Exploring the Impact of Learning English on Shaping Saudi EFL Learners’ Identities

Abstract

Language learners’ identities are no longer constant and stable but complicated, conflicting, and multidimensional (Darvin & Norton, 2023; Norton, 1997). Its users’ identities format language and those identities are dynamic because students engage in many discourses and negotiate their positions within diverse communities of practice. The main aim of this mixed-methods study is to explore how learning the English language impacts Saudi students’ identities and what factors contribute to it. To achieve these purposes, the study randomly recruited a sample of 60 male and female college-level students studying for a Bachelor of Education. in English language at Majmaah University’s College of Education – Saudi Arabia- were randomly recruited to complete online questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with five male and five female high-achieving EFL English as a foreign language learner. The results showed that knowing English is highly valued in Saudi Arabia and essential to securing a good job and achieving personal financial success. The research participants expressed positive perceptions of the English language, native English speakers, and the culture of English-speaking nations, showing that they possessed both intrinsic solid and extrinsic motivational orientations. The outcomes of the interviews and questionnaires indicated that most respondents still needed to create a new foreign-language identity.