Speaking in Tongues Across Lingua Cultural Boundaries

Abstract

The Libyan government used to invest fully in the English language teaching curriculum, which focused on improving the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language (EFL) in schools and universities. As English becomes a dominant language of power in global commerce, science, and technology, the need to teach and learn English has made a significant increase. The purpose of giving emphasis on the teaching and learning of English in Libya is to enable the country to go along in the development of its economy and to promote international exchange. But researches revealed that very few studies have been done on teaching English in Arabic countries in Africa, specifically in Libya. Thus, this paper delved on empirical method to carry out the linguistic description of how Libyans expressed their sentiments during the Libyan uprising in 2011using English language. Through linguistic and sociolinguistic analysis of the different graffiti found on the roads of Tripoli and Bengazi, the study revealed that group identity, social class and the influence of L1 has a lot to do with Libyan’s L2 learning. But, despite the deficiency of English, the power of the English language heightened the sentiments of the people who cried and waited for freedom in the last 42 years. This shout for freedom was heard internationally. Despite Libyans’ limited knowledge of English, they made use of this language as a global lingua franca. How the people actually used it and made it work recorded an impact in the world. This study clearly saw how English as a medium of political purposes played an important role in shaping the future of Libya.