In the paper, "Social meaning in linguistic structures,"Gumper and Bloom are the first to suggest the division between situational and metaphorical code-switching.
Situational code-switching usually occurs when information is being exchanged, replicated, emphasized or the speaker wants an intended reaction.
Situational code-switching has a wide set of functions whether it is to clarify, elaborate, bring focus to a subject or switch topics overall.
[5] Code switching frequently occurs due to the psycholinguistic state of the speaker's ability or inability to select words from their mental vocabulary.
Code switching occurs due to the mechanisms responsible for processing, decoding, storage, retrieval, and production of linguistic material.
The motivation to code switch relies on three different types of factors which contribute to the form of code-switching in a particular situation.
[8] Code-switching between their native dialect to English or another foreign language is thus an index of their socioeconomic status and educational background.
In the medical field situational code-switching occurs when patients do not speak the standard language spoken within a hospital and the staff then need to code switch in order to be able to communicate with them.
Physicians and nurses working on the general medicine hospital floor of UCSF Moffitt-Long Hospital will code switch from English to Spanish when needing to present information to patients, obtain information, conduct difficult conversations, and educate patients.
Here the interpreter code-switches in order to be able to effectively communicate to the doctor the concerns of the patient, foot pains.