4.2.2. The reasons for English
Generally, students with extrinsic motivators to study English
were proven in the analysis of the questionnaire to be in 57% of the cases
studied extrinsic. It is not a huge majority compared to the rate of students
who claimed that their goals are intrinsic (43%). What is striking in the
detailed analysis of the results is that only 7% of the students claimed that
their motivator is «success in education». Compared to the rate of
students who value the importance of English in finding a job (50%), this rate
reveals that they do not see a connection between their education in English
and their professional need in English. The 7% reflects also that 93% of the
investigated students do not think that they need English to succeed.
4.2.3. Science and the question of language choice
An important majority of the investigated students (48%)
claimed that if they were in charge of education in Tunisia, they would teach
science and technology in English. This could reveal their awareness of the
importance of English in educating future generations. As it is shown from the
reasons they provided, 50.9% of the arguments emphasised the importance of
English in the world and especially for science students. In fact, an important
45% oppose the idea. It should be mentioned that this rate encompasses those
who «disagree» and those who «totally disagree». Actually
who «disagree» mentioned the «problem of organisation» (27%
of the total arguments) concerning the issue, which means, if we take it
positively, that in case of existence of an organised plan to shift from
adopting French to adopting English, they might agree. Thus, the popularity of
such shift is considerable especially if the «indifferent» students
(7%) who claimed that any language fits science and technology
(4.5% of the total arguments) are put into consideration. Those
accepting the adoption of English could reach 55% of the total students.
Obviously, the competition in terms of language preference
involves only English and French and not Arabic. 48.6% of the arguments
provided evolved around the idea that `Arabic is not a language of science' and
another 21.7% that «Arabic is of no help» on the international scene.
In other words, these students would not be upset if Arabic were to be
eliminated from the choice list. While it is not proven linguistically and
historically that a particular language could not be used in science, to say
that a particular language is not a language of science could reflect only
Tunisian university science students' bewilderment about the idea of adopting
Arabic. However, the claim that Arabic is not to be adopted as the language of
science because it does not assure communication with the outside world is
understood at least nowadays and in a world context characterised by dominance
of English over science and technology. 21.7% of the respondents mentioned that
Arabic would be an obstacle to communication with the outside world. Actually,
it should be stated that if French assures little communication (in comparison
to English) with the world in terms of research, collaborating in scientific
meetings, and working abroad, Arabic seems to assure nothing for the students
in this study.
Thus, it becomes clear that while English receives
considerable support concerning the prospect of adopting it as the language of
teaching science and technology from the respondents, Arabic does not.
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