PERCEIVED LINGUISTIC AND NON-LINGUISTIC BARRIERS FACING SAUDI FEMALE PARTNERS LEARNING ENGLISH

Abstract

The partners of the Saudi students who come to the United States on scholarships to earn a degree (Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D.) are eligible for full scholarships as well. However, most of them fail to proceed in earning a degree or fulfill the language proficiency requirement needed to join an academic degree program. This study surveys between 10 to 20 adult female partners of Saudi university students to elicit their opinions on how much English they think they will learn during their partner scholarship time in academic and non-academic settings. This study investigates the female partners of the Saudi degree learners and the factors that they believe could influence their level of attainment of the English language or mastering the second language while in Oxford, Mississippi, as they have full scholarships to earn degrees. Keywords: Sociolinguistics, Saudi Females, linguistics/non-linguistics factors, Motivation, EFL learners, Language barriers.