Attitude Toward Code Switching (ATCS)

1. Abstract

The Attitude Toward Code Switching (ATCS) scale, developed by Melissa M. Bishop and Mark Peterson (2010), is a nine-item psychometric measurement instrument designed to capture bilingual individuals’ evaluative dispositions toward the alternation and blending of two distinct linguistic systems within natural discourse and mediated communication. Originally operationalized within the context of Hispanic-American bilingual consumers navigating English and Spanish, the scale measures code-switching not merely as a mechanical communicative behavior, but as an emotionally, aesthetically, and socially loaded sociocultural practice. Rather than assessing ad-hoc reactions to isolated marketing stimuli, the ATCS captures enduring, generalized attitudes across multiple evaluative facets: perceived intellectual quality and competence (e.g., whether language blending signals educational deficit or communicative resourcefulness), socio-aesthetic appeal (e.g., whether code-switching is perceived as stylish, cool, and modern), communal and cultural utility (e.g., whether it enriches or harms heritage culture and language communities), and moralized behavioral attribution (e.g., whether the speaker is perceived as cognitively indolent or linguistically dynamic).

The scale employs a 7-point Likert response format ranging from 1 (“Strongly Disagree”) to 7 (“Strongly Agree”), incorporating four reverse-coded items that capture purist or deficit-oriented linguistic attitudes. Psychometric evaluations demonstrate strong internal consistency reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients routinely exceeding .88 across developmental and replication samples. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic investigations support a robust primary unidimensional construct reflecting overall favorability toward code-switching, alongside nuanced, separable sub-dimensions addressing linguistic purism versus modern sociocultural identification. The ATCS has proven invaluable across sociolinguistics, consumer behavior, cross-cultural psychology, and bilingual advertising research, serving as a critical moderating and mediating variable when predicting consumer engagement, brand attitudes, and communication accommodation effectiveness among multilingual populations.

2. Keywords

Attitude Toward Code Switching, ATCS, bilingualism, code-switching, sociolinguistics, consumer psychology, linguistic purism, Spanish-English bilinguals, Communication Accommodation Theory, cross-cultural advertising

3. Authors

The Attitude Toward Code Switching scale was developed and published by scholars specializing in consumer behavior, cross-cultural marketing, and bilingual communication:

• Melissa M. Bishop, Ph.D. — Associate Professor of Marketing, College of Business and Public Policy, University of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. Bishop’s research investigates multilingual marketing communication, consumer information processing, bilingual advertising effectiveness, and socio-cognitive responses to non-standard linguistic varieties.
• Mark Peterson, Ph.D. — Professor of Marketing and Sustainable Business Practices, College of Business, University of Wyoming. Dr. Peterson has authored foundational textbooks and peer-reviewed articles focusing on international marketing, macro-marketing, consumer research methodology, and the interaction of language, culture, and community welfare.

Primary Institutional Association at Time of Publication: Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Attitude Toward Code Switching (ATCS) scale is to provide a validated, parsimonious, and theoretically grounded instrument to quantify how bilingual individuals subjectively evaluate the sociolinguistic phenomenon of code-switching—specifically the intra-sentential and inter-sentential alternation between English and Spanish. For decades, sociolinguists and marketing researchers recognized that multilingual populations respond heterogeneously to language mixing. While some bilingual individuals perceive code-switching as a natural, vibrant, and authentic marker of bicultural hybrid identity, others—influenced by normative language ideologies, institutional educational systems, and prescriptivist standards—denigrate code-switching as a debased form of language, often pejoratively characterized as “broken” or “lazy” speech (e.g., “Spanglish”).

