Abstract:
The Arabic language considers being the 5th common speaking by the native language over the world. It is the official language in the Arab league due to the present of Islamic culture and religion. Nowadays, there are many international schools for the native students with The English language to teach them the how to read Qur’an and speak Arabic. This study has the aims to identify the impacts of learning Arabic language on the English skills among non-Arabic student level and assess the differences between the native oral language and the reading of other language it used a cross-sectional study to interview 30 students who study in Al-Jazeera International School that is allocated in Al-Dammam using a semi-structured question. Ethical consideration is taken from the parents and students.
Introduction
The global world becomes as a small village due to the development of technology. This leads the people to decide learning, at least, a foreign language for the reasons to communicate with others from different nationalities at works or any place and get knowledge about their cultures and religions. Consequently, people prefer to learn the international language to communicate with others. In the Arab countries as well as the countries that have non-native speakers of English language, they learn The English language as a foreign language. Roud (2015) assumed that learning of foreign language is different from own and first language learning. In addition, many global educational policies tend to teach the Arabic language for several causes such as economic, military, liturgical and cultural reasons. Therefore, due to the immigration of people to Arab countries, the governments attend to open many international schools to teach the foreign people the Arabic language to get an easy communication and understand the customs. Although the learning of other language is interesting but still it is very difficult as results of differences between the Arabic and English language that may affect the native language.
Literature review
Many people from countries such as Iran, Indonesia, Philippine and Burma and etc, stretched to Arab countries. The Arabic language is linked with the prayer Muslim for both Arabs and non-Arabs. Shehadeh (2011) pointed out that the first and official language used globally is English in addition to Chinese, Russian, Spanish and French. Since the mid of 20th centuries, almost the schools and universities over the world studying the Arabic language to learn about Islam and after the accident of 11th September in 2001, the demands of people to learn Arabic is increasing among American who become concerning to Islam and Muslim in the broadcasts and media. Addition, due to the people immigration from their countries as a reason of wars to different countries such as Iraq, Syria and Palestine and for a cause of economic globalization that lead to a large turnout of Chinese people to search for a best environment for works and salaries made them to learn Arabic (Mahmoud 2012).
Due to the immigrations and economic globalization, people attended to live in Arabic countries and make their children study in international schools to learn their native language and a second language for the place they were in. Students in the international schools faced many difficulties to adapt and learn the new language especially the young students. These difficulties were related to the differences between the Arabic and English language.
In comparing between the two languages, Arabic has 28 characters, three vowels, two diphthongs and written from right to left while English has 26 characters, 24 vowels consisted of monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs and written from left to right. Both languages have similarities tools to express the meaning of sentences but also there are other differences in using the grammars. Arabic text is used diacritics for grammars while in English is used many different tools of past, present and future grammars. Furthermore, in Arabic languages, verbs, words, pronounce and sentence structure are different between males and females not like in The English language as the words of “they” and “you” are described the male and female, singular and plural.
To read the Arabic sentence there are no verbs and the order of words are verb-subject-object while in English sentence the usual word order as subject-verb-object. For example:
Sentence: كتب بسام رسالة قصيرة
كتب (verb)
بسام (subject)
رسالة قصيرة(object)
English meaning: Baasem (subject) wrote (verb) a short letter (object).
Addition to that, In English sounds the characters of “p” and “v” are not found in Arabic, in contrast, there are some hard characters in Arabic are difficult for English speakers to say as these characters are not found in English language such as:
K like ق – ك
S like س –ص
T like ت –ط
D like د- ض
Th like ذ – ظ
H like ه –خ -ح
These differences have obvious impacts on the students ability to learn others languages which may change their accent of their native language and put them in problems. Based on a study provided by Sugar (2011) foreign students suffered from learning the Arabic language as a result of psychological and social barriers that prevented them from learning very well such as social, cultural and background factors. They may have a feeling of fear and anxiety to learn or when they try to speak Arabic that led to reducing the chance of practicing and express individual feelings when to communicate with others in their language. For the students in their school, that may feel stressful, depress and fear from social stigma due to their wrong accent to speak Arabic and laugh from other students whine the confused between the reading of Arabic and English language.
Significant of the study
Learning of a new language is not easy for some people or easy for others. The main differences between Arabic and English languages are alphabet sounds, word orders, derivations, Arabic is written from right to left, English is written from left to right that results with many problems and difficulties for the students. The significance of this study that aims to identify the impacts of learning the Arabic language on the non-Arabic student level of English skills and assess the differences between the native oral language and the reading of another language. This study is important to figure out the students’ problems to learn the Arabic language as their native language is English and find effective solutions and recommendations to overcome their problems. Additionally, it highlights the common educational difficulties face the school students who enroll in Arabic language classes and the methods to deal with the problems.
Research question
This study answers the following:
1- What are the educational difficulties faced the school students with a native English language to study the Arabic language?
2- Did the Arabic language affect the English speaking?
3- What are the differences between the Arabic and English language?
4- What are the psychological and social problems faced the students in teaching them the Arabic language?
5- What are the recommendations to reduce the difficulties faced by students?
Research methodology
In this research, I will use a cross-sectional quantitative study among the school students in Al-Jazeera International School. I will use a semi-structured questioner to interview the students. The number of participants will be 30 students by taking 10 students from the Elementary school and high school. I will take three students from each level to interview them. The interview will focus on the students’ personal information and their problems in searching for the similarities and differences between the forms of English and Arabic language.
Ethical Considerations
The study not includes any names of the students and their family title is not identified. I explain the purpose of the study to the students and they sign a consent form. I contact the students’ parents to take their permission for participation. The head officer for the school presents during the interview to confront the students to feel comfort.
Limitations of the study
This study takes a small number of three students in each level. The study may have inaccurate and unreliable information collect from taking from the students in grade 1, 2 and 3 as they have poor experiences in intervening, have a lack of understanding to the questions and may feel afraid from the researcher. In addition, students in the high schools and grade 4, 5 and 6 show uninterested to the questions which affect the final results. The students cannot explain their social and emotional problems in details and some of them may not notice any problems. Students in lower grades may not have the cognitive thinking to obtain any recommendation to solve their problems and when they answer to make a comparison between the two languages they may not offer the correct answers without the researcher or teachers help.
The results of the study
I think that the students may not have any effect on their native language when they learned the Arabic language. I guess that 100% of the students may motivate to learn Arabic language and around 99% of the students have the same problems in learning Arabic language and 95% confuse between the pronunciations of words. I predict that 88% of the students state that the Arabic Language is very difficult and there are no similarities with their own language. I think that the students in grades 1, 2 and 3 have more difficulties to learn and speak Arabic and they start to have a feeling of confusing between the two languages. I expect that the students find a huge different between the shapes, verbs, and pronunciations of English and Arabic letters that cause less interference during their reading. I assume that the students may confuse to read the Arabic sentences from right to left as the English language is establish from left to right with several differences in the word orders and grammars.
Conclusion
The aim of this study is to identify the impacts of learning the Arabic language on the non-Arabic student level of English skills and determine the differences between the native oral language and the reading of another language. This study shows that some students may have interference between their English language with the learning of Arabic language due to the present of problems in the pronunciation of unfamiliar Arabic words and letters that not present in the English
1- What are the educational difficulties faced you when you learn Arabic knowledge as your native language is English?
2- What are the different between Arabic and English language?
3- Did you face difficulties in the pronunciation? Why?
4- What are the psychological problems you face in your class when you learn the Arabic language?
5- What are the social problems you face in your class when you learn the Arabic language?
6- What are your recommendations to reduce your difficulties in learning the Arabic language?