A Sociolinguistic Study of Communication and Language Barriers among Foreign and Algerian Students at ibn Khaldoun University.

Abstract

The main aim of this research is to scrutinize communication barriers that face both Foreign and Algerian university students. It also aims to shed light on how to solve this problem of communication between them. The major reason for choosing this topic is our curiosity to know about the obstacles that students face in communicating with one another. In this respect, a qualitative descriptive method was adopted to guarantee the success of our research by involving both participants and taking their views into consideration. The sample population of the study consists of 65 students from different departments at Ibn Khaldoun University (English, French, science and Technology, Math and Informatics); and from different countries (Mali, Central Africa, Kongo). One data collection instrument was used to gather the required data, Algerian students’ questionnaire, and foreign students’ questionnaire. The research findings indicate that Algerian and Foreign students do communicate with one another. However, there is a huge gap in communication between the students, and that the main obstacle is related to the language choice. Furthermore, the results show that Algerians struggle when it comes to delivering the message, thus, foreign students find a big difficulty in understanding their message.