Arabic Phoneme Learning Challenges for Madurese Students and the Solutions

This article discussed the challenges in pronouncing Arabic phonemes by students at INSTIKA Madura. Phoneme pronunciation is the most important principle in Arabic. Without the correct phoneme pronunciation, a language cannot be understood. The problem of phoneme pronunciation was investigated and a solution was found based on factor analysis. Qualitative descriptive research design was used with a case study approach. Data collection methods include interviews with lecturers and students, direct observation of in-class learning and documentation of the results of lecturer notes. The data analysis model adhered the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldana. Validity was ensured through passion, observation, triangulation, and expert views. The finding of the research showed problems with Arabic phonemes, which were categorized as Akhtha’ al-Harakat, Akhtha’ al-Ibdal, Akhtha’ al-Hadzf, and Akhtha’ al-Tahrif. Factors include language problems (characteristics of the first and second languages) and non-language problems (student characteristics, lecturer competence, learning strategies, lesson materials, and learning facilities). The proposed solutions included error and comparative analysis for language problems, motivation, diagnosis, cooperative learning, detailed examples, pronunciation exercises, and adequate facilities for non-language problems. This research provided a comprehensive study of the challenges of pronouncing Arabic phonemes at INSTIKA Madura. Certain types of errors and the underlying factors that affect pronunciation were identified. Practical solutions were proposed, addressing both language and non-language aspects to improve students' pronunciation skills. These findings offered valuable insights for educators, curriculum developers and language instructors, facilitating targeted interventions and effective teaching strategies to students struggling with Arabic phonetics

Intrinsic vowel F0, the size of vowel inventories and second language acquisition

The phenomenon of intrinsic vowel F0 (IF0), in which high vowels exhibit higher F0 than low vowels, has been widely attested in languages of the world. Most often, IF0 is regarded as an automatic, physiologically determined phenomenon, whereas some claim that IF0 is a controlled feature, introduced to enhance vowel contrasts. This paper presents new evidence on this issue by means of a cross-linguistic investigation of the influence of vowel inventory size on IF0 and a study of IF0 in second language (L2) acquisition. IF0 was measured in three language varieties: Arabic (a language with 3 vowels), Dutch (a 12-vowel system), and Dutch spoken by native Arabic-speaking learners. IF0 was significantly larger in Dutch than Arabic, but did not differ significantly between Arabic and Dutch produced by L2 learners. No spectral differences between the corresponding vowels of the three language varieties were found. While confirming the universality of IF0, these results also suggest that the size of IF0 may be language-specific, depending on the need to enhance vowel contrasts. Thus, these results agree well with a mixed physiological-enhancement account, which assumes that IF0 is physiologically determined, but also at least in part the effect of an interacting, controlled mechanism

The linguistic competencies required for intermediate school teachers of Arabic in Oman: their identification and evaluation

This study has been conducted to identify the linguistic competencies required for teaching Arabic at the intermediate schools in the Sultanate of Oman. It suggests the use of a specific observation card to evaluate Arabic teachers according to their level of linguistic competencies. To achieve these objectives, the study has been divided into an Introduction and five chapters, followed by a general Conclusion. The Introduction presents the scope of the study and its importance, and raises the appropriate questions. Chapter One discusses the various elements of the teaching competencies movement, as well as its significance in teacher-training by reviewing the relevant literature. It also deals with the bases, classification and sources of the competencies. Chapter Two outlines the current status of Arabic teaching in Oman and its objectives. It then describes the importance of language in daily life and the educational system as a pedagogical subject. The chapter reviews the teachertraining programmes in Oman and examines their constituent elements. Chapter Three presents the practical aspect of the current study such as the samples and instruments for the collection of data and the methods followed to analyse the data. Chapter Four analyses the statistical results of the questionnaire, including the linguistic competencies. Chapter Five discusses and explains the results obtained. It also includes the additional comments made by the respondents to the questionnaire. The general Conclusion is devoted to summarizing the issues and findings of the study, as well as suggesting some improvements to the current system of teaching Arabic in Oman. Finally, it makes some recommendations which, it is hoped, will be useful in the plannin

Linguistic and Cognitive Measures in Arabic-Speaking English Language Learners (ELLs) and monolingual children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)

