Code switching of bilingual preschoolers in Pakistan: A study of Arabic and Urdu alphabets

Urdu is the official language of Pakistan, while Arabic is the language of the Holy Quran, Muslims' sacred book. Pakistan, as a Muslim country with a religious bond, makes it obligatory for Muslims to recognize and interpret Allah's commandments, as well as to pray and recite the Holy Quran. The most effective skill is oral communication. It has become one of the fundamental language learning skills, alongside listening, reading, and writing. Pronunciation is the process of processing speech sounds to communicate. The current research study focuses on the code switching of bilingual preschoolers while learning the Arabic and Urdu alphabets. The study demonstrates why preschool children fail to recognize images of simple words in Arabic and Urdu at the same time and how this challenge can be tackled with the ingenuity of a committed teacher. The researcher used the Oral Proficiency Test (OPT) to assess the quality of the children's pronunciation, and he processed the data using Setiyadi’s (2020) triangulation of method, which includes three data collection techniques: observation, interview, and questionnaire. The observation focused on how the teacher pronounced both alphabets and how the children responded by pronouncing the same at the top of their voices to make good use of articulators. Later, an interview and a questionnaire were conducted to collect data that could be used to ensure the validity of the observational results. Creswell and Baez’s (2020) Model of the Structure of Study was implemented. The research on bilingual preschoolers is significant in that it reveals that the children had difficulty in discerning resembling sounds from the * Corresponding author Muhammad Ali Shahid & Anser Mahmood Englisia: Journal of Language, Education, and Humanities | Vol. 9 , No. 1, November 2021 | 95 Arabic and Urdu alphabets and that this difficulty caused them to deviate from one alphabet to the other. Speech therapists, pathologists, psychologists, bilingual scholars, and researchers will all benefit from the research.


Reason of code switching
The Knowledge Hub, whose owner and principal is Madam Farwa Batool, is the research site for the current study. The school is in charge of pre-school children in the advanced class who are learning Arabic and Urdu fundamentals. Since the Arabic and Urdu alphabets are the foundations of both languages, they have phonological similarities with minor differences in articulation. Young children have difficulty distinguishing the sounds of letters from both alphabets. As a result, they often deviate from Arabic to Urdu or Urdu to Arabic sounds throughout their studies.

