Effect of Religion, First Foreign Language, and Gender on the Perception of the Utility of Language

This article was downloaded by: [University of Texas Libraries]On: 29 October 2013, At: 19:40Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK

Journal of Language, Identity &EducationPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hlie20

Effect of Religion, First ForeignLanguage, and Gender on thePerception of the Utility ofLanguageKassim Shaaban & Ghazi GhaithPublished online: 16 Nov 2009.

To cite this article: Kassim Shaaban & Ghazi Ghaith (2003) Effect of Religion, FirstForeign Language, and Gender on the Perception of the Utility of Language, Journalof Language, Identity & Education, 2:1, 53-77, DOI: 10.1207/S15327701JLIE0201_3

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327701JLIE0201_3

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all theinformation (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform.However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness,or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and viewsexpressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of theContent should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan,

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hlie20

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1207/S15327701JLIE0201_3

http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327701JLIE0201_3

sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Effect of Religion, First ForeignLanguage, and Gender on the Perception

of the Utility of Language

Kassim Shaaban and Ghazi GhaithAmerican University of Beirut

This study investigates the linguistic attitudes of college students in Lebanon towardsthe languages that help define the multilingual character of the country, namely,Arabic, French, and English. One hundred seventy-six (n = 176) students completeda 31-item questionnaire that assessed their attitudes towards the utility of each of the3 languages. The results of the study show that students perceived the foreign lan-guages, French and English, as more useful than the native language, Arabic, in thedomains of science, technology, and business. In addition, although the study showsno statistically significant differences in the attitudes of male and female students, itshows that the variables of religion and first foreign language studied at school influ-enced the linguistic attitudes of the participants. The results are discussed in light ofthe religious and socioeconomic composition of the Lebanese society.

Key words: linguistic attitudes, gender, foreign language, religion, language utility

The language-in-education literature reflects a variety of stands and attitudes to-wards the phenomenon of multilingualism that occurs in many countries aroundthe globe. This may be due to the fact that linguistic and cultural plurality is a factof life in many countries throughout the world, though its realization differs fromone country to another, depending on the colonial and political history as well ason the socioeconomic situation in each country. For instance, many pluralistic so-cieties have established special policies and programs, which have usually aimedat maintaining the status of the native tongue(s) and, at the same time, promotingthe learning and use of other languages for cultural, economic, and practical rea-sons. In Canada and the United States, for example, bilingual education programs

JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, AND EDUCATION, 2(1), 53–77Copyright © 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Kassim Shaaban, American University of Beirut, EnglishDepartment, P.O. Box 11-0236, Riad El Solh, Beirut, Lebanon. E-mail: [email protected]

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

abound and take different forms such as total immersion (Lambert & Tucker,1972), content-based instruction (Chamot & O’Malley, 1986), the natural ap-proach (Krashen & Terrell, 1983), and whole language (Weaver, 1990).

However, multilingualism goes beyond the domain of the school to encompasssuch domains as media, business, commerce, technology, diplomacy, and interna-tional relations (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991). In fact, international conferencesheld around the globe may use an international language, mainly English, as themedium of communication in order to reach a wider audience, though the languagemay be a second or a third language to most participants. Similarly, new forms ofmultilingualism have been emerging as a result of economic immigration to the de-veloping countries. This situation has placed new demands on the host countriesthat have had to meet the needs of immigrants to learn the new language, to recog-nize their native languages and cultures, and to provide education for their chil-dren. Furthermore, in many a developing country, the language of the ex-colonizercontinues to play a major role in the administration, education, and business fields(Ager, 1996). Such situations have given rise to conflicts and different points ofview, at the individual and community level, regarding the different uses of the var-ious languages and the role of each in administration, education, society, and massmedia. This use of different languages in the same society has also generated argu-ments about the impact of multilingualism on national and cultural identity and onthe sense of belongingness at the levels of the individual and the society (Babault& Caituocoli, 1997; Calvet, 1987; Christ, 1997; Shaaban & Ghaith, 1996, 1999;Skutnabb-Kangas & Toukomaa, 1976).

Lebanon has witnessed, like many other relatively newly independent coun-tries, linguistic conflicts centering mainly on the choice of the medium of instruc-tion in Lebanese schools (Shaaban & Ghaith, 1999). The nature andsocioeducational implications of these conflicts have been the subject of investiga-tion by scholars in different fields (Abou, Kasparian, & Haddad, 1996; Bashshur,1978; Matthew & Akrawi, 1949; Salibi, 1965; Shaaban & Ghaith, 1996; Y.Suleiman, 1994). These and other researchers have attributed the importance at-tached to the learning of at least one foreign language (FL) in Lebanon to the roleplayed by foreign languages in the education of the political and socioeconomicelite of the country in missionary schools; these missionary schools, especially theFrench and the American, “trained many of the future leaders and brought westernideas strongly to bear on the culture” (Nydell, 1996, p. 149).

Foreign missionaries came to Lebanon in the second half of the 19th centuryand established religious, then secular, schools in various Lebanese districts for thebenefit of those who shared their faith. Thus, cultural and educational ties were es-tablished, to varying degrees, between France and the Maronites and Catholics,Russia and the Greek Orthodox, Turkey and the Muslims, and Great Britain andthe Druze. In this respect, the French tried to spread the French language mainlyamong the Catholics and Maronites while the Russian, British, and American mis-

54 SHAABAN AND GHAITH

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

sionaries opened the door to all religious sects by means of teaching through themedium of Arabic. The desire among the Lebanese to send their children to mis-sionary schools and to the religion-based private schools affiliated with them onaccount of their “better” quality of education is still prevalent. Thus, “today still,large numbers of Lebanese are educated in religious private schools, and atten-dance at a good school enhances a person’s future opportunities” (Nydell, 1996, p.149).

Recently, Al-Amine and Faour (1998), in one part of their comprehensive atti-tude survey, investigated the linguistic attitudes of university students in Lebanonand their perceived proficiency in the various languages, native and foreign. Theresults showed that 92% of university students in Lebanon stated that they arehighly proficient in reading and writing in Arabic. On the other hand, only 52.2%and 55.7% rated their French and their English as above average. It was also re-ported that students who study in schools where French is the second language useEnglish more than students who study in schools where English is the second lan-guage use French. One concludes that the French-educated tend to be trilingual,whereas the English-educated tend to be bilingual. However, when asked abouttheir reading habits, students stated that “they read mostly in Arabic, and some-times in one foreign language. … Those who read in three languages are but a mi-nority (3.5%)” (Al-Amine & Faour, 1998, p. 205). The researchers’ conclusionwas that the ability of these students to read in Arabic, French, and English was inreality below what they had stated.

