Maintaining children's Arabic language: Saudi international students in Melbourne, Australia

Global migration means more people live temporarily overseas. The sojourner phenomenon has been widely studied for Japanese, but there is little literature on the Saudi community abroad. The study examines this growing group overseas regarding their concern to maintain their children’s Arabic language for reasons, such as the religion and the reintegration to Saudi school upon their return. These issues were explored in 10 sojourning families living in Melbourne, Australia. In each family, the mother completed a questionnaire while the father was interviewed by the student researcher. While most families spoke Arabic at home, the children’s of the families who have been in Australia for 5 years and more were shifting to English especially the younger children. Formal instruction and the number of children were also factors that increased the level of shift amongst children.