Need for the research
When learning the Urdu and Arabic alphabets at the same time, preschoolers fail to pronounce simple letters. The children's ability is limited by their confusion, which leads to poor outcomes. Though the children are unaware of the misfortune that destroys their toil, a diligent teacher will assist them in overcoming this confusion with better results in pronouncing the alphabetical letters of Arabic and Urdu if he makes good use of comparative pronunciation of both alphabets. It is important to understand how children use code-switching because it has a range of educational ramifications. As they alternate between two languages, code-switching can expose the children's psychological state, such as ease and comfort or anxiety and distress. It may also be a sign of psychological, interpersonal, cognitive, and linguistic growth.
Research Questions i. Why do preschool children struggle to pronounce simple letters in both Arabic and Urdu at the same time? ii. How do preschool children solve the challenge of pronouncing simple letters in both Arabic and Urdu at the same time?
2. Literature review Zhou and Wei (2007), in their study, address that when faced with multilingual demands, all bilinguals express their ability to act, know, and when only one language ability is required, bilinguals, In the study, Zhou and Wei discovered that no matter what, all bilinguals demonstrate their language abilities, both in terms of their ability to switch to know and the languages in which they can cope (Van Hell, 1998). Chinese Americans outnumber all other Asian American ethnic groups in the United States. Bilingual students' and non-native speakers of a second language's needs are both increasing, necessitating increased use of code-switching. The has improved our understanding of how 1.5-generation Chinese children and their parents interact with their languages, making these findings relevant to the question of language development and the first-generation Chinese American populations.
Elena Davidiak (2010), a PhD candidate at the University of Iowa, defended her thesis at a symposium in June. This study looked into the nature of code motion from one language to another sentence or within a single speech event. This study also looked at the various other possible causes of any disparities in a language's vocabulary levels between genders and ages, such as a lack of words. He was able to identify sociopedagogical functions commonly used in mixed statements, including or opposing a statement and information, affirming or demanding, and disclaiming, or explaining specific ways, by using various socio-phallogalic phrases, such as choosing an individual as an addressee, changing the subject, explanations, providing support, and arguing. According to studies, code-switching in the manner that is commonly used harms a child's fluency and comprehension of another language. This is only one aspect of trilingual code-switching, which allows the speaker to examine the three modes of communication (including the use of multiple languages without speaking them) and, while involving elements of two or more languages, does not necessitate speaking the same language. Tanaka and Park (2012) conducted research to describe previous studies before reporting the current study's findings, which looked at how if at all, their parents' beliefs about language acquisition influenced their children's use of code-switching. The findings revealed that parents' beliefs influence their children's language learning experiences and code-switching behaviour.
Byers-Heinlein (2012) reveals in her biopic of her own family that her family's frequent use of codeswitching affected their child's language. She spoke French and codemixed English and German frequently. Her daughter was secretly listening in on their conversation and paraphrasing everything they said. Her husband also used codemixing and codeswitch rift to communicate in English and French. She openly declares that their conversations are a linguist's dream, a code-dream. They are both set in these multilingual conversations, which can be quite amusing at times. According to the findings of the study, when children listen to their parents' conversations at home while speaking naturally without understanding what they are doing with the language shift, codemixing and codeswitching pervade their children's language unknowingly. Olajoke and Abuya (2013) investigated the presence of code-switching in children in their third year of schooling in the study. Even though various scholars have focused on this, no research has been conducted to determine the appearance of codeswitching in the environment of young children and its consequences. It is the first language of the majority of the population, and the second language of the remainder (L2). Adolescents at this stage of language acquisition code-switch for a variety of reasons, demonstrating that the outward expression of code-forms in this age group differs significantly from adults. Among the numerous appealing case studies presented in the paper, the book includes several studies that pay special attention to this idea, a specific research project in gaining critical insights into factors that code-switching is known as an unavoidable embellishment in children's language learning.
Akturk-Drake's (2015) doctoral dissertation seeks to advance our understanding of adoption as a research technique by investigating how structural and non-structural factors interact to determine whether a specific donor-language structure will be adopted. Three studies in the dissertation look at how two distinct classes of initial borrowers from different donor languages integrate into the same phonological system: elite bilinguals in Turkey and heritage bilinguals in Sweden. By investigating the incorporation of multiple systems by initial bilingual borrowers, this dissertation sought to answer the question of whether a donor language illicit phonological structure can be adapted but not adopted in the recipient language. Because they were thought to be likely to be initial borrowers and borrowers in many language contact contexts, two classes of bilinguals were chosen as borrowers: elite bilinguals and heritage bilinguals. Another reason for choosing these bilingual groups was the cultural disparity that gave rise to these two groups' bilingualism.
Suek (2017) propounded that code-mixing and code-switching are common in bilingual [or language-twisting] people. A bilingual person is more likely to engage in this behaviour as a result of several factors, including their linguistic structure, pragmatics, and language competence. Simultaneous bilingualism is defined as a child's ability to distinguish between two languages based on the age at which they are exposed to them, demonstrating that rather than developing a single type of language, they develop several. In terms of vocabulary, code-switching, and code-mixing, the hypothesis is that programmers do not use correct terminology and do not acquire appropriate linguistic and sociolinguistic skills. According to the most recent scientific research, bilinguals appear to be able to handle both languages effortlessly, with no evidence of linguistic misunderstanding or failure. According to the respondents, this power does not affect their mental development. Trisnawati (2017) explained in the article how speaking two languages and living in a diverse culture does not result in the loss of one's cultural identity. It's fascinating to learn how people who live in more diverse communities communicate in a variety of settings. This paper aimed to collect data from a variety of multicultural/multilingual settings to advance research in this area. Language, the community itself, family involvement, and involvement with other children who shared the same language were discovered to be three of the three primary factors influencing bilingual identification. Green (2018) presented a model that expands on previous work's basic description of code-switching to include neurocognitive details about how speakers create and use it. The main difference between the controls is how frequently they are used, and this is what determines which languages are used. This paper delves deeply into the origins and changes, as well as the fundamental starting points of each of these interstates, their interactions with one another, and how they began and evolved. Green (2018) puts forward that indicators of intra-sentential code-switching include anatomical corpus-based markers of both extra-and intra-sentential code for different language combinations, which vary with intra-sentential mutual reinforcement (or rivalry). While there is unequivocal evidence for bi-directionality code concordance in single-word utterances, many utterances do not. It is proposed that different languages use different levels of language activation, which are insufficient to adequately represent how language is used. We require a code-switching model that allows bilinguals to use multiple languages and allows for simultaneous activation.
Mamin (2020) discussed what teachers believe about code-switching. The study attempted to determine whether Libyan EFL learners and Kurdish EFL learners hold similar or dissimilar beliefs about the use of L1 in their language classrooms, as well as what beliefs these groups hold. For data collection, a questionnaire based on teachers' beliefs was used. The study included forty EFL teachers from two different contexts. The purpose of the study was to reveal significant differences in the two groups' beliefs about the use of L1 for subject success, classroom management, and other purposes. Finally, there was no discernible difference between the two groups.
Kremin, Alves, Orena, Polka, and Byers-Heinlein (2021), keeping in mind that previous studies were lacking in investigating bilingual parents' code-switching when speaking to their children in everyday conversation, they suggested that parents' code moved more between sentences than within sentences with their children aged 10 to 18 months. The most common obvious motive for code-switching is to improve their children's comprehension and vocabulary. When these findings were combined, the study suggested that bilingual parents' codes switched in ways that promote successful bilingual language acquisition.
The current study is being conducted on children while they are attempting to develop their alphabet, and it looks into the possibility of using existing Arabic and Urdu fonts in the process. This study confirmed a previously discovered principle that explains why many children do not recognise images in Arabic and Urdu and proposed a possible solution in which a professional commitment can increase the impact of teachers' approaches to the situation.

