What is it about?
This research is a foundational study into the use of Arabic Language Arts (ALA) standards in six schools in three countries in the Arabian Gulf region (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates). Fifty-eight teachers used the ALA standards adapted from the Ohio English Language Arts standards (Taha, 2017) for at least one year. Results of the online survey indicated that 83.5% of teachers found the standards had a positive effect on their teaching while 94.9% of teachers found that the standards helped them collaborate with each other in planning and finding suitable resources to use. This suggests that well supported innovations can lead to teachers being aware of and using ALA to improve student learning and instruction. Results also highlight some challenges teachers had finding the needed Arab language resources that will help them implement a standards-based approach, in addition to the amount of time they needed to put into preparing for the lessons.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
It is one of the first studies looking at Arabic language arts standards.
Perspectives
The results of this study shed a positive light on adopting a standards-based approach in the Arabic classroom and deserve, accordingly, to be examined on a larger scale to see whether that same level of enthusiasm and success is replicable. For now, we can say with some degree of confidence that the Arabic language arts standards adopted were a positive innovation to the decades-old tradition of textbook-based instruction and have contributed to the way some Arabic language teachers in the Gulf Region think about their practice.
HANADA Taha Thomure
Zayed University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Arabic Language Arts Standards: Revolution or Disruption?, Research in Comparative and International Education, October 2018, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1745499918807032.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
