Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Language policies in education in Qatar between 2003 and 2012: from local to global then back to local

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Language Policy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

I love the Arabic language and prefer having these subjects taught in Arabic, but I respect the government directives, as I am an employee of this government.

Qatari SEC Official

Abstract

The State of Qatar, in cooperation with the RAND Corporation, launched in 2002 an ambitious educational reform and development plan, Education for a New Era, which included, among other things, the instating of English as the medium of instruction (EMI) in mathematics, science, and technology in the K-12 system. From the start, the reform plan came under fire locally on grounds related either to ideological concerns or to implementational practicalities. Results of students in all grades on national examinations, which the Supreme Educational Council (SEC) oversaw, showed that a very small percentage of students (8–20%) had mastered the set learning outcomes in any of the main four subjects (Mathematics, Sciences, English, and Arabic). These results showed clearly that the reform initiative had failed to deliver on promises of improved student performance (Kirkpatrick and Barnawi, in: Kirkpatrick (ed) English language education in the Middle East and North Africa, Springer, Switzerland, 2017). In 2012, these perceived failures led the SEC to issue a decree reinstating Arabic as the language of instruction in grades K-12 in schools as well as at Qatar University in all areas of social sciences. The present study examined the problems that had caused the failure of the reform initiative through surveying, by means of structured interviews, the opinions of teachers at independent, public, and international schools in addition to the opinions of some SEC officials; the total number of interview hours was 34 conducted with 24 interviewees. The study identified the following issues as factors that had actively contributed to the demise of the experiment of using EMI in mathematics, science and technology: attitudes of stakeholders; teachers’ qualifications and preparedness to take up such a daring task; the complexity of the context of teaching; and the manner of introducing the reform agenda.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmed, K. (2011). Casting Arabic culture as the ‘other’: Cultural issues in the English curriculum. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab world (pp. 119–137). Vienna: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Assem, K. (2007). Obeid attacks and Al-Rashid defends: Our language is for the poor and the destitute. Al-Yawm Newspaper (June 5, Issue 12408, p. 13).

  • Al Dabbagh, A. (2005). Globalism and the universal language. English Today, 21(2), 3–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Jaraf, R. (2004). College students’ attitudes towards using English and Arabic as a medium of instruction at the university level. Diwan Al-Arab: Manbar Horr li Thakafa Waladab. (in Arabic). Available from: http://www.diwanalarab.com/spip.php?article748.

  • Alkhatib, H. (2015). The impact of neoliberalism on Qatar’s language policy and language planning: Constructing a new hybrid national identity or maintaining a national Arabic identity?. London: University College of London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Mahrooqi, R., & Denman, C. (Eds.). (2015). Issues in English education in the Arab world. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Muhaideb, A. B. I. (2005). Arabizing the teaching of engineering in Saudi Arabia: Reality and aspiration. Beirut: Center for Arabic Unity Studies. (in Arabic).

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Obaidli, K. M. (2009). Women ESL teachers’ perceptions about their roles and professional development needs in Qatar’s Education for a New Era. The University of Birmingham: Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis.

  • Al-Qahtani, Z., & Al-Zumor, A. W. (2016). Saudi parents’ attitudes towards using English as a medium of instruction in private primary schools. International Journal of Applied Linguisitcs and English Literature, 5(1), 18–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amin, T. G. (2009). Language of instruction and science education in the Arab World: Toward a situated research agenda. In S. BouJaoude & Z. Dagher (Eds.), The world of science education: Arab states (pp. 61–82). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, N., & Mackenzie, N. (2013). Standardization, ideology and linguistics. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Badinska, M., & Kokavcova, D. (2010). CLIL: A way towards autonomy in education. Available from: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/doaj/13185160/2010/00000016/00000004/art00004.

