Arabic/French code switching among medicine students at Tlemcen University

Abstract

This investigation is a micro-sociolinguistic study of code switching in Algeria, more specifically in the department of medicine in Tlemcen University. The research tries to clarify how medicine students in Tlemcen University combine between French and their mother tongue in the context of their studies. Medicine students are taught In French besides almost all the references are available in French, that is what have opened real field of investigation to approach this problematic in relation to other issues. By means of a questionnaire addressed to medicine students, the data collected are analysed by influence of the students’ attitudes and feelings towards the two languages, in addition to their use in the daily and university setting. The findings has exposed that most of the medicine students have a penchant towards their mother tongue adding that they would have preferred to study in Arabic, however, they are conscious of the need of French to fulfil daily and educational needs.