching is for stressing the meaning of the statement and having the right
meaning match with what the Facebookers feel. Quoting someone‟s statement also happened
to reduce the errors or missunderstanding as a part of expressing people‟s feeling toward a
particular condition or situation. Below is the example taken from the participant Facebook
account which use switching for quoting.
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Figure 4. Facebook Account 2.
2.5 Check-in a particular location.
From the interview, I found some of ED student like to update their status using
mixing English and Indonesia when they are visiting a new place, in case for hanging out
with other friends or group work. The purpose is that Facebook as the right media to show
their existance to other friends in social networking. Yaya said, “When I check-in a location I
usually use English because I want to look cool”. There are 2 participants stated that they are
mixing the language when check-in a new location, and to be exist is important.
To make other people know their locations as well as to keep their existence in the
social media, ED students like to update their location every time they check in into particular
places. Besides, some participants say that updating their location can be used as a mean to
promote particular places to other people. As Facebook seen from business point of view that
Facebook can be the media for promotion because of the wider coverage.
Figure 6. Facebook Account 4.
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The example above indicates that ED students likely to update status when check-in a
location by switching language.
3. Why bilingualism through mixing appears in update Facebook
I analyzed the interview results to answer my research questions why ED students
apply their bilingualism in mixing language on updating facebook status. Language function
as the expression of someone‟s feeling based on the message that people want to deliver.
Language itself have a particular pattern to make it easier to be understood by other people.
Below is the diagram of the classification of the reasons ED student tend to mix and switch
the language and the result found in interview.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Catch People Interest
Suitable to share feelings
Prestige
Introduce new words
Affected by surroundings
10
8
14
8
2
The reasons ED students (bilingual students) mix and switch the language
Figure 7. The reason why ED students mix and switch the language.
Below is the further explanation about the reason why ED students tend to mix and
switch the language when they are updating status based on the higher rank of the
participant‟s answers.
3.1 Code mixing and switching show prestige as bilingual people.
Although, English seems very common nowadays, but the prestige of having English
skill is still around. This study finds that being able to write in English or in mixed languages
will increase their prestiges. There were 14 of 20 participants who feel more prestigeous
when they speak and write something in English. “We can speak English because we learn
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English. So, if we want to show our ability, why not?”, said Dylan. Based on Dylan‟s
statement indicates that bilingualism should be show off because like a proverb “practice
makes perfect” means that practicing language more your language will be better. The others
believe that prestigeous of being bilingual is kind of achievement that ED students 2008 get
after they master English in English Department.
3.2 Code mixing and code switching catch people interest.
There were 10 of 20 participants believed that applying bilingualism through mixing
and switching can catch people interest. Being bilingual is something fun and interesting
especially when we arrange the language by mix it and find the new terms and by time it
becomes popular. For example like “bahasa gaul” which is sometimes mix the language
between English and Indonesia. “So what, gitu loh” is the sentences created by Saykoji, one
of the famous Indonesian rapper who firstly blow up this sentence. “So what” is actually
taken from English which asking about reason. “Gitu loh” is taken from the word “begitu
loh” function as the complement of the sentence to give more stressing about the meaning.
Yaya said, “ I think mixing the language is something fun because it represent me that
want to look different.” Based on Yaya statement, she believes that mixing and switching the
language makes her look different. Annisa said, “I mixing the language to make people
interest to me because sometimes I am so bored and I want people interest to me”. Both of
the statement showing bilingualism through mixing and switching catch the attention of
people especially for those who unfamiliar with English.
3.3 Code mixing and switching are more suitable to share feelings.
I found that mixing the language also a part of the way people express their feeling.
There were 8 of 20 ED students that join in the interview believe that mixing language can
express their feeling. Ambar (one of the participant) said, “It is because some terms could not
be change into other words in different language. It may cause the different meaning, not
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what I am expected.” Most of my participants feel more comfortable to express something in
English even it is combined with Indonesian also. For example : “Lagi bad mood nih....”.
This is actually the common word that ED students and other people usually use to show that
they are not in a good mood, rather than write it in Indonesia “Perasaan sedang tidak enak
nih..” Whereas, Vina (one of my participant) stated, “It is OK to mix the language because I
still can share my feeling but keep the privacy because for me Facebook is something
private.” The statement above show the benefit of being bilingual, because not all Indonesian
know English so people feel more comfortable to share their feelings while being exist in
social media privately.