  • Banegas, D. L. (2012). Integrating content and language in ELT in secondary education: Models, benefits, and challenges. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2(1), 111–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakir, M. (2010). Notes on the verbal system of Gulf Pidgin Arabic. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 25(2), 201–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belhia, H., & Elhami, M. (2015). English as a medium of instruction in the Gulf: When students and teachers speak. Language Policy, 14(1), 3–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benson, C., & Kosonen, K. (Eds.). (2013). Language issues in comparative education: Inclusive teaching and learning in non-dominant languages and cultures. Boston: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BouJaoude, S., & Sayah, F. (2000). Teaching sciences in Arabic: Attitudes and solutions. In K. Shaaban (Ed.), Language and education. Beirut: Association for Educational Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, D., Augustine, C., Zellman, G., Ryan, G., Goldman, C., Stasz, C., et al. (2007). Education for a New Era: Design and implementation of K-12 education reform in Qatar. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cenoz, J., Genesee, F., & Gorter, D. (2013). Critical analysis of CLIL: Taking stoch and looking forward. Applied Linguistics, 35(3), 243–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charise, A. (2007). More English, less Islam? An overview of English language functions in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. University of Toronto. Accessed on March, 2018. http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/eng6365-charise.htm.

  • Christ, H. (1997). Language attitudes and educational policy. In R. Wodak & D. Carson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education: Language policy and political issues in education (Vol. I, pp. 1–11). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dearden, J. (2017). EMI (and CLIL)—A growing global trend. Oxford: Oxford University Press English Language teaching Blog.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ejieh, M. U. C. (2004). Attitudes of student teachers towards teaching in mother tongue in Nigerian primary schools: Implications for planning. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 17(1), 73–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellili-Cherif, M., & Alkhateeb, H. (2015). College students’ attitude toward the medium of instruction: Arabic versus english dilemma. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 3(3), 207–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellili-Cherif, M., & Romanowski, M. H. (2013). Education for a New Era: Stakeholders’ perception of Qatari education reform. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 8(6), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellili-Cherif, M., Romanowski, M., & Nasser, R. (2012). All that glitters is not gold: Challenges of teacher and school leader licensure licensing system in Qatar. International Journal of Educational Development, 32, 471–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fassi Fehri, A. (2013). Language policy in Arab countries: Searching for a natural, just, demo-cratic, beneficial environment. Beirut: Dar al-Kitab al-Jadid al-Muttahida. (in Arabic).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginsburgh, V., & Weber, S. (2011). How many languages do we need? The economics of linguistic diversity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goldenberg, C. (2013). Unlocking the research on english learners. American Educator, 38, 4–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gravel, L. A. (1979). A Sociolinguistic investigation of multilingualism in Morocco. Columbia University, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/world/middleeast/11iht-educlede11.html.

