Running Head: Second Language Learner Case Study

Second Language Learner Case Study

Lujin Almazyad
University of St.Thomas

Second Language Learner Case Study

Background Information
For the purposes of this paper I interviewed Mr.Saleh Alnasser a 34-year-old male
from Saudi Arabia. Mr.Alnasser was born in the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, where
he received his education in a public school system. At age 12, Saleh started to take English
(the subject) as a foreign language, it was a 45 minutes lesson for four times a week, until he
graduated from high school. According to Mr.Alnasser he did not benefit from those classes
for the past six years. Saleh explains in the interview that they were being evaluated on how
much content they had memorized, and it was all a copy- and-paste-type of learning. The
teachers were not very well trained and spoke in their first language most of the time; they
did not encourage the students to speak the language in the classroom as well. In 2000, Saleh
was accepted into medical school at King Saud University In Riyadh, the department of
Medicine there requires the students to attend a four months intensive English language
course in order to prepare them for their medicine practice, and also for the English content in
which they will be studying in. The four months intensive course focused on all fourlanguage domains, the instructors were very highly trained and spoke only English to their
students, the students were not allowed to speak in their first language either. Mr.Alnasser
stated that after the course had finished he felt that his language level improved greatly. When
he started to take his medical courses, his vocabulary in that field expanded year by year;
although his social skills in English were not very enhanced at the time. After their 7 years of
medical school, the students practice medicine in public hospitals as interns. According to
Saleh his experience as an intern gave him a chance to practice his conversational skills with
physicians and nurses. The experience was not fully beneficial, as all of the people he
interacted with in English were also second language learners, and spoke a broken language.
The conversations were limited mostly to delivering medical information across. Some of the

Second Language Learner Case Study

speakers had pronunciation problems, which Mr.Alnasser adapted at the time. After two years
as an intern in Riyadhs public hospitals, Saleh moved to Canada for 6 years to complete his
residency there. That was the first time Saleh moved outside of his home country, the
experience was life changing for him. Saleh had to adapt to a new system, culture, language
and lifestyle. The first year in Canada for Saleh was tough, he was shocked that his
conversational and speaking skills were very poor, and he had a hard time delivering his
messages across to his Canadian colleagues. Saleh realized then that he had to improve his
conversational and speaking skills or it would be difficult to survive the program.
Mr.Alnasser paid close attention to how native speakers pronounced words and he tried to
copy them. He also mentioned that presentations were a very big challenge for him, because
he had to deliver his message to larger audiences that were very critical of what he was
saying. Saleh practiced at home and among friends and family his presentations, he would
also record himself presenting, in order to evaluate his way of speaking and to eliminate
mistakes during the actual presentation. As a medical resident in Canada, Saleh had to write
papers on an academic level, which required a lot of techniques that he was lacking. His
writing level before he moved to Canada was very basic, with a lot of grammatical mistakes.
His style in writing in general was at a level of 7th grader; therefore, it was necessary that he
address those problems and work on them so that he can succeed in the program. Saleh asked
friends and family members who had a very good English level, especially in writing, to
review his papers and give him feedback. When his residency program was almost ending,
Saleh applied for several fellowship programs in the U.S, which required many interview and
conversations in order to get a spot in a good program. Saleh prepared for his interviews like
he would for his presentations, preparing questions and answers and practicing them. After he
had those interviews, he felt that his confidence level was higher, because what he used to
fear in the past was not an issue anymore, especially that he can communicate in a language

Second Language Learner Case Study

that was not his mother tongue. Salehs experience in Canada had a huge impact on his
overall level of proficiency in English right now, due to the fact that he was practicing the
language with real native speakers, while developing his language academically and socially.
School System in Saudi Arabia
Since my interviewee is from Saudi Arabia and received the majority of their
schooling there, it is necessary that we understand the foundations of the education system
there, with a focus on second language learning. Education in Saudi Arabia is fairly recent,
formal primary education began in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s and the teaching of English as a
foreign language was actually introduced into the Saudi Arabian educational system in 1928,
a few years after the establishment of the Directorate of Education in 1923 (Al-Seghayer,
2011). English is the only foreign language taught in Saudi Arabian public schools, English is
also taught in private schools, universities, and a variety of several industrial and government
institutions. For the first six years of formal schooling (elementary school), English is not
offered as second or foreign subject (at the time when Mr.Alnasser was studying). When
students move to the intermediate level up until grade 12th of high school the English subject
is offered as a second language four times a week for a period of 45 minutes a day. (See
graph below)