In a similar vein, Abou, Kasparian, and Haddad (1996) reported that the atti-tudes of the Lebanese towards Arabic and the foreign languages have changedfrom what was reported in an earlier study by Abou (1962). At the time of the ear-lier study, French seemed to be the dominant language of cultural activities and ed-ucation, whereas the new study showed that the Lebanese are gradually moving inthe direction of using Arabic for everyday communication, French as a vehicle ofculture, and English in business and technology. The major change, obviously, is inthe expansion of English and its elevation to new levels, originally reserved forFrench and, to a lesser extent, Arabic.

The studies that have dealt with multilingualism in Lebanon have been mainlydescriptive in nature, emphasizing the domains of use of each language, the impactof this distribution on the national and cultural identity of the Lebanese, and theimplications for the future of education in the country. Consequently, the presentstudy is an attempt to shed light on the issue of multilingualism by means of study-ing the linguistic attitudes of university students and the impact of the variables ofgender, religion, and first foreign language on these attitudes. The term “linguisticattitudes” covers the following variables: perceptions of the utility of the foreignlanguages compared to the native language; language as a status marker; languageuse in the media; language use and cultural identity; language in education and so-ciety; and perceptions of the utility of French compared to English.

PERCEPTION OF UTILITY OF LANGUAGE 55

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

The specific research questions that the present study addressed are the follow-ing:

1. What are the linguistic attitudes of the students at the American Universityof Beirut (AUB)?

2. Are there any gender-related statistically significant differences in linguis-tic attitudes among students at AUB?

3. Are there any religion-related statistically significant differences in lin-guistic attitudes among students at AUB?

4. Are there any statistically significant differences in linguistic attitudesamong AUB students based on their first foreign language (French or Eng-lish)?

The first question was motivated by the mixed results of studies of linguistic at-titudes conducted in Lebanon. Thus, Monin (1998) reports that French is still thefavored language among the Lebanese; Abou, Kasparian, and Haddad (1996) re-port that English is perceived as the language of the future, though French remainsthe language of the educated elite; Ghaleb and Joseph (2000) claim that the Leba-nese prefer trilingualism with English as the leading language in education, busi-ness and communication; and Bikar (1998) believes that Arabic remains the mostpractical and vital language in the country.

The second question was prompted by some reports in the literature whichclaim that females tend to exhibit more positive attitudes towards learning foreignlanguages than their male counterparts (Abu-Rabia & Feuerverger, 1996; Diab,2000; Zammit, 1993) and other reports that either hold the opposite view (M. F.Suleiman, 1993) or claim that the gender-related differences in language attitudesare rather insignificant (Coleman, 1995).

The third question was formulated as a result of our interest in investigating therole of religion in attitude formation, especially that the political and socioeco-nomic structure of the Lebanese society is to a great extent based on recognizingthe various religious sects and allocating them proportional representation in theparliament, administration, and other areas (Bashshur, 1991; Salibi, 1965).

Finally, the fourth question was prompted by our desire to investigate changesin attitude with changes of educational context, especially in the case of the re-ported 34% of French-educated students who have studied French from nurserythrough high school but opted to join an English-medium university (Monin,1998).

The theoretical background of the present study is based on the theories of lan-guage in ethnic relations (Bourhis, Giles, & Lambert, 1975; Giles, Bourhis, & Tay-lor, 1977). These theories maintain that language is essentially a tool that peopleuse in order to express thoughts, symbols, and emotions. Yet language plays a fun-damental role in ethnicity and intergroup relations, especially in bilingual and mul-


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

tilingual settings where group belongingness could be based on ethnicity, religion,or history. This is because language constitutes, with religion and race, the main el-ements of ethnic consciousness.

A corollary of the preceding theories is that language users usually make con-scious linguistic choices in order to convey their identity and underscore theirsense of belongingness. Yet they sometimes accommodate certain linguistic be-haviors that are inconsistent with their intergroup distinctiveness due to the pres-sure of dichotomous traditional, modernization, and economic factors. This resultsin a clash regarding the choice of language based on sentimental and instrumentallinguistic values. In this regard, Gallagher (1964) explicates the conflicting deci-sions facing the people of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, where both French andArabic have strong holds in society based on the wish for a balance between theneed for progress and modernity on the one hand, and the need to maintain tradi-tions and religion on the other. Along similar lines, Haugen (1982) maintains thatthe choice of a language in a given situation has positive, negative, or neutral val-ues and that certain socioeconomic considerations really make the issue of eth-no-linguistic identity a peripheral one. As such, the choice of a language inconsis-tent with the ethno-linguistic and/or ethno-religious group identity could be a signof acculturation. Yet the question of which aspects of identity are dispensable in agiven situation of change is not easy to determine (Anderson, 1979).

This study also draws on the studies of the role of attitudes and motivation inlearning a foreign language, especially the classic studies of Gardner and Lambert(1959, 1972). These studies identified two kinds of motivation for learning a for-eign language: integrative and instrumental, and “suggested the presence of a posi-tive causal link between integrative motivation and second language achievement,as opposed to learning a second language for instrumental purposes only, where nosuch link exists” (Shaaban & Ghaith, 2000, p. 633).

PARTICIPANTS

The participants in the present study were 176 university students enrolled at AUBduring the first semester of the academic year 2000–2001. This sample constituteda probability sample chosen by following a systematic random sampling proce-dure. As such, the sampling frame was based on a complete list of all students reg-istered at the University and their corresponding mail box numbers. The list wasarranged in ascending order and a count-down procedure was followed by select-ing a random starting point on the list and every 10th name from that point on. Theselection interval of 10 was determined in order to ensure the possibility that eachstudent had an equal chance of being selected, thereby obtaining a systematic ran-dom sample of 374 participants. However, the actual sample consisted of 176 par-ticipants only, as indicated earlier. In fact, we reasoned that the sample, though not


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

representative, still reflects the characteristics of the study population. Based onpersonal communication with the University Registrar, the demographic charac-teristics of the AUB population were as follows: 58% males, 42% females; 60%Muslims, 40% Christians; and 64% had English as a first foreign language, 36%had French as a first foreign language. Table 1 shows the distribution of the partici-pants in the present study by the various variables.

The choice of the participants in the study was motivated by two major consid-erations. First, all these students have studied the first foreign language of theirchoice for a period of 10 or more years. Second, these students tend to have betterunderstanding of the effects of socioeconomic and ideological factors on linguisticattitudes than preuniversity students. The participants were distributed by year ofstudy as follows: 34.7% freshman, 25.6% sophomore, 24.4% junior, and 9.1% se-nior; 6.2% did not specify the year of study.

INSTRUMENT

The language attitude questionnaire used in the present study (see Appendix) wasbased mainly on the questionnaire designed by Clashar (1997); however, it wasmodified to take into account the peculiarities of the Lebanese situation and to in-corporate some relevant points raised by other researchers in the field of motiva-tion and attitudes (Belmechri & Hummel, 1998; Dorneyei, 1990; Gardner, 1988;Wen, 1997; Zughoul & Taminian, 1984). The questionnaire is in two parts. Thefirst part elicits general demographic information, focusing on gender, religion,and first foreign language. The second part deals with the linguistic attitudes of thestudents; it includes the following seven variables:

1. Attitudes towards the utility of French/English compared to Arabic (5questions).

2. Attitudes towards French/English as a status marker in Lebanon (3 ques-tions).

3. Attitudes towards the foreign language media (5 questions).4. Attitudes towards English versus French language media (4 questions).