  • Fairclough, N. (1995). Media discourse. London: Edward Arnold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairclough, N. (2003). Analyzing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Furguson, C. A. (1959). Diglossia. Word, 15, 232–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanks, H. (1997). Teaching language and power. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 1, 241–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopkyns, S. (2015). A conflict of desires: English as a global language and its effects on cultural identity in the United Arab Emirates. In R. Al-Mahrooqi & C. Denman (Eds.), Issues in English education in the Arab world (pp. 6–24). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornberger, N. (2009). Framework and models in language policy and planning. In T. Ricento (Ed.), Introduction to language policy: Theory and method (pp. 24–41). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaworski, A., & Coupland, N. (Eds.). (2002). The discourse reader. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, J. (2007). English as a lingua franca: Attitude and identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, J. E. (2004). Language and identity: National, ethnic, religious. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Karmani, S. (2005a). English, ‘terror’, and Islam. Applied Linguistics, 26(2), 262–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karmani, S. (2005b). Petro-linguistics: The emerging nexus between oil, English, and Islam. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 4(2), 87–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick, R., & Barnawi, O. Z. (2017). Introduction: English language education policy in MENA. In R. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), English language education in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 1–8). Geneva: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramsch, C. (1998). Language and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lippi-Green, R. (1994). Accent, standard, and language ideology, and discriminatory pretext in court. Language in Society, 23, 163–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malallah, S. (2000). English in an Arabic environment: Current attitudes to English among Kuwait University students. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 3(1), 19–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod, P., & Abou-El-Kheir, A. (2017). Qatar’s English education policy in K-12 and higher education: Rapid development, radical reform and transition to a new way forward. In R. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), English language education policy in the Middle East and North Africa (pp. 171–197). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • May, S. (2005). Language rights: Moving the debate forward. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5(4), 530–555.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milroy, J., & Milroy, L. (2012). Authority in language: Investigating standard english (4th ed.). Florence: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mozak, C. M., & Carroll, K. S. (Eds.). (2017). Translanguaging in higher education: Beyond monolingual ideologies. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murtaza, A. (2017). State of EMI in a private university: Teachers’ dilemma. Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR), 3(3), 566–570.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nasser, R. (2017). Qatar’s educational reform past and future: Challenges in teacher development. Open Review of Educational Research, 4(1), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nasser, R., & Romanowski, M. H. (2011). Teacher perceptions of training in the context of the Qatari national educational reform. International Journal of Training and Development, 15, 158–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennycook, A. (2010). Language as local practice. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redouane, R. (2016). Linguistic diversity or linguistic rivalry in Morocco? Realities and perspectives. International Journal of Education and Human Developments, 2(1), 18–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricento, T. (2000). Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4(2), 196–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ricento, T. (2009). Theoretical perspectives in language policy: An overview. In T. Ricento (Ed.), Introduction to language policy: Theory and method (pp. 3–10). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romanowski, M. H., Ellili Cherif, M., Al Ammari, B., & Al Attiyah, A. (2013). Qatar’s educational reform: The experiences and perceptions of principals, teachers and parents. International Journal of Education, 5(3), 119–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaaban, K., & Ghaith, G. (2002). University students’ perceptions of the ethnolinguistic vitality of Arabic, French and English in Lebanon. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 6(4), 557–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaaban, K., & Ghaith, G. (2003). Effect of religion, first foreign language, and gender on the perception of the utility of language. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 2(1), 53–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, J. (2017). English language and medium of instruction in basic education in low-and middle-income countries: A British Council Perspective. London: British Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spolsky, B., & Shohamy, E. (1999). The languages of Israel: Policy, ideology and practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suleiman, Y. (2003). The Arabic language and national identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Surgo, Y. (2014). The linguistic rivalry between the symbolic and the utilitarian: The case of Arabic and French. Morocco World News.

  • Thomas, C. (2009). A positively plurilingual world: Promoting mother tongue education. State of the world’s minorities and indigenous peoples (pp. 82–91). London: Minority Rights Group International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tollefson, J. (2009). Critical theory in language policy. In T. Ricento (Ed.), Introduction to language policy: Theory and method (pp. 42–59). Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Troudi, S. (2009). The effects of English as a medium of instruction on Arabic as a language of science and academia. In P. Wachob (Ed.), Power in the EFL classroom: Critical pedagogy in the Middle East (pp. 199–216). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Troudi, S., & Jendli, A. (2011). Emirati students’ experiences of English as a medium of instruction. In A. Al-Issa & L. S. Dahan (Eds.), Global English and Arabic: Issues of language, culture and identity (pp. 23–47). Oxford: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Rinsveld, A., Schiltz, C., Brunner, M., Landerl, K., & Ugen, S. (2016). Solving arithmetic problems in first and second language: Does the language context matter? Learning and Instruction, 42, 72–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wodak, R. (2001). Methods of critical discourse analysis. London: SAGE.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zakharia, Z. (2009). Positioning Arabic in schools: Language policy, national identity, and development in contemporary Lebanon. In F. Vavrus & L. Bartlett (Eds.), Critical approaches to comparative education: Vertical case studies from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas (pp. 215–231). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zellman, G. L., Ryan, G., Karam, R., Constant, L., Salem, H., Gonzalez, G., et al. (2009). Implementation of the K–12 education reform in Qatar’s schools. Santa Monica: RAND-Qatar Policy Institute.

    Google Scholar 

Reports

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by Qatar University (Grant No.: CAS08042). Part of this paper has been written while Eiman Mustafawi has been a Visiting Scholar at the Centre of Islamic Studies at University of Cambridge, UK.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Eiman Mustafawi

  2. American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Kassim Shaaban

Authors
  1. Eiman Mustafawi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kassim Shaaban
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eiman Mustafawi.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mustafawi, E., Shaaban, K. Language policies in education in Qatar between 2003 and 2012: from local to global then back to local. Lang Policy 18, 209–242 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9483-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9483-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation