Acquisition of EFL During the Critical Period and Its Impact on L1 Arabic

Language development in children occurs without the explicit teaching of their rules, prompting parents to introduce languages in addition to their native language This study examines whether extensive exposure to English as a foreign language (EFL) detrimentally impacts children’s syntactic proficiency in their primary language (L1). The study involves Saudi Arabian children attending international schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from grades one to six, who were learning English as a foreign language. An elicited imitation task containing sentences demonstrating syntactic functions was used. The results showed a gradual difference in grade levels. Initially, the lower grades performed well in Arabic, whereas with each advancing grade, there was an improvement in English proficiency, accompanied by a slight decline in Arabic proficiency. This pattern suggests that younger students might have had limited exposure to English, whereas older students had more time to become acquainted with the language, thus influencing their linguistic abilities. This may imply a correlation between the amount of exposure to a foreign language and proficiency in one's native language. While this study provides valuable insights, it lacks detailed individual information on students' language backgrounds and exposure outside educational settings, limiting comprehensive insights.