Second Language Learner Case Study

The
subject book focuses on all four-language domains, with an emphasis on grammar rules.
Much of the teaching done inside the classroom is by employing the audio-lingual method
(ALM), a method that was widely spread in the sixties and the seventies. Teachers focus on
drilling the students on specific vocabulary and dialogues, without actually comprehending
the meaning of those phrases or sounds, the grammar translation method (GTM) was also
used occasional when focusing on grammatical points. The subject book content seems to be
concerned with presenting the information to learners, rather than giving them opportunities
to practice the given information and materials. The students beyond the classroom have little
exposure to communicative situations or communication functions in lifelike situations that
enable them to participate various language functions. These practices result in a very weak
outcome, the students can barely use English outside the classroom, but they can perform at a
high level in the given tests. Another factor that reduces language proficiency in Saudi
Arabian classrooms is the poor level of the teachers in general. (Shehdeh, 2010).
Furthermore, the material provided for the students does not recognize students individuality
and learning ability, which means many, would fall through the cracks of such rigid program.

Second Language Learner Case Study

The classes are very teacher centered and leave very little room for students to produce and
explore.
Analysis of the Case
Looking at the data I collected during my interviews with Mr.Alnasser and by
evaluating his language proficiency level based on what we had learned in this course. When
evaluating Mr.Alnassers ability in both languages (Arabic and English) we can say that his
ability to speak the language in social settings in Arabic is very good, but in English it is a
little below average. Saleh stated in the interview that until now he can not fully understand
when a colleague speaks in a matter outside the medical field, he also finds it very hard to
understand his friends jokes, and that he acts as if he understood them. Saleh in general does
not like to participate in social settings and feels that they are outside of his comfort zone.
This can be applied both to his first and second language. Saleh currently uses and will
continue to use English as the medium for all of his work and academic related settings.
Saleh barely uses Arabic for an academic purpose, although he understands the majority of
what is written in that language. Mr.Alnassers writing skills both in Arabic and in English
are considered moderate or average. Salehs listening skills in Arabic are better than his skills
in English, but when it comes to reading Mr.Alnassers level can be considered high in both
languages, although his reading in English tends to be more scientific and complicated due to
his specialty. In general, Saleh relies on his first language at home to talk with friends and
family, and the majority of his spoken English is done in work related settings. According to
Bakers book the Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, we can classify Saleh
as an emerging balanced bilingual, his language competence in English is growing rapidly in
all four domains, and the more time he spends with native speakers and interacts with them
on a daily basis the greater the impact would be on his language level. Saleh is also
considered a sequential bilingual, a person who acquired the second language after age 3.

Second Language Learner Case Study

When it comes to Mr.Alnassers language development, he can be considered as an ascendant

bilingual, someone whos second language is developing without any language decrease in
his first language. Saleh is also considered a circumstantial bilingual due to the fact that he
did not chose to learn a second language, but rather circumstances he was put through in
order to operate properly in his profession. Saleh learned English so that he can function
efficiently in his field of experience, which is medicine. By examining my interviewees four
language domains in both languages, we can get an idea on what had shaped Mr.Alnassers
language level in English (L2). By looking at Salehs receptive skills (listening reading) we
will notice a variety of levels. For instance, his listening skills in Arabic (L1) are considered
to be excellent, while his listening ability in English is considered to be overall good or
average. When it comes to Mr.Alnassers reading skills I found it surprising that his levels in
both language are almost comparable, but when it comes to academic reading level content,
his level in English shows a stronger ability, something that we can relate to his field of
experience. When examining Mr.Alnassers productive skills (speaking- writing), we find
that his speaking ability in Arabic is considered very high, but when it came to English his
speaking ability ranged from good, average and sometimes poor, depending on the context
and setting. According to Mr.Alnasser, his writing ability in Arabic can be categorized as
good, while his writing ability in English is considered as average. It is very important to ask
the question is Mr.Alnasser considered a balanced bilingual? . From the information that I
have collected during this case study, I can say that according to the holistic view of
bilingualism, Mr.Alnasser can be seen as a balanced bilingual. This view contradicts with the
monolingual view of bilingualism, which only refers to a person as bilingual, if they mastered
all language levels in both L1 and L2, which can be perceived as being two monolinguals in
one person.On the other hand, the holistic view of bilingualism presents a more positive and
realistic view of it; it considers a person to be bilingual even with varying levels of

