Examining the gap between the language of instruction and actual classroom communication among scholarship students

Arabic language programs for non-native speakers in Saudi universities operate in a diglossic ecology where Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the official medium of instruction, yet local dialect and teacher code-switching frequently surface in everyday classroom interaction. For international scholarship students—whose prior exposure to Arabic is often confined to formal registers—this instructional–interactional mismatch can shape real-time comprehension, willingness to participate, and perceptions of inclusion. This study adopts a qualitatively driven mixed-methods convergent design, integrating classroom observations and interviews with a complementary student survey ( n = 70) to examine: (1) how MSA, local dialect, and code-switching are distributed across classroom functions (e.g., explanation, management, feedback, humor); (2) how students and teachers interpret these practices; and (3) how the resulting language gap relates to perceived accessibility and engagement across proficiency levels. Across 36 observed sessions, teacher interviews ( n = 3), focus groups ( n = 12), document analysis, and survey patterns, findings reveal a structured functional specialization in which MSA anchors content explanation while dialect/code-switching concentrates in interactional management and rapport. Crucially, the gap is developmentally contingent: unmarked switching increases processing burden and suppresses participation among beginners, whereas dialect-rich interaction increasingly supports comfort and everyday communicative readiness for advanced learners, even as perceived alignment with textbook MSA declines. The study advances a conceptual account of how diglossic alternation shifts from cognitive load to engagement scaffold across proficiency, and it concludes with policy-oriented principles for linguistically responsive teaching that preserves academic MSA goals while strengthening equitable interactional access.