Exploring Youth of Tiaret’s Perspectives on Language Diversity within their Speech Community of Tiaret: Case study 1er year EFL Students at Ibn Khaldoun University of Tiaret

Abstract

This study investigates Tiaret‘s youth attitudes towards linguistic diversity within their speech community of Tiaret, aiming to answer the question of how Tiaret youth perceive different accents spoken within different Tiaret‘s regions. To achieve this, the study focuses on the perceptions of 80 students from Ibn Khaldoun University. The study uses a survey of ten close ended questions to investigate the interplay between dialects, identity and attitudes towards language variation within their social milieu. The findings revealed a spectrum of attitudes towards Tiaret‘s varieties among some participants, influenced by geographical background. The implications of these findings implied the need for more efforts to nurture a positive attitude towards linguistic diversity as a means of promoting social cohesion