Second Language Learner Case Study

proficiency. When it comes to my interviewees attitude and motivation, he can be described

as instrumentally motivated, someone whose circumstances pushed them to learn a second
language. This type of attitude towards learning a second language leaves the learner with
two options (to gain or to fail) resulting in a greater language achievement. (Baker, 2011)
To explain Salehs current language gain, I chose to present it through the BICS and
CALP theory, a theory that was brought by Cummins. After evaluating second language
learners for many years, Cummins developed many theories, one of which is the BICS and
CALP theory, in summary; the theory suggests that there are two types of language
acquisition for any language. The first type is the (basic interpersonal communicative
skills) (BICS), this type is usually acquired by students when they first immigrate to a
country. The BICS mostly occurs in setting outside the classroom e.g. playground, shops and
language gained from watching the television. Although the BICS are complicated in form,
they tend to be the first acquired by ELLs, which is mimicking the way we learned our first
language. One more factor that helps make BICS to be acquired first, is that it can be found
everywhere unlike the CALPS which can only be found in classroom-level language, which
is more abstract and requires higher order thinking, like analyzing and synthesizing and
evaluation. The cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP), is obliviously harder to
embed on a daily life basis, thus resulting in a slower gain of that type of proficiency. In my
case study, Mr.Alnasser presented a fascinating fact, Saleh is proficient in academic language
settings (CALP) but has moderate to low interpersonal communicative skills (BICS). In some
rare cases does this happen, when for instance, a scholar reads and writes very well on a
academic level settings, but can not keep up a basic everyday conversation, and my
interviewee could be identified as one of them. Saleh learned English in his home country to
serve for specific circumstances, that is his education. Saleh learned how to write essays and
write articles without really practicing his communicative skills properly. In the conversations

Second Language Learner Case Study

that I had with Saleh, he mentioned that he wrote a thesis paper, and presented scientific
posters, but is still having a hard time keeping up a conversation outside his field of expertise,
and sometimes might say something weird or be misunderstood. (Baker, 2011)
Another interesting fact I stumbled upon when investigating my case study is that
Salehs level in some of the language domains transferred from his first language to the
second language, for instance; Saleh has a very high level of reading in Arabic and also in
English, but has weak speaking skills especially in social settings in both languages. Since I
know Saleh on a personal level I can say that he does shy away from speaking in social
settings in Arabic due to the fact that he spent the majority of his time as a child in front of
the television, therefore; his speaking skills were not developed strongly, these undeveloped
skills then transferred to his second language and vise versa with his well developed reading
skills. This situation can be explained through many studies that focused on the relationship
between the learners L1 and L2. Lanauze and Snow (1989) in a study they did on Spanish
speakers learning English found that, if proficiency is developed in the L1 (Spanish), those
skills can transfer easily to the L2. (Lanauze and Snow, 1989) When focusing on Saleh well
developed literacy in both languages, we can base it on a research study that found ELLs
who were identified as the best the best L1 readers were deemed able to transition to English
reading instruction earlier than other students and that early L1 reading abilities were a
significant predicator of English reading abilities assessed eight years later (Reese et al.,
2000)
Assessment
To measure Salehs overall language proficiency I used the WIDA rubric for speaking
skills (shown below). My interviewee Mr.Saleh Alnasser showed that he is at the Expanding
level of proficiency. Saleh has a variety of oral sentence lengths of varying linguistic
complexity, but still has some grammatical mistakes as shown here in a quote from the

Second Language Learner Case Study

10

interview I am expected to be graduated his pronunciation sometimes maybe difficult to

understand, but in the end Saleh manages to get his message across. Saleh does very well
when using the language for specific technical language related to his work field. His
vocabulary is growing rapidly but in a certain area but is still struggling in other places. Some
of his errors may reflect first language interference such as his mispronunciation of the
sounds /p/ and /b/.
Conclusions and Recommendations
To conclude, it has been an interesting journey to study about someone you know on a
personal level, to give you a better understanding of what they had been through and how
they arrived to the place in which they are in right now. I can list a few suggestions for
Mr.Alnasser in order to improve his second language proficiency. First, it is important that
Saleh engages in more social settings in both languages, and not to be afraid of making
mistakes. Second, since Saleh has very limited view of the western culture I would suggest
that he watches T.V shows in English in order to get a better understanding of the colloquial
language. Finally, Saleh needs to include native speakers into his friends cycle so that he gets
to practice the language in a different setting outside his work field.

