English as a Socio- economic Marker in the Libyan Society

Abstract

This paper aimed to discover the capability and effectiveness of a language particularly the English language in establishing a social hierarchy in the Libyan society. It is mainly to examine how English language proficiency affects the formation of social hierarchy from the prospective of English language teachers and students at the English Language Department – University of Tripoli, as well as a group of parents. In addition, it highlights the distinctive linguistic features, which are, considered as socio-economic indicators. The paper used a descriptive qualitative approach by using a small-scale semi- structured interview, which was held in an informal settings as well as on-line responses. The analysis of the data showed similar perspectives upon the language capability to identify the social class of its speakers. Furthermore, the respondents shed the light on the linguistic behaviours that are considered markers of the social class of its users. The findings of this paper are considerably beneficial in the field of sociology and human development sections in the modernized Libyan society, as well as to the Ministry of Education to direct the curricula towards the Communicative Approach in order to transfer the prospective of English from a minority prestigious high-class language to be a quality life style feature for the whole multi-layered society.