Published Works 3

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Compensatory Strategies Used by Learners of Arabic as a Second Language Published in Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, 2007 Abstract: This paper reports on a study of the compensatory strategies (CpSs) used in the oral production of second year students studying Arabic as a second language in the Arabic Language Institute at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study examined the various strategies used by a sample of 8 male learners who are all high school graduates from 8 different countries (Russia, Kozovo, Senegal, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Benin and Ethiopia), speaking 7 different languages (Russian, Albanian, Senegalese, Tajikistani, Urdu, French and Somali). To elicit the CpS use, the subjects were audio-recorded performing two tasks: an interview and a role-play. The data were transcribed and analysed. The results showed that the subjects used a wide range of compensatory strategies. Moreover, there were differences between the individual learners’ strategy use, and these strategies varied according their native languages. Regardless of the use of CpSs, the researcher concluded that the subjects were risk-takers and they tried to expand their limited linguistic resources to achieve the communicative goals. The findings of the present study suggest that more attention should be paid to the teaching of Arabic as a second language with regard to communicative competence. Programmes designed to teach Arabic should also consider the development of the major components of the learners’ communicative competence.