11

Second Language Learner Case Study

Table 6: Speaking Rubric of the WIDA Consortium

Task Level
1
Entering

Linguistic
Complexity
Single words, set
phrases, or chunks of
memorized oral
language
Phrases, short oral
sentences

2
Beginning

Simple and expanded

oral sentences;
responses show
3
emerging complexity
Developing used to add detail

4
Expanding

5
Bridging

A variety of oral
sentence lengths of
varying linguistic
complexity; responses
show emerging
cohesion used to
provide detail and
clarity
A variety of sentence
lengths of varying
linguistic complexity in
extended oral
discourse; responses
show cohesion and
organization used to
support main ideas

Vocabulary Usage

Language Control

Highest frequency
vocabulary from school
setting and content areas

Generally comprehensible and fluent

when using memorized language;
communication may be significantly
impeded when going beyond the highly
familiar
General language related Generally comprehensible and fluent
to the content area;
when using simple discourse;
groping for vocabulary
communication may be impeded by
when going beyond the
groping for language structures or by
highly familiar is evident phonological, syntactic, or semantic
errors when going beyond phrases and
short, simple sentences
General and some
Generally comprehensible and fluent
specific language related when communicating in sentences;
to the content area; may
communication may from time to time
grope for needed
be impeded by groping for language
vocabulary at times
structures or by phonological, syntactic,
or semantic errors, especially when
attempting more complex oral discourse
Specific and some
Generally comprehensible and fluent at
technical language related all times, though phonological,
to the content area;
syntactic, or semantic errors that dont
groping for needed
impede the overall meaning of the
vocabulary may be
communication may appear at times;
occasionally evident
such errors may reflect first language
interference
Technical language
related to the content
area; facility with needed
vocabulary is evident

Approaching comparability to that of

English proficient peers; errors dont
impede communication and may be
typical of those an English proficient
peer may make

Speaking Test Scoring Scale

1 Exceeds Task Level Expectations in quantity and/or quality
1 Meets Task Level Expectations in quantity and quality
0 Approaches Task Level Expectations but falls short in quantity and/or quality
0 No responseResponse incomprehensible; student unable to understand task directions

2010 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, on behalf of the WIDA Consortium

39

12

Second Language Learner Case Study

References
Al-Seghayer, K. (2011). English teaching in Saudi Arabia: Status, issues, and challenges.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Hala Printed Co.

Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (5th ed.). Buffalo, NY:
Multilingual Matters.
International Bureau of Education. (2011, August). Retrieved April 20, 2016, from
http://www.ibe.unesco.org/
Lanauze, M., & Snow, C. (1989). The relation between first-and second-language writing
skills: Evidence from Puerto Rican elementary school children in bilingual programs.
Linguistics and Education, 1(4), 323-339. doi:10.1016/s0898-5898(89)80005-1
Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W. M., & Christian, D. (2006). Educating English language
learners (F. Genesee, Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reese, L., Garnier, H., Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2000). Longitudinal Analysis of the
Antecedents of Emergent Spanish Literacy and Middle-School English Reading
Achievement of Spanish-Speaking Students. American Educational Research Journal,
37(3), 633. doi:10.2307/1163484
Shehdeh, F. S. (2010). Challenges of teaching English in the Arab world: Why cant EFL
programs deliver as expected? Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2 , 3600
3604. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.559
Speaking Rubric of the WIDA Consortium*. (2010). Retrieved April 20, 2016, from
http://www.wida.us/get.aspx?id=343

13

Second Language Learner Case Study

Appendix
First Interview Audio Transcription
L: Lujin Almazyad (The interviewer)
S: Saleh Alnasser (The interviewee)

L: Hello my name is Lujin Almazyad. I am taking a course about the theories of second
language acquisition. I would like to ask you some questions that will help me understand
how you developed your second language. All your responses will be confidential and will
only be used for educational purposes.
L: Hello
S: HI
L: First i want to ask you what is your name?
S: my name is Saleh Alnasser
L: How old are you?
S: I am 35 years old
L: where are you from?
S: Saudi Arabia
L: Can you tell me what is your native language?
S: its Arabic
L: its.. you speak Arabic?
S: Yes
L: and what is your second language?
English
L: ok .. and how long have you been in the United States ?
S: mmm about .. about 16 months now
L: ok aaa.. why did you move to this country?
S: To continue my training in medicine
L: ok .. so Im assuming because the next question says " are you currently working" so you

