The Impact of Socio-Economic and Nationalistic Factors on the International Uses of English: a Case Study of Birzeit University (West Bank).

Abstract

This study reports an investigation of the sociological and sociolinguistic problems surrounding the use of English as a language of wider communication in the Third World. Pertinent to the issue is the question of the necessity and usefulness of English as a resource langauge and as a medium of instruction in developing countries. A review of attitudes toward language in several communities world-wide explores the extent to which communities have traditionally become dependent on a language of wider communication and the attitudes of the inhabitants of the communities toward their indigenous language and the language of wider communication. Attitudes and policies leading to the establishment of English as a medium of elite education are investigated. Relevant to this issue are the ideological and political differences between those who have received a Western-oriented education in English and those who have attended local schools and have been taught in the indigenous language. The problem of cultural duality is discussed with regard to language issues in the Arabic-speaking world and with regard to factors which have often led to a dependence on English as a language of wider communication and a resource language. The establishment of a national identity through the use of an indigenous language is difficult when many of the educated elite have traditionally depended on English within the domains of education and research. Questionnaires and interivews with Palestinian faculty of Birzeit University collected in 1980 provide data for this study.