English as a Foreign Language in the Saudi Schools - Essay Example

 English as a Foreign Language in the Saudi Schools Although it has been five years since the Saudi government imposed English as a compulsory subject in the elementary state schools curriculum, the resolution is still controversial. This paper aims to measure and discuss the attitudes of Saudi students studying in the city of Brighton, England towards the policy of teaching English as a foreign language in Saudi elementary state schools by eliciting their views. The study results showed that the Saudi students in Brighton have positive attitudes towards EFL in the elementary state schools. Also, it was found that there is no significant difference between male and female student attitudes. The study also concludes that although EFL in the Saudi elementary state schools might result in undesired implications for the elementary student culture--mixing their first language with English words while speaking--this can be overcome by adopting English textbooks whereby the content reflects and adheres to the local culture. With reference to its effect on student first language oral communication, the study concludes that this is an important issue worth investigation. Introduction In 2004, driven by its aims to improve education and cope with achievements in science and technology, the Saudi government decided to initiate a program to begin teaching English as a foreign language to students in the in sixth grade. It was an initial step toward its ultimate goal to teach English in all elementary grades. The resolution was possibly based on the belief that English is the language of the globalized world economies, and that young people would not only benefit from speaking the language but could learn it more easily at a younger age. The general consensus among experts is that younger minds absorb other languages easier than do adults. In the light of this, the paper attempts to measure attitudes of Saudi students in Brighton towards EFL. The paper also formulates recommendations on EFL in the Saudi elementary state schools and invites further discussion of and research into this issue. The following historical background frames the discussion. Literature Review Short Historical Background of English Language Education in Saudi Arabia Since the country has never been colonized by a foreign power, the exact date of or situational emergence of English in Saudi Arabia is unknown. However, some researchers claim that when oil was found in the 1930s, English emerged with the arrival of American oil companies and their employees. Later, the Saudi government took the initiative and officially introduced and approved the use of English in the country. So what was the rationale behind introducing English, and why was English popularized and accepted in the country? There is more than one factor at work. That is certain. Firstly, the massive expansion of the oil industry emphasized the importance and significance of setting up an English program to train Saudis to occupy good positions in the oil sector. These positions demanded people who could successfully communicate with their fellow workers and employers. Secondly, millions of people from all over the world visited the country each year to perform Hajj and Umrah (religious rites). Many of them were not able to communicate in Arabic. The great revenues the government could generate from oil-export enabled the government to launch large-scale infrastructure projects. These projects required foreign manpower and expertise. Saudi Arabia needed citizens who could communicate with foreign experts and workers to fill positions. The Directorate of Education in Saudi Arabia was established in 1927. A few years later English was introduced as a mandatory subject into the curriculum. At that time there were two levels in general education--elementary and secondary. Along with French, English was taught to secondary students only; later, French was excluded from the curriculum for undisclosed reasons. When the intermediate level was established to bridge the elementary and the secondary levels, English was introduced to intermediate students as a mandatory subject as well. In 2002-2003, the ministry of Education officially introduced English into the elementary state school curriculum. The resolution was quite controversial. Many argued that the introduction of English on the lower level would hinder students from learning their mother tongue—an argument that continues in many countries where immigrants are forced to learn the language of their adopted homes. At the moment, the strong position of English in Saudi Arabia can not be over-emphasized. The reforms that have been carried out in the economic, political, educational and social arenas has made speaking English an indispensible asset. At universities, English is the medium of instruction in engineering, medicine, computer, and administration departments. English is also the medium of instruction in the orientation year that every student passes through before embarking on his or her main program of study. Recently, the Saudi government established five economic cities where English will be the major language. These cities will host will host foreign investments and the people associated with them. Hospitals also use both English and Arabic to communicate. In the private sector employees who are able to speak and write English are offered the better jobs. While some regard the spread of the use of English as a drawback, I regard it as natural, since we must live in the real world where English dominates. (Braine, 2005). Previous Studies about Foreign Language In The Elementary Schools (FLES) Previous studies show the Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) to be hot button issues. Advocates of teaching English at an early age