Second Language Learner Case Study

14

are working ?
S: Yes
L: ok umm.. what do you do ?
S: so i am a resident in surgery in Baylor College of Medicine, and it's a training prong
program so now i am in the middle of my training program and i am expected to be graduated
in about one and a half year.
L: ok.. umm how how long ago did you start learning your second language your English
when did you start learning english ?
S: so usually in Saudi Arabia usually we started to learn about English in the intermediate
school, but huh unfortunately there it's very superficial you will not learn alot just you will
learn some principles, uhhh or some phrases then but mainly my practice in English was
during my medical school where all the text books were in English and then when i left Saudi
Arabia and went to ss to Canada and then i started practicing more and more
L: umm ok, so you answered a couple of questions that i was going to ask umm so you said
that you basically learned you English in Secondary school?
S: no, initially initially in the intermediate school
L: yes
S: and then continued through the secondary school and increases more and more in the
medical school and then my practice
L: helped you?
S: significantly improved while I was in Canada
L: ok. and when you were in elementary school huh did.. did you take subjects in English,
were you taught most of the subjects in English or was it just only one subject in .. that you
S: no, it's only it's only the language that we
L: you studies it as a separate
S: yeah .. we stu we study it a separate subject
L: ok
S: aaa all other like the science and the math were in Arabic
L: uhmm .. did you did you take any ESL program any English program other than that
S: umm no

Second Language Learner Case Study

15

L: ok
L: ummm, so you said that the classes you took were very superficial, right ?
S: yes
L: can you elaborate on that ?
S: it's mainly to understand ummm about the umm basic phrases and aaa in English, this is
mainly in the intermediate school, in the secondary school they were more aaa kind of more
in depth, the we have like more reading umm
L: how how was the the instructor ? or the teacher in the classroom ?
S: some of them are good some of them are not like are average
L: the good ones how did they seem?
S: the good ones they seem like more interested in the subject and they want to, usually they
go they try they help us to aaaa
L: ok, so we were talking about the instructor or the teacher in the classroom, how would you
classify them in general?
S: in general, i can say some of them are average and some of them are very good, the very
good one usually aaa, they let us talk in English more and more even if we have a difficulty
they we will still like , i will not say force us but support us to aaa speak in English and then
at the end they will criticize us, not criticize actually, they will correct us and show what were
the mistakes in order to avoid them in the future, and usually in the beginning it will be
difficult, but when you practice more and more this will get easier with time.
L: ok, and how was the curriculum like, the actual subject?
S: so in in the intermediate school just only it wa , i remember it was only one book ok, and
usually we have one class uhhhh usually total on a week we have about four classes once
everyday except one day we don't have any class for English.
L: and the actual book
S: and .. it's only one book ok
L: uhm
S: and usually it's like one day for grammar, one day for phrases, one day i remember how to
write a letter and just very superficial in the intermediate school, but uhhh
L: later on?
S: later on, especially in the secondary school we have to books, one for the grammar and one

Second Language Learner Case Study

16

for the reading, the reading is one of my interesting books, and usually i read more about it,
because it will, it helped my vocabulary ...... to increase
L: more?
S: more than i expect !
L: so when you moved to to to to the university level, how were the the courses like, the
English courses ?
S: so when i moved to the university level, actually we have about, just before the medical
school, we have about four months.
L: huh sorry for cutting off, so you said that you have four months before medical school
S: yeah, before we start medical school usually we have total of four months just only i can
call it intensive English course aaaaaa, that will strengthen like especially the medical student
in or strengthen the medical students English language, because when they go to medicine in
Saudi Arabia, everything will be in English, like the exams
L: what about the patients?
S: the communications and the books
L: uhmm, even the patients ?
S: the patients, no, the patients still like are the patients from usually, the are from patients
from Saudi Arabia, so the first language for them will be Arabic, but you know as most of the
worker there in the hospital, the nurses and some of the doctors come from like India or from
like north America or from Europe, the first language there will be like, will be in English
cpu.. English language. Also, during our communication with the the nurses during our notes,
everything will be in English.
L: I see, so both in school and in University, during tai.. took
the English courses, did the instructor give you any information in your first .. in your native
language ?
S: very rarely!
L: so they spoke mostly in English the whole time?
S: yeah, mainly the communication will be, like the, I will say the scientific talks will be in
English
L: uhmm
S: but you know some, some of the side walks, some of the side talks aaaaa about not
necessarily in medicine, but like anything for life or, usually in Arabic, but mainly the
scientific languages in English

Second Language Learner Case Study

17

L: what about when you were in school? When you were in school, your teacher, did they
speak Arabic inside the classroom?
S: extremely rare
L: uhmm
S: extremely rr rare, usually it's in English.
L: what if you did not understand anything or something, do, do they explain it in English or
Arabic?
S: no usually, they will try to to speak only in English, unless its a term or that's .. some of the
terminology might be difficult to understand even in English, so sometimes that they help us
aaa in Arabic but its that I will say very extremely rare
L: to speak in Arabic?
S: yeah
L: what about outside?
S: or to find a term that to explain it in Arabic to make it easier for students.. I don't think that
its possible.
L: what about outside the classroom?
S: outside the classroom, in what term?
L: do they speak to you in Arabic or in English? your English instructors?
S: the English instructor or the ?
L: your English instructor, the teachers
S: oh, during my fourth my four my four months course ?
L: or in school ? both of them
S: medical school or ?
L: no I mean, from from 6th grade or 7th grade.
S: oh yeah yeah, during that it's mainly in Arabic
L: the teaching ?
S: yeah some, no no the teaching, the teaching will be mixed, I was, I though that you were

Second Language Learner Case Study

18

talking about the medical school.