3.4 Code mixing and switching as a mean to introduce new words
As an ED students who know English, updating status by mixing the language is not
only to show their prestige but also to give chances to the other Facebookers to know some
new words. Based on all participants statements, they said that when they update their status
using English or mixed languages, they sometimes receive comment asking about the
meaning. However, there were only 8 participants stated that they will tell the meaning to
other. Rafsanjani (Yayan) in my interview stated, “Sometimes I tell the meaning, but I prefer
them to open dictionary to know the meaning because I will look “sok pintar” if I tell the
meaning”. Mostly, ED students will ask them to just find the meaning by themselves in the
dictionary. They say that they do that because as ED students, they want to encourage people
to be familiar with dictionary.
3.4. Affected by their surroundings (e.g friends, family, or lecturer)
The amazing fact found was only 2 participants acquainted the bilingualism in their
surroundings. There were some ED students who already grew up in bilingual circumstances
before they joined English Department. They said that they get accustomed to mix the
language with the purpose of being communicative when they socialize. On the other hand,
25
for several ED students 2008 that come without any bilingual background, applying code
mixing and switching makes them feel strange at the beginning. Every academic matter in
English Department should be delivered in English. It is like an enforcement for ED students
to practice their English. One of my participant, Allen, said that since he joined in some
extracurriculars in ED, he had to inform recents news to other ED‟s friends. He used
Facebook to invite people or deliver news and he often mix the language to make their
announcement looked sophisticated. It also happen to Eta that also become familiar with
mixing because her circumstances force her to use English and in order to minimize
vocabulary or grammatical errors, she tends to mix the language.
Conclusion
In attempting to answer the research question of this study about the time and the
reasons of ED students used code mixing and switching in Facebook, I came up with my
accomplishment that the importance of updating Facebook status for ED students 2008 was
average. Several participants believed that Facebook was only the media to show their
existance in the social media.
Related to the time when the participants mix and switch the language, this study
found that there were five occasions as an indication of bilingualism through code mixing and
code switching. The participants usually used code mixing and switching when: (1) they
wanted to find the most appropriate words to best represent their feelings, (2) they quoted
people‟s statement, lyrics, or wise words, (3) they grumbled and wanted to show their
negative feeling, (4) they checked-in at particular locations, and (5) they had already used
code mixing and switching as a habit.
Regarding to the second research question, ED students used code mixing and
switching for the following reasons: (1) to catch people‟sinterest because using mixed and
26
switched language was considered fun and unique, (2) to share feelings and keep their
privacy since not all people were able to understand English, (3) to show their prestige as
bilingual people, (4) to introduce new words to those who did not speak English, and (5) to
follow the bilingual people in their surroundings.
In addition, since this study only focused on the use of code mixing and switching in
updating ED students‟ Facebook‟s status, I hope that similar study can be done by having
different participants and mediums, so that it will give additional contribution in the era of
world Englishes. There are several other interesting topics that can be elaborated in further
research, such as: the implication of bilingualism in social media towards the students‟
language acquisition and the application of bilingualism in a social media that can be used as
a medium to teach English. This study findings contribute to know the application of
bilingualism in the real world for non-native speaker of English.
27
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Myers-Scotton C (1993). Social motivations for codeswitching: evidence from Africa.
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Website:
http://leap.tki.org.nz/being_bilingual/bilingualism_and_successful_learning/is_bilingualis
http://www.bilingualism-matters.org.uk/
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/_/dict.aspx?word=Facebook
http://www.kompasiana.com
http://www.ebizmba.com
http://www.dummies.com/how-to-work-with-qualitative-data
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank to God for all the blessings and miracles that surrounds me. I would
like to thank to my parents, my mom for all prayers and always remind me to focus, my dad
for fully support in everything and all the wise words that becomes my spirit and my
inspiration. I would like to acknowledge Cik Anne as my supervisor who kindly revising my
thesis and support me to keep work on it. Mas Rudi as my second reader helps me with this
thesis, there is no word I can say except thank u. All friends in English Department who have
already participated when I was collecting the data and kindly support me to graduate soon
and keep me work hard and not give up. All friends from Paguyuban Duta Wisata for always
be with me in my worst time and good time. Thank you so much for cheering my days.
Special thank‟s to mbak Hanum as the one who helps me sharing ideas. To all people around
me who always support me in their own way that sometimes I did not recognize, thank you so
much. I am nothing without you all.
30
Appendixs
Appendix 1
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How often do you update your facebook account?
2. In your opinion, how important of updating your facebook status?
3. Which one do you prefer, updating status by using English language, Indonesian
language, or mixing both of the language? Tell me briefly!
a. If you tend to use English language
- When do you use English in updating Facebook status?
- Why do you tend to use English in updating Facebook status?
