The Role of Arabic in English Department Classrooms: Exploring Teacher Perspectives and Influencing Factors in Saudi Arabia's Higher Education Contexts

The use of L1 in any foreign language educational context is an ongoing controversial topic among educators.Many language teachers believe that the use of L1 can facilitate L2 learning while others remain apprehensive about L1 effect on L2 learning.This research aims to explore English teachers' epistemic and deontic beliefs about the use of Arabic alongside English in tertiary level classrooms in an EFL country, and the factors affecting those beliefs.Epistemic beliefs pertain to the teachers' understanding of knowledge about L1 use, based on experience, while deontic beliefs refer to their sense of obligation concerning its implementation.The stance of their beliefs (with respect to either limiting or exploiting L1) also needs to be considered.Leveraging Activity Theory, the study explores other factors that might influence the adoption of such beliefs, such as teacher teaching experience and educational level, and contextual factors, such as, educational policy.EFL teachers (n= 224) across six tertiary contexts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia completed a four-point Likert scale response questionnaire.Results indicated that teachers in general endorsed beliefs that were deontic and in favour of limiting L1 rather than those that were epistemic and supporting exploitation of L1.This was interpreted as a possible effect of the Saudi collectivist cultural context.Teacher variables that affected belief were primarily teacher educational level, years of study abroad in an English-speaking country, and years of teaching other subjects through the medium of English.This research contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of L1 in language learning, and can inform teacher training and curriculum design.