Understanding the current level of language knowledge in English Language Learners (ELLs) can present a challenge. The standardized language tests that are commonly used to assess language tap prior knowledge and experience. ELLs may score poorly on such ‘knowledge-based’ measures because of the low levels of exposure to each of their languages. Considerable overlap has been found on several knowledge-based measures (Paradis, 2010) between ELLs and monolingual children with an unexpected delay in language development known as Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Measures of cognitive processing, on the other hand, are less dependent on ELLs’ linguistic knowledge because they employ nonlinguistic or novel stimuli to tap skills considered to underlie language learning. It has been suggested that processing-dependent tasks such as measures of verbal short-term memory may differentiate ELLs from children with DLD (Kohnert, Windsor, & Yim, 2006; Paradis, Schneider, & Duncan, 2013). This thesis presents three studies that investigated the performance of Arabic-speaking ELLs and monolingual children with and without DLD on linguistic and cognitive measures. Study 1 provided a description of the performance of monolingual Arabic-speaking children on a battery of Arabic language tests. The results of study 1 revealed that the majority of language measures were sensitive to developmental change in younger children between the ages of 6 and 7. Study 2 demonstrated lower standardized scores by ELLs on the Arabic and English knowledge-based language tasks. However, ELLs scored above or at age-level expectations on the cognitive measures, with the exception of an Arabic-nonword repetition task. Study 3 found a significant overlap between ELLs and monolingual Arabic-speaking children with DLD on first language (L1) knowledge-based measures. With the exception of the Arabic nonword repetition task, verbal short-term and working memory tasks distinguished ELLs from children with underlying language impairment. The results indicated that there is a need to develop language assessment measures that evaluate a broad range of language abilities for Arabic-speaking children. The findings also suggested that unlike knowledge-based measures, cognitive measures may be valid assessment tools that minimize the role of linguistic knowledge and experiences and help distinguish between ELLs and children with DLD

Social-Emotional Experiences for Young Male Adults who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth understanding of the social-emotional experiences in connection with language and communication development for Saudi individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) who use spoken language as their main method of communication. The following research questions guided this study: Q1 What are the perceptions of Saudi individuals who are DHH and use spoken language regarding their social-emotional experiences currently and during their (K-12) education? Q2 What educational practices did teachers deliver and how did those educational practices promote social-emotional experiences for Saudi individuals who are DHH and who use spoken language? Q3 How does the language and communication skills of Saudi Individuals who are DHH and who use spoken language affect their social and emotional engagement? Twelve participants were interviewed to investigate the phenomenon of their social-emotional experiences as people who are DHH. Seven themes were identified from analyzing the participants’ interviews. Two themes related to overall perceptions of social-emotional experiences for individuals who are DHH: (a) internal perspectives, and (b) external perspectives. Three themes were connected to teachers, and school practices related to social-emotional experiences: (a) the lack of social-emotional programs, (b) related social-emotional practices, and (c) quality of programs. The final two themes spoke about the connection between language and communication and social-emotional engagement: (a) spoken language and vocabulary, and (b) communication. Discussion of these findings provide more details about factors that related to individuals’ social emotional experiences at home, school, and their social activities within Saudi Arabian society. Furthermore, the implications of the practice from this study are directed at four groups: individuals who are DHH, families of individuals who are DHH, teachers of individuals who are DHH, and associations for individuals with disabilities. Finally, limitations and suggestions for future research offer a foundation for researchers to conduct future studies focused on the social-emotional experiences of individuals who are DHH. I hope from this study to increase the knowledge of social-emotional development for individuals who are DHH in Saudi Arabia

The relationship between test-takers’ first language, listening proficiency and their performance on paired speaking tests