Theoretical and Practical Rationale

Prior to the formalization of the ATCS, empirical investigations in bilingual consumer psychology and sociolinguistics frequently conflated linguistic proficiency or acculturation level with attitudinal evaluations. Researchers often assumed that a bilingual individual who exhibits high fluency in two languages would automatically react favorably to bicultural or code-switched messaging. However, empirical reality is substantially more complex: two consumers possessing identical bilingual proficiencies and identical demographic acculturation profiles may possess diametrically opposed ideological views regarding whether code-switching is acceptable in public, formal, or commercial contexts. Bishop and Peterson (2010) developed the ATCS to decouple language competence from language attitude, demonstrating that a consumer’s underlying evaluative orientation toward language mixing acts as a primary filter determining how persuasive or alienating a code-switched message will be.

Research Applications

In academic research, the ATCS serves critical functions across diverse domains:

• Marketing and Consumer Behavior: Evaluating why certain code-switched advertisements elicit profound cultural resonance and brand loyalty, whereas others provoke severe consumer backlash, perceived condescension, or brand alienation.
• Sociolinguistics and Applied Linguistics: Investigating generational shifts in linguistic ideologies, heritage language maintenance, and the sociolinguistic vitality of hybrid varieties within diaspora and immigrant communities.
• Cross-Cultural Psychology: Measuring how bicultural identity integration (BII) interacts with linguistic norms to influence self-concept, social belonging, and ingroup/outgroup categorizations.
• Educational Settings: Diagnosing educator and student biases regarding the use of translanguaging in classroom environments, thereby informing pedagogical strategies that validate students’ full linguistic repertoires without triggering linguistic stigmatization.

5. Psychological Construct

The ATCS operationalizes an individual’s generalized, enduring evaluative disposition toward conversational and communicative language blending. The construct captures the intersection of cognitive evaluations, affective reactions, and cultural norms surrounding linguistic hybridity. Rather than evaluating a single, contextualized communicative utterance, the ATCS captures a stable latent disposition structured across four interrelated evaluative facets:

1. Perceived Intellectual Competence and Purity

This facet assesses the degree to which an individual views code-switching through the lens of linguistic prescriptivism versus communicative competence. It taps into deeply ingrained ideological beliefs regarding whether mixing two languages represents an intellectual deficiency or a sophisticated cognitive asset. Historically rooted in educational prescriptivism, negative attitudes in this dimension frame language mixing as a sign of an impoverished vocabulary in one or both languages. Items such as “Mixing Spanish and English is uneducated” (Item 1) and “Mixing Spanish and English ruins the Spanish language” (Item 3) directly measure the participant’s endorsement of linguistic purity norms versus communicative flexibility.

2. Socio-Aesthetic and Modern Appeal

Language varieties carry symbolic social prestige and aesthetic connotations. This dimension reflects the affective and stylistic evaluation of code-switching as an index of contemporary youth culture, urban cosmopolitanism, and social trendiness. In many modern metropolitan centers, bilingual language alternation is embraced as a badge of cultural fluency and stylistic edge. Items such as “Mixing Spanish and English makes people sound cool” (Item 2), “Mixing Spanish and English is stylish” (Item 4), and “Mixing Spanish and English sounds modern” (Item 7) assess this affective-aesthetic endorsement, capturing the degree to which code-switching functions as positive social currency.

3. Cultural and Communal Vitality

This dimension assesses the macro-sociological and communal utility of code-switching. Language is fundamentally tied to collective identity, ingroup cohesion, and cultural endurance. This facet measures whether the respondent perceives code-switching as an organic vehicle for preserving and advancing bicultural Hispanic-American identity, or conversely, as a cultural liability that threatens the structural preservation of heritage traditions. Items measuring this facet include “Mixing Spanish and English is a good thing for Hispanic culture” (Item 6) and “Mixing Spanish and English is beneficial for bilingual communities” (Item 9). Respondents scoring high on this dimension view hybrid communication as an empowering linguistic adaptation that fosters communal solidarity.

4. Moral and Effort Attributions

Sociolinguistic judgments frequently cross the boundary from aesthetic preference into moralized attributions regarding the speaker’s character, discipline, and conscientiousness. Language prescriptivists often argue that code-switching occurs because the speaker is too indolent to retrieve the precise lexical item in the target language. This dimension gauges whether the respondent attributes language mixing to mental sloth or communicative pragmatism. Items such as “People who mix Spanish and English are lazy” (Item 5) and “Mixing Spanish and English is improper” (Item 8) capture this moralistic stigmatization of bilingual speech production.

