Math Lexical Aptitude of the Arabic Speaking EFL Sophomores

This study gauges the mathematics lexical aptitude of the Arabic speaking EFL sophomores as college students who had their math in Arabic language at school. The study presumes that, the mostly numeric constituent of math and relatively limited lexical content, should enable faster L1-L2 transition and less language barriers. Hence, applying this math numeric-lexical association as a factor of enhancing and expediting Arabic-to-English shift, a sample of 19 Arabic speaking EFL sophomores is taken. The method used in the study is a devised test of two columns for the sophomores to match; one containing worded math terms and phrases, and the second containing numeric items, i.e., values, formulas, geometric shapes. Supposedly the sophomores must have enough math knowledge and skill that enable them to easily match the two columns correctly from their secondary school background especially after they have already “anglicized” it in the math course(s) they studied as freshman college students. This study concludes that the Arabic speaking EFL sophomores don’t reflect the expected Arabic-to-English shift as expected despite the math numeric-lexical association.