Language planning in Oman : evaluating linguistic and sociolinguistic fallacies
English is increasingly being chosen as the medium of education at the tertiary level in education in the Arabian Gulf. In Oman a decision was taken to switch the medium of education in all colleges of applied sciences from Arabic to English. To assist students with the switch the Ministry of Higher Education requested all colleges to establish foundation years with the focus on teaching English. This study is an analysis of that decision from both macro language planning and a micro sociolinguistic perspectives. Three contentions were used to measure the efficacy of the practices in the College of Applied Sciences in Salalah, Oman. These were the native speaker fallacy, the L2 fallacy and the English medium fallacy. The study adopted a case study framework and analysed each of the preceding fallacies with a view to establishing their individual and collective veracity. Data collected included 370 student questionnaires, 15 questionnaires distributed to native speaker teachers and 10 to non-native speaker teachers. There were also interviews with leading stakeholders involved at the College level. The results of the study suggest that of the three fallacies, the native speaker fallacy was not seen to be in
Ismail, Muhammad A.
Language planning in Oman : evaluating linguistic and sociolinguistic fallacies. English is increasingly being chosen as the medium of education at the tertiary level in education in the Arabian Gulf. In Oman a decision was taken to switch the medium of education in all colleges of applied sciences from Arabic to English. To assist students with the switch the Ministry of Higher Education requested all colleges to establish foundation years with the focus on teaching English. This study is an analysis of that decision from both macro language planning and a micro sociolinguistic perspectives. Three contentions were used to measure the efficacy of the practices in the College of Applied Sciences in Salalah, Oman. These were the native speaker fallacy, the L2 fallacy and the English medium fallacy. The study adopted a case study framework and analysed each of the preceding fallacies with a view to establishing their individual and collective veracity. Data collected included 370 student questionnaires, 15 questionnaires distributed to native speaker teachers and 10 to non-native speaker teachers. There were also interviews with leading stakeholders involved at the College level. The results of the study suggest that of the three fallacies, the native speaker fallacy was not seen to be in
language plan oman evaluate linguistic sociolinguistic fallacy english increasingly choose medium_education tertiary_level education arabian_gulf oman decision_take switch medium_education college apply science arabic_english assist student switch ministry higher_education request college establish foundation year focus teach_english study analysis decision macro language planning micro sociolinguistic perspective contention use measure efficacy practice college applied oman native_speaker fallacy fallacy english medium fallacy study adopt case_study framework_analyse precede fallacy view establish individual_collective veracity data_collect include student questionnaire questionnaire distribute native_speaker teacher non_native_speaker teacher also interview lead stakeholder involve college level study suggest fallacy native_speaker fallacy see