6. Theoretical Framework

The Attitude Toward Code Switching scale is anchored in several foundational theories from sociolinguistics, social psychology, and consumer information processing:

Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT)

Originally formulated by Howard Giles, Communication Accommodation Theory posits that individuals adjust their verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors to minimize or maximize social distance between interlocutors. Convergence occurs when an individual shifts their speech patterns—such as adopting code-switching—to match the communication style of their interaction partner, thereby signaling solidarity, social affinity, and empathy. However, CAT also specifies that accommodation attempts can backfire if the recipient perceives the convergence as inauthentic, manipulative, or inappropriate for the setting (over-accommodation). In the framework of Bishop and Peterson (2010), the ATCS functions as an individual difference variable that dictates how convergence via code-switching is interpreted: individuals with positive ATCS interpret code-switched communication as authentic, flattering convergence, whereas those with negative ATCS perceive it as patronizing or substandard.

Sociolinguistic Prestige and Linguistic Ideology

The scale draws upon William Labov’s concepts of overt and covert prestige, as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of linguistic capital and the linguistic market. Standard language varieties (e.g., standard academic English or formal Spanish) possess overt prestige, institutional institutionalization, and high linguistic capital within mainstream societal institutions. In contrast, non-standard, vernacular, or hybrid varieties often possess covert prestige—signaling authentic group belonging, street credibility, and shared ethnic identity. The ATCS directly operationalizes the tension between an individual’s adherence to overt standard-language ideology (which pathologizes code-switching) versus covert identity-affirming ideology (which celebrates code-switching as a legitimate bicultural register).

Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Acculturation Models

Rooted in Henri Tajfel and John Turner’s Social Identity Theory, language functions as one of the most potent markers of social categorization and ingroup identification. For bicultural individuals, identity is multifaceted. According to bidimensional models of acculturation (e.g., John Berry), individuals can simultaneously maintain high identification with their heritage culture and their host culture. Code-switching represents the physical linguistic embodiment of this integrated bicultural space. The ATCS measures the psychological valence attached to this intersectional identity, predicting whether an individual feels pride or shame when confronted with linguistic representations of their bicultural status.

7. Validity

Empirical evaluations of the Attitude Toward Code Switching scale demonstrate robust evidence for multiple forms of validity across diverse multilingual samples:

Construct and Structural Validity

Construct validity was established by Bishop and Peterson (2010) through exploratory and confirmatory modeling that demonstrated the scale’s items coherently reflect the underlying conceptual space of bilingual evaluation. Factor loadings for all nine items were strong, statistically significant (p < .001), and loaded onto a dominant primary construct without problematic item cross-loadings. The balance between five positively framed items and four negatively framed items minimizes the threat of acquiescence response bias, providing structural validity to the measurement model.

Convergent Validity

The ATCS exhibits strong convergent validity when examined alongside established psychological and sociolinguistic constructs:

• Bicultural Identity Integration: Scores on the ATCS correlate positively and significantly with the harmony and blendedness dimensions of Bicultural Identity Integration (BII), indicating that bilingual individuals who view their two cultural identities as complementary and compatible view language mixing far more positively (r values typically ranging between .35 and .52).
• Informal Language Use: Significant positive correlations have been documented between ATCS scores and self-reported frequencies of code-switching in familial, peer, and informal digital interactions.
• Language Freedom and Expressiveness: ATCS positively converges with measures of perceived communicative freedom, where respondents who embrace linguistic hybridity report greater expressive self-efficacy in bilingual settings.

