Attitudes, motivation and methodology preferences when learning English : a contrastive analysis between Arabs and Nubians in Egypt

Abstract

Rural Arabs’, urban Arabs’ and rural Nubians’ were explored and contrasted in Egypt. By ‘attitude’, participants’ views, perceptions, feelings and experiences were solicited regarding native speakers of English and their countries, ‘Western’ culture, values and lifestyle, in addition to the specific attitude towards English as a language. The theoretical underpinning, while analyzing attitudes towards English in this thesis was based and developed following established theories that present English in its expanding role as a ‘language of imperialism’. This theory, stipulating English’s hegemonic role that may weaken indigenous languages and pushes fragile cultures to extinction, was of particular importance, for example when considering Nubian society, culture and language. In direct contrast, the possibility of English being used as a ‘linguistic and sociocultural counterbalance’ by Nubians versus Arabic and the dominant Arab cultural group was also a reality that was explored. The underlying working theory for this segment of the thesis was based on issues of language and power. In this scenario English may present as an aid, a linguistic tool for pedagogy to an oppressed cultural group: specifically the Nubians suffering from cultural erosion due to Arabic’s hegemonic presence. Therefore Nubian’s attitudes towards the greater presence of English in their community were particularly solicited: was English an additional infringement on their social, cultural and linguistic heritage, or was the attitude towards English positive, seen as a harbinger of new and expanding opportunities? The three cohorts were also examined and compared for their motivation for learning English, this being fully integrated and contrasted with established theories on motivation for language learning around the world. These theories explore positive role as seen by learners of English in both interpersonal and transactional sociocultural domains. In this study, ‘motivation’ describes the ensemble of factors that drive learners of English to initiate or improve their language level. Thus, interpersonal motivation refers to those which explore learners wishes to know more about art, literature, world news and culture and a broad spectrum of world affairs and phenomena, with the underlying desire for the learners to connect ‘self’ with ‘the rest of the world’. Conversely, transactional motivation refers to the underlying drive for learners to utilize English as a tool for furthering their technical training and skills, formal education and the general package of factors needed for bettering their opportunities for employment and financial security and bettering their career. Learners' preferences for different learning methods in the English class were also explored, particularly as Nubian and Arab students often share the same class, and generally having Arab teachers. Arabic is the compulsory language of instruction which may disadvantage Nubian learners following a curriculum as prescribed by Arab policies and using Arabic contextualization while teaching. The working rationale underpinning this aspect of the thesis is based on the reality that teaching methodologies in Egypt for English focus on the traditionally more prestigious language skills for Arabs: reading and writing. These methodologies are therefore preferred to the more communicative approaches currently used in many contemporary English classrooms. Non-communicative approaches may not necessarily reflect Nubians' preferred learning methods for learning English, accustomed to learning L1 through communicative methods. These factors, when compounded may seriously disadvantage Nubian learners in the classroom, adding to the sociocultural disadvantageous situation and further cultural erosion and cultural decay. These ideas are linked to issues of language, education and power, which are simultaneously reflected on learners# attitudes and motivation towards learning English as described above. The use of English as a language of instruction for subjects other than English was also explored. A Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach was considered to be practical and necessary by both Arabs and Nubians, and by highly-educated urbanites and rural people alike. Research in this study consisted of a chronologically overlapping set of different studies, thereby allowing triangulation of results. A period of acculturation and a sensitizing phase for the researcher preceded the actual studies, nurturing a sociocultural appreciation, and developing an understanding for the use of language in various domains. A mixed method approach, combining the strengths and qualities of both qualitative and quantitative studies was adopted. Qualitative studies commenced with the researcher's participant observation of rural Nubians in Upper Egyptian villages. This was followed by interviews held in Nubia, oases such as Fayoum, the Nile Delta and Cairo. Information stemming from these studies was pooled and processed via the general inductive approach, based on grounded theory.