argue that young learners are more capable of learning a foreign language than are older learners (see e.g., Lennebarg, 1964). Scholars argue that the first decade of a person's life is the best period for one to learn a foreign language (Penfield and Roberts, 1959). Educators in the field of generally recommend introducing English into the elementary school syllabus. They say done properly, foreign language education in the elementary schools supports and enhances the core curriculum (Walker, 2004). Parties who disapprove of teaching a foreign language in the elementary schools say there are drawbacks. Firstly, they maintain that it causes first language-second language interference, which negatively influences a student’s first language acquisition. Secondly, they charge that teaching a foreign language in the elementary school will be at the expense of more important subjects, such as literacy and science. They say it distracts students both linguistically and emotionally and undermines their confidence in their first language. Finally, when learning a foreign language, elementary school students are gradually exposed to foreign cultures which might affect their own. (Alshammary, 1989) Numerous studies have been conducted in different parts of the world to gauge the impact of teaching foreign language in elementary schools. In Louisiana, a study was conducted to quantitatively explore the effects of foreign language instruction on the academic achievements of third through fifth grade elementary public school students. Schools which offer foreign language instruction to these grade levels had been selected for the treatment group. The group was composed of all students in the third grade during 1999-2000 school year, in the fourth grade during the 2000-2001 school year, and in the fifth grade during the 2001-2002 school year. Schools whose students learned foreign languages in immersion groups were excluded from the treatment group, since their language learning environment is totally different from that of foreign language in the elementary school third grade-fifth grade model. Out of the 16 schools that were identified as offering foreign language instruction, eight were offering French and eight Spanish. The control group was composed of students in Louisiana elementary state schools not offering foreign language instruction. The number of participants in the treatment groups was 2,508, and the number of participants in the control group was 1,837. Students from both groups had taken standardized tests when they entered the fifth-grade year. Third-graders in 2000 had taken ITBS to be tested in reading, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, usage and expression. Fourth-graders in the year 2001 had taken LEAP standardized tests. The skills that had been tested incorporated reading, comprehension, responding to a range of materials, writing competently, using conventions of language, as well as locating, selecting, synthesizing information, reading, analyzing, responding to literature and applying reasoning to problem solving. The fifth graders in the year 2002 had taken ITBS like the third-graders and were examined in the same skills as the third-graders. The results of the study showed that foreign language students significantly outperformed their non-foreign language peers on every test. It also showed that foreign language students outperformed their non-foreign language peers on tests in English language achievements. Finally, the results also showed that foreign language students have lost nothing academically and gained the capacity to use and understand Spanish or French. (Taylor, 2004) In Canada, experiments have been conducted to ascertain whether or not elementary school students who learn French have better achievement. The findings were all identical. Teaching French to elementary school students is not effective. However, the findings showed that teaching French to elementary school students did not have a negative influence upon students' first language skills or their own education in other areas. (Stern et al, 1976, cited in Abdan, 1991) Japan is behind other Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan and China in introducing English into the elementary school syllabus. Introduced in Japan in 2002, English is an optional subject. Thus some schools never teach English on a regular basis. (Katsuyama, Nishigaki and Wang , 2008) investigated the effectiveness of teaching English in Japan elementary state schools. They administered a proficiency test and questionnaires to 1,466 elementary state school students in the years 2004-2005. The results showed significant differences between students who received English instruction in elementary schools and those who did not, and indicated positive effects of early English education. The results also found that early English education helps to improve students' interests in English and facilitates motivation toward learning English after enrolling in junior secondary schools. In an attempt to explore, evaluate and discuss the proposal of introducing English into elementary state school syllabi in Saudi Arabia, (Abdan, 1991) conducted a survey to compare the EFL achievement of private intermediate school students who studied English in the elementary school with the achievement of their counterparts in public schools who did not study. Abdan found that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in favor of private intermediate students. The difference has been attributed to FLES students better exposure to English more than to learning English earlier. Abdan concluded that if English were to be recommended for Saudi elementary school students, this recommendation should be based on providing more exposure to English and exploiting the affective features of young students pertaining to language