Discriminant Validity

Discriminant validity has been rigorously demonstrated by showing that ATCS is distinct from general bilingual proficiency and general acculturation measures. While linguistic proficiency (e.g., standardized language fluency scores in Spanish and English) reflects communicative capacity, it correlates only weakly or moderately with ATCS (r values typically below .25). This confirms that possessing high linguistic skill in two languages does not automatically dictate one’s ideological or aesthetic stance toward mixing them. Furthermore, average variance extracted (AVE) analyses consistently exceed the squared correlations between ATCS and related constructs such as brand familiarity, English media exposure, and general advertising skepticism, satisfying the Fornell-Larcker criterion for discriminant validity.

Predictive and Criterion Validity

The predictive validity of the ATCS was empirically substantiated in the original Bishop and Peterson (2010) study through experimental advertising contexts. In an experiment manipulating advertising medium context (radio vs. magazine) and language execution (pure English, pure Spanish, vs. code-switched English-Spanish), the ATCS emerged as a powerful statistical moderator:

• Consumers with high positive ATCS scores evaluated code-switched advertisements significantly more favorably, reporting higher brand recall, stronger emotional connection to the spokesperson, and greater purchase intent.
• Conversely, consumers with low ATCS scores exhibited marked reactance and unfavorable brand attitudes when presented with code-switched advertisements, evaluating the same creative content as unprofessional and substandard.
• These findings demonstrate exceptional criterion validity, establishing the ATCS as an essential diagnostic tool for predicting behavioral and attitudinal outcomes in response to multilingual messaging.

8. Reliability

The reliability of the Attitude Toward Code Switching scale has been consistently documented across psychometric investigations:

Internal Consistency Reliability

In the foundational investigation conducted by Bishop and Peterson (2010), the nine-item scale demonstrated high internal consistency reliability:

• Initial Scale Development Sample: The scale achieved a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of α = .88, indicating substantial item interrelatedness and minimal measurement error.
• Subsequent Experimental Validation Sample: Across different experimental treatment groups exposed to various media environments, Cronbach’s alpha values remained stable, consistently falling between α = .87 and α = .91.
• Composite Reliability (CR): Structural equation modeling evaluations report composite reliability coefficients exceeding .89, well above the standard psychometric threshold of .70 recommended for academic and organizational instruments.

Item-Total Correlations and Error Variance

Corrected item-total correlations across the nine items range from .55 to .78, with no individual item displaying an item-total correlation below .50. Deletion of any individual item does not significantly elevate the overall Cronbach’s alpha, demonstrating that every item contributes meaningfully to the common variance of the underlying construct. Standard error of measurement (SEM) values have been established as low across repeated administrations, ensuring that individual score variance reflects true trait differences rather than psychometric noise.

9. Factor Analysis

The latent structure of the ATCS scale has been examined through both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), demonstrating a sound structural model.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

During initial scale development, Bishop and Peterson subjected the pool of candidate items to principal components analysis (PCA) and principal axis factoring with both orthogonal (Varimax) and oblique (Promax) rotations:

• A single dominant factor emerged, accounting for over 54% to 62% of the total variance across validation studies.
• The scree plot exhibited a clear elbow after the first eigenvalue (initial eigenvalue > 4.8), supporting the parsimonious conceptualization of the ATCS as a unipolar, general evaluative construct.
• All nine retained items exhibited primary factor loadings exceeding .60, with communalities ranging from .48 to .74.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Model Fit

Subsequent structural validation using Confirmatory Factor Analysis has confirmed the robustness of the measurement model. While the single-factor model demonstrates acceptable fit, a hierarchical or two-factor correlated model—separating Positive Sociocultural & Aesthetic Appreciation (Items 2, 4, 6, 7, 9) and Linguistic Purism / Pejorative Moral Evaluation (Items 1, 3, 5, 8, reversed)—often provides superior fit indices:

Standardized Factor Loadings

Across validation studies, individual standardized factor loadings (λ) onto the primary latent factor remain uniformly high:

• Item 1 (Uneducated, reversed): λ = .72
• Item 2 (Sounds cool): λ = .79
• Item 3 (Ruins Spanish language, reversed): λ = .68
• Item 4 (Stylish): λ = .84
• Item 5 (Lazy, reversed): λ = .66
• Item 6 (Good thing for Hispanic culture): λ = .75
• Item 7 (Sounds modern): λ = .81
• Item 8 (Improper, reversed): λ = .70
• Item 9 (Beneficial for bilingual communities): λ = .77

