Exploring Teachers and Students’ Attitudes towards Using Algerian Arabic in Secondary School EFL Classes.

Abstract

This research aims to spot the light on the effects of using mother language Arabic in Algerian schools in general and in EFL classrooms in particular. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of using Arabic as a mother tongue on the students learning English At the same time it seeks to discover the teacher’s attitudes towards the use of mother language Arabic in EFL classes at foreign languages classes at Raid Si Zoubir secondary school in Tiaret. One of the major objectives of this study is whether or not the use of Arabic on EFL classes is considered as a helping tool or hindering obstacle that negatively affects the process of learning English . For that reason, we hypothesized that the use of the mother tongue might be either developing or hindering students' learning of English as a foreign language. Therefore, a mixed method study has been conducted to test the hypothesis. In this research two data collection tools were used in order to collect the sufficient data required by this investigation: A questionnaire for students (N=40) , and an interview with teachers (N=03) . The results have shown that there are different reasons that affect students learning English. Also, we have seen that students and teachers do not share the same attitude towards the use of Arabic. Students see that the use of Arabic facilitates their achievement while teachers hold a somehow negative attitude towards the use of Arabic by students. However, they do not mind using it when EFL students encounter difficult issues.