Method
To address the research questions and stimulate the model Arabic-Urdu codeswitching environment, the current study used a phenomenological approach to qualitative research methodology. The research design was qualitative-cumquantitative. However, the majority of the research was conducted using a quantitative design. The researcher chose a class of preschoolers at random purposive sampling from "The Knowledge Hub" the private-public school in Garden Town, Sillanwali. The research activities were participated in by 45 candidates, 18 males and 27 females. In any case, because the study did not go into correlational plan, it is not mentionable to say how many males and females there were. The researcher gave the 45 bilingual students letters from both alphabets to pronounce, and the researcher recorded their responses. The researcher used the Oral Proficiency Test (OPT) to assess the quality of the children's pronunciation, and he processed the data using Setiyadi's (2020) triangulation method, which includes three data collection techniques: observation, interview, and questionnaire. The observation focused on how the teacher pronounced both alphabets and how the children responded by pronouncing the same at the top of their voices to make good use of articulators. Later, an interview and a questionnaire were conducted to collect data that could be used to ensure the validity of the observational results. Creswell and Baez (2020) proposed the following components of the Structure of Study i. Identifying the Research Problem, ii. Review of the Literature, iii. Specifying the Purpose of the Research, iv. Data Collection, v. Data Analyzing and Interpretation, and Reporting and Evaluating the Research.

Data analysis
The researcher employed, according to Miles, Huberman and Saldana (1994), three-phased data analysis in the present study.

Data reduction
In the process of organization of data, observation was the key instrument in the present study whereas interviews and questionnaires were used as the supporting components of data collection. Every instrument-based data was analyzed turn by turn until the conclusion.

Observation-based data
The researcher employed observation-based data to know about the process of teaching and learning pronunciation concerning Arabic and Urdu Alphabetic. The researcher was a keen observer when the teacher was conducting the class. The following discussion identified the data based on observation.

First observation
The research made the first observation on 8 April 2021 at 1:00 pm on Monday when the class teacher of taking the class of the children on Arabic and Urdu Alphabetic. The teacher had planned the lesson very well whose details underlie below.

Introduction of the lesson
The teacher casually started the class with a very warm greeting from the students who seem to be in all elements very eager to study. After preliminary greeting and taking roll call in friendly manners, the teacher indulged in small talk is frank enough to make them feel at ease during the class. It means that the teacher in a psychological manner created a friendly environment in the class.

The teaching of the lesson
After reviewing the previous knowledge, the teacher introduced the students that they were going to learn Arabic and Urdu Alphabetic again but this time both the Alphabetic with comparison at the same time in the same class. The teacher pronounced the Alphabetic one by one at the top of her voice and asked the students to follow the suit, saying the same letters aloud and feeling the difference in the pronunciation between the two. The students tried their level best to articulate the sound with the same precision but could not and muddle up the sounds of both the Alphabetic. They could not restrain them in phonological boundaries and code switched from Arabic to Urdu and Urdu to Arabic interchangeably. The teacher in a very loving manner helped the students correct the pronunciation mistakes, drilled the lesson to make them familiar with the Alphabetic, and asked them to repeat the sound at the top of their voices.

