This is a study of language choice and language alternation patterns in a corpus of messages posted on two Brunei Darussalam on-line discussion forums. It aims to break new ground by investigating Malay-English language alternation in the context of computer-mediated communication (CMC), in contrast to previous research which has mostly studied alternation or code-switching in informal conversations. The corpus of texts consists of 21 1 messages posted on the 'Bruclass' and 'Brudirect' forums. These were analysed in terms of their grammatical and discoursal features to determine what role is played by each of the contributing languages. Chapter 1 outlines the major research questions: how much alternation is there between Malay and English, how is this alternation achieved, and why do the bilingual text producers make these language choices when posting their messages in the on-line forums? This chapter also includes outline description of the sociolinguistic context of Brunei Darussalam in terms of its population, history, system of education, and discussion of the varieties of Malay and of English used by Bruneians. In Chapter 2 relevant literature on language alternation is reviewed, with a gradual narrowing of the focus: from theories of code-switching and language alternation to studies dealing specifically with Malay-English code-switching in Malaysia and in Brunei Darussalam. Studies on language use and alternation in the CMC domain are also reviewed. Chapter 3 discusses the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, and the rationale for these. Findings from the grammatical and discoursal analyses are reported and discussed in Chapter 4. Whilst monolingual English messages are the most frequent, almost half of the corpus texts are found to include a measure of Malay-English alternation. / Many of these display an asymmetric alternation pattern, in which one language supplies the grammar and the other the lexis, but there are also examples of equal alternation, where Malay and English both contribute to the grammar and to the lexis. The reasons for these choices are investigated through a questionnaire survey, which includes a text ranking task, and through other published texts in which Bruneians discuss their use of language. Chapter 5 discusses these findings, and the concluding Chapter 6 considers connections between the analysis of the texts and the questionnaire survey, especially the preference for monolingual English. Chapter 6 also includes discussion of questions of identity as reflected in the language choices and of language use in the CMC domain.

In line with the call for a process-oriented and ecologically sound approach to planning in SLA (Ellis, 2005), and with the behavioral approach adopted in other fields (Murphy, 2004, 2005; Suchman, 1987, 2007), the present work applies Conversation Analysis to the study of group planning. The participants are four groups of adult learners of Italian as a foreign language, engaged in the preparation of a classroom presentation in their L2. The analysis focuses on: 1) the collaborative production of linguistic artifacts; and 2) the complex L1/L2 alternation patterns produced by the students. This type of fine-grained, emic analysis allows to respecify group planning as an intersubjective, goal-oriented activity that is done by multilingual actors as observable behavior, consisting of a nexus of laminated actions (Goodwin, 2013) that occur in the moment and over time in and through embodied talk-in-interaction.

Le phénomène de l'alternance codique a été connu et étudié depuis le début du XXe siècle. L'intérêt psycholinguistique à l'alternance codique orale a été suivi par des perspectives socio-pragmatiques dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle ; puis vers la fin du siècle, l'attention des chercheurs a été attirée sur l'alternance codique écrite. Même si l'alternance codique a été bien étudié depuis, il y a encore quelques lacunes. Par exemple, l'intersection de l'écriture bilingue et la critique génétique présente une source de données naturalistes bilingues écrites qui restent fortement peu étudiées. Cette thèse tente de combler cette lacune en fournissant une analyse qualitative et quantitative des brouillons d'examen des apprenants de langue seconde. L'approche multimodale englobe la perspective visuelle, pragmatique et linguistique. Les résultats montrent que l'alternance codique représente un outil que les élèves utilisent habilement dans leur écriture personnelle académique. Néanmoins, les objectifs de son utilisation diffèrent non seulement entre les individus mais aussi entre les sociétés / communautés. Cela souligne la valeur sociolinguistique de l'écriture personnelle bilingue. Ce travail démontre également l'alternance codique dans l'écriture personnelle comme un type indépendant de l'alternance codique, qui peut prendre une place égale à côté de l'alternance codique orale, écrite et littéraire et qui mérite d'être étudié en tant que tel. / The phenomenon of code-switching has been known and researched since the beginning of the 20th century. The psycholinguistic interest in spoken code-switching was followed by socio-pragmatic perspectives in the second half of the 20th century; then towards the end of the century, researchers' attention was drawn to code-switching in writing. Even though language alternation has been well studied since, there are still some lacunae. For example, the intersection of bilingual writing and genetic criticism presents a source of naturalistic bilingual written data which remains significantly under-studied. The present thesis attempts to fill this gap by providing a qualitative and quantitative analysis of second-language learners' examination drafts. The multimodal approach encompasses the visual, the pragmatic and the linguistic perspectives. The findings show that code-switching represents a tool which students skillfully use in their academic personal writing. However, the purposes of its use differ not only among individuals but also among societies/communities. This emphasizes the sociolinguistic value of bilingual personal writing. This work also recognizes code-switching in personal writing as an independent type of code-switching, which can be placed in line with the oral, written and literary code-switching and which merits to be studied as such.