Language planning in Oman : evaluating linguistic and sociolinguistic fallacies

Abstract

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 evidence at the college whilst the other two were. Amalgamating the findings leads to the conclusion that there are a complex array of factors involved in a decision to switch the medium of instruction from Arabic to English and the establishment of an English foundation programme to facilitate this decision. The results do not corroborate a view of reality that posits that external forces are responsible for enforcing an imperialistic agenda. What the findings of the V study do support is the need for research based decision making, to avoid situations where perspectives devoid of academic merit become the norm.