ARABIC/FRENCH CODE SWITCHING AMONG DOCTORS AND PATIENTS IN A RURAL CONTEXT: THE CASE OF BENI SNOUS

Abstract

n the medical field, communication is an important component of clinical practice for both doctors and patients to provide a satisfactory medical care. Poor interaction can lead to inaccurate diagnosis. The main objective of this research was to examine language use in the Algerian rural healthcare contexts, and to look into the problems of communication that existed between doctors and patients as a result of historical, educational, social, and economic factors which led to linguistic gaps among members of the community. Also, the research sought to identify the main reasons of alternation between Algerian Arabic and French among doctors and patients. A case study was conducted in some private medical offices and public hospital in ‘Beni-Snous’ valley which is situated in Tlemcen, Algeria. Relying on a number of sources and research instruments for data collection, a questionnaire was conducted for doctors, another one for patients and consultation observation using note-taking and recording. The data collected from these research tools were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results revealed that language barriers existed between doctors and patients due to variation in French language proficiency as well as the use of complex medical terminology. Thus, doctors code switch between Arabic and French to achieve many functions. This study came to conclusion that language barriers and code switching are sociolinguistic phenomenon that existed in the medical field in Algerian healthcare settings in general and rural healthcare settings in particular. translate to French.