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This paper examines the alternate use of Arabic and English in the context of a university classroom, where a policy to use the former language in place of the latter was being implemented. Analysis of a sample of recorded university lectures of English and Arabic medium classes in sciences and humanities reveals that teachers use code switching, consciously and/or unconsciously, as a pedagogic resource and strategy to achieve a variety of communicative functions, including effective classroom interaction, topic change, and solidarity, among other functions. Hastiness in policy implementation without adequate planning or preparation also seemed to play a role in the translation of policy into actual classroom practice.
Background
This paper1" is based on classroom research carried out as part of a wider study of the implementation of Arabicization (i.e. the policy of using Arabic as a medium of instruction) at the university level in Sudan (Taha, 1990). Although the changeover to Arabic in secondary schools was completed in 1968/9, this policy was not officially adopted in higher education institutions until the early eighties under the increasing influence of the Islamist forces. In fact, similar trends in the adoption of Arabic as the sole medium of education have been developed in other Arabic speaking countries, such as Algeria and Morocco. The way the policy was carried out in secondary schools in the sixties was criticized by Hurriez (1968) and Hawkes ( 1 969) , among others , who maintained that at the initial implementation phase in schools, some influential Sudanese officials were at the time against the policy. Criticisms also included abruptness in implementation and lack of appropriate and adequate textbooks. In 1983, The Sudan National Council for Higher Education endorsed the principle of Arabicization of higher education institutions in the country. And, by 1987 the program was carried out in several faculties of the University of Khartoum, the oldest English medium institution in the country. In 1990, when the National Islamic Front backed government took over, the policy was further endorsed. Now the policy is implemented in almost all universities, with the exception of some private colleges which use English as a medium of instruction'2'.
The Study
The research upon which this paper is based included: (I)A sociolinguistic survey of attitudes to...