TABLE 1Distribution of Participants Across Variables

Gender (%) Religion (%) First Foreign Language (%)

101 males (57.5) 95 Muslims (54) 107 English (61)74 females (42) 63 Christians (36) 60 French (34)1 no mention (0.5) 18 no mention (10) 9 other languages (5)

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

5. Attitudes towards the use of French/English in certain public domains inLebanon and its effect on cultural identity (3 questions).

6. Attitudes towards language in Education and society (6 questions).7. Attitudes towards the utility of English versus the utility of French (5 ques-

tions).

The responses to the items on the questionnaire ranged between 5 and 1 on a5-point Likert scale as follows: strongly agree (5), agree (4), neutral (3), disagree(2), and strongly disagree (1). In the case of negatively worded questions, the val-ues of the responses of the participants were reversed to ensure that high scoressignify a positive attitude. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire itemswere established as a result of the discussion and through measuring the general in-ternal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha reliability (r = .59). The internal consis-tencies of the seven variables measured by the scale were as follows: Variable 1 (r= .53); Variable 2 (r = .59); Variable 3 (r = .47); Variable 4 (r = .47); Variable 5 (r =.64); Variable 6 (r = .54); and Variable 7 (r = .65). The small number of itemswithin each attitudinal scale may explain the relatively small values of the alpha in-ternal coefficients. Therefore, any future replication of this research requires im-proved rating scales with higher Cronbach alphas.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

The linguistic attitudes of the participants towards the multilingual situation inLebanon were measured and the various hypotheses of the study were testedthrough the computation of descriptive statistics (percentages, means, and stan-dard deviations), alpha reliability, and a three-way multivariate analysis of vari-ance (MANOVA) test. The variables of gender, religion, and first foreign languagewere used as factors and the seven variables measured by the questionnaire as de-pendent variables.

RESULTS

Table 2 shows the percentages of the responses of the participants on the items rep-resenting their attitudes towards the utility of the foreign language, English orFrench, compared to the utility of the native language, Arabic.

Responses to the first question show that 80.3% of the students disagreedwith the statement that Arabic is a better vehicle for science, technology, andbusiness than French or English. This clearly indicates that these students con-sider French and English as more suited for these areas. This attitude may bedue to the fact that these students have studied these subjects at school through


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

the medium of the foreign languages, for Lebanese students in Grades 7 through12 study mathematics and sciences in French or English. In fact, in most privateschools, the foreign language is used for teaching these subjects in the elemen-tary cycle as well. Furthermore, most, if not all, of the books and other instruc-tional materials used by these students in their university education are in Eng-lish, and to a lesser extent French, which may have contributed to their positiveattitude towards the FL. On the other hand, 55.1% of the participants consideredthe FL as more important than Arabic as a means of communication with peopleof various backgrounds; 31.30% disagreed and 12.50% were neutral (question2). This shows a more balanced attitude that recognizes the benefits of Arabic asa means of communication but falls short of equating it with that of the foreignlanguage in this domain. The responses to question 3 corroborate the precedinginterpretation, as 56.8% of the students disagreed with the idea that Arabic hasless pragmatic value than the FL and that it limits upward mobility. However,69.4% of the respondents felt that the FL is more valuable than Arabic in gettinghigh-paying jobs (question 4). The responses also show that 45.5% of the stu-dents felt that the FL is more important than Arabic in business careers as op-posed to 22.7% who felt that Arabic is more important, and 32.1% who held noopinion on the matter (question 5). This distribution of responses shows that stu-dents do not think of the Arabic language as inefficient in the areas of businessand banking, but rather, they take into consideration the market reality whereknowledge of English and/or French is looked at as a necessity more than an as-set in these domains.


TABLE 2Percentages of Responses to Attitudes Towards the Utility of

French/English Compared to Arabic

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

1. Compared to French/English, Arabic is better able to handle the sciences and business.1.7 6.7 11.4 49.0 31.3

2. For Lebanese children, French/English is more important than Arabic because it will allow themto meet and converse with more and varied people.11.9 43.2 12.5 23.3 8.0

3. Arabic is of less pragmatic value than French/English in most business enterprises in Lebanonbecause Arabic limits upward mobility.6.3 14.8 21.0 34.1 22.7

4. In Lebanon, Arabic is more necessary than French/English to get high-paying jobs.3.4 8.5 18.8 48.9 20.5

5. In Lebanon, Arabic is more useful than French/English for certain careers in business andbanking.1.1 21.6 32.1 38.1 7.4

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

Table 3 shows the percentages of the participants’ responses to the role of theFL as a status marker.

The table shows that 58.8% of the respondents believed that fluency in the FLgives speakers the feeling of superiority over those who are not as fluent (question6). This is a clear indication of the distinctive status of the FL for these students, asknowledge of FL gives confidence and a feeling of achievement. Furthermore,75.0% of the respondents believed that FL mastery is necessary for the attainmentof a high degree of knowledge, prestige, and respectability in the fields of sciences,engineering, and business (question 7). This indicates the importance of the FL asa tool of advancement in education and work. However, 50.0% of the respondentsfelt that you do not have to master an FL to be respected by foreigners (question 8).This indicates that the positive attitudes of the students towards the FL are gov-erned by instrumental rather than integrative motivation. This means that althoughthese students recognize and appreciate the role of the FL in attaining high statusand getting prominent positions, they do not perceive their knowledge of the FL asa means to associate themselves with foreigners or to win their respect. This re-sponse contrasts with the findings of Gardner and Lambert (1972), who suggestedthat there is a causal relation between integrative motivation and achievement, andis more in line with the findings of Kruidenier and Clement (1986) and Belmechriand Hummel (1998), who found that instrumental motivation is the most promi-nent determinant of motivation in EFL contexts.

Table 4 shows the attitudes of the respondents to foreign language mass media.The table shows the clear preference of the respondents for French/English songs(56.9%), television shows and movies (77.8%), and magazines (54.5%; questions9, 10, and 12). However, these students prefer to follow the news, whether in thenewspapers (59.7%) or on the radio and television (61.5%), in Arabic mass media(questions 11 and 13). It is obvious that the respondents find foreign movies and


TABLE 3Percentages of Responses to Attitudes Towards French/English as a

Status Marker in Lebanon


6. The ability to speak French/English is likely to make one feel superior to those who don’t speak itfluently.13.3 45.5 13.1 18.2 9.7

7. One cannot become a truly respected authority in the fields of science, engineering, and businessunless one has good knowledge of French/English.24.4 50.6 4.7 13.6 4.0

8. You need to be fluent in French/English to be respected by foreigners.9.7 19.9 19.9 27.8 22.2

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

television shows, especially the American and British ones, as we will see later(question 14), most entertaining. The preference for news in Arabic may be due tothe fact that the local media, which use Arabic, provide local news that intereststhem most in a faster and more detailed fashion than the foreign media. As fornews analysis, which normally appears in magazines, the preference is for foreignmedia, as they could be perceived as more objective and more serious in both con-tent and form. It is worth mentioning, however, that about 25.6% read Arabic mag-azines and 26.2% listen to Arabic music, which are good percentages consideringthat the sample consists of AUB students who are already positively predisposedtowards the FL, and English in particular.

