(in which the switch occurs within the sentence or a clause) and intersenten-
tial switches (in which the switch occurs outside the sentence or a clause).
For a detailed discussion of code-switching, see Chapters 5 and 6. The next
section discusses language arrangements within a bilingual classroom.
Language Arrangements within Bilingual
Schools in Wales
Bilingual education in the multilingual world of the 21st century involves
a variety of practices where languages are often separated for teaching and
learning or are used flexibly alongside each other. Traditionally, in the early
years of immersion education, the tendency has been to separate languages
as media of teaching before moving on to more flexible and fluid bilingual
approaches as pupils become more confident and competent in their
bilingualism.
With reference to bilingual practices such as code-switching, the general
consensus within the bilingual education literature has been to look upon
such arrangements as ineffective and inefficient practice (Camilleri, 1996;
García, 1993; Milk, 1981; Potowski, 2007).
However, more recently, García (2009a) argues that flexible bilingual
arrangements in the classroom are potentially advantageous. For bilingual
education to meet the needs of pupils, parents/guardians and other stake-
holders in the 21st century, abilities such as translating, language switching
and processing information bilingually are becoming increasingly important.
The emphasis is shifting from separating languages (as in the past) to bilin-
gual or multilingual discourse practices. It is in this context that García
(2009a: 52) proposes adding ‘recursive’ and ‘dynamic’ theoretical frameworks
to the traditional ones:
The recursivity and dynamism of bilingualism today ... demands bilin-
gual skills that are much more than just monolingual skills in two sepa-
rate contexts. If we focus then not on separate languages as we have done
in the past, but on the bilingual or multilingual discourse practices that
we need and that are readily observable in bilingual classrooms, we can
see that bilingual arrangements that build on translanguaging ... is indeed
the only way to build the plurilingual abilities that we will need in the
future. (García, 2009a: 297)García (2009a: 118) goes on to argue that a dynamic theoretical framework
of bilingualism allows the simultaneous co-existence of different languages
in classroom discourse, accepts the typicality of translanguaging, and sup-
ports the development of multiple linguistic identities.
142 Part 4: Bilingual Education