-'i 4.., l.'IiCdle-East Journal of Scientitlc Research 20 (Language tbr Commurication and Leaming): 10-14,2014 ISSN 1990-9233 10 IDOSI Publications, 2014 DOI: I 0, 5829iidosi.mejsr.20 I -1.20.1c1.206 Teaching and Learning of Arabic as a tr'oreign Language in thc Context of the Nigerian fiational Policy on Education 'Ka:eetn Olnvatoyin Ajape anci tTaoJik Olalekan Yuszf rlnternational lslamic University Malaysia 2School of Languages, Michae I Otedola Cotlege ol Primary ECucation, Lagos State, Nigeria Abstract: This shrdy focuses on the perspecrives ol Arabic studsnts. teachers ancl program officer on the design and imFlementaticn of the Arabic curriculr:m in some selected Nigerian Univcrsities through a semi-structureci interview. The intsrvierv revealed t'actors such as unskilled curriculum contents. iack of native speakers' irvolvemgnl lack of community participation, traditional methodology ol teaching. 'lhis study confirrnerl that Arabic has not yet been t'ully integrated into the National policy on education in Nigerial hence, nec€ssar) suqgestions are made on the integration of Arabic into the Nigerian s)istem of education through a proposed tiamervork which focused on teaching of the Arabic tbr specific purposes. i(ey words: Arabic ' Curriculum ' Desien ' Imp lementation ' Arabic ibr Specitic Purposes (ASP) IIiTRODUCTION The advent of ,\rabic language in Nigeria, w'hich dates back io the 8'\ century C.E brought Arabic culnrre and civilization in several spheres ofthe Nigerian society [ll. Arabic rvas ihe tirst ianguage used by rnost of the empires in Cenlral Sudan lvhich norv ret'ers to as Wesr Atiica lbr documentation ol history and administrative purposes Ii ]. The role of the Arabic language in developing iiteracy in Nigeria cannot be over emphasised. it cecame the otficial language that was used lor administration, communication, diplomatic and legal purposes during the early Kanem-Bornu and Sokoto empires [3j. The contribution oithc scholars oithese tu'o e mpires rowards the development of education in Nigeria is numercus. This implies that Arabic language rvas the carliest meCiunr of Iiteracy for tl're people of West Atiica in general and Nigeria in particular [-5]. The oeciine cf ihe Arabic language in the Nigerian education s1'stem started during the British coionisation in l9t' century C. E and the introduction of Engiish as the Nigerinn otficial language. This rvas tbllorved by the activities of European Chiistian missionaries anci the introduction of Western eciucation as the only means of acquiring knorvledge in Nigeria [4]. As a consequence of this, the teaching and leaming of Arabic i.vas given little atiention. The conception and methoriology oi tezrching Arabic language became the sulitary endeavour of the traditional private Arabic teachers. The learners of the language n'ere relegated to the iowest level in the society. They rvere not recognised by the government and.were not permitted to hold any posltion in the government's administration. Thus. the learning of the language was contlned to the study of the Islamic religion while the i'unctions of the Arabic ianguage graduates 'uvere restricted to the mosque alfairs only. The National Policy on Education is a national document that clearly spells out the system of education in Nigeria tiom primary to tertiary lsvel of education. It is the most comprehensive document on the Nigerian education system. According to [7], the document rvas a consequcnce of poor cducation system prior to her independence. Entitled "Federal Repubtic of Nigeria Nationai Policy on Education" (NPE), this official document tvas l'irst published il 1977, revised in I 981, 1998 and 2004 [8]. The policy is rvith the objecti'r'e of uniting and integrating the Nigerian education system. Horvever, leaming Arabic in Nigeria is optional at all levels of the Nigerian education system, despite the fact that ianguage is irnportant for the country's economy and African solidariry and peace [9]. In sho*, The linguistic Corresponding Author: Kazeem Oluwatoyin Ajape, Intemational Islamic Urriversiry Malaysia 40 ifiddte-EastJ. Scrl Res., 20(Langtagefor ConmunicalionandLearning):40-41,2014 speaking countries. The participants observed that the native speakers of the language do not put enough mechanism in piace ro encourage the non--qpeakers to leam the language and this has affected the teaching and learning of the ianguage in many universities, most especially in the non-Arab speaking countries. l,{ost of the srudents inteflierved said rhat there is no native speakers oiArabic teaching in their ciepartnent resuiting in them not iraving the oppor-tuniry to communicate rvirh speakers ofthe language. The lecturers also remarked that the governments r)l the Arab countries do not have much input in the development