3.4. Prospects of adopting English and Arabic at science
higher education university
institutions 51
3.4.1. Prospect of adopting English in education 51
3.4.2. Prospect of adopting Arabic 52
3.4.3. Measures to promote learning English 54
3.5. The use of English among students 54
Conclusion 56
Chapter Four: Discussion of the findings 57
4.0. Introduction 57
4.1. Tunisian university science students' claimed proficiency in
English 58
4.1.1. Exams results 58
4.1.2. Reported communicative abilities 58
4.1.3. English vs. French in science students' daily use 59
4.2. Tunisian university science students' perception of the
value of English 59
4.2.1. English in students' plans 60
4.2.2. The reasons for English 61
4.2.3. Science and the question of language choice 61
4.2.4. Obstacles of learning English and some suggested solutions
62
4.2.4.1. Obstacles of learning English 62
4.2.4.2. Some proposed solutions 63
4.3. The use of English among Tunisian university students 64
Conclusion 64
Chapter Five: Conclusion 66
5.0. Introduction 66
5.1 Major findings 66
5.2 Contribution of the study 67
5.3 Limitations of the study 67
5.4 Suggestions for further research 68
5.5. Recommendations 68
References 69
Appendix A: Questionnaire for students 71
List of acronyms and abbreviations
BC: The British Council
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ESC: Higher Institute of Commerce
ESL: English as a Second Language
ESP: English for Specific Purposes
I.B.L.V: Bourguiba Institute of Living Languages
ISCAE: Higher Institute of Commerce and Business Administration
IPEIT: Engineering Preparatory Institute Tunis
L1: First Language
L2: Second Language
List of tables
Table 1: Distribution of sample 15
Table 2: Some domains of English use in six East African states
20
Table 3: Major international domains of English 27
Table 4: Reasons concerning adopting English 52
Table 5: Students' view about the prospects of teaching science
in Arabic 53
List of figures
Figure 1: Kachru's three concentric circles of English 21
Figure 2: Categories of science students' reported proficiency in
English 45
Figure 3: Science students' claimed proficiency in English 46
Figure 4: Ability to communicate only in English 46
Figure 5: Choice of language in favourite films 47
Figure 6: Language of the computer interface 47
Figure 7: English in science students' plans 48
Figure 8: Studying English out of public institutions 48
Figure 9: Reasons for not studying English out of pubic
institutions 49
Figure 10: Domains of English use 50
Figure 11: Obstacles preventing students from learning English
51
Figure 12: Prospects of adopting English 52
Figure 13: Prospects of adopting Arabic 53
Figure 14: Students' preferred solutions to promote learning
English at science
institutions 54
Figure 15: English in science students' exchange of e-mails 55
Figure 16: Major situations where students were obliged to use
English 55
Figure 17: The language of science students' mobile phones 56
0. Introduction
The purpose of this introduction is to provide background
related to the value of English in the world and in the particular case of
Tunisian university science students. For this reason, the situation of
language in Tunisia will be described in order to offer an overview of the
context of the study and especially the linguistic situation. This introduction
is going also to explain the aims of the research and provide information about
data collection, and the way the paper is organised.
0.1. Background to the study
Since English is no doubt the most important language in the
world today (Crystal, 2003; Graddol, 1997; Phillipson, 1992), then it is of
interest to researchers to explore how it is valued by users all over the
world. Research on English and how it is perceived can be tackled from many
angles. This research will focus on the issues related to how English is valued
by young university science students in Tunisia. Reasons behind choosing this
topic are mainly linked to the functions that English fulfils in Tunisian
society and the complexity that it adds to the linguistic situation in Tunisia
in addition to its importance for science students. Whether the decision to
teach English as a compulsory subject in higher institutions is viewed as
positive or negative, depends on the fact that the society as a whole and
persons involved or affected by its presence will see the phenomenon from a
perspective of language competition or not. Those persons are going to perceive
it also with reference to various interpretative frames such as perceptions of
agendas underlying the policies or the felt needs for it. Within this context,
the issues related to the value of English in the world and in Tunisia
specifically are to be discussed in order to witness the benefits that teaching
English offers and the claimed drawbacks of such a decision.
In fact, English is generally considered by policy makers in
Tunisia advantageous for fulfilling an important role in creating and
sustaining links with the world in terms of knowledge and transfer of
technology (Salhi, 1985; Derbel, 2001). Therefore, it will be of interest to
explore the views of the Tunisian population investigated in this research and
to find out how they see the importance of English. In contrast, English can be
seen as a new vehicle of colonialism (Phillipson, 1992) or as a threat to
native languages; this may well be a view held by some science students
investigated in this paper. The aim of such investigation is to track the value
attached to English and the extent to which it is perceived crucial in Tunisian
science students' studies and future careers. It is anticipated that Tunisian
university science students are aware of the value of English despite the fact
that they are not taking the «right» measure or following the
effective strategies to master it. Concerning the use of English by Tunisian
university science students, there is observable evidence of heavy domination
of French over English and to some extent over Arabic in the use of electronic
devices and in communication with foreigners. However, English is more present
in the lives of Tunisians due to technology and media in English that is more
and more available. These expectations are, in fact, connected to the
linguistic situation in Tunisia and this research is seeking to empirically
investigate such impressions and observations in the case of Tunisian
university science students.
