Globalization & the Spread of English In Arab Societies

Studying the effects that globalization has brought on Arab youth from multiple perspectives -Psychological -Cultural -Linguistic This study tries to highlight the status of The English language with regard to world globalized realities, focusing on Arab societies in general and on the Syrian society in particular (Syrian Youths).The aim of this study is to examine the role of Youth culture in students’ development of integrative motivation to learn the English language with regard to their habitual use of English multimedia taking into consideration their aspirations of a cosmopolitan self image. Students original integrative orientations could be attributed to their sense of familiarity with the target language group (Clement &Kruidenier,1983). These feeling of familiarity and belonging to a greater cultural frame (pop culture),is the result of students contact and use of English media (Arnett,2002). One reason for being attracted to the international youth culture , is students’ eagerness to acquire a cosmopolitan identity. Globalization’s mediums (T.V, Internet), have compensated to a certain extent the lack of existence of a native English speaking community in Syria. Part of the students’ possible & ideal selves was present in the recreated realities of English films’ stories. This document is added for archiving purposes. For more information visit www.aiu.edu.sy