Closing the lesson
On closing the lesson, the teacher advised the students to make drills at home articulating each letter aloud.

Second observation 3.2.2.1. Introduction of the lesson
The research made the first observation on 10 April 2021 at 1:00 pm on Saturday when the teacher of taking the revision class on Arabic and Urdu Alphabetic. The teacher had planned the second lesson based on the first one very well whose details underlie below.

The teaching of the lesson
In this activity, the researcher took the review of the previous lesson and reminded them to take care of muddle up sounds while practising both the sounds. The teacher wrote the Alphabetic on the whiteboard with different colours and asked them to repeat the same sounds aloud after she felt the difference of the same sounds. Finally, the teacher motivated the students to feel at ease in discerning the muddle up Alphabetic and Arabic and Urdu.

Closing the lesson
The teacher closed the class with kind advice to make drills at home and left them with prayers and best wishes.

Interview of the teacher
In the present study, the interview was the supporting component of the data of the observation. The researcher interviewed the teacher that aimed at knowing the problems faced by her while teaching the young kids. The interview contained five questions. Results of the interview clarified that the teacher had to face a tough time with a bilingual class of young kids. The teacher claimed that it was because of the young and tender age of the kid that they got confused in discerning both the Alphabetic.

Oral proficiency test (Questionnaire)
A questionnaire was the third component of data of the observation, but in this study, the teacher implemented Oral Proficiency Test to get a deeper insight into the children's problems in pronouncing muddle up Alphabetic. Feedback on the OPT revealed to the researcher that only the reading aloud technique would not produce the desired outcome. The teacher should have taught the lesson following the techniques of pronunciation as stress, rhythm and intonation proposed by Kelly (2001).

Data display
It is the second component of the qualitative data analysis propounded by Miles, et al. (1994). In the present study, data collected through the triangulation of method was explained and organized in the extended text for evaluation for presentation in the illustration tables.

Observation report
Based on the seven-point procedure, according to Adita (2015), of teaching and learning pronunciation by using the reading aloud technique, the researcher very keenly observed the activities by the teacher in the class and prepared a report which lies below. (See the attached questionnaire in the appendices)

Findings
The checklist of both the observations manifested that the researcher did the work very well with keen observation and apt attention and notified the minute details regarding the teaching and learning process and made written documentation to support Observation Results.

Interview report
It manifested that the researcher did the work very well with keen observation and apt attention. The interview was the second component of the triangulation method. In this research, the researcher employed interviews to support the data of observation. He composed the interview items based on the technique of teaching pronunciation, basics of phonetics and phonology and problems of young kids being bilingual learners and finally the problem of the teacher for not being the trained teacher. The research intended to find out the problems faced by the teacher and students in both the observations. The researcher found out that the teacher did apply the reading aloud technique but not being well versed in the method of teaching pronunciation to the bilingual preschoolers who could not discern the muddle up sounds as expected by the teachers.

Teachers' interview result
The teacher was unfamiliar with the fundamentals of phonetics and phonology. As she was not a trained teacher of pronunciation, she concentrated on the listen-andfollow method. The students did listen to the pronunciation of both Alphabetic, but due to their young age, they were unable to overcome the problem of bilingualism. Although the students enjoyed the activities, they were unable to distinguish between Alphabetic.

Questionnaire report
A questionnaire is was the third component of the triangulation method. As the subjects in this study were very young, the research employed an Oral Proficiency Test in place of an Interview to support the data of observation. The researcher aimed to get a deeper insight into the students' problems in learning Alphabetic in the same class. The researcher himself with the presence of the class teacher and the principal of the school took note of the proceedings of the class and concluded OPT.

Result of OPT (Questionnaire)
Age :  The Oral Proficiency Test was administered to a total of 45 participants: 18 boys and 27 girls. According to the statistics, all 45 participants in the study answered all 7 questions on the questionnaire. In any case, not a single case was missing.

3-4 years old
Frequency Percent Missing System 46 100.0 The participants in this study were boys and girls ranging in age from three to four years, according to the table. One case is system missing.

Boys and girls
Frequency Percent Missing System 46 100.0 The number of boys and girls who took part in the research activities for data collection totaled 45, with 18 boys and 27 girls taking part in each activity.

