Compensatory strategies in arabic as a second language

Abstract

This paper investigates the compensatory strategies (CpSs) used in the oral discourse of second year students studying Arabic as a second language (ASL) in the Arabic Language Institute at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study examined the various strategies used by a sample of 24 male learners who were all high school graduates from 8 different countries (Russia, Kosovo, Senegal, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Benin, Malaysia and Ethiopia), speaking 8 different languages (Russian, Albanian, Wolof, Tajik, Urdu, French, Malay and Somali). To elicit the CpS use, the subjects were audio-recorded while performing two tasks: an interview and a role-play. The data were transcribed and analysed. The results showed that the subjects used a range of compensatory strategies in their oral production. Moreover, there were differences between the individual learners' strategies according to their native language. The findings of the study showed that ASL learners were risk-takers, and they expanded their limited linguistic resources to achieve their communicative goals. The findings of the present study suggest that strategic competence as reflected in the CpSs used by ASL learners should be integrated into the ASL curriculum. © 2007, Versita. All rights reserved.