Table 5 shows the results of investigating the attitudes of the respondents towardsEnglish language media compared to attitudes towards French language media. Theresults presented in the table show that students prefer English to French in the vari-ous visual and auditory media. This could be due to the fact that the respondents arestudents at a university that uses English as the medium of instruction in all fields ofstudy. Thus, we notice that 84.1% prefer watching American and British televisionshows and movies, as opposed to 6.9% who prefer French shows and movies (ques-tion 14). The reason for this preference may lie in the superiority of the Americanmovie and television industry, which has dominated world markets, including theBritish and French ones. The results also showed that 57.4% of the respondents pre-fer English newspapers compared to 24.5% who prefer French newspapers (ques-tion 15). As for magazines, the results show that 59.6% prefer English magazines


TABLE 4Percentages of Responses to Attitudes Towards the

Foreign Language Media


9. I prefer listening to French/English songs to listening to Arabic songs.25.6 31.3 16.5 16.5 9.7

10. I prefer watching French/English TV programs and movies to watching Lebanese or EgyptianTV programs and movies.40.9 36.9 9.7 10.2 2.3

11. I prefer reading French/English-language newspapers ( L’Orient L’ Jour, Le Monde, Daily Star,Beirut News, Arab News, etc.) to reading Arabic-language newspapers.11.4 14.2 14.8 38.1 21.6

12. I prefer reading French/English-language magazines (Revue du Liban, Prestige, l’Express, Times,Newsweek, Financial Times, Monday Morning, etc.) to reading Arabic-language magazines.21.0 33.5 19.3 16.5 9.1

13. I prefer listening to French/English news bulletins on France Inter and on CNN/BBC/NBC or onlocal radio and TV stations to listening to news bulletins in Arabic.6.3 13.1 19.3 39.9 21.6

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

compared to 22.2% who prefer French magazines (question 16). Furthermore, theresults show that 59.6% prefer to listen to news in English compared to 23.3% whoprefer to listen to thenews inFrench(question17). It isworthmentioning that34%ofthe sample are students who have studied French as a first FL which indicates thatabout one third of these prefer English media despite their French language knowl-edge and experience.

Table 6 shows the perceptions of the students of the future use of foreign lan-guages in Lebanon and what effect that would have on Arab culture and identity.

Responses to questions 18 and 19 show that the respondents were divided re-garding the perception of the influence of the use of the FL on Arab culture andidentity. Thus, despite their awareness of the importance of the FL in the life of theLebanese, 42.6% do not perceive the FL as posing a serious threat to Arab cultureand 39.7% did not see in attaching importance to the FL any indication of culturalbackwardness as opposed to 34.2% and 40.3% who felt otherwise. It is obvious,


TABLE 5Percentages of Responses to Attitudes Towards English Versus

French Language Media

StronglyAgree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

14. I prefer watching American and British TV programs and movies to watching French-languageTV programs and movies.46.6 37.5 8.5 6.3 0.6

15. I prefer reading English-language newspapers to reading French-language newspapers.32.4 25.0 17.6 18.8 5.7

16. I prefer reading English-language magazines to reading French-language magazines.30.1 29.5 17.0 18.2 4.0

17. I prefer listening to news bulletins in English to listening to news bulletins in French.29.5 30.1 16.5 17.0 6.3

TABLE 6Percentages of Responses to Attitudes Towards the Use of French/English

in Certain Public Domains in Lebanon and Its Effect on Cultural Identity

StronglyAgree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

18. The use of French/English in some life affairs (government documents, industry, business) is athreat to Lebanese culture.4.7 29.5 19.9 33.5 9.1

19. The continued use of French/English is an indication of our cultural backwardness.12.5 27.8 19.3 27.8 11.9

20. English is the only viable language of business and technology in the foreseen future.14.2 46.0 15.9 17.6 5.7

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

then, that the distribution of responses was about even despite the fact that about20% of the respondents held no opinion on the subject. What is also obvious is thehigh value attached to the English language as the language of business, science,and technology in the foreseen future (question 20); thus, 60.2% felt that it wouldbe the only language for these domains.

Table 7 shows the attitudes of the respondents towards the use of the FL in so-cial and educational contexts. Table 7 shows that 69.1% of the respondents dis-agreed with the statement that using Arabic as a medium of instruction in sciencesand mathematics would help students grasp the material better; in fact, only 10.4%of the students felt that using Arabic would be a good idea (question 21). Further-more, 74.4% of the respondents felt that using the FL as a medium of instructionfor these subjects should start in the elementary school; again, only 9.6% disagreed(question 22). As for the perceived roles of the three languages operating in thecountry, 79.0% felt that Arabic is the language of daily communication, French isthe language of culture and education, and English is the language of science andbusiness (question 23). Furthermore, 60.2% of the respondents felt that StandardArabic is difficult to learn because it is not close to the vernacular; 33.0% saw oth-erwise (question 24). It is obvious from these results that the respondents felt thatthe current situation of the Arabic language does not encourage its use as a mediumof instruction for school subjects like mathematics and sciences; thus 44.3% feltthat Arabic is not fit for this task, as opposed to 34.6% who felt that it is (question25). However, the respondents are divided over whether the use of the FL weakensthe cultural identity and the sense of belongingness to the Arab nation. Thus,


TABLE 7Percentages of Responses to Attitudes Towards Language in

Education and Society


21. Students would learn sciences and mathematics better if the language of instruction were Arabic.2.3 8.1 21.0 32.7 36.4

22. Teaching sciences and mathematics in French/English beginning in the Elementary is necessaryfor success in the university.26.7 47.7 15.9 6.8 2.8

23. I believe that the Lebanese prefer using Arabic for their daily communication, French for culturalmatters, and English for business, technology, and sciences.26.7 52.3 13.1 4.7 0.6

24. Standard Arabic is very difficult because it is not a spoken language.15.3 44.9 6.8 20.5 12.5

25. Arabic could serve as an efficient language of instruction in all school subjects, includingmathematics and sciences.10.2 24.4 21.1 30.1 14.2

26. Using French/English as a medium of instruction weakens the Arab cultural identity of students.11.9 23.3 15.9 27.3 21.0

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

35.2% agreed that using the FL weakens the Arab cultural identity of the Lebanesewhile 48.3% disagreed and 15.9% had no opinion (question 26). One can concludefrom these results that the respondents believe in their Arab cultural identity andheritage but simultaneously feel that the FL is a more appropriate medium of in-struction for scientific subjects. The results also show that the respondents do notnecessarily see a relation of interdependence between the language of instructionand cultural identity.

