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The goal of this thesis is to examine and compare the code-switching (CS) used in three Pantelion films set in Los Angeles (LA) to CS used in an LA YouTube video blogger and LA Radio. CS has been identified as a prominent characteristic of films that portray the Latino population (Berg, 2002; Helland, 2015); however little research has examined the types of CS used and how representative they are of Latino speech. This paper finds that films do not accurately represent the language (specifically the CS) of LA Latinos. Additionally, the language choices in Latino films reinforce prescriptivist and language purism ideologies of the acceptable use of code-switching. Most of the code-switching in the films was intersentential and tag switching, whereas the YouTube videos and radio recordings displayed a preference for intrasentential switching. The use of intersentential switching in films can be attributed to it being easier to subtitle, and by including it, the films serve a prescriptivist medium that reinforces language purism and pejorative ideologies of code-switching, which could lead to an increase in language insecurity and a decrease in bilingualism in the Latino community. This paper utilizes Torres (2007) Strategies for the Inclusion of Spanish as a theoretical framework, and expands their definitions to encompass films, YouTube, and radio. Furthermore, based on Torres’ (2007) work, this paper finds that the Latino films accommodate for monolingual speakers using several strategies, while the YouTube videos and the radio station are aimed towards bilingual Latinos who, as an audience, receive bilingual gratification. While the representations of Latinos in the films were mostly positive, there was still a lack of diversity in the cast of the films, especially an absence of U.S. Latino actors. The films display a dichotomy between Mexican and American actors, conflating the diverse nationalities that compose Latinidad into one: Mexican. This work expand the current literature on how CS is incorporated in media, and opens the door to new avenues of investigation on the examination of how representative CS is in different mediums.

Research in second language teaching and learning has many aspects to focus on, but this paper will focus on the sociolinguistic issues related to language usage and identity. Language usage is the lens that is used to understand the identity of Somali males in America. Language usage in social contexts gives us the opportunity to learn the multiple identities of Somali males in America. Being multilingual and having multiple identities in America is a constant battle for Somali males in America. They are constantly negotiating identity on a day to day basis. The findings are based on three Somali males in America in their early ‘20s who are all enrolled in a 4-year institution in the Midwest. This study sheds light on the identity of Somali males in America through their language usage. This study finds that language learning is more than a simple linguistic system and signs, but it engages the identity of the learned. Language is the number one factor that makes someone Somali according to these participants. Somali males in America are caught between their American community and Somali community. They are not accepted fully in either community. They are too foreign for many Americans, and too American for their Somali community. The findings of this study hope to educate conscious citizens, policy makers, and educators in an effort to reduce, if not eliminate, stereotyping of Somali males in America. Through the language they use in their social settings, we have seen the many different identities they employ and negotiate in their daily lives. Somali males in America have a foot in each of their communities and are constantly figuring who they are.

Este trabajo presenta los resultados de una investigación sobre el uso del inglés (la lengua materna de los estudiantes) por los profesores en la clase de segundo semestre de español a nivel de universidad. Los resultados mostraron que las profesoras escogían conscientemente la lengua que utilizaban así como cuándo y cómo la empleaban en clase. Parece que la experiencia de las profesoras como instructoras hacía que el inglés fuera menos usado por las que tenían más práctica como instructoras o un mejor domino de su L2, ya fuera ésta el inglés o el español. Sin embargo, los usos más discutidos y esperados del inglés en clase (logístico y pedagógico) no fueron en ningún caso el más común. La razón principal por la que las profesoras usaban el inglés era por cuestiones de relación de comunicación con sus estudiantes, es decir, el uso social de la lengua. This paper presents the results of a study centered on the use of English (L1 of the students) by teachers in the second-semester college level Spanish class. The results show that instructors consciously choose when and how they use English or Spanish and that the more experienced teachers, as well as those that have a better dominance of their L2, use less English in class. My research adds to that from previous investigations through the analysis of the social, logistical and pedagogical use of the students’ L1. My study shows that educators use English socially in order to establish rapport with their students far more often than for logistical or pedagogical reasons.

Abstract: This thesis focuses on the negotiation of power and identity between Swiss students and instructors in the Swiss classroom. Although Schriftdeutsch1 is the official language of secondary schools in Switzerland, speakers often practice code-switching, which serves many conversational functions (Auer 1998). This paper examines how Germans-peaking Swiss use code-switching strategies to negotiate power and identity in the classroom. My data is drawn from interactions in the classroom and a short interview. Using a constructivist methodology based on conversation analysis (Antaki & Widdicombe 1998; Meinhof & Galasinski 2005; Pavlenko & Blackledge 2004), I analyse classroom discussion in terms of the discourse functions of code-switching and how Swiss German is used to negotiate power and identity in interaction. This thesis reveals an unmarked classroom situation and shows that codeswitching fulfills important functions in classroom discourse.