Oral fluency, sociolinguistic competence, and language contact: Arabic learners studying abroad in Egypt

This study examines the development of oral fluency and sociolinguistic competence in 21 U.S. university Arabic learners studying for four months in three programs in Egypt. Two measures of oral fluency (speech rate and mean length of run) were measured in pre and post sociolinguistic interviews. Sociolinguistic competence was operationalized as the percent of Egyptian phonological, morphosyntactic, and lexical items used in the post interview (students had not been extensively exposed to Egyptian dialect prior to study abroad). The results demonstrate that while students made gains in oral fluency on average, not all students made gains. However, all students gained in sociolinguistic competence, implying that this measure of oral performance may not be captured by fluency measures. Observation and interview data were used to analyze the experiences of high and low gainers on each measure. These results show that high gainers socialized in Arabic with both study abroad students and Egyptians, while low gainers primarily socialized with other study abroad students in English. Program components helped shape social networks and language use. The study concludes with recommendations for measuring oral gains during study abroad and program interventions.