Professor of the Arabic Language Chair at Zayed University, Dr. Hanada Taha, confirmed that the positive view of the Arabic language plays great importance in enhancing its role between generations and the labor market, stressing that learning a foreign language will not have negative effects, if the view of the mother tongue is prestigious and has a status. In society, she added: “In the Arab world, we need a decade. If we work on policies, culture, media, and educating families inside homes, then we will see a generation that masters the Arabic language and our language will return to its distinctive splendor.”
In detail, Professor of the Arabic Language Chair at Zayed University, Dr. Hanada Taha, said in an interview with “Emirates Today” that the positive view of the language plays great importance. If the view of the mother tongue is prestigious and has a status in society, it will not be for learning a foreign language. Negative effects, but if the home language is not celebrated, it is gradually neglected, that is, the neglect of the mother tongue
Its decline is not imposed from the outside, but rather from internal changes in the community that speaks the language. Studies have shown that children who have strong ties to their mother language have a greater sense of themselves and their self-worth, and can acquire other languages more easily and smoothly, in addition to being the most successful in the study.
She added: “I do not see that the language is lost, and that children find it difficult (Arabic), but there are multiple factors that lead to the situation we are in now, in terms of perceptions about the difficulty of the Arabic language, because (Arabic) is a language like all the other languages of the world, which we have never heard About people of a language who say their language is difficult.
She added: “It is possible for a foreigner to say that the Arabic language is difficult if he wants to learn it, but what happens with us is a little surprising, and has various reasons, including the big myths that are spread and adopted by people that the language is difficult,” explaining that acquiring the mother tongue depends on home and school, but what It happens to many children that the Arabic language is poorly taught in many private schools.
She continued: “The number of hours of language instruction is one hour or less per day, so the fault is not the fault of the language, and it is not the fault of the children, but what happens in schools and some teaching methods are the basis of the problem, and the home is also part of the problem, as many of the parents, who are Arabs, speak a foreign language.” In addition to foreign workers, children face a siege. At school, English is the dominant language, and at home the parents and helpers speak English, in addition to television, games, and tablets. These things are the main influence in shaping the child’s awareness about… His language is Arabic.”
She continued: “The foreign child comes to school with a much higher linguistic score than the Arab child, because before he goes to school he has almost one world, which is the world of the home, and here also the issue is, why does he come with a lower score than the foreign child? This is because at home they do not speak Arabic, and some parents, even if they speak Arabic, they do not talk to their children much, so we need to communicate a lot, and for the house not to be silent, and the children to spend the whole day with toys or the housemaid, and this does not stimulate the acquisition of vocabulary. “Linguistic.”
She added: “We know exactly what we must do so that the child enters school ready to learn his language, and he does not have to speak classical Arabic. If the child speaks his colloquial dialect fluently, this is sufficient for us to transfer him through education to the standard classical language, but they come and do not know The names of simple things in Arabic, so the home plays a huge and essential role in giving the child his native language, and the child is from the age of one day to six years, which is the age at which the brain is formed, the seeds of his personality are formed, and in these golden years, if the parents waste them They did not read to their children during this period, nor did they talk to them or encourage them to speak and use the dialect. The child will lose a lot in the future.”
Regarding the average time allocated to the Arabic language in most schools in the Arab world, she confirmed that the rate has decreased in most schools, and the student currently receives 140 hours of Arabic language instruction per academic year, for schools that give a class per day, which is 100 hours less than the global average, because The global average is 242 hours for teaching the mother tongue, of which approximately 27% is devoted to teaching reading.
She added: “The issue for us is multiple, including that sometimes the decision-maker may not know these issues, or is not aware of the issue of linguistics, and how to acquire the language, and we also need to have scientific research supported on the issues of teaching reading and teaching the language, and to qualitativeize society in general, so We need great awareness of all parties.”
She explained that children can easily learn two and three languages proficiently, and everyone should know that learning a foreign language for the sake of education, work, or travel does not mean in any way that he will not learn the mother tongue, or that he will not need the Arabic language, or that he will become a foreigner. All graduates who study the English language have a superficial knowledge of the English language. He is merely a speaker, and does not know the depth of English culture, nor the depth of the academic language. Thus, we have a shallow person who has lost his mother tongue and has not become a native speaker of the English language as well. Who does not Someone who masters his mother tongue loses his social and cultural roots, loses his psychological peace, and is more vulnerable to depression.