L: no
S: but no, during the intermediate and secondary school it's mainly in Arabic, ok, they will
speak in English but they will help us, they will communicate also in Arabic to understand
L: so they did speak Arabic in the classroom
S: yes, yeah
L: and they used it, you said to explain the content?
S: yeah, to explain the content they have to speak Arabic, otherwise we will not understand.
L: ok, but then when you moved ...
S: not necessarily me, but the others. most of the class I will say the couldn't understand
anything
L: unless the ...
S: unless it's explained in Arabic
L: I see, and then we moved to the university level aaa
S: it's changed it's completely changed; in which it is rarely they speak Arabic.
L: and in which which way
S: and sometimes I though they don't speak Arabic at all !
L: Oh I see. and then which way you think is more beneficial for you?
S: no, when they don't speak Arabic at all
L: I see
S: yes its make, it make, it made the
L: learning?
S: the subject more difficult or the learning more difficult, but
at the end you will learn a lot and you will not forget.
L: ok, so in general, how do, how do you feel about the way you were taught your second
language?
S: I think if it started at earlier, if if I started learning English at earlier age, may, which I

Second Language Learner Case Study

19

mean like maybe in the 7th or maybe when I was like 7 or 8 years old, I think I will learn
better, especially if I, if the tutors and someone who's his mother language is in English, so I
will learn better, also I will like gain the accent easier, and I will learn how to pro the
pronunciation much better.
L: I see, what were some of the factors that helped you succeed in learning your second
language?
S: practicing, I think practicing is the most important thing to learn any language, if you don't
practice you don't you don't learn.
L: I see
S: even if you don't have enough vocabularies or your grammar weak, still you have to
practice, and when you practice you will find..
L: ok so you said, more practice, this is the factor that helped you succeed in your acquisition,
of second language, acquiring your second language?
S: yes, practice I think is most important thing
L: any other factor?
S: ummmm, I just learn more about the language like basic, which include reading
L: were you interested in ...
S: reading grammar and writing
L: so you were interested in gaining
S: it's not only I am interested, I have to because, during my medical school I have to write
in English I have to communicate in English I have to read in English, so I was forced to do
that.
L: I see
L: ummm, what were some of the obstacles or challenges that you faced when youre leaning
English?
S: I think the pronunciation of some of the wo of words in English
L: you mean when pronouncing them, or when someone pronounces those words to you?
S: when someone pronounce in wrong way and then I just.
L: copied it
S: copied it in my tongue, and this is changed actually when I saw that when I went to

Second Language Learner Case Study

20

Canada and then I start to say something and they will, they were looking at me
L: funny
S: yeah, like what are you saying ! So I found of these, I think.....
L: so these are the difficulties that you faced when you were leaning English
S: Yeah I think this is one of the most difficult, most difficult for me during learning English,
and when, just one thing for me, I don't learn English for English itself, I learned English to
do, to practice medicine, so I don't know if this will affect my
L: outcome?
S: my outcome or not! like the language acquisition in general, but still I think I did well.
L: ummm, so would you have done anything differently if you had been the instructor, so lets
say you were the instructor, you were teaching English, what would you do different?
S: I will ask each student to aaaaa to communicate and to keep talking in English during the
class, and it will be like there, there shouldn't be any Arabic at all, even I f they say
something wrong, ok, still I will tell them that yes still you can do it, and with the support
they will gain the confidence, and with time they will aaa, they will gain the language. One
more thing, I don't think that one class is enough per day, it should be at least like more
classes, and the classes should different one class for grammar and the other class for reading
and the other class for writing and the other class for talking or communication, sometimes
it's a 45 minutes` class, so that will be this is we have only 45 minutes class per day, which
mean this will be combined of all of these, writing, oh sorry, not writing, but
reading grammar
L: listening and speaking?
S: and listening and speaking
L: so basically the two things that you would have changes is : more more communication in
English, and then the time?
S: more communication and more time
L: I see, do you consider yourself a balanced bilingual, by that
I mean that you have .... equivalence in both languages, so your English is equal to your
Arabic, or the knowledge that you have in English is equal to what you know in Arabic. Do
you consider yourself
S: no, the knowledge that I have in English, I guess
L: no, I mean the language the actual language, do you compare them, are they compared to
each other?
S: yes

Second Language Learner Case Study

21

L: are they equal to each other?

