Remediation and Teaching of Arabic Grammar in the Middle East Using Divergent Problem Solving Strategies to Ensure the Accurate Use of Standard Arabic Grammar
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The study aims to shed light on the reasons why students, in this particular study students at Grade 12 level, experience difficulties with Arabic grammar. The course structure that is generally used has been criticized as being overloaded with grammar content. There is also the perception that this is not applicable to the students’ daily lives and daily usage of the language. The end result is that students feel that the grammar, which they are taught, does not achieve a functional goal and that the grammar taught at school differs from that which they use on a daily basis. However, what these students fail to recognize, or choose to ignore, is that standard Arabic is required for Arabic studies at university level. Hence, the requirement to learn standard Arabic is not unreasonable and will, in the long run, contribute to their future success. A criticism of the Arabic syllabus is that it does not concern itself with the sequence in which the grammar is taught in order for the students to develop their grammar skills sequentially and thereafter develop their language skills to express deeper concepts. Whilst each lesson has specific teaching objectives the teacher needs to firstly, understand these language objectives and, secondly, the practical application of the objective in order to aid the students to overcome any difficulties they may encounter during the lesson. Zakaria Ibrahim (1999) explains the purpose of teaching Arabic grammar in the following points: First, instructing the student regarding the methods used in Arabic grammar and, additionally, getting them accustomed to recognizing errors in what they read and hear to avoid the same errors in their speech, reading and writing. Second, gain the ability to control speech and correct pronunciation and writing. Third, help the students understand what they read and hear accurately. Fourth, increase information for the students with useful examples and applications. Fifth, increase the student’s vocabulary by using the given examples, derivative training and dictionaries to extract the required words. Sixth, putting Arabic grammar into practice when reading, speaking and writing. It is the purpose of teaching grammar. This study was aimed at teaching students to utilize problem solving skills to overcome difficulties they experience with standard Arabic, in particular with concepts or grammatical usage that is not used on a daily basis. The definition of a problem-solving strategy is the process or act of finding a solution to a problem. A critical problem that Arabic students face in the use of Standard Arabic is that their dialectic usage of the language might, or might not, involve correct usage of Standard Arabic grammar. The prime strategy that students were taught was to use Creative Problem Solving solutions when encountering difficulties with standard Arabic. As explained by Mitchell and Kowalik, this would involve the following: “A process, method or system for approaching a problem in an imaginative way and resulting in effective action.” William E. Mitchell and Thomas F. Kowalik (1999) Students were supplied with the means to apply creative problem solving skills to their studies, with the hope that this would empower them to independently find practical solutions to their grammatical dilemmas. They needed to follow a logical sequence in order to achieve this. Their first step was to identify and analyze the problem areas in Arabic, such as the correct grammatical use of conjunctions. The second step was to find the causes of the problem which, in the case of students in the sample group, related mainly to their erroneous use of conjunctions, especially in their written work, in Standard Arabic. The third step was to identify the available alternatives to solve the problem. Fourthly, they had to develop a plan to implement the best and most practical alternatives. Thereafter, the fifth step was the monitoring phase and involved the implementation of the plan. The final step was the verification of the effectiveness and success of the solution plan. Implementation of these steps to explain Arabic grammar, along with practical examples, made it easier for students to clearly understand the rules, and thus have the ability and the needed skill to apply them. Divergent Thinking strategies were used as the main tool to facilitate the students’ problem solving skills. When using Divergent Thinking strategies, brainstorming is the preferred method to gather as many of the proposed ideas as possible without judging or evaluating them. This is done in a short period, with all the ideas being accepted and written down for a later discussion and eventual filtering. The strategies applied to the study were: Brainstorming and SCAMPER. These strategies, along with practical examples in Arabic grammar, allowed students to formulate questions, form sentences, answer questions and introduce ideas for introductions and conclusions of stories. As their facilitator, I used these methods to strengthen students’ problem-solving skills in creative ways, such as assisting them to practice brainstorming on an individual level. For example, I would give them a topic and they would brainstorm as many main and sub ideas relating to the particular topic as they, individually, could manage. Secondly, I encouraged them to adopt the questioning approach (what if) in an attempt to test the effectiveness of the proposed solutions within multiple phases. Thirdly, they were advised to keep a blog; to record creative ideas, even if they seemed far from the most logical solutions. Fourthly, I attempted to support them by playing games [such as Quizlet and Kahoot] to develop their logical thinking.
Author: Hana Abdallah
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4412513855