As to what FL these respondents believe is more appropriate for education andfuture employment, the results are shown in Table 8. Table 8 shows that, althoughEnglish is making major strides as a language of communication, education, andtechnology in Lebanon, French still holds an important place in the life of the Leb-anese. Thus, 42.6% of the respondents stated that they prefer English for universityeducation, as opposed to 36.9% who prefer French; 20.5% had no opinion (ques-tion 27). Furthermore, 56.8% of the respondents felt that knowledge of English ismore helpful than knowledge of French in getting jobs in the future; only 14.4%saw it otherwise (question 28). This attitude explains and justifies the feeling of60.2% of the respondents that English is expanding at the expense of French inLebanon; only 15.3% disagreed (question 29). Finally, the 46.1% of the respon-dents preferred to learn English as a second language as opposed to 43.2% whopreferred French (questions 30 and 31). This last finding shows that the respon-dents believe that French and English are about equally important in education,though English is a more effective tool in the job market. The reason for the prox-imity of the responses could be that students do not have a clear preference as towhich FL to start with as long as they manage to learn both by the end of secondaryschool; a 1996 decree by the Lebanese government made it mandatory for allschool children to learn two FLs, one starting in Grade 1 and the other in Grade 7(Shaaban & Ghaith, 1999). Another possible explanation for the distribution of the


TABLE 8Percentages of Responses to Attitudes Towards the Utility of English

Versus the Utility of French


27. I prefer learning English rather than French to secure better university education later on.16.5 26.1 20.5 19.9 17.0

28. I prefer learning English rather than French to secure better jobs in the future.13.6 43.2 27.8 11.4 3.0

29. French is losing ground to English in Lebanon.14.2 46.0 24.4 13.6 1.7

30. I prefer to learn French as a second language and English as a third language.22.2 21.0 14.8 29.5 12.5

31. I prefer to learn English as a second language and French as a third language.13.1 33.0 18.8 22.7 11.4

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

responses is that some of the respondents prefer another second/third language, asin the case of those who study German or those who have finished their pre-univer-sity studies abroad.

Results of Statistical Analysis

To answer the questions regarding the effect of the independent variables of gen-der, religion, and first FL on students’ attitudes, the means and standard deviationsof the responses to the questions relating to the seven dependent attitude variablesidentified in the study were calculated. The results are shown in Table 9.

The results of the MANOVA calculated for each factor are reported below.

Gender. The first question addressed the difference in linguistic attitudes be-tween males and females. The results showed an F value of 0.79, which is less thanthe critical F at the .05 level of significance. Thus, the results established that thereis no statistically significant difference at p < .05 between the linguistic attitudes ofmale students and those of female students, as is shown in Table 10.

Religion. Table 11 shows the differences in linguistic attitudes between Mus-lim and Christian students with respect to the seven variables. Table 11 shows thatthere are statistically significant difference at p < .05 between the linguistic atti-tudes of Muslim students and those of Christian students (F = 3.68). This meansthat the factor of religion affects the linguistic attitudes of Lebanese students. In or-der to determine the aspects of this effect, a univariate analysis of variance wasconducted on the seven dependent variables.

The F value for the first variable, which relates to the utility of Arabic as op-posed to the utility of the FL, was 6.31, indicating a significant difference betweenMuslim and Christian students. The means and standard deviations were M =13.87, SD = 2.77 for Muslims and M = 12.60, SD = 3.43 for Christians, whichmeans that the percentage of Muslim students believing in the utility of the Arabiclanguage is higher than that of Christian students.

Similarly, the F value for the second dependent variable, which deals with therole of the FL in Lebanese social life, was 4.10, indicating a significant differencebetween Muslim and Christian students regarding this point. The means and stan-dard deviations were M = 9.61, SD = 2.53 for Muslims and M = 10.46, SD = 2.74for Christians, which means that Christian students hold the role of FL in social lifein higher esteem than their Muslim counterparts.

As for the third dependent variable, which investigates the attitude towardsArabic versus. FL media, the F value was 7.61, indicating a significant differencein attitude between Muslims and Christians. The means and standard deviationswere M = 15.11, SD = 7.08 for Muslims and M = 17.82, SD = 4.18 for Christians,


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

which means that Christian students were more likely to listen to western music,read foreign magazines, and watch foreign movies than their Muslim counterparts.

Significant differences were also found between Muslim and Christian stu-dents in their attitudes towards English versus French media (F = 8.45). Themeans and standard deviations were M = 15.84, SD = 3.84 for Muslims and M =13.89, SD = 4.44 for Christians, which means that the percentage of Muslim stu-dents who prefer English media to French media is higher than that of Christianstudents.


TABLE 9Means and Standard Deviations of the Variables by Gender, Religious Affiliation,

and First Foreign Language

Attitude Variables

Males(n = 87)

Females(n = 61)

Muslim(n = 89)

Christian(n = 58)

English(n = 89)

French(n = 52)

M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD

Arabic versus FL utility13.26 2.91 13.50 3.36 13.87 2.77 12.60 3.43 13.58 2.91 13.03 3.42FL in social life9.88 2.73 10.04 2.50 9.61 2.53 10.46 2.74 10.12 2.41 9.61 2.97

Arabic versus FL media16.54 7.04 15.70 4.81 15.11 7.08 17.82 4.18 15.51 7.06 17.23 4.51English versus French media15.05 4.06 15.08 4.36 15.84 3.84 13.89 4.44 17.34 2.86 11.80 3.29FL and cultural identity9.36 2.29 9.54 2.19 9.73 2.23 9.01 2.22 9.71 2.14 9.11 2.41

Language in education and society7.91 1.67 7.59 1.64 7.37 1.65 8.41 1.49 7.57 1.80 8.50 1.43

English versus French in education20.27 4.96 18.90 4.58 20.19 4.77 19.01 4.92 21.52 4.22 17.30 4.39

Note. FL = foreign language.

TABLE 10Multivariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) by Gender

MultivariateANOVAa Univariate ANOVAb

Source F Vr. 1 Vr. 2 Vr. 3 Vr. 4 Vr. 5 Vr. 6 Vr. 7

Gender .79 F .02 .02 .21 .08 .00 1.91 1.89

Note. Vr. = variable.adfs = (7, 156). bdfs = (1, 162).*p < .05. **p < .01.D

ownl

oade

d by

[U

nive

rsity

of

Tex

as L

ibra

ries

] at

19:

40 2

9 O

ctob

er 2

013

Furthermore, significant differences were also found between Muslim andChristian students in their perceptions of the influence of the FL on the culturalidentity of the Lebanese; the F value was 4.13, which is significant at the .05 level.The means and standard deviations were M = 9.73, SD = 2.23 for Muslims and M =9.01, SD = 2.22 for Christians, which means that Christian students were less wor-ried than their Muslim counterparts about such influence.