- How often do you use English in updating Facebook status?
b. If you tend to use Indonesian language
- When do you use Indonesian in updating Facebook status?
- Why do you use Indonesian in updating Facebook status?
- How often do you use Indonesian in updating Facebook status?
4. As we know that you are bilingual person, do you ever applied your bilingualism in
updating your facebook status by mixing or switching the language?
5. How often do you usually applied your bilingualism through code-mixing/ code-
switching in updating your facebook status?
6. When do you usually applied it?
7. Why do you apply code-mixing to your facebook status update?
8. What are the factors that influence you to apply code-mixing and code-switching in
updating your Facebook status?
9. Does emotional, feelings, and mood also contribute in mixing the language?
31
10. What do you think if there are some ED students mix the language in facebook for
prestige?
11. Do you ever find some mistake done by others in mixing the language in facebook?
What do you think of it?
12. If you make mistakes in applying the word by mix the language in Facebook status,
what will you do then?
13. Will you still mixing the language later on when updating your status?
14. In your opinion, how important to show your bilingualism especially in updating
facebook status?
15. Do you ever get any comments about your mixing language in your facebook status?
16. If YES : from whom? What they think about you?
NO : Do you think you have already correct in mixing the language?
17. Does other people understand your created language by mixing or switching in
updating your facebook status?
32
Appendix 2
Interview Transcribe
A: Interviewer
B: Interviewee
1. AMBAR
A: Good afternoon Ambar...thank you for being a participant in my interview. And today we
will discuss about Bilingualism application of Ed student thuorgh code mixing and code
switching in updating facebook status. Btw, do u have any facebook account?
B: Yes, I have.
A: How many?
B: Only one.
A: How often do you updating your Facebook account?
B: eee.....mmm....
A: Everyday?
B: Yes, everyday...but it is not...mmm...tidak pasti
A: In your opinion how important updating Facebook account?
B: I think its not really important but it is also important because in Facebook i can share my
feelings or problems....something like that.
A: So,you are in English Department 2000 and...???
B: 2008
A: Do you think that you are master Engllish very well right now?
B: I think I can speak English, I can master English but i think i can not say that i am
mastering English very well.
A: And which one do you prefer?
B: Sometimes I use English, sometimes I use Indonesia or my local language, sometimes I
mix the language.
A: Can you tell me when do you use English?
B: When I want to share my feelings, but I can‟t the appropriate words in Indonesia, I use
English. But, sometimes..when I feel...hmm....apa ya...kalo saya merasa kalau ini lebih bagus
dituliskan dalam bahasa Indonesia, I use Indonesian language.
A: When do you mix the language between English and Indonesia?
33
B: Sometimes, I also confuse when I have to express one term, for example : I want to update
status in Indonesia but I can‟t find the term in Indonesia that maybe express my feeling. So, I
use English then.
A: How often do you mix the language?
B: I don‟t know . It is not really often. I feel more comfortable using Indonesia and Javanese.
A: How about code mixing, do you use Indonesia mostly than other?
B: Not really often. Like I said before, I mix the language when I feel difficult to express the
term.
A: When do you usually mixing the language? Do you enjoy that? What do you think?
B: I think it is easier to express my feeling when I can‟t express the term. I just use the word.
A: What are the factors?
B: The only factor is that what I have said when I can‟t find the term in English or Indonesia,
so I mix the language. I think the factor is only that.
A: Can yo give example about what you write in Facebook status based on your statement
above?
B: When I want to say...emm...maybe there is a term in Indonesia like “kerokan”. I don‟t
know this word belongs to Indonesia or Javanese. Then I said: I am sick and I need
“kerokan”. It is because there is no “kerokan” word in English so I mix the language by
writing “kerokan” in my Facebook status.
A: Does feeling influence you to mix the language?
B: Sometimes, when I feel angry I just show my feelings in English instead of Indonesia.
Maybe most of my Facebook friends are Indonesian and only few of them really know about
English. And when I write my feeling in English so only some of them understand what I
mean.
A: What do you think about showing ED students bilingualism in Facebook for prestige?
B: What do you mean?
A: ED students use mix of the language to show that you are bilingual already.
B: Ooo....I think it is OK because they study English. If they use it for prestige to show off it
is also OK because they struggle to learn English.
A: Do you ever feel the same too like you are a bilingual person?
B: Not really.
A: Why?
B: Most of my friends in Facebook are just only few of them know English. I don‟t feel that I
am proud and I can speak English. So, I don‟t think so.
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A: Wow...you are so down to earth than. Next question do you ever find some mistakes done
by others in mixing the language in Facebook? What do you think of it?