of the language unlike English end French. They said that ihere is a need lor the Arab countries to assist them in providing them the statl, teaching materials and financial assistance. The perceivcd nonchrlant attitude of the nattv"e speakers in the rlevelopment of the language is in iine lvith the views of [15, 1S]. IiS] ii oithe opinion that the involvement ofArab Nations inthe development of the Arabic Language in non-Arab speaking countries is not encouraging. He recommends that the Arab Governments directly or ihrough ALESC]O (Arab League Educationai. Social and Cuitural Organisation) give financial assistance to the countries where Arabic is taught. AccorCing to [i5], Arab counties' efforts in promoting the Arabic language are not yielding meximum dividends probabl,v due to lack of netrvorking among the Arab'nations and the absencs of strategic intervention in Ara'nic Language-prcrriotion in non-AJab areis oithe wcrld. Lack of Community Participation: The participants complained about the lack of community input in the design of the curriculum. They said that the govemmenl is solely responsible for the design and development of the curriculr:m. Horvever. societal need is one of the funCamental foi ces that shape the design of a curriculum. [19] asserts ihat curriculum deveiopment needs to drarv upon anall'sis of the sociefy and culture. It must also incorporate the stuCies of the learner and leaming process. The rnaiyses of the nature ol the knorvledge and the nature ol the curriculum rhust also be put into consideration in order to detetmine the puryose ci the school. [20] emphasizes on the societal frctor in his curriculum design. He indicates that rvhen planning a curriculum the planner must determine r.vhat educational purpose the school should try to achieve. Inadequate Resource Materials and Language Facilitiesl All the students intervierved lamented the lack of adequate materials tbr teaching Arabic language. I{any of the teachers also confessed that they wers not arvare of the latest development in lansuages teaching sush as the use of Computer in language teaching. Thus, the findings confirmed the earlier studies carried out by rlifferent researchers on the non-availability of Arabic language teaching materials in Nigerian schools u.l,16,21,22). Nlethods of Teaching: The teachers interviewed in this study used the traditionai method of teaching. Some of them r,vere not sure of the terms tbr the approach they used in the class. The students also gave accounts of their teachers' methodology of teaching. &Iany of them \,/ere of the opinion that the method used rvas translation and memorization. The methodology has been described by many researchers as traditional methods of learning Arabic language [3, 14, 23, 241. Tile literature shows rhat this is the most common method of teaching Arabic language to non-native speakers [25-27]. Moreover, t26l outlined eight rnajor categories of problems in the teaching of Arabic to non-native speakers. These include: linguistics, syllabus, teaching methodology, teaching materials and textbooks. Recommendations: This study recommends the tbllorving guidelines in improving the Nigerian Arabic curiculum: The need to introduce Arabic for specifltc purposes. A multidisciplinary approach is to be adopted. As a matter of urgency, members of the National Assembly should endeavour to pass into larv the bill that rvili make the National Board of Alabic and islamic Studies (NBAIS) becomes one of the examination bodies in the Nigerian sysiem of education, \,{odern instructionai approaches are to be adopted. Therefore, based on the findings of this study there is a need to revisit the Nigerian Arabic curriculum. CONCLUSION It is pertinent to say that rvith the amazing rates ol change in the world today, there is a need to review the Nigerian Arabic curriculum to make it relevant to the needs of the society. The findings of this study also indicate the steps to be taken to improve the teaching and learning of Arabic. a lvtiddle-East J. Scl. Res., 20(Languagefor Conmunication cnd Learning): 40-14, 2C11 relevance of Arabic to the Nigerians cannot be undervalued. Therefore, a thorough evaluation of the Arabic curiculum in Nigerian higher education system nieds to be conducted. This sl-:r:iy aitempts to explore the perception of stakehoiders oithe Arabic curriculum in Nigerian higher education s,v'stem in ierrn of its Cesign and execution. IIETI{ODOLOGY The quaiitative method tvas adopted in this study. This method is an et'iective tcol for understanding how ciiiferent stakeholders vierv ths effectiveness of a curriculi:m. This rvill enable the researchers to identify the strengths and ,.veaknesses of the program in order to knciv ivhether the aims and ob.jectives of tire programme ha.re been