learning. While the studies in Louisiana, Canada, Japan and Saudi Arabia have shown that there are no negative effects of teaching a foreign language in the elementary schools, a study in the country of Kuwait was nevertheless undertaken to find out whether or not teaching English in the elementary schools would interfere with and hence negatively affect elementary school students' achievements in Arabic subjects. Although English has been taught to elementary school students in Kuwait since 1993, the issue is still controversial. Two equal samples have been identified. The first sample included elementary students from the first grade of the elementary stage through the third grade without taking English (before introducing English officially into the elementary schools). The other group was students who studied English from the first grade through the third grade (after introducing English into the elementary school officially). Findings showed that students who did not study English got (74%) and outperformed their counterparts who got (53%) in Arabic phonology, grammar and dictation. Also, students who did not study English had better attitudes towards Arabic language and Arabic subjects. (Althafeeri, 1998) The only study I am aware of that attempted to measure attitudes towards using English as a foreign language in the elementary schools in the Arab world was conducted by (Aljurf 2004). She used a simple random sample to select 272 postgraduate and undergraduate students from the Jordanian University in Jordan to serve as informants. She also used the same tool to select 470 undergraduates from King Saud University, Saudi Arabia to serve as informants as well. She asked participants from the two groups o two questions: 1. When you have a child, would you prefer to put your child in a school where Arabic is the medium of instruction except perhaps one subject for English? 2. Which is more appropriate for teaching science and technology, Arabic or English? Aljurf conducted an interview with Jordanian University students and constructed a questionnaire and administered it to King Saud University students. She used the two questions in both. The results displayed that 45% of both participants want their children to join schools where English is the medium of instruction in all subjects. The reason, they explained, was that English is the language of science, research and technology, and being able to communicate in English will guarantee their children a better future. They also pointed to social prestige as an important factor. Study Objectives The particular objectives of the study will be: 1. To elicit the views of Saudi students in Brighton towards the government resolution to introduce English as a foreign language into elementary state schools curriculum. 2. To find out whether or not male and female students have similar attitudes. 3. To formulate recommendations on English as a foreign language in the Saudi elementary state schools. Summary and Conclusion The purpose of the study was to measure the attitudes of Saudi students who are studying at the moment in the city of Brighton, England towards teaching English as a foreign language in the Saudi elementary state schools. A survey questionnaire was used in this study to elicit student views. The questionnaire used was a Likert Scale questionnaire, whereby participants specified their level of agreement to a statement. The data were subjected to analysis through descriptive statistics and percentages; means and standard deviations were computed. The results obtained in this study revealed positive attitudes towards teaching English as a foreign language in the Saudi elementary state schools. The majority of the participants recommend introducing English into the elementary state schools curriculum. However, participants express two concerns regarding the undesired effects English might have upon student behavior in society and the side-effect it might have on their mother tongue oral communication, as they will mix their Arabic with English words. As was pointed out beforehand, the stakeholders should insure that the content of the textbook adheres to the local culture. Regarding the effect on the mother tongue oral communication, the writer recommends further investigation on this issue. In conclusion, the current study should be replicated using a larger sample of participants from different parts of Saudi Arabia to further substantiate its results. Hopefully this paper will raise interest in further research on attitudes towards teaching English as a foreign language in the Saudi elementary state schools. Bibliography Abdan, Abdulrahman. (1991). “An Exploratory Study of Teaching English in the Saudi Elementary Public Schools” [online]. Available at http://www.eric.ed.gov. Last Accessed : 24th Mars 2009. Aljurf, Reema. (2004) (in Arabic). “Youths' Attitudes towards Using English and Arabic in education” [online]. Available at http://www.diwanalarab.com Last Accessed : 25th Mars 2009. Alshammary, A, S. (1989) (in Arabic}. “Teaching English in Saudi Arabia”. King Saud University Journal, Vol 1 (2) : 30-42. Althafeery, Mohammed. (1998) (in Arabic). “The effects of teaching English on Arabic in the elementary schools in Kuwait” [online]. Available at http://www.alshmokh.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6140 Last Accessed : 27th Mars 2009. Biggam, J. Succeeding at Your Master's Dissertation. Open University Press, Berkshire, 2008. Braine, George. Teaching English to the World: History, Curriculum and Practice. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Press, (2005). Brown, J.D. and Rogers, T.S. Doing Second Language Research. Oxford: University Press, 2002. Fierman, William. (1991) Language Planning and National Development: The Uzbek Experience. 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