The status of English in Dubai

Abstract

A transition from Arabic to English as a lingua franca. The developing economies of the Gulf states have relied heavily on expatriate labor at all levels to support the spectacular development which has taken place over the last 50 years; so much so, that in most of the Emirates expatriates outnumber locals. Nowhere is this more true than in the UAE, and in Dubai in particular. This situation has had fundamental socio-linguistic implications, one of which is the emergence of English as a lingua franca at all levels of the society. As is the case in Singapore, where English has replaced Malay as the lingua franca over the last 50 years, English in Dubai is replacing Arabic. This paper discusses this situation in general and looks in particular at the language needs and attitudes towards English amongst government employees in the police force. It uses data collected as part of a needs analysis survey which was conducted to determine the learners' needs, expectations, aspirations, and feelings towards English language learning which can illuminate its role as a lingua franca in the UAE. The data was collected from regular commissioned and non-commissioned police officers and cadets enrolled in courses in Dubai Police Academy as well as on-duty police officers from various police departments, divisions, and sections in Dubai. The data is discussed in relation to wider socio-linguistic issues within the UAE.

Participative Leadership and Organizational Identification in SMEs in the MENA Region: Testing the Roles of CSR Perceptions and Pride in Membership

“…and Lebanon, the questionnaire was provided in English since it is a language regularly spoken in these two countries (Diab, 2006;Randall and Samimi, 2010). However, following Brislin's (1980) recommendations on the back-translation process, the English questionnaire was translated into French before it was distributed to employees in Tunisia since French is one of the two commonly spoken languages in that country (Stevens, 1983).…”

Business Discourse

“…In business discourse research, surveys are commonly used to determine members of a corporate community's attitudes, preferences and judgments regarding aspects of business discourse and, in particular, to study communication practices and needs in different types of organizations (see e.g. Deneire, 2008;Erling & Walton, 2007;Randall & Samimi, 2010).…”

“…Further examples of studies that have used (needs analysis) surveys to investigate business discourse practices in international or multinational contexts include Deneire's (2008) investigation of managers' and employees' English language proficiency needs in French companies in which English is the corporate language, Erling and Walton's (2007) study of (foreign) language use and needs in multinational companies based in Germany, Randall and Samimi (2010) who trace the transition from Arabic to English as a lingua franca by investigating the languages needed by the Dubai Police Force, analysis of language needs in banks in Hong Kong and the interplay between English and Cantonese in daily communicative tasks, and Jackson's (2004) study investigating the language and communication skills needs of pre-experience business practitioners (students at the bilingual Hong Kong university). Chew's and Jackson's studies were in fact part of a larger project (reported in Bhatia & Candlin, 2001, see Chapter 3 for a detailed discussion), whose main impetus was to gain an understanding of the learning situation and skills needs of business practitioners of…”

“…Jackson, 2005;Cowling, 2007;Erling & Walton, 2007;Deneire, 2008;Kaewpet, 2009;Evans, 2010;Randall & Samimi, 2010).…”

The effects of global English on culture and identity in the UAE: a double-edged sword

“…While it is capable of ushering in the 'beneficial' fruits of technology and of so--called 'Western advances', the English language is a dangerous bedfellow. (p. 345) This "dangerous bedfellow" analogy often known as the "English threat discussion" (Pan & Seargeant, p. 2012) or the "homogeneity--heterogeneity debate" (Badry, 2011, p. 85) has provoked discussions worldwide in countries such as China (Pan and Seargeant, 2012), Japan (Lehner, 2011), Turkey (Atay and Ece, 2009), Malaysia (Mohd--Asraf, 2004), Saudi Arabia (Alabbad and Gitsaki, 2011), India (Hudawi, 2013) and United Arab Emirates (Findlow, 2006;O'Neill, 2014;Randall & Samimi, 2010) to name just a few.…”