Investigating Teachers’ and Students’ Attitudes towards the Use of English as the Medium of Instruction in the Scientific fields

Abstract

This work tries to investigate the attitudes of teachers and students towards using English as a medium of instruction in the scientific fields. To achieve this aim, the present research adopts a combination of qualitative and quantitative method. In order to gather data about students' and teachers ' Attitudes, a questionnaire was administered to one hundred (100) second year students of biology at Guelma University in addition to an interview that was conducted with five (5) teachers in the same department. The analysis of results revealed that both students and teachers are conscious of the importance of the English language, they accept to use this language instead of French in the Algerian universities. Moreover, the majority of the participants had positive attitudes towards using English as a medium of instruction in the scientific fields. On the basis of these findings, this inquiry suggests some pedagogical implications for learners, teachers, and policymakers to aid them in the process of applying English as a medium of instruction in the scientific fields of study.