Language Use by Staff Members in Saudi English Higher Education Departments: Beliefs and Gender Differences

Abstract

Educational language policies in Saudi Arabia have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. English departments in the country are comprised of male and female staff members who practise these language policies at departmental level and also outside the domain of the classroom and on a variety of occasions. There are several reasons for the use of English (a foreign language) alongside Arabic (the mother tongue) and these have an influence on the shape of current or future language policies. The effect of gender on the selection of particular reasons has not been investigated and this is the focus of the current paper. In the study referred to here, both quantitative (online survey) and qualitative (open-ended section) approaches to data collection were adopted. The context of the study was English departments in Saudi Arabian higher education establishments. The survey consisted of five items (statements) and two questions with open-ended sections. The data was collected from different regions of the country and included male (n = 67) and female (n = 143) staff members. The Chi-Square test of independence was administered to determine the significance of differences found between the two genders and only in one of the five items was a statistically significant difference found. It was, therefore, concluded that males and females in Saudi English departments share similar beliefs with regard to the use of language, with only slight differences between them. This paper discusses the implications of these findings as well as possible areas of investigation for future researchers.