Language repertoires and attitudes of students in the United Arab Emirates

以下提案调查生活在阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）的个人的多语言储备和语言态度，阿联酋是一个由七个主权酋长国组成的宪法联邦。阿联酋的社会语言学现状在很大程度上是未知的领域，到目前为止，在这一领域很少有社会语言学研究。以前进行的所有社会语言学研究都集中在特定性别的语言使用或特定专业人员的语言偏好上。此外，这些研究大多集中在阿联酋国民身上，而忽视了阿联酋大多数非公民人口的语言实践。虽然有一些研究试图描述英语在阿联酋的特点，但仍然缺乏对当前语言生态的研究，以调查阿拉伯语（官方语言）和英语（事实上的通用语）的持续使用和态度，以及阿联酋不同社区使用的所有语言。因此，大多数先前的研究都要求进行更全面的调查，以更好地了解阿联酋，特别是沙迦/迪拜地区的语言情况。这个项目的目的是提供沙迦/迪拜地区社会语言学概况的第一份文件，这是一个全球化的大都市，主要由高度流动的移民组成。作为阿联酋的代表性样本，我们从沙迦美国大学（AUS）的学生群体中提取数据，该大学由来自不同语言和种族背景的学生组成，因此提供了一个合适的环境来研究对不同语言和英语作为全球语言的使用和态度。该研究旨在回答(i)澳大学生的语言储备是什么，以及（ii）该地区的英语使用情况或对英语和其他语言的态度与我们在其他全球英语城市（例如新加坡，香港）发现的情况有多大不同。数据将通过全面的在线问卷和半结构化访谈获得。我们的研究将为阿联酋当前学生一代的多语言结构提供重要见解，这也为大学和阿联酋的语言政策制定者提供重要信息。考虑到阿拉伯联合酋长国的语言结构和发展与其他使用英语的全球化城市（如新加坡和香港）不同，我们预计参与者的语言储备、使用和态度会有很大的不同，也更复杂。因此，我们的研究将为当前关于世界英语新模式的讨论提供例证，特别是关于英语在第二语言和/或外语语境中的使用。

The following proposal investigates the multilingual repertoires and language attitudes of individuals living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a constitutional federation of seven sovereign emirates. The sociolinguistic status quo of the UAE is largely uncharted territory and so far, little sociolinguistic research has been done in that area. All previously conducted sociolinguistic studies have focused either on the language use of specific genders or on language preferences of particular professionals. Besides, the majority of these studies have centered on Emirati nationals to the neglect of the language practices of the majority non-citizen population of the UAE. Although a few studies have attempted to describe the features of English as spoken in the UAE, there remains a shortage of studies on the current linguistic ecology to investigate the ongoing usages of and attitudes towards not only Arabic (the official language) and English (the de facto lingua franca), but also all languages used by different communities in the UAE. Accordingly, most previous studies call for a much more comprehensive enquiry to better understand the linguistic situation in the UAE and more specifically the Sharjah/Dubai area. The purpose of this project is to provide a first documentation of the sociolinguistic profile of the greater Sharjah/Dubai area, a globalized conurbation populated largely by highly transient migrants. For a representative sample of the UAE, we draw our data from the student population of the American University of Sharjah (AUS) which is made up of students from diverse language and ethnic backgrounds and therefore, offers a suitable setting to study the use and attitudes towards different languages and English as a global language. The study aims to answer (i) what the language repertoires of students at AUS are, and (ii) to what extent the usage of English or the attitudes towards English and other languages present in this area differ from the situation that we find in other global English-speaking cities (e.g. Singapore, Hong Kong). The data will be elicited with the help of a comprehensive online questionnaire along with a semi-structured interview. Our study will offer important insights into the multilingual texture of the current student generation in the UAE, which also provides crucial information for language policy makers within the university as well as in the UAE. Given that the language constellations and developments in the United Arab Emirates differ from other English-using globalized cities like Singapore and Hong Kong, we expect the language repertoires, usage and attitudes of our participants to be significantly different and more complex. Hence, our study will offer exemplification for the current discussion of new models of World Englishes, especially concerning English use in second and/or foreign language contexts.