English/Kuwaiti Arabic Code-switching as an evidence of the role of English in Kuwait

Abdulmohsen Dashti (English department PAAET, College of Basic Education, Kuwait) [BIO]

Email: abdulmohsendashti@hotmail.com

 

ABSTRACT:

It is widely acknowledged by educationalists that in Kuwait English in Kuwait maintains and EFL status. I would like to argue in this study that English in Kuwait has been developing a more centralized role and its use is spreading in different social domains. One way of authenticating my argument is through analyzing code-switching patterns. I believe that Kuwaitis tend to use English/Kuwaiti Arabic code-switching with deferent interlocutors and in different interactions.

This study aims at investigating the phenomenon of English-Kuwaiti/Arabic code-switching deployed by Kuwaiti mothers as a language choice strategy with their children in different social contexts. Therefore, fifty Kuwaiti mothers who were all university graduates or university/college students participated in the study. Recorded conversations were used as a technique to obtain spontaneous and natural speech from the subjects. The code-switching data were chiefly interpreted within a social framework.

The study shows that Kuwaiti mothers and their children deploy English/Kuwait Arabic code-switching in both the home and no-home domains a one strategy of language choice. This is only one indication that English, in Kuwait is no longer used merely in academic settings. Rather, its use has expanded to various domains which implies the global effect of the use of English.