0.2. Language in Tunisia:
The linguistic situation in Tunisia is characterised mainly by
diversity (Payne, 1983). Standard Arabic is the official language of the
country while a variety of regional dialects is used following the difference
in the geographical areas (ibid). Concerning foreign languages present in the
Tunisia, Payne (1983) documented the existence of French, Italian, and Spanish,
which dates back to the colonial period.
However, English was introduced after independence and it went
through various stages of development that are going to be described more
thoroughly in the fourth section of the first chapter. The presence of English
resulted in competition with French as the most dominant foreign language in
Tunisia since the period of colonisation. The possibility of replacing French
for English is according to some researchers (Battenburg, 1997) considerable
viewing to the growing international interdependence of the world on English
and the continuous vanishing of French as a language of world communication and
trade with some doubt in Walters (1999) who identifies only a 2% or 5% as
proficient users of English. Battenburg contends that the figures illustrating
the amount of money spent to sustain the use of language by France, the UK, and
the USA reveal that Tunisia is still considered a francophone country
(Battenburg, 1997). He mentioned that in 1996 while the USA and Britain spent
600.000 and 400.000 dollars respectively on promoting the study of English in
Tunisia, France spent 20 million dollars (Battenburg, English language teaching
in Tunisia). The struggle over dominance between English and French in Tunisia
is a matter of fact. In fact, some opposition figures in the parliament asked
for the adoption of English instead of French since in Akkari's terms «the
French themselves have begun to realise the inadequacy of their language and
its loss of international prominence» (qtd in Daoud, 2001).
Apart from education, English is used in media. Not all kinds
of media use English, but Walters (1999) mentioned that it is used an hour per
day on the Radio Tunis Chaîne Internationale from 14.00 am to
15.00 am. Radio listeners can also listen to Voice of America and BBC World on
local FM frequencies (ibid). The only newspaper that uses exclusively English,
as observation shows, is Tunisia News. Observation shows also that the state
owned TV channel (Channel 7) broadcasts in English only at 00.00 am
when giving news and so is the case of Tunis 21 with
difference in time. English speaking songs are heard also by
Tunisians on local radios (Walters, 1999) and more and more in all radio
channels. Thanks to satellite dishes, Tunisians have access also to channels
broadcasting in English like MB, MBC Action and MBC4 (with subtitles in
Arabic), the world edition of CNN, and BBC World. All of the above-mentioned
domains of exposure to English, though restricted can be assumed to have
important influences on students' perception of the value of English in their
lives generally and in their careers in the near future.
0.3. General aims
This paper aims primarily at exploring the value of English,
as it is perceived by university students in scientific fields and
investigating the use of English among them in the direction of recognising its
status.
0.4. Research questions
Considering the research aims mentioned above, a number of
research questions could be formulated especially with regards to the value
students attach to English in the direction of recognising their needs for
English and the arguments that they give in support of learning English. Thus,
two research questions are proposed as research focus in this paper.
1. What is the perception of Tunisian university science
students concerning the importance of English in their studies and future
careers?
2. What are the domains of use that English occupies in the
lives of Tunisian university science students?
0.5. Data collection
In order to investigate the perceived value of English among
Tunisian university science students, a questionnaire covered (apart from the
five background information questions) five sections. The questions were of two
types. Closed-ended questions
aimed at enabling students to choose from proposed
alternatives that concerned their level, perception, and use of English and
open-ended questions aimed at extracting direct information concerning the
reasons of their choices. The questionnaire was completed by one hundred
university science students from five higher education institutions in Tunis
and Manouba. The institutions investigated are stated in the following
table.
Table 1: distribution of sample
|
Faculty
of Medicine
|
Engineering Preparatory Institute Tunis
(IPEIT)
|
Higher Institute of Commerce (ESC)
|
Higher
Institute of Commerce and Business Administration
(ISCAE)
|
Faculty of
Science Tunis
|
|
Number of female students
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
|
Number of male
students
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
10
|
|
Total
|
20
|
20
|
20
|
20
|
20
|
|
Total
target population
|
100
|
The diversity of the institutions included serves the purpose
of collecting data from students specialising in different domains where
English is claimed to be of great value in the academic and future professional
life of these students. Therefore, it was expected that these students hold
views about the value of English in their present situation and in the near and
distant future.
0.6. Organisation of the paper
This paper contains five chapters. The first chapter deals
with views related to the status of English in the world today. Chapter two is
reserved for the explanations of the methodology used in this paper. It will
clarify the `research design', `the participants', `the data collection
instrument', `data collections', and `data handling'. Chapter three presents
analysis of the data derived from the students' responses. The
discussion of the findings is to be found in chapter four that
is divided into three sections. The first section overviews the results of the
exploration of science students' proficiency in English. The second section
will summarise the results related to Tunisian university students' perception
about the value of English. The final section of this chapter will cover
results from students reporting on their use of English. The paper will be
concluded by synthesising the major findings and discussing the contribution of
the study, its limitations, and by providing suggestions for other research.
The starting point of this paper is going to be the
investigation of the situation of English in the world including its status in
Tunisia. It is important to track these issues in order to have a clear idea
about the perceived value of English that could be helpful in tracing possible
change putting into perspective the attitude of Tunisian university science
students towards English.
Chapter one: English in the world
| 
