Reasons and Types of Code Switching Patterns in Private Pre School in Kenya

Code switching deals with languages in contact. In social situations code switching is characterized by the use of more than two languages in the same context. In private preschools the languages in contact are Kiswahili, English and mother tongue. This is not expected by the stake holders, educators and the managers who prefer the use of English language as code of instruction in teaching and learning. This has not worked well because there are few families where English is the language of the home. Code switching plays a vital role, it acts as a bridge in learning, teaching and use of the English language. This paper looks at the reasons and types of code switching patterns in private preschools during their social interactions. It is evident that code switching fulfills the communicative function, which is a key requirement during teaching and learning process in the classroom.