“It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International Schools
This paper examines the tensions around Arabic language education in Egypt’s expanding private international educational field. Drawing on interviews and participant-observation research inside an international school in Cairo between 2016-2017, I focus on the institutional, pedagogical, and sociocu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Université de Provence
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/20198 |
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| author | Noha Roushdy |
| author_facet | Noha Roushdy |
| author_sort | Noha Roushdy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper examines the tensions around Arabic language education in Egypt’s expanding private international educational field. Drawing on interviews and participant-observation research inside an international school in Cairo between 2016-2017, I focus on the institutional, pedagogical, and sociocultural configuration of Arabic language education in international schools. I argue that students’ linguistic attitudes and practices echoed the sharp division between Standard and Egyptian Vernacular Arabic in the linguistic ideology of formal Arabic education. The research showed that lack of proficiency in Standard Arabic had no bearing on international school students’ academic achievement or social life. Conversely, students’ relationship to Egyptian Vernacular Arabic was central in everyday identity negotiations in the international school and provided a dynamic linguistic and cultural repertoire for the enactment of nationally inflected social and cultural values. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-42c1cb42bab2449fbdb3c7f5a8d54f1c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0997-1327 2105-2271 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Université de Provence |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée |
| spelling | doaj-art-42c1cb42bab2449fbdb3c7f5a8d54f1c2025-01-09T13:23:25ZengUniversité de ProvenceRevue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée0997-13272105-22712023-11-0115410512410.4000/remmm.20198“It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International SchoolsNoha RoushdyThis paper examines the tensions around Arabic language education in Egypt’s expanding private international educational field. Drawing on interviews and participant-observation research inside an international school in Cairo between 2016-2017, I focus on the institutional, pedagogical, and sociocultural configuration of Arabic language education in international schools. I argue that students’ linguistic attitudes and practices echoed the sharp division between Standard and Egyptian Vernacular Arabic in the linguistic ideology of formal Arabic education. The research showed that lack of proficiency in Standard Arabic had no bearing on international school students’ academic achievement or social life. Conversely, students’ relationship to Egyptian Vernacular Arabic was central in everyday identity negotiations in the international school and provided a dynamic linguistic and cultural repertoire for the enactment of nationally inflected social and cultural values.https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/20198EgyptArabic language educationinternational schoolsdiglossiaArabic language ideologyelite education |
| spellingShingle | Noha Roushdy “It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International Schools Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée Egypt Arabic language education international schools diglossia Arabic language ideology elite education |
| title | “It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International Schools |
| title_full | “It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International Schools |
| title_fullStr | “It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International Schools |
| title_full_unstemmed | “It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International Schools |
| title_short | “It’s just Arabic!”: Linguistic Anxiety and Identity Negotiations in Egypt’s International Schools |
| title_sort | it s just arabic linguistic anxiety and identity negotiations in egypt s international schools |
| topic | Egypt Arabic language education international schools diglossia Arabic language ideology elite education |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/remmm/20198 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT noharoushdy itsjustarabiclinguisticanxietyandidentitynegotiationsinegyptsinternationalschools |