Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to investigate EFL University instructors’ and students’ perspectives about using Arabic language in university EFL courses in the College of Science Arts, Tanumah, at King Khalid University during the First Semester of the academic year 2015.2016. Fifteen EFL instructors and fifty EFL students participated in this study. The data were collected by employing two questionnaires and a structured interview. One of the questionnaires was administered to EFL instructors who are Arabic speakers while the other was administered to EFL students. The interview was conducted on EFL instructors who are not Arabic speakers. The results of the study reveal that both instructors and students did not oppose the use of Arabic language in language classrooms they all thought that the mother tongue should be used in emergency situations. The results of the study also reveal that instructors and students have different perceptions on the degree of how often the mother tongue should be used in EFL classrooms. For example, the instructors think that the mother tongue should be sometimes used, while the students think that the mother tongue should be usually used. In contrast, The results show that majority of EFL instructors who are not Arabic speakers believe that Arabic should not be used in EFL classroom at all and whatever the circumstances are .While a few of them think that it can be used for beginners for explaining vocabulary.
Finally, the study recommends that a balanced and judicious use of Arabic in EFL classroom can be useful in the language learning process and may even be essential to increase learners’ comprehension and that the use of Arabic can be effective in the right situations at the right time.
Keywords: EFL instructors; EFL students; perspectives; mother tongue.
Title: EFL University Instructors’ and Students’ Perspectives About Using Arabic in EFL Courses (A Case Study of College of Science & Arts, Tanumah, King Khalid University)
Author: Dr. Fawzi Eltayeb Yousuf Ahmed
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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