Abstract:

What are the attitudes of Emirati male and female freshman engineering students toward the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) at the Petroleum Institute (PI), a segregated engineering university and research center in Abu Dhabi funded and governed by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)? How do these students, accustomed to speaking Arabic during their K-12 schooling, perceive EMI given the strong link many feel exists between their culture and the Arabic language? How do students reconcile the use of EMI while trying to maintain their national and cultural identity, which, for many, is threatened by the 9 out of 10 expatriates living in the country? A questionnaire consisting of 32 items with a 5-point Likert-scale response key along with seven open-ended questions were distributed to 160 Emirati male and female freshman engineering students (80 males and 80 females). In addition, 40 semi-structured interviews were also conducted. Preliminary results suggest that both male and female students are ambivalent about EMI. While the majority understand the importance of learning and using English given the international environment in which they will eventually find themselves as practicing engineers, EMI complicates their studies and also contributes to a feeling that their identity as Emiratis is threatened. Understanding the challenges posed by the use of EMI is worth considering for a number of practical reasons, foremost among them the need to increase student achievement while reducing the rate of attrition.

Keywords:

English as a medium of Instruction (EMI), Attitudes, Engineering, Identity, Attrition, ESL, Freshman Students.