“A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy”.This thesis presents a study of the relationship between test-takers’ first language, listening proficiency and their performance on paired speaking tests. Forty participants from two different L1 backgrounds (20 Urdu and 20 Thai) participated in the study. They took two paired speaking tests: one with a shared L1 partner, and one with a non-shared L1 partner, as well as a listening test and a monologic speaking test to measure their listening ability and individual speaking ability. After each paired speaking test, the participants were also interviewed about their test-taking experience. All speaking tests and interviews were video recorded and transcribed. Raters awarded test-takers analytical speaking test scores (grammar and vocabulary, discourse management, pronunciation and interactive communication) and provided comments to justify their scores. Raters also participated in a stimulated recall session. The mixed-methods approach was utilised in analysing and triangulating different data sources. The data analysed in this study included listening and speaking test scores, raters’ perceptions of the test-takers’ speaking performance gathered from stimulated recalls and test-takers’ stimulated recall interviews, as well as the interactional discourse data in the paired speaking formats. The combination of quantitative analysis, Conversation Analysis (CA) and thematic analysis informed the relationship between test-takers’ listening proficiency, their L1 and their paired speaking performance

The Role of the Dictionary in Teaching English as a Foreign Language with Special Reference to English-Arabic Dictionaries

The existing bilingual dictionaries are ill-equipped to satisfy any but the general needs of the learner. As soon as they are applied to the special needs of a certain category of learners, they are certain to reveal functional inadequacies. Some of these inadequacies are inherent in the structure of the bilingual dictionary (Bujas, 1980); others are external; others are inherent in the two languages involved. In order to improve this unsatisfactory situation, new dictionaries especially designed to answer the needs of the learner should exist. A dictionary for foreign learners should not be a tool for comprehension only. It should also meet the communicative needs of the learner. It should not only tell him what is possible but also what is impossible, taking into consideration the findings of error analysis of that type of learner and other relevant disciplines. The linguistic background of the learner should be taken into consideration. In this study an attempt is made to suggest improvements in the existing English-Arabic dictionaries which claim to be designed for learning English as a foreign language. It is also hoped that the proposal included in the study will lead to the advancement of pedagogical dictionaries in general and constitute adequate evaluation criteria for teachers to base their recommendation on and for advanced learners to decide which dictionary to buy. Chapter One explores the relationship between lexicography and language learning and how they affect each other. In Chapter Two a revision of the previous classifications of dictionaries is provided to show that no serious attempt has ever been made to classify pedagogical dictionaries and how they should be. New ideas are presented for a sound classification which is intended not to classify the existing dictionaries but to show how learners' dictionaries should be compiled. Chapter Three deals with the need for meaning discrimination in bilingual dictionaries and how it is achieved in the existing dictionaries. New proposals are set out. Chapter Four deals with the phonological information in bilingual dictionaries. The attitude taken here is that the dictionary should indicate the phonological behaviour of a word within a context. Intonation should also be indicated. New proposals are set out. Chapter Five deals with grammar and the dictionary. The attitude taken is that the dictionary should provide morphological and syntactic information. But the linguistic background of the learner should be taken into consideration in deciding the type, amount and the way of presentation. The grammatical information in English-Arabic dictionaries is analysed. New solutions are proposed. Chapter Six presents the problem of usage. The stand taken here is that dictionaries should tell the learner on which occasions words are appropriate for use and when they are not, through the use of codes and glosses. Chapter Seven deals with the problem of lexical combinations and how they are handled by dictionaries. Bilingual dictionaries limit themselves to words in isolation. They often ignore the lexical combination that a word may enter into such as collocations, idioms and compounds

Aspekte der Charakterisierung phonologischer Sprachstörungen vs. verzögerter Spracherwerb bei jordanischem Arabisch sprechenden Kindern

Bader S'da SI. Issues in the characterisation of phonological speech impairment vs. delayed acquisition in Jordanian Arabic-Speaking children. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2010.Eine Studie des Spracherwerbs des jordanischen Arabisch bei jungen Muttersprachlern.A study with children speaking or acquiring Jordanian Arabic with or without phonological impairments

Lexical and sociolinguistic variation in Qatari Arabic

This thesis embodies the result of an investigation into two linguistic variables: the (d3) and the (Q) in QD. The basic issue tackled is this: are variations observed in these variables rule governed? If so, are they linguistic or non-linguistic? A close examination of the data has shown that the variables are governed to a great extent by the class of lexical item containing the variaoles. Moreover they have demonstrated co-variation with paralinguistic factors such as social group membership, age, level of education and style. The social motivation for change and variation are highlighted. Such processes occur as a result of status-ranking of local social dialects and as a result of the tendency of the younger people to modify their speech in the direction of the superimposed variety, which is learnt at school. The impact of the process of modernization on linguistic change is also examined