B: Sometimes I found it, maybe they are just miss typing and spelling.
A: Do you correct them?
B: Sometimes when I feel close to that person, it is OK if I correct it. If I am not too close
with the person, they will feel like “siapa sih ini kok correct statement orang”.
A: How about if you miss in applying the wod by mixing the language in updating Facebook
status? What will you do then?
B: Oh ya.. I have experienced about it. I write a sentece and there is no to be in my sentence.
And my friend correct it by saying the sentence should be like this (they give the correct
sentence). But I think it is just a Facebook status not a thesis and it is OK if I am not using the
correct grammar like that.
A: Mmmm...I see... Will you still mixing the language later on when you are updating status?
B: Yes, but sometimes it unconciously when I update Facebook status I mix the language.
A: Do you ever get any comments from people about your mixing language in your Facebook
status?
B: I ever get a comment about “what does it mean?” Sometimes I tell the meaning, but if it
comes from the person who know English I will not tell the meaning and just say “you have
already know what I mean” or “ translate by yourself”.
A: How important showing your bilingualism in Facebook?
B: I don‟t think it isimportant but I feel more comfortable to applied the bilingualism in
Facebook status.
A: Do you think that people understand your created language by mixing or switching in
updating your Facebook status?
B: I think not all the people in Facebook understand. But maybe only several people that
understand why I mix the language.
A: Okey, thank you Ambar for answering my question.
B: Thank you.
A: Good luck for you.
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2. ETA SAM KRISTINASARI
A: Good afternoon Eta.
B: Good afternoon.
A: Thank you for spending your time to be interviewed about the ED students bilingualism
application in updating Facebook status.
B: Ok.
A: How often do you update your Facebook account?
B: I always open my Facebook account but to update status I think maybe around every three
days.
A: In your opinion, how important of updating your facebook status?
B: Hmm...it is just to share experiences, opinions, feelings like that.
A: Which one do you prefer, updating status by using English language, Indonesia language,
or mix/switch both of the language?
B: I often use English because since I am ED student I show my ability in English. I can write
better in English when I am updating my Facebook status.
A: When do you usually use English in updating your status?
B: Sometimes, it is taken from songs lyrics, where I go to, or maybe what I am doing at the
time.
A: Why do you tend to use English than mixing the language or use Indonesian language?
B: First, I am comfort with English. Second, for the people who don‟t know English they will
not give much comments. Third, to show my identity that I love English and I can speak
English.
A: Mmmm....to show that you are ED students, right?
B: Yes.
A: About mixing the language, do you also often do that?
B: In comment maybe, but in updating status I just use English. In comment I use mixing of
the language like “kenapa”.
A: How often do you use English, Indonesia, and mix of the language?
B: I can‟t only use Indonesia because my L1 and L2 become mix since I was a child. I can‟t
tell something in Indonesia, I prefer and feel more comfortable using English and mix the
language. Something that I didn‟t understand in Indonesia, I can share in English.
A: What are the factors that influence you to use English or mixing language when updating
the Facebook status?
B: To make people easier to understand because it is short.
36
A: Does emotional, feelings and mod also contribute in using English or mixing the
language?
B: Yes, also sometimes I can‟t express in Indonesia like the word “OK” it is a simple word
but it can answer everything.
A: What do you think if there are ED students mixing the language in Facebook status for
prestige?
B: I think so, because it is they way to show their confident to update status using English.
Maybe not all ED students know the meaning or context in updating status.
A: Do you ever get any positif or negatif comments when you use English or mix the
language in updating status?
B: Yes, I have. The comment is using Indonesia like “Wah ini artinya apa, ga mudeng”.
Ilead them to read dictionary or check with google translate. But, I won‟t tell the meaning.
A: Why do you lead them to check the meaning and not just telling them the meaning?
B: Because it is kind of comment. I just don‟t wanna know or expalin. I don‟t want them to
know the point of my Facebook status update.
A: Do you ever find any mistake when updating Facebook status? What will you do then?
B: Yes, I have experienced about that. I update about movie and I write “a movies” then,
somebody comment “why do you write a and movies, it should be a movie”. I am so
embarrased then I delete it.
A: Alright, will you still using English or mixing the language later on when updating your
Facebook status?
B: Yes, it is just updating status. And it is just based on our confident.
A: Does other people understand your created language by using English or mixing the
language in updating Facebook status?
B: I think only several group.
A: From ED or other?
B: Especially from ED because mostly my Facebook‟s friends are ED student.
A: OK, Eta thank you so much for participating.
