Language Policy as a Barrier between Practitioners and Patients: A Study on Spoken Communication in Saudi Hospitals

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the language policy in Saudi hospitals and how it creates barriers between medical practitioners and patients. Based on the researcher’s observation and what other researchers found, language barriers hinder communication and result in less meaningful linguistic interaction. Thus, there is a need to explore the language policy in Saudi hospitals. Consequently, the research attempts to reveal the impact of language barriers on spoken communication between medical practitioners and patients. It also examines the influence of gender, age, and education as variables that affect this linguistic interaction. The number of participants in the study includes 30 medical practitioners and 30 Saudi patients. A mixed-method design is applied using a web-based questionnaire and audio-recorded interviews.