Finally, significant differences were also found between Muslim and Christianstudents in their attitudes towards English versus French as a medium of instruction;the F value was 15.06, which is significant at the .01 level. The means and standarddeviations were M = 7.37, SD = 1.65 for Muslims and M = 8.41, SD = 1.49 for Chris-tians, which means that the percentage of Christian students who prefer English toFrench as a medium of instruction is higher than that of Muslim students.

First foreign language. Table 12 shows the difference in the linguistic atti-tudes of students whose first foreign language is French and those whose first for-eign language is English.

Table 12 shows that the first foreign language of students affects their linguisticattitudes; the F value is 18.07, which is significant at the .01 level. In order to deter-mine the aspects of this effect, a univariate analysis of variance was conducted onthe seven dependent variables.

The univariate analysis shows that there is statistically significant difference inlinguistic attitudes with regard to the fourth variable between students whose firstFL is English and those whose first FL is French (F = 125.21). The means and stan-dard deviations were M = 17.34, SD = 2.86 for students whose first FL is Englishand M = 11.80, SD = 3.29 for those whose first FL is French, which means that stu-dents whose first FL is English prefer English media to French media more thanthose whose first FL is French.

The analysis showed also that there is a statistically significant difference in lin-guistic attitudes between students whose first FL is English and those whose firstFL is French with regard to the seventh variable (F = 31.55). The means and stan-


TABLE 11Multivariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) by Religious Affiliation



Religion 3.68** F 6.31** 4.10* 7.61** 8.45** 4.13* 15.06** 2.60

Note. Vr. = variable.adfs = (7, 140). bdfs = (1, 146).*p < .05. **p < .01.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

dard deviations were M = 21.52, SD = 4.22 for students whose first FL is Englishand M = 17.30, SD = 4.39 for those whose first FL is French, which means that stu-dents whose first FL is English prefer English to French as a medium of instructionmore than those whose first FL is French.

DISCUSSION

This study aimed at identifying the attitudes of Lebanese university students to-wards the three major languages used in the country, namely, Arabic, French, andEnglish. Furthermore, the study was set to explore the effect of gender, religiousaffiliation, and first foreign language of these students on their attitudes. The over-all pattern of the findings is less than perspicacious, given that there was a 53%nonresponse rate in the final sample and that the Cronbach alpha reliability coeffi-cients were rather low. As such, a measure of caution needs to be taken into ac-count when considering these findings. It should also be noted that future replica-tions of this research should ensure random representation of study population aswell as improved rating scales with higher Cronbach alpha coefficients.

Perhaps one of the significant findings of the study relates to the effect of reli-gion on linguistic attitudes of Muslim and Christian students (Table 11). This sug-gests that religion was a determining factor of linguistic attitudes. Upon detailedexamination of the attitudes of these two groups, it was shown that the view ofMuslim students towards the utility of the Arabic language was more favorablethan the view of Christian students; on the other hand, Christian students viewedthe role of the FL in social life in Lebanon more favorably than Muslim studentsdid. This more favorable attitude of Christian students was also apparent in thearea of listening to foreign music, reading foreign magazines, and watching for-eign movies. These attitudes could be explained by the historical fact that the pres-ence of foreign missionaries in Lebanon has given Maronite, Catholic, andProtestant Lebanese Christians the opportunity to study at the missionary schoolsthrough the medium of the foreign languages (mainly French and English), and to


TABLE 12Multivariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) by Foreign Language (FL)



FL 18.07** F 75 38 1.98 125.21** 2.34 1.47 31.55*

Note. Vr. = variable.adfs = (7, 148). bdfs = (1, 54).*p < .05. **p < .01.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

consequently get good civil service jobs. This is an opportunity denied to mostMuslims and other Christian sects who had to join public schools or their owncommunal private schools, where the levels of French or English were rather weak,especially when compared to the levels at the missionary schools (Shaaban &Ghaith, 1996).

The results also showed that the majority of the students in the study preferredEnglish to French. This attitude may be explained by the global expansion of Eng-lish as a medium of mass communication, world trade, and globalization, and thefeeling among the Lebanese that it is the gate towards a better future. It is interest-ing to note that Muslim students preferred English to French as a language of masscommunication, whereas Christian students preferred French. The reason for thiscould be the historical role of French in Lebanon during the French mandate(1916–1943), where Muslims felt that French was the language of the colonizerand English was a neutral language. Christians, on the other hand, had a specialplace for the French language as a language of education and culture that had giventhem opportunities for advancement. Thus, while they realize the importance ofEnglish, they would like to keep French as a major language in education, masscommunication, and cultural activities, a finding in congruence with the results ofthe study by Abou, Kasparian, and Haddad (1996). But the general attitude of theLebanese towards the role of English in technology and science is highly positive,60.2% in this study, and 61.5% in the study by Abou, Kasparian, and Haddad.

It is also interesting to note that 69.1% of the students preferred the FL toArabic as a medium of instruction in mathematics and sciences, with 74.4% pre-ferring that FL education should start in elementary school and not be delayed untilthe intermediate cycle. This attitude is based mainly on practical considerations ina society where such considerations override any ideologies. The prevalence ofsuch an attitude is to a great extent the reason for the failure of the experimentstarted by the Makassed Islamic Philanthropic Association in 1982 to teach mathe-matics and sciences in Arabic up until the end of the ninth grade. The Makassedhad to put an end to the experiment in 1999 though the results of using Arabic werereported to be highly positive; the President of Makassed explained the decision asfollows:

We were hoping that others would do the same, but unfortunately, this did not hap-pen. Consequently, we were alone in a pioneering experiment that did not seem to at-tract attention in the educational circles or among parents or in the society as a whole.(Barada, 1999, p. 23)

It is interesting to know that, despite the surface differences among the Leba-nese regarding the role of the FL, a new trend is emerging that seems to allocate arole for each of the three languages. Thus, 79% of the respondents agree that theLebanese prefer Arabic as the language of daily communication and interaction,


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

French as a language of education and culture, and English as a language of sci-ence, trade, and technology. This finding is in line with the finding of Abou,Kasparian, and Haddad (1996). The emergence of this new attitude may be ex-plained by the desire of the Lebanese to learn languages due to their conviction thatknowing more than one FL facilitates their entry into better learning and work op-portunities. The Lebanese government translated this attitude into a decree thatmade it mandatory for every Lebanese child to learn two FLs, the first starting inkindergarten and the second starting in the seventh grade. In reality, what the gov-ernment did was legalize a situation that had existed in private schools for quite along time.

