THE ATTITUDE AND THE IMPACT OF THE AMERICAN ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE WITHIN THE SAUDI EDUCATION SYSTEM

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of 9/11 on the educational system in Saudi Arabia. In particular, it discusses how this phenomenon took its course to influence the English teaching system in Saudi Arabia, and the attitude and the impact of this new phenomenon in the Saudi society, in light of the current debate between Arab linguists on the issue of more English less Islam. It also presents a case study on a group of Saudi freshmen students studying English at King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A 12-item questionnaire, related to this topic was distributed to 65 Saudi students studying English in their second semester of the New English Curricula. The findings provide valuable data on how the youth feel towards Western ideology, learning English and Western culture. Although the findings are context specific, they indicate that the Saudi students agree (for the most part) that both the study of the English language and its culture are necessary in order to develop their English comprehension