S: yes
L: so your English level is at your Arabic level
S: what, my medical English, is way better than my Arabic English, I have still difficulty in
communicating in Arabic even with some of the patients, because what's the what's the right
or what's the correct Arabic term, or medical term, but in general in general maybe still my
Arabic language is stronger than English.
L: what about when write in Egnl.. In general?
S: in general it's all in English, the last time I wrote in Arabic it was like maybe 15 years ago.
L: wow! so right now your academic level is, is basically in English?
S: yeah
L: is advanced in English, and then the Arabic level is, how would you classify it?
S: classify it?
L: your academic language in Arabic?
S: my, like you mean for medicine?
L: in general?
S: for medicine it's very poor
L: ok,
S: my Arabic language for medicine is very poor, ok, but for, for the other aspects of life is
very good
L: so i have just a couple of few question and then we will end the interview, how
comfortable do you feel in your second language whether it's speaking, listening, reading or
writing. How comfortable are you in English ?
S: I think I am comfortable enough
L: so you think you can communicate very well in all four aspects?
S: yes
L: how does your proficiency in your native language compare to your second language, I
know we answered a little bit of that question

Second Language Learner Case Study

22

S: so I was saying, in the medical field, my English is way better than my Arabic language,
but in the other fields I think still my Arabic language is better than English, because my,
because I did my school back in Saudi Arabia and also my medical school was in Saudi
Arabia, so other aspects of life that I leaned in the beginning it was mainly in Arabic, so it is
stuck in my life .. in my head Arabic so ..
L: ok, so can you tell for what purposes do you use your native language right now?
S: in the states, rarely I use it
L: what about at home?
S: yeah, when I go home for sure it will be, I think I think it will be maybe %70 %75 of my
time, because most of that time I will with my friends and my family, so this mean that I will
speak with them in Arabic, but the %25 will be in the hospital in which I will speak in
English
L: ummm, and for what purposes do you use your second language, which is English?
S: mainly work
L: at work?
S: working, sometimes shopping if .... if is difficult to communicate in Arabic, but I feel free
L: in English its fine?
S: in ether language its fine
L: umm, which language or languages do think in, when you're thinking, which language do
you use when you are thinking in your mind?
S: to be honest, before it was for sure Arabic, but now sometimes I start to think in English
L: What d you mean now, when did this start?
S: now, that stated about, I will say from 5 years ago, this more still, when I talk with myself
sometimes I think also loud, when I think loud sometimes I talk in English
L: ok, does that change depending on the context? Lets say of you were thinking ...
S: yeah, it depends yeah.. if I am thinking about something outside the medical field I will, it
will be like in Arabic, but if it is inside the medical field it's in English
L: ok, and in which languages do you dream?
S: still in Arabic, still in Arabic, unless sometimes if I dream with my American friends it will
be, everything will be in English

Second Language Learner Case Study

23

L: and what about counting numbers?

S: no, English
L: ok, even in your mind?
S: even in my mind
L: ok, and what about praying, when you pray?
S: no, when I pray it's in Arabic
L: it doesn't necessarily mean the actual five times prayer, but like when you when you want
to ask your God for something?
S: yeah, it in Arabic
L: in Arabic, ummm, what about when you think aloud?
S: still depends if it is something related to medicine it will be in English, if it is not related to
medicine most of the time will be in Arabic
L: and, I just have two more questions and then that's it, what would you recommend
someone who wants to learn a second language, if you had a friend that wants to learn
English lets say, what would you recommend for them?
S: I will recommend to start as early as possible and just to have intensive course where they
go, if they can, like if they are from Saudi Arabia, I will recommend them to go abroad to
come here to north America and stay up to 6 months, if they can like one year, and they
have... and spend all the time with English speakers, they will find it difficult in the
beginning, but I think this is the best way to learn English
L: very good, is there anything else that I haven't asked in regards to your second language,
that you would like to share?
S:mmmm, no, I think we discussed most of the things during this nice discussion.
L: thank you Saleh
S: you are welcome

