Examining engineering student learning and engagement in non-native language learning environments: The case of the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has achieved phenomenal economic growth and social maturity in the nearly half century since nationalization in 1971. In the quest to thrive in the global marketplace, the leadership of the UAE have prioritized the education as the key to social and economic prosperity and full employment of Emirati youth in the knowledge-economy an overriding goal of the national vision. Therefore, English, the new commercial Lingua Franca, is the language of instruction in all federally funded educational institutions and most locally funded and private post-secondary educational institutions. Recent literature set in western contexts such as the United States, Europe, and Australia, found that students studying in their non-native languages faced learning challenges that reduced engagement and contributed to poor performance. In the western contests, students studying in their non-native language came mainly from immigrant or second generation immigrant families or are indigenous people with their own indigenous language who were taught in schools established by the English speaking citizenry. In the UAE, the most UAE national students study at the primary and secondary level in their native Arabic language. Of those that proceed on to tertiary education, most study in English taught mostly by English speaking teachers residing as expats in the country. This study examined the perceptions of engineering students and their instructors about ways in which studying in a non-native language affects learning and engagement in the context of the UAE. The study administered surveys to students and their teachers listing the most common reasons for disengagement of learners studying their non-native language gleaned from educational literature. Student responses and instructor responses were analyzed separately then compared to each other. Each survey contained an open ended question requesting suggestions from both students and instructors on how to improve the quality of learning. The findings indicated that students and faculty perceptions were similar with the main reasons for engagement identified by both as practical and interactive lessons, discussions and activities to perform in class, and ability of students to form groups to work together in the learning processes. Teachers identified highly theoretical content and students using mobile devices for non-academic activities as being disengaging while students indicated that boring teachers were disengaging. A trend surfaced indicating that faculty teaching in the system longer indicated that language proficiency is a factor for engagement or disengagement.