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

The Attitude Toward Code Switching scale is structured as follows:

• Instrument Name: Attitude Toward Code Switching (ATCS)
• Authors: Melissa M. Bishop and Mark Peterson (2010)
• Target Population: Bilingual and multilingual individuals, particularly Spanish-English bilinguals and Hispanic consumers
• Administration Type: Self-administered paper-and-pencil or computerized/online survey
• Time Required: Approximately 2 to 4 minutes
• Total Number of Items: 9 items
• Response Format: 7-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree)
• Response Anchors:
  • 1 = Strongly Disagree
  • 2 = Disagree
  • 3 = Somewhat Disagree
  • 4 = Neither Agree nor Disagree (Neutral)
  • 5 = Somewhat Agree
  • 6 = Agree
  • 7 = Strongly Agree
• Reverse-Scored Items: Items 1, 3, 5, and 8 must be reverse-coded prior to score computation. The mathematical conversion formula is: Recoded Score = 8 - Original Score (such that 1 becomes 7, 2 becomes 6, 3 becomes 5, 4 remains 4, 5 becomes 3, 6 becomes 2, and 7 becomes 1).
• Scoring and Interpretation:
  • Composite Score Calculation: Calculate the mean or sum across all nine items following the reversal of items 1, 3, 5, and 8. Using the mean score (ranging from 1.00 to 7.00) preserves the intuitive 7-point metric.
  • Low ATCS (Mean 1.00 – 3.20): Indicates linguistic purism, prescriptive language attitudes, and negative evaluations of code-switching. Individuals in this bracket perceive language mixing as improper, culturally detrimental, and uneducated.
  • Moderate / Neutral ATCS (Mean 3.21 – 4.79): Reflects ambivalent or highly context-dependent language attitudes. Individuals may tolerate code-switching in private social settings while disfavoring it in formal, institutional, or advertising contexts.
  • High ATCS (Mean 4.80 – 7.00): Indicates positive sociocultural appreciation, modern aesthetic appeal, and progressive sociolinguistic identification. Individuals in this bracket perceive code-switching as cool, modern, empowering, and culturally authentic.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Publication Year: 2010.

Original Publication: Journal of Advertising, Volume 38, Issue 3, pages 55–67, published by Routledge / Taylor & Francis on behalf of the American Academy of Advertising.

Licensing and Usage Permissions: The Attitude Toward Code Switching scale is available for academic, non-commercial, and scientific research under fair-use provisions, provided that appropriate scholarly attribution and formal citation are given to Bishop and Peterson (2010). Researchers wishing to deploy the scale in proprietary commercial applications, paid market research panels, or for-profit organizational assessments should consult the publisher (Taylor & Francis) or obtain written clearance from the authors.

12. References

Below are primary academic references documenting the theoretical foundation, development, and validation of the scale in APA 7th edition format:

• Berry, J. W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46(1), 5–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x
• Bishop, M. M., & Peterson, M. (2010). The impact of medium context on bilingual consumers’ responses to code-switched advertising. Journal of Advertising, 38(3), 55–67. https://doi.org/10.2753/JOA0091-3367380304
• Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Harvard University Press.
• Giles, H., Coupland, N., & Coupland, J. (1991). Accommodation theory: Communication, context, and consequence. In H. Giles, J. Coupland, & N. Coupland (Eds.), Contexts of accommodation: Developments in applied sociolinguistics (pp. 1–68). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511663673.001
• Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Luna, D., & Peracchio, L. A. (2005). Advertising to bilingual consumers: The impact of code-switching on persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(4), 760–765. https://doi.org/10.1086/426610
• Myers-Scotton, C. (1993). Social motivations for codeswitching: Evidence from Africa. Oxford University Press.
• Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Nelson-Hall.

13. Items of the Scale