The Impacts of Gender and Educational Level on Code-switching in the Kurdish-Persian Bilingual Speakers

Code-switching is defined as the alternation of two languages within a single discourse, sentence, or constituent. It is an inseparable component of bilingualism. It occurs both consciously and unconsciously in the speech of bilinguals. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts of gender and educational level on code-switching in the Kurdish-Persian bilingual speakers (in Ilam Province). To aim this purpose, ۶۰ Kurdish-Persian bilingual speakers in Ilam province (Iran) were selected; half of them were male and half of them were female. To gain data, a self-made questionnaire was desiged. To analyze the obtained data, SPSS version ۲۶, and to check the research's hypotheses two-way ANOVA test was used. The results indicated that gender and educational level significantly affect code-switching in Kurdish-Persian bilingual speakers. Male bachelors code-switch more than female bachelors but this doesn’t affect the overall result that is, generally, females code-switch more than males. About the educational level, the most occurrence of code-switching, respectively, happens in doctorates, masters, and bachelors. The frequency of code-switching from the least to the most can be determined as female bachelors, male bachelors, male masters, male doctorates, female masters, and female doctorates.