She ruled out the influence of local and colloquial dialects in the language of Dhad, stressing that all dialects are part of the Arabic language, so the dialect will not hinder the mastery of fluent Arabic. The issue between the dialect and fluent Arabic is related to how we teach children and transfer them from the dialect to classical Arabic, through hearing and exposure to vocabulary, and this matter is not an issue. Great, it is just a challenge that exists in the nature of our language, and is easily overcome with good education. The definition of a native speaker of the Arabic language is that he masters his mother dialect and knows several Arabic dialects, and we have evidence from the Emirates in which communities from all Arab countries live, all of whom can speak and understand each other according to their dialects, because they are all dialects stemming from the mother Arabic language, and the dialect does not It hinders mastery of the classical Arabic language.
She said: “It is not permissible for a student to graduate with mastery of the English language and not mastering his Arabic language. You must know English, French, or more than one language, but the Arabic language must be the basis, and there is no conflict in your mastery of your mother tongue and your knowledge and mastery of other languages.” . There are scientific studies in this regard, the most important of which is what the Ministry of Culture issued in 2021, which is a report on the state of the Arabic language. A poll conducted with young people showed that there are very positive trends towards the Arabic language, and that they view the Arabic language positively, and perhaps the reason for this is due to the great efforts. undertaken by the state, which is one of the largest efforts among Arab countries. We must read to our children from a young age, because a childhood without books is not a childhood at all. Books read with children smell like hot bread and the smell of the mother and homeland. Reading and books are like medicine, and they are the infrastructure for learning the mother tongue, and for children to understand the meanings of things.
Regarding the possibility of overcoming the reluctance of some Arab youth to speak Arabic, she said: “Unfortunately, some of them see that speaking Arabic reduces social prestige, or conflicts with the academic degree they hold, and I think this is a societal trend, because the child or young man listens at home.” He stressed the importance of mastering the English language, and he does not feel any interest from his family in the Arabic language.
She added: “In the Arab world, we need better teaching of the Arabic language and better qualification for the Arabic language teacher, and that the mental image of the Arabic language teacher should not be that he is the person who shouts at students, is unfashionable, and is the least elegant among teachers, and that he does not speak any foreign language. It is necessary for him to learn even a little. Interest in Arabic does not mean not learning other languages. We also need to develop methods of teaching the language, and not rely on memorization. Just as the Arabic language teacher needs to develop his teaching method, it is always the highest. He has a louder voice during teaching than other teachers of other subjects. He also does not care about the students’ psyche, and his expectations of the students are not high. We need personalities that the student likes.
In response to a question about the suitability of the Arabic language for the labor market today, she stated: “The saying that the language of the labor market is English is just a myth. Our best students work in the Arab world, and no matter what it takes, our need for the English language will not exceed 30% of our need.” At work, most of our conversations are in Arabic. In government work, everything that is written must be in Arabic. Anything that happens otherwise is considered violations on the part of individuals, not the laws of the labor market. We have to reconsider the myth of English. The language of the labor market. The labor market needs both languages, and the mother tongue of the country more than any other language.”
She added: “We in the Arab world need a decade (10 years). If we work on policies, culture, media, and educating families inside homes. If we work on all these axes for 10 years, we will see a generation mastering the Arabic language, and our language will return to its distinctive splendor.”
Standards and performance indicators for teaching the Arabic language
Professor of the Arabic Language Chair at Zayed University, Dr. Hanada Taha, has devoted all her efforts to the arts of the Arabic language, methods of teaching the Arabic language, curriculum design, standards-based education, and training of Arabic language teachers. Dr. Hanada has developed standards and performance indicators for teaching the Arabic language from kindergarten to 12th grade. It also designed the first literacy training in the Arab world, and the first Arabic language curriculum based on standards, children’s literature, and a balanced language approach. It developed the first system for classifying Arabic children’s literature books, and more than 9,500 children’s literature books were classified according to the Hanada Taha classification system for children’s literature. More than 100,000 students from all over the Arab world use Hanada Taha’s standards to teach the Arabic language, and several tests and curricula are based on standards. Hanada Taha to teach Arabic.
Hanada Taha:
. “Arabic” is like all the other languages of the world… and we have never heard of natives of the language saying that their language is difficult.
. In the first stage, it is enough for the child to speak his colloquial dialect fluently, in order for us to transfer him through education to the standard classical language.
. Confrontation from all axes is the solution to dismantling the reasons for the reluctance of citizens and residents to speak Arabic, and dismantling the myth of its difficulty.
. Whoever does not master his mother tongue loses his social and cultural roots, loses his psychological peace, and is more vulnerable to depression.
. A positive view of the language plays great importance in celebrating it. Young people believe that speaking Arabic reduces social prestige.
. The attitudes and outlook towards the Arabic language in the Emirates are very good.. The problem is that the child loses his hearing due to the use of foreign female assistants.
. The labor market’s need for “English” is a myth, and our best students work in the Arab world and speak Arabic.