A Critical Examination of the Arab Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of their Academic Arabic Proficiency in Three EMI Universities in the UAE

Taghreed Ibrahim Masri

doi:10.5539/elt.v12n4p21

Abstract

The overwhelming power that English enjoys has become a threat to many indigenous languages that are losing the battle against English dominance and hegemony. One facet for this threat is the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI). The EMI policy has been a naturalized and taken-for-granted practice without questioning or problematizing. As a result, academic Arabic is almost absent from the academic scene in the UAE higher education. This study aims to problematize the use of English as medium of instruction at three universities in the United Arab Emirates. It also aims to critically explore the perceptions of Arab university students who were in Arabic schools, of their Arabic proficiency after studying at university. Based on critical theoretical framework and approached from interpretive and critical paradigms, the study used a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. 268 surveys and 20 semi-structured interviews showed that students were aware of the decline in their Arabic proficiency due to studying via English. Results also indicated that students showed symptoms of Academic language attrition.

Highlights

1.1 The Problem StatementEnglish has gone beyond being taught as a foreign/second language to be the medium of instruction in many European, Asian and African countries
The overwhelming power that English enjoys has become a threat to many indigenous languages that are losing the battle against English dominance and hegemony
It has been taken for granted that “knowing English is like possessing the fabled Aladdin’s lamp, which permits one to open, as it were, the linguistic gates” to different spheres and that it provides linguistic power (Kachru, as cited in McKay, 2010, p. 96). This overwhelming power that English enjoys, has become a threat to many indigenous languages that are losing the battle against English dominance and hegemony

Summary

Introduction

English has gone beyond being taught as a foreign/second language to be the medium of instruction in many European, Asian and African countries. It is considered an essential lever for success in many globalizing economies and is viewed as the mantle of ‘language of power’ This overwhelming power that English enjoys, has become a threat to many indigenous languages that are losing the battle against English dominance and hegemony. One facet for this threat is the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI). The worldwide shift from English being taught as a foreign language (EFL) to English being the medium of instruction (EMI) for academic subjects, according to a recent report published by the British Council and Oxford university, is happening at a very fast pace, with English being increasingly used as the lingua franca in different educational institutions, from primary schools to university level (Chapple, 2015)

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