This qualitative study sets out to understand the beliefs, functions, and practices of using L1 among EFL learners while they learned new L2 vocabulary. Forty-two Saudi male university students were randomly assigned to 21 pairs and asked to complete three reading comprehension tasks. All pair interactions were audio-recorded. Afterward,…

Selecting the medium of instruction to teach the target language in EFL classrooms has been controversial for several years. This study explores the impact of code-switching versus targetlanguage-only teaching strategies on beginner students' learning and affective sustenance of EFL reading comprehension based on their perceptions. It also…

Different languages, dialects, accents, or other forms of language (a.k.a. codes or varieties of language) are used in various healthcare facilities around the world. However, only a limited number of studies have explored the switching of varieties in healthcare environments. Hospitals in Saudi Arabia are multilingual and multicultural…

This study reviews the methods and findings of earlier translanguaging research with special emphasis on their implications in view of the national development plans stated in Saudi vision 2030. Notably, Saudi Arabia is striving to adjust to the multilingual immigrant workforce on its soil, while the Kingdom envisages a larger role for its people…

This paper hypothesizes that higher proficiency in the medium of instruction (MI) is a precondition for effective instructional communication (IC), with the latter being essential for higher cognitive processes, positive affects, and better performance in the learning environment. The reported study used questionnaires comprising open-ended…

This study investigates the effect of Facebook on Arabic language attrition, i.e., decrease in language proficiency, as exhibited in the use of Colloquial instead of Standard Arabic, use of foreign words although Arabic equivalents exist, and committing spelling errors. A sample of Facebook posts and a corpus of spelling errors on Facebook were…

The research work attempts to investigate that in any geographical contact zone, where the diverse languages and cultures intersect, there would inevitably be linguistic and cultural integration and assimilation. In a similar vein, the worldwide dissemination of the English language has radically shaped the linguistic and textual devices installed…

In the first half of the 20th century, Arab countries were mainly colonized by Britain and France. English and French became dominant in education and business. As most Arab countries gained independence in the 1950-1960's, the cultural and linguistic influence of those colonizers continued. Therefore, use of Arabic as a national language was…

This study aims to investigate when and why to use Arabic as L1 in the Saudi Arabian EFL classroom. For this purpose, 45 classroom observations were performed for beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of students. 5 classes were chosen randomly for each level and each class was observed three times. Based on the classroom observations,…

Studies on translanguaging of multilingual students have turned their attention to teachable strategies in classrooms. This study is based on the assumption that it is possible to learn from students' translanguaging strategies while developing their proficiency through a dialogical pedagogy. Based on a classroom ethnography, this article…