MEET DR. CROMPTON
Dr. Peter Crompton
Associate Professor
PhD in Linguistics, University of Lancaster, UK
Peter Crompton is a Professor of English and Linguistics at the American University of Sharjah (AUS). he has taught at colleges in China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, and in the UAE.
Some publications include:
-Crompton, P. (2017). Complex anaphora with 'this': Variation between three written argumentative genres. Corpora: corpus-based language learning, language processing and linguistics 12 (1), 115–148.
-Candlin, C., Crompton, P., and Hatim, B. (2016). Academic Writing Step by Step: A Research-based Approach. Sheffield, UK: Equinox.
-Crompton, P. (2014). The positioning of adverbials: discourse function reconsidered. In L. Sarda, S. Carter-Thomas, B. Fagard, and M. Charolles (Eds.), Adverbials in Use: From Predicative to Discourse Functions (pp.127-144). Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.
Associate Professor
PhD in Linguistics, University of Lancaster, UK
Peter Crompton is a Professor of English and Linguistics at the American University of Sharjah (AUS). he has taught at colleges in China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, and in the UAE.
Some publications include:
-Crompton, P. (2017). Complex anaphora with 'this': Variation between three written argumentative genres. Corpora: corpus-based language learning, language processing and linguistics 12 (1), 115–148.
-Candlin, C., Crompton, P., and Hatim, B. (2016). Academic Writing Step by Step: A Research-based Approach. Sheffield, UK: Equinox.
-Crompton, P. (2014). The positioning of adverbials: discourse function reconsidered. In L. Sarda, S. Carter-Thomas, B. Fagard, and M. Charolles (Eds.), Adverbials in Use: From Predicative to Discourse Functions (pp.127-144). Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.
The Interview
I was given the opportunity to interview Dr. Crompton, asking a number of questions regarding the status of the English language in the UAE.
Q: How prevalent is English in education in the UAE?
A: Very. In addition to primary and secondary schools for English speaking expatriates, attended by some nationals, most HE institutions are English medium.
Q: Would you say that English is important to know in the UAE? Why/ why not?
A: Yes. It is the main lingua franca.
Q: What is English education like in the UAE?
A: Varies from appalling to excellent depending on your purse.
Q: Do you believe that the the UAE has its own unique form of English?
A: No. Most of the bilinguals here are heavily influenced by the English variety used in their family's ethnic community (e.g. Egyptian, Indian, Philipino) and the native speaker varieties exposed to on American dominated media (e.g, Netflix).
Q:How often do you speak English outside of work and educational situations?
A: All the time. (I am monolingual).
Q: What is the status of the English language in relation to other foreign and native languages?
A: The official language in government offices is Arabic but most government communications are in Arabic and English. Among nationals Arabic has the highest status. But 80% of UAE residents are not nationals and English has the greatest currency among most of these as a lingua franca. No doubt within the different ethnic communities the various high status languages back home have the highest status (Urdu amongst Pakistanis, Russian amongst the Kazakhs etc).
Q: How prevalent is English in education in the UAE?
A: Very. In addition to primary and secondary schools for English speaking expatriates, attended by some nationals, most HE institutions are English medium.
Q: Would you say that English is important to know in the UAE? Why/ why not?
A: Yes. It is the main lingua franca.
Q: What is English education like in the UAE?
A: Varies from appalling to excellent depending on your purse.
Q: Do you believe that the the UAE has its own unique form of English?
A: No. Most of the bilinguals here are heavily influenced by the English variety used in their family's ethnic community (e.g. Egyptian, Indian, Philipino) and the native speaker varieties exposed to on American dominated media (e.g, Netflix).
Q:How often do you speak English outside of work and educational situations?
A: All the time. (I am monolingual).
Q: What is the status of the English language in relation to other foreign and native languages?
A: The official language in government offices is Arabic but most government communications are in Arabic and English. Among nationals Arabic has the highest status. But 80% of UAE residents are not nationals and English has the greatest currency among most of these as a lingua franca. No doubt within the different ethnic communities the various high status languages back home have the highest status (Urdu amongst Pakistanis, Russian amongst the Kazakhs etc).
Conclusions
Based off of my interview with Dr. Crompton, my research stating the significance of English in the UAE has been reinforced. It was interesting to find out how different ethnic groups speak different varieties of English depending on their community. It may be possible that the UAE does not have their own kind of English, but has many different varieties of English. American media seems to have a huge impact on the English language in other countries.