How many students can pronounce the alphabetic before the teacher as it is?
Frequency In response to question No.1, 35 students answered affirmatively, while 10 students answered negatively. The results indicate that 76.1 percent of participants were confident in their ability to pronounce the Alphabet before the lesson, while 21.7 percent of participants were unable to do so. Question No. 7 is a follow-up to Question No. 6 in terms of content. It demonstrates that only one-third of the total 45 students were from the Urdu-speaking community, as shown in the graph. Urdu is a softer language than Punjabi, and it is spoken by more people.
The two activities were accessible to all 45 students who registered. The teacher took special care to ensure that no one's grade was reduced due to a lack of participation and that no one was overlooked. Miss Zara was the one who made it happen. The following findings were obtained through the use of a questionnaire. When it comes to answering questions, the majority of students (77%) receive poor grades, while a smaller percentage (22%) provides correct answers. In response to Question No. 2, the results show that 66.7 percent of the students agree, while only 33.35 percent disagree with the researcher. To answer Question No. 3, which asks how many users are confident in their answers, the majority are, with less than 13% doubting they could say that. Even though only a reasonable number of students (55.6%) responded positively, a sizable (44.4%) number of students (many, not 55.6%) responded negatively (in question 4). On Question No. 5, nearly all of the test subjects agreed with the researcher. Many people were pleased when the researcher said "the majority," and a quarter was pleased when it said that many people were pleased in Question No. 6 when it said that 66.7 percent of respondents expressed enthusiasm. This response, on the other hand, drew a lot of attention, whereas the third option drew even more criticism (i.e., a large number of respondents were dissatisfied with it, particularly regarding question 7.

Discussion
By administering the oral proficiency test, the researchers discovered that bilingual preschoolers have a greater challenge in discerning resembling sounds in the Arabic and Urdu alphabets, which causes them to deviate from one alphabet to the other. A trained teacher with skills in both Arabic and Urdu Alphabetic should be engaged to minimise this problem. He will depict a simpler picture for students with similarities and differences. People tend to believe that vocabulary or code-switching increases along with negative personality traits. Because they are unwilling to try, children believe their brains are lazy and believe they will be unable to think of it in a different language. The home language should be one, two, or an expanded language programme.
While learning two languages, some children are excellent students. This causes them to know one language better, but they also know two. It is assumed that a child's most comfortable language will be his or her dominant one. A language may persist in the life of a child even if they do not regularly use it. Speaking two languages is like any other skill. To get good at it, kids will need plenty of assistance from their parents. The language barrier makes it difficult to comprehend and communicate thoughts in another language. This letter-based research addresses the same issue: children without enough practise cannot simultaneously speak and understand two languages, and they begin to favour one or rely on the other. Even for young children, when the Alphabets speak similar languages, it can be difficult to keep up. The teacher in the current study had good intentions of assisting students in understanding methodology and phonology, but she was found lacking in methodology and phonics preparation. Despite the teacher's hard work and efforts, the OPT results were heartbreaking. When the children learned to speak two languages in school, their parents had limited influence. Due to their young age, they were unable to extract the mother tongue's vibrations and thus didn't learn Alphabets in school.

Conclusion
The current study sought to discover why bilingual preschoolers find it difficult to pronounce simple letters in both Arabic and Urdu at the same time, as well as how they overcome the challenge of pronouncing simple letters in both Arabic and Urdu simultaneously. The research on bilingual preschoolers is significant in that it reveals that the children had difficulty in discerning resembling sounds from the Arabic and Urdu alphabets and that this difficulty caused them to deviate from one alphabet to the other. Speech therapists, pathologists, psychologists, bilingual scholars, and researchers will all benefit from the research. The study only included 45 people. For more and better findings and results, the magnitude of the subjects and duration of the research can be increased to a longitudinal research thesis. According to the findings of the current study, teachers assigned to preschoolers or primary classes should be trained in their respective fields so that they can handle and solve preschooler problems at an early stage. When problems are not addressed, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for teachers to solve them, and students notice a lack of progress throughout their educational careers. Only trained teachers are insufficient; audio-visual aids are also required for better and more effective learning for preschoolers and primary school students.

Conflict of the Research
The current study's conflict was that trained and qualified teachers are not provided in primary schools, particularly in the private sector, which exacerbates the problem of students with bilingual or multilingual backgrounds accumulating in the class. The teacher is responsible for resolving the problem of bilingualism or multilingualism, which can only be handled by a trained and guided teacher.

Funding
Nobody else, no institution, and no charitable organization contributed to the current study's funding. All expenses were paid for by the researcher.