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Code‐Alteration among Arab College Students
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1999
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Linguistic AnthropologyMultilingualismJordanian University StudentsEducationArabic OrthographyLanguage EducationLanguage ProficiencyLanguage TeachingCode-switchingDialectologyArabic Text SimplificationStudents Cs/cmArabicStudent CultureLanguage StudiesCode SwitchingSociolinguisticsArab College StudentsLanguage CurriculumThree‐section QuestionnaireHigher EducationBilingual EducationCultureForeign Language AcquisitionLinguistics
The study examines Jordanian university students’ attitudes toward code‑switching and code‑mixing, aiming to identify when, why, and which English expressions they use in Arabic discourse. A three‑section questionnaire was administered to 352 students, collecting biographical data, attitudes toward CS/CM relative to English, Arabic, and language users, and reasons and contexts for their code‑switching. Students displayed both positive and negative attitudes toward CS/CM with English, used it mainly to compensate for missing Arabic equivalents, and frequently incorporated a wide range of English expressions into their speech.
The present study investigates Jordanian university students' attitudes toward code‐switching (CS), and code‐mixing (CM), to find out when and why they code‐switch and the most frequent English expressions that they use in Arabic discourse. For this purpose a three‐section questionnaire was developed and distributed to students (N = 352). Section 1 elicited biographical data; Section 2 elicited students' attitudes toward CS/CM in relation to English, toward CS/CM in relation to Arabic, and toward CS/CM in relation to language users; and Section 3 elicited data as to why and where students CS/CM with English and the motives behind that. The students are shown to have negative as well as positive attitudes toward CS/CM with English in Arabic discourse – attitudes that are in some ways contrary to expectation. The results also indicate that students CS/CM with English for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is the lack of Arabic equivalents for English terms or expressions. Finally, there is frequent use of many English expressions, which varied in range and scope in the speech of Arab educated speakers.