Second Language Learner Case Study

24

Second Interview Audio Transcription

L: Lujin Almazyad (The interviewer)
S: Saleh Alnasser (The interviewee)
L: Hello Saleh, so right now i am conducting a second interview with you i am kinda of
touching base on whatever we did in our first interview i just have a few couple of questions
that i want to investigate more in order to help me with my case study that is based on you,
um so we did talk about your your language level in general but wanted to aa to aa aspects aa
regarding your language level.
S: ok sure
L: ok, so i wanted to ask you about your academic level in eng aa in Arabic first , how how
would you classify your your academic level in Arabic, what would you consider yourself ?
S: so in general my academic language in Arabic i consider it very poor the reason is i was
ummm or like i did the aaa i did my medical school all in English so i know all the term in
English and i don't know the Arabic terms or the aa the Arabic medical terms, so this is i
think the main reason why i why will be my academic language in Arabic is poor.
L: i see, so you can not write or aa or speak properly in Arabic in academic settings
S: i can communicate with the patients yes, but for a conference to speak in Arabic using an
Arabic term ,i can not do that.
L: I see, aaa the same question goes to your level in English, aa what would you consider
yourself yourself on an academic level in English
S: i consider it very good, mainly like i learned in i learned, i did my medical school in
English, i did also my training in English, my communication with the nurses and with all
aaam health practitioners aaaa was mainly in English so aa i consider it very good

Second Language Learner Case Study

25

L: but can you write aaa papers on an academic level ?

S: Yes, for sure, i have been doing like a research, i did a master all of these were done in
English, so aa my academic, my English academic language i consider it very good
L: ok, and aam aa the second part of the question is what about your communication skills in
Arabic ?
S: Communication skills in English?
L: In Arabic
S: sorry, in the language or
L: yes, how how, how well do you communicate in Arabic?
S: i am still like talking in Arabic with my friends, so yes in general like outside medicine,
still i consider it very good also, but in medicince its aa its aa very poor, so still i
communicate in Arabic with my friends , and aa still also i can communicate with my friends
in English also
L: and you said in English its fine also ? you could aa
S: yes, yeah , i can communicate i'm still communicating with my American friends in
English and i don't have any problems with that
L: even in social settings?
S: aaa not, not much , in social aa , because still , because more of my friends more aaa i
speak Arabic with them, so i think in the social issue its not that good.
L: mmm, so do you consider yourself a good speaker in your first language ?
S: in medical terms no ,
L: ok
S: using medical terms no, but good speaker in general yes.
L: ok, and then do you think there is room for improvement in you first language ? In Arabic
do you think you can improve it more or you think it reached a certain level ?
S: no for sure i can improve it, no every thing needs a training, and i think if i train more i can
improve it yes i can make it better and better
L: can you give me examples on things that you could improve ?
*Silence*
S: maybe the writing aaa talking especially in fluent Arabic i think, that will, i think i can
work on that and i can have an improvement
L: and then what would you like to improve in your second language ?
S: mmm

Second Language Learner Case Study

26

L: Which is English
S: maybe my accent, i still have an Arabic accent, which i think everyone can
L: notice
S: can notice, aa i am working to improve my accent but i don't think that i will be,it will
disappear completely , i think there will kind of a touch of accent to my language
L: and how how, and how are you working on that ?
S: its pronunciation i am trying to pronounce,
L: can you give me examples ?
S: some words like better, aa usually still it's difficult in my tongue to say better,but still with
time i need more practice and i can i can reach my goal
L: are you comfortable practicing in front of native speakers?
S: aa no
L: so when do you practice ?
S: Usually i practice either either with you or some times with my Arabic friends ,
sometimes , sometimes some of my American friends, that i know very well yes i can
practice with them, with them some of these vocabularies, but anyway they will notice that i
pronounce it a wrong way, or like in a way that they feel that it's not it's not good, so but
anyway, i think with practice it will get better.
L: I see, and do you consider yourself a balanced bilingual ?
S: Yes yeah, for sure.
L: ok, and then do you have any skills that you think transferred from your first language to
your second language ? something that you were good at in your first language that
transferred to your second language, or something that was bad and then transferred to your
second language ?
S: yes, to be honest, i am not a good speaker in general, ok , and i think this is reflected in my
English language, so and also i am a good reader in general and i think also reflected for my
aa Arabic language to my English language
L: and what about your daughter, because you have a 19 month, a 19 months. aaa your
daughter is 19 months aa so what language do you speak to her, in what language do you
speak to her ?
S: i prefer to speak with her in Arabic
L: and what languages do you wish for her to speak in ?
S: i want her to be bilingual, Arabic and English, because Arabic is usually is difficult to
learn, so i want her to learn Arabic, and i think with the time she will can learn English, but
the best is to learn both languages at the same time.
L: uhmm, ok, thank you very much Saleh for this time
S: Thank you

Second Language Learner Case Study

27