The results also showed that the first FL had an effect on linguistic attitudes. Inother words, it was found that there were significant differences in linguistic atti-tudes between students whose first FL was English and those whose first FL wasFrench (Table 12). Thus, students whose first FL was English preferred English toFrench in mass communication and education more than those whose first FL wasFrench. This may be explained by the fact that those studying English find it moreappropriate as a global language that would help them in their higher studies and intheir travels, as it is the most used language of higher studies and mass mediaworldwide. Those whose first FL is French, on the other hand, hold the French lan-guage in reverence because of the prestige that it enjoys in Lebanese high societyas a language of culture and affluence. One other explanation for the favorable atti-tude towards English is the fact that the study was conducted at an American uni-versity where all the courses are taught in English; had the same study been con-ducted at a French-medium university, the results might have been different. Foreven those in the sample whose first FL is French are positively inclined towardsEnglish; otherwise they would have joined a French-medium university like St.Josepk or Kaslik.

CONCLUSION

This study has shed some light on the linguistic attitudes of university students inLebanon. The results underscored the important role that foreign languages oc-cupy in the life of the Lebanese and the fact that, in many domains, such as educa-tion and some media forms, these languages have replaced the native language.The results have also shown how English is considered the language of the futureby most Lebanese, a language whose mastery would open wide the gates of educa-tion and global trade and communication. However, these attitudes did not negatethe role of Arabic as an effective tool of daily communication, news media, and ed-ucation. Nor do they negate the role of French as a historic language of high soci-ety, culture, and education. The overall preference of English, even amongFrench-educated Lebanese university students, seems to be based on utilitarian


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

and rational considerations rather than emotional or ideological ones. This attitudeis part of a global tendency based on economic and practical grounds that is veryapparent in Francophone countries (Hammoud, 2000; Heller, 1999; Karim, 1996).It remains to be said, however, that further well-controlled research in various mul-tilingual, ethno-linguistic, and ethno-religious settings is needed to corroborate orrefute these results.

REFERENCES

Abou, S. (1962). Le Bilingualisme Arab-Francais au Liban: Essai d’ anthropologie culturelle. Paris:Presses Universitaires de France.

Abou, S., Kasparian, C., & Haddad, K. (1996). Anatomie de la Francophoneie Libanaise. Beirut, Leba-non: Universite Saint-Joseph.

Abu-Rabia, S., & Feuerverger, G. (1996). Toward understanding the second language learning of Arabstudents in Israel and Canada: The relationship of attitudes and cultural background to reading com-prehension. Canadian Modern Language Review, 52, 359–385.

Ager, D. (1996). Francophonie’ in the 1990s: Problems and opportunities. Clevedon, England: Multi-lingual Matters.

Al-Amine, A., & Faour, M. (1998). University students in Lebanon and their attitudes: Heritage of di-visions. Beirut, Lebanon: Lebanese Association for Educational Sciences. (in Arabic)

Anderson, A. B. (1979). The survival of ethnolinguistic minorities: Canadian and comparative re-search. In H. Giles & B. Saint-Jaques (Eds.), Language and ethnic relations (pp. 67–85). Oxford,England: Pergamon.

Babault, S., & Caituocoli, C. (1997). Linguistic policy and education in Francophone countries. In. R.Wodak & D. Corson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education. Language policy and politicalissues in education (Vol. 1, pp. 159–167). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.

Barada, A. (1999, May 28). Tammam Salam opening Makassed’s gates to educational change: Newframework, foreign languages, and mixed schools. An-Nahar, p. 23. (in Arabic)

Bashshur, M. (1978). The structure of the Lebanese educational system. Beirut, Lebanon: CERD. (inArabic)

Bashshur, M. (1991, March). Education: Conflict regulation vs. national building. Paper presented atthe CIES Conference in Pittsburgh, PA.

Belmechri, F., & Hummel, K. (1998). Orientations and motivation in the acquisition of English as a sec-ond language among high school students in Quebec City. Language Learning, 48(2), 219–244.

Bikar, E. (1998, August 13). Using many languages in one sentence: A Lebanese identity that is un-closed and incoherent. An-Nahar, 14.

Bourhis, R., Giles, H., & Lambert, W. (1975). Social consequences of accommodating one’s style ofspeech.Across-national investigation. InternationalJournalof theSociologyofLanguage,6,57–71.

Calvet, L. J. (1987). La guerre des langues et les politiques linguistiques. Paris: Payot.Chamot, A. U., & O’Malley, J. M. (1986). A cognitive academic language learning approach: An ESL

content-based curriculum. Rosslyn, VA: National Clearinghouse on Bilingual Education.Christ, H. (1997). Language attitudes and educational policy. In R. Wodak & D. Corson (Eds.), Ency-

clopedia of language and education: Language policy and political issues in education (Vol. 1, pp.1–11). Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.

Clashar, A. (1997). Resistance to the English language in Puerto Rico: Toward a theory of language andintergroup distinctiveness. Linguistics and Education, 9, 69–95.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

Coleman, T. A. (1995). Progress, proficiency, and motivation among British university language learn-ers (CLCS Occasional Paper No. 40). Dublin, Ireland: Trinity College, Center for Language andCommunication Studies. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED383221)

Diab, R. (2000). Political and socio-cultural factors in foreign language education: The case of Leba-non. Texas Papers in Foreign language Education, 5, 177–187.

Dorneyei, Z. (1990). Conceptualizing motivation in foreign language learning. Language Learning, 40,45–78.

Gallagher, C. (1964). North African problems and prospects, part III: Language and identity. AmericanUniversities Field Staff Reports. North Africa Series 10.5.

Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1959). Motivational variables in second-language acquisition. Cana-dian Journal of Psychology, 13, 24–44.

Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second-language learning.Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Gardner, R. C. (1988). The socio-educational model of second language learning: Assumptions, find-ings, and issues. Language Learning, 28, 101–126.

Ghaleb, M., & Joseph, J. (2000). Factors affecting students’ perceptions of the status and use of lan-guages in Lebanon. In K. Shaaban (Ed.), Language and education (pp. 287–307). Beirut, Lebanon:Lebanese Association for Educational Sciences.

Giles, H., Bourhis, R., & Taylor, D. (1977). Toward a theory of language in ethnic group relations. In H.Giles (Ed.), Language, ethnicity, and intergroup relations (pp. 307–348). New York: Academic.

Hammoud, S. (2000). Arabicization and language policies in Morocco: Past and present. In K. Shaaban(Ed.), Language and education (pp. 91–120). Beirut, Lebanon: Lebanese Association for Educa-tional Studies. (in Arabic)

Haugen, E. (1982). The rationale for language choice. Proceedings of the XIIIth International Congressof Linguistics, Tokyo, August 29–September 4, 1982, 278–287.

Heller, M. (1999). Alternative ideologies of la francophonie. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3, 336–359.Karim, K. H. (1996, May). Economic dimensions of minority and foreign language use: An international

overview, language and the economy: Canada in an international perspective. Paper presented at TheOfficial Languages and the Economy: New Canadian Perspectives, Ottawa, Canada. Retrieved May22, 2000, from http://www.pch.gc.ca/offlangoff/perspectives/english/econo/part2a.html

Krashen, S. D., & Terrell, T. D. (1983). The natural approach. Hayward, CA: Alemany.Kruidenier, B., & Clement, R. (1986). The effect of context on the composition and the role of orienta-

tions in second language acquisition. Quebec City, Canada: International Center for Research on Bi-lingualism.