achieved. [10] asserts ti,at the construction of knowledge usine "qualitati're inquir,v means going to the ileld in rhe rerl *orld oi progrimmes, orgunizetions, neighbourhoods. street corners-and getting close enough to the people and circumstances there to capture what is happening." Sampling Procedure: The participant in a qualitative research rnust be an individual who induces ao experieace of the case being explored and can articulate his tife experience. Thus, the participants ofthis research were e\pected to have knorvledge of the issues in question. Ihe pur,cosive sampling rvas used in this study. There ',vere nine respondents tbr the semi-structured interview. Four lecturers and tbur students from selected universities tvere chosen by their Head of Depaftme nts .ts respondents ibr the iiitervierv. They are from the following Universities; University ol lbadan, Bayero University Kano, Kr,vara State Llniversity and Lagos State Universilv. All these universities represented three out of the tbur geopolitical zones that have universities in i.vhich Arabic ii as olfered as a course. In addition, the language programme ot1icer of the Narional University Commission (NUC) who rvas in charge of all the language programmes offered in Nigerian universities r,vas also intervierved. Data Collection: A series of meetings were held with Head of ,\rabic Departrnents in all the selected universities. A plain and brief explanation about the procedures and benefit of the evaluation of the Arabic program rvas presented to the HODs with the ultimate aim of obtaining their tuti support. They were allowed to ask questions. The intervierv session rvith each participant lasted lor about 45 minutes. An intervierv guide tvas supplied for each interview to guarantee the smooth running of the intervie w. Both open and semi structured intervierv techniques we16 adopted. According to [11: 25] "an investigator new to collecting data through interviews will feel more confident with a structured intervierv format rvhere most, if not all, questions are written out ahead of time in the interview guide." The interviews were audio-recorded and the data collected rvere then transcribed verbatim into texts and coded manually to arive at the main ideas and themes. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Lack of Practical Curriculum Content: The participants felt that the content of the curriculum is too abstract and theoretical and many of the courses do not include practical skills that are relevant to the contemporary situation. They contended that the curriculum needs to be redesigned so that the students will able to face future challenges. The interview with the four Arabic students revealed that the contents ofthe curriculum do not have any relationship lvith their future professions. All the participants vehemently stood their ground that the fuabic program in Nigerian universities only prepared students ibr the teaching profession. This is due to the fact that the only available profession that needs their service is the education sector. The f-rndings tend to correspond with the opinions of other researchers in the area ofteaching and learning ofArabic in Nigeria [12-16]. [15] asserts that the curriculum of the Arabic language and Islamic studies as a twin subject is unwittingly made abstract and theoretical, instead of its real nature as a practical rvay of life. [16] expresses further that advanced training in Arabic anci islamic studies should incorporate sorne conventional disciplines such as the official language of the immediate community of the learner, economics, elementary mathematics, potitical science, international relations, status and situation of N{uslims in different parts of the r.vorld as well as the use of the computer. According to [7] the teaching of Arabic in general, unlike the teaching of other lbreign languages, especially English has ahvays been designed lvithcut making due ret'erence to results and findings fiom research experiments and scientific studies carried out in the tleld oflanguage teaching and learning. Extent of Native Speakers' Involvement: The participants complained about the nonchalant attitude of the Arabic native speakers toward the development of the language in the non-native Arab +t rt! ],liddle-East J. Sci. Res., 20(Langucgefor Communicaiion ar;d Learning): 40-44, 2014 26. Ismail, A.8., 1993, The teaching of Arabic in the t'aculry of Islamic studies in the National University of Nlalaysia- Unpublished PhD thesis submitted to the Department of modem languages. University of Saitbrd. 27. Haron, S.C., 2013. The Teaching Methodology of Arabic Speaking Skills: Learners' Perspectives. Inremational Education Studies; Vol. 5, No. 2; pp: 55-62. ++ Middle-East J. Sci. 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