Jordanian University Students’ Use of English: Urban-Rural Dichotomy and University Location

Abstract

Second language users use the language for various reasons. Three reasons are examined in this paper: linguistic, social, and academic. A sample of Jordanian students from three universities in Jordan was asked to complete a survey about their use of English (N = 1052). A 2 gender (male, female) × 2 dwelling (urban, rural) × 3 university locations multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) found significant main effects of gender on the linguistic social factor. No interaction effect was significant. The results show that male students tend to feel more linguistically competent than females, but females tend to use English for social reasons more often than males. Students who live in a city tend to use English more than those living in a village when they use the language for linguistic or academic purposes.