Teaching of Arabic language in UAE schools to be modernised

Dubai: The Ministry of Education has announced its next step towards improving the teaching of Arabic language in schools through modernising its curriculum and teaching methodology, during a seminar held on Wednesday.

The ministry’s new strategy will focus on developing reading and writing Arabic as well as modernising the Arabic curriculum and the teaching of Arabic grammar by developing new standards and training teachers.

The new strategy will first be implemented in three public schools in Dubai starting in 2014, to include all public schools in the UAE by 2017.

The strategy was established in line with the report of the ‘Modernisation of Teaching Arabic’ committee which was formed following the orders of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The report reviewed the current state of Arabic language teaching based on five main themes: curriculum development, culture of reading, teachers, the role of the media in supporting teaching of Arabic and, finally, teaching Arabic to non-native speakers.

Some of the findings showed that in the UAE 67 per cent of students face difficulties with Arabic grammar, while 59 per cent of students in Jordan and 54 per cent in Egypt face the same problem. On the other hand, 70 per cent of teachers in the UAE had problems with the grammar, 37 per cent in Jordan and 62 per cent in Egypt.

Bushra Abdullah, who works in curriculum management in the ministry, said at the seminar that a set of new standards to modernise the teaching of Arabic grammar will be implemented by the ministry. “This includes providing simplified examples from our daily life instead of using outdated examples from old literature. We will also work on making sure that the teachers develop their knowledge on the subject through conducting evaluations.”

The report also found both teachers and students saw that the major focus in teaching the Arabic language was grammar — this was the perception of 70 per cent of teachers and 50 per cent of students. However, 17 per cent of students and 24 per cent of teachers felt less attention was given to other aspects such as composition and writing.

For this reason Bushra stated that the ministry will allocate one class a week dedicated only to reading Arabic for students in grades one to five. The ministry will also provide students with books that are found in bookstores and libraries.

The implementation of the reading and writing standards will target students in grades one to five and will be completed by 2016.

Training teachers to become familiar with the new standards is another vital aspect that the ministry will focus on. Bushra stated that the teachers will be trained and familiarised with the new standards through workshops and regular inspections.

“There will be periodical meetings between teachers and the creators of the curriculum to discuss challenges and guide them towards solving them. There will also be a central supervisor and a school supervisor in each of the schools to make sure that the new criteria is implemented correctly. The final step will be evaluation of the new strategy which will be conducted by teachers, principals, parents and through exams.”

This phase will be completed in all schools by 2017 and will include all grades.