B: Your welcome. Good luck.
3. PETRA APRILIA
A: Good afternoon Petra.
B: Good afternoon.
37
A: How are you?
B: Fine, thank you. So far so good.
A: Today, I will ask you about ED students bilingualism application through mixing the
language in updating Facebook status.
B: Okay.
A: How often do you update your facebook account?
B: It depends. Once a week maybe.
A: In your opinion, how important of updating your Facebook status?
B: In my opinion, not so important, but if there is any news or info about college or
something important then I will update my status. I mean it depends 50:50 between important
and not important.
A: Which one do you prefer, updating status by using English, Indonesian, or mixing both of
the language?
B: Sometimes full English, full Indonesia, and sometimes mix. I don‟t know, I feel like I
don‟t have any preference what language I should use, English or Indonesia. It just happen, it
just reveal from my thoughts out and write it on the status. I don‟t know, I don‟t have the
specific reasons why I just write it on.
A: When do you usually use English, Indonesia or mixing the language?
B: Sometimes I don‟t know. If we talk about emotional when I want to express something
what I feel today, maybe I use English. But, Then sometimes if I use Indonesia maybe I‟d
rather to write something important when I update my status like, news or some kind of
important information that maybe the adressee of the status is not only people who know
English because my friends in Facebook is not only from ED but also from other faculties or
the person that I know. And if I use English they maybe don‟t undestand what I am saying.
A: Why do you tend to mixing the language?
B: Maybe, sometimes I look for a word. I think the sentence form in my mind Indonesia and
sometimes I can not find the exact expression in Indonesia then I use English or vice versa.
When I want to express in English but I can‟t find in Indonesia the exact meaning of
Indonesia then I use to mix them in English or Indonesia.
A: Why do you do that?
B: To emphasize the meaning.
A: How often do you use Engish, Indonesia, or mixing the language?
B: I am not so sure, mostly English and mixing. Well, I don‟t know I just feel like I want to
write that in English and mixing language.
38
A: What are the factors that influence you to write your status in English and mixing the
language?
B: It is about emotional feeling when I feel like I want to express my anger or concern about
something if I don‟t want everyone to know what I am saying. Sometimes I can tell my
friends but I can‟t tell the other friends then I will express it in English. When I feel like I
want to express my feeling especially with the anger and some kind of a bad mood I tend to
use English because maybe it is rude if I said that in Indonesia. And not all people know
English, but well maybe my friends from ED will understand, but well English will express
my mood, anger and my bad mood.
A: what do you think if there is ED student use English in update status for prestige?
B: Prestige, maybe I feel like that way sometimes. But maybe it depends on the situation, I
don‟t feel like I am proud sometimes when I mix the language or write the status in English,
sometimes my friend who are not from English said like “Ah iyo kowe cah bahasa Inggris,
isone yo mung bahasa Inggris”. Even I don‟t want to show my ability in English, OK I will
use Indonesia. But sometimes who care I can speak English. English have to be practice. Like
I don‟t care what people say and I am proud and well maybe a few of them will say that I am
showing off but I don‟t care.
A: Do you ever experience having a mistake when updating status such as miss typing or
grammar?
B: Ya, maybe but I don‟t remember when it is exactly. But when I use English I know the
grammar. I should write in the correct grammatical pattern but if I use mixing the language
English or Indonesia I think grammar is not important because the important things is my
feeling can be express in the Facebook status.
A: Does it make you afraid to use English again?
B: No.
A: Do you get any comment when you are miss typing in updating FB status?
B: Maybe miss typing the word. Ya, one time. I don‟t really aware at the first time. When I
posted in the status and someone comment on my status said that “ hey you are miss typing”
and I just say oh ya. And once I check, I delete it and write the new one in the correct
grammar.
A: Do you get positive/negative comment in your FB status?
B: Mostly it is positive comment who comes from ED too or people who know Engliah. But
the negative comments come from the people who don‟t know English like “kowe ki
ngomong opo?”.
39
A: And when somebody ask like what u said above do you tell the meaning?
B: Sometimes I will tell the point. Sometimes I explain the meaning in brief. But sometimes
ask them to find in the dictionary.
A: Does other people understand your created language through mixing the language?
B: I think they do because one of my friend tell me that “kadang-kadang Petra itu mix
Indonesia/english dia bisa melakukannya begitu saja dan bisa dimengerti. I used common
word and it is understandable and not “bahasa tingkat tinggi” jadi walaupun itu di mix tetap
bisa di mengerti.
A: Nice answer Petra. Thank you. Good luck
B: Your welcome.