Lambert, W. E., & Tucker, G. R. (1972). The bilingual education of children: The St. Lambert experi-ment. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Larsen-Freeman, D., & Long, M. (1991). An introduction to second language acquisition research.London: Longman.

Matthew, R. D., & Akrawi, M. (1949). Education in the Arab countries of the Near East. Washington,DC: American Council of Education.

Monin, P. (1998). French cultural presence in Lebanon: What present, what past, what future. Unpub-lished doctoral dissertation, Sorbonne University, Paris.

Nydell, M. (1996). Understanding Arabs: A guide for westerners. Yarmouth, Maine: InterculturalPress.

Salibi, K. (1965). Modern history of Lebanon. London: Weidefeld and Nicolson.Shaaban, K., & Ghaith, G. (1996). Language-in-education policy and planning. Mediterranean Journal

of Educational Studies, 1(2), 95–105.Shaaban, K., & Ghaith, G. (1999). Lebanon’s language in education policies: From bilingualism to

trilingualism. Language Problems and Language Planning, 23(1), 1–16.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

Shaaban, K., & Ghaith, G. (2000). Student motivation to learn English as a foreign language. ForeignLanguage Annals, 33, 632–644.

Skutnabb-Kangas, T., & Toukomaa, P. (1976). Teaching migrant children’s mother tongue and learningthe language of the host country in the context of the socio-cultural situation of the migrant family.UNESCO Research Reports, 15. Tampere: Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, Univer-sity of Tampere.

Suleiman, M. F. (1993). A study of Arab students’motivation and attitudes for learning English as a for-eign language. Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Ser-vice No. ED392279)

Suleiman, Y. (1994). Arabic sociolinguistics: Issues and perspectives. Surrey: Curzon.Weaver, C. (1990). Understanding whole language: From principles to practice. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann.Wen, X., (1997). Motivation and language learning with Chinese. Foreign Language Annals, 30,

234–251.Zammit, S. (1993). Motivation, test results, gender differences, and foreign languages: How do they

connect? Paper presented at the 15th annual meeting of the Language Testing Research Colloquium,Cambridge, UK. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 362007).

Zughoul, M. R., & Taminian, L. (1984). The linguistic attitudes of Arab university students: Factorialstructure and intervening variables. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 50,155–179.

APPENDIX

Questionnaire on Language Dominance and Language Attitudes

Dear Reader: This questionnaire is part of a research project we are conducting tohelp us identify patterns of language behavior, use, and attitudes among the Leba-nese. We appreciate your taking time to fill out this questionnaire as honestly andfrankly as possible. The findings of this study would be of great help for students oflinguistics and educational linguistics.Thank you in advance,The Researchers

PART I: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

1. Sex: _____ Male _____ Female2. Area of residence: ___________________________3. Religion: _______ Muslim ________ Christian _______ Other (specify)4. Language knowledge:

First/Native language: __________First foreign language: __________Second foreign language: __________Other languages: __________


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

PART II: ATTITUDES

Directions: The items covered in this part of the questionnaire are to be judged on a5-point Likert scale distributed as follows:

5 Strongly agree4 Agree3 Neutral2 Disagree1 Strongly disagree

Write the number that represents your judgment in the box next to the item. For ex-ample, in the following item

Music makes people more intelligent. 4The answer shows that the respondent agrees with the statement, but not strongly.

Attitudes towards the utility of French/Englishcompared to Arabic

1. Compared to French/English, Arabic is better able to handle the sciences andbusiness.2. For Lebanese children, French/English is more important than Arabic becauseit will allow them to meet and converse with more and varied people.3. Arabic is of less pragmatic value than French/English in most business enter-prises in Lebanon because Arabic limits upward mobility.4. In Lebanon, Arabic is more necessary than French/English in order to get high-paying jobs.5. In Lebanon, Arabic is more useful than French/English for certain careers inbusiness and banking.

Attitudes towards French/English as a status markerin Lebanon

6. The ability to speak French/English is likely to make one feel superior to thosewho don’t speak it fluently.7. One cannot become a truly respected authority in the fields of science, engi-neering, and business unless one has good knowledge of French/English.8. You need to be fluent in French/English in order to be respected by foreigners.

Attitudes towards the Foreign language media

9. I prefer listening to French/English songs to listening to Arabic songs.10. I prefer watching French/English TV programs and movies to watching Leba-nese or Egyptian TV programs and movies.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

11. I prefer reading French/English-language newspapers (L’Orient L’ Jour, LeMonde, Daily Star, Beirut News, Arab News, etc.) to reading Arabic-languagenewspapers.12. I prefer reading French/English-language magazines (Revue du Liban, Pres-tige, l’Express, Times, Newsweek, Financial Times, Monday Morning, etc.) toreading Arabic-language magazines.13. I prefer listening to French/English news bulletins on France Inter and onCNN/BBC/NBC or on local radio and TV stations to listening to news bulletins inArabic.

Attitudes towards English versus French language media

14. I prefer watching American and British TV programs and movies to watchingFrench-language TV programs and movies.15. I prefer reading English-language newspapers to reading French-languagenewspapers.16. I prefer reading English-language magazines to reading French-languagemagazines.17. I prefer listening to news bulletins in English to listening to news bulletins inFrench.

Attitudes towards the use of French/English incertain public domains in Lebanon and itseffect on cultural identity

18. The use of French/English in some life affairs (government documents, indus-try, business) is a threat to Lebanese culture.19. The continued use of French/English is an indication of our cultural back-wardness.20. English is the only viable language of business and technology in the foreseenfuture.

Attitudes towards language in education and society

21. Students would learn sciences and mathematics better if the language of in-struction were Arabic.22. Teaching sciences and mathematics in French/English beginning in the ele-mentary is necessary for success in the university.23. I believe that the Lebanese prefer using Arabic for their daily communication,French for cultural matters, and English for business, technology, and sciences.24. Standard Arabic is very difficult because it is not a spoken language.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

25. Arabic could serve as an efficient language of instruction in all school sub-jects, including mathematics and sciences.26. Using French/English as a medium of instruction weakens the Arab culturalidentity of students.

Attitudes towards the utility of English versusthe utility of French

27. I prefer learning English rather than French to secure better university educa-tion later on.28. I prefer learning English rather than French to secure better jobs in the future.29. French is losing ground to English in Lebanon.30. I prefer to learn French as a second language and English as a third language.31. I prefer to learn English as a second language and French as a third language.


Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Uni

vers

ity o

f T

exas

Lib

rari

es]

at 1

9:40

29

Oct

ober

201

3

Documents

Effect of Religion, First Foreign Language, and Gender on the Perception of the Utility of Language