The sample included 26 students from different nationalities at the Arabic Language Center for Speakers of Other Languages at King Khalid University. The data prove that the second Arabic language learners in the Arabic Language Center for Speakers of Other Languages at King Khalid University are aware of Arabic diglossia and its impact on their social communication in real-life situations.
Introduction
Statement of the problem
However, this gap between Arabic variation (MSA and colloquial varieties) in Arabic language learning may affect Arabic L2 learners. Therefore, this study tries to examine this issue from the perspective of Arabic L2 students whether it affects their social communication ability in real life context or not, as well as their Arabic language learning process.
Significance of the study
Therefore, this study aims to shed light on Arabic diglossia and examine how this diglossic status or the multilingual environment encountered by the L2 can affect L2 learners' social communication in a real-life context. Native Arabic speakers mostly speak the colloquial version unlike L2 learners who speak MSA, as this is the primary version they are exposed to, as pointed out by (Al Zahrani, 2013) Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is considered to be of great variety Arabic. is the dominant variant taught to L2 Arabic learners, but colloquial Arabic is included in teaching only where a specific dialect needs to be taught for interaction.
Purpose of the study
Literature review
Arabic language
Diglossia and Arabic diglossia
Thus, based on Al-Wer's claims, it seems to make the Arabic dialects into languages, so there will be a Saudi Arabian language, Egyptian language, Levantine language instead of the Arabic language. As Al Kahtany's (1997) findings indicate that 51.73% of Arab participants from the Arabian Peninsula and outside the Arabian Peninsula responded.
Diglossia and L2 Arabic language learners
The next section will discuss the diglossic situation, especially the aspect of functionality and L2 learners of Arabic. Palmer (2008) found that L2 learners of Arabic have difficulties due to the diglossic situation when using only MSA. Therefore, L2 learners of Arabic use the colloquial version to integrate into the culture in an Arabic-speaking country.
Another problem that could affect the social communication of an L2 Arabic learner in a real-life context is embarrassment. L2 learners actually feel embarrassed when using the target language in a real-life context, but the situation is different for Arabic L2 learners due to the diglossic situation. In addition, this study will shed light on the same question across multiple participants to measure the influence of the diglossic situation in the learning process for Arabic L2 learners.
In short, this gap between the spoken versions and the literary form presented to L2 Arabic learners presents many challenges that L2 Arabic learners face in terms of real-life social communication with native speakers or even in the process of learning Arabic.
Research Methodology
- The context
- Participants
- Selection and justification for the research method
- The procedure
- Closed-ended questions
- Open-ended questions
This study is a mixed-methods research conducted to investigate L2 Arabic learners' awareness of Arabic diglossia and its potential impact on their social communication in real-life contexts and the Arabic learning process based on the participants' perspective. In order to collect the data, the researcher contacted the Arabic Center for Speakers of Other Languages at King Khalid University to enable the researcher to reach the target participants and distribute the surveys. These two research tools are designed by Google Forms, and the researcher uses a Likert scale in a closed-ended questionnaire to indicate the extent to which L2 Arabic learners 'agree' or 'disagree'. The researcher also distributes the Arabic version of the questionnaire to the target subjects.
Therefore, the attitude questions will measure the level of L2 Arabic language learners in relation to the Arabic diglossic situation, also the impact of the Arabic diglossic situation on the social communication in a real-life context and learning process based on the opinions and attitudes of the target subjects. Therefore, the researcher uses this type to explore which variety the L2 Arabic language learners prefer, whether it is colloquial (al 'Amiya) or MSA (al 'Fus-ha) and why. Therefore, this study explores more about which variety of Arabic that L2 Arabic language learners feel more embarrassed to use.
Therefore, the researcher takes these issues into account in this study to investigate whether L2 students of Arabic language face ridiculous situations when they use informal variety or MSA variety of Arabic native language and what can ultimately be a barrier raise for L2 students of Arabic language that affect their social communication due to the different functionality of informal variety and MSA.
Results
Awareness of Arabic diglossia
Real- life social communication and Arabic diglossia
This part shows another dimension of the study, which is the impact of Arabic diglossic status on Arabic learning and the attitudes of the L2 Arabic learners towards Arabic diglossia. Q10 shows that the difference between the spoken and the written variety influenced the L2 Arabic learner's desire to continue learning Arabic, answered "strongly agree", while 8 (30.8%) answered, "disagree". Table 5 also shows that speaking and listening skills were most affected due to the difference between MSA and CA.
Discussion
Awareness of Arabic diglossic situation
I prefer MSA because it is the origin of the Arabic language, also because the Quran is written in MSA (al 'Fusha), as well as all books on religious sciences. I prefer the MSA (al 'Fus-ha) because it has the language of the Holy Quran and the religious books. I prefer MSA (al 'Fus-ha) because the Holy Quran was revealed in (al 'Fus-ha), and also because it is the language of hadiths, Islamic scholarly books and others.
I prefer MSA (al 'Fus-ha) because without it you cannot understand Quran and Sunnah. I prefer MSA (al 'Fus-ha) because it is the language of the Quran, the language of the hadith and the language of the educated people. I prefer MSA (al 'Fus-ha) because it is the language of the Holy Quran, Sunnah and books.
I prefer MSA (al 'Fus-ha) because it is the language of the Holy Qur'an and is understood by the entire Arab world.
Real- life social communication and Arabic diglossia
Unlike the spoken varieties of the Arabic language, MSA is comprehensible and is understood by almost all Arabic speakers, as a result, the teaching of MSA is still considered a great advantage for non-native speakers of Arabic throughout the Arab world. to be able to communicate. Similarly, Palmer (2008) emphasizes that "Students who learn some spoken Arabic may find themselves scorned for using substandard language, while students who can only produce MSA may also be subjected to ridicule." The current study shows that some of the participants are not ridiculed. Future studies should investigate this angle in more detail with an interview with the L2 Arabic learners.
Moreover, embarrassment is one of the obstacles L2 learners face to communicate in the target language. In the case of Arabic L2 learners, it is more complicated due to the different functionality of CA and MSA. Al-Osaimi and Wendell (2014) find that 54 (38%) of Arabic L2 learners feel embarrassed when speaking to others.
Thus, they want to learn CA only for the purpose of social communication because of the difficulties they found in real life due to the gap between MSA and CA that affected their social communication.
Learning process and Arabic diglossia
By teaching them MSA, they expose L2 Arabic language learners to Arabic culture in general. On the other hand, the extracurricular activities that the educational institute can introduce can promote the Saudi culture by introducing the Saudi CA. To summarize, this extracurricular can help L2 Arabic language learners bridge the gap between CA and MSA.
Conclusion
The data also showed that L2 prefers classical Arabic over CA because of its religious status, purity and universality, and on the other hand, L2 Arabic learners seem to have a positive attitude towards learning CA, which answers the fourth research objective.
Limitations and recommendations
In contrast, the reason for the embarrassment is the different functionality of CA and MSA in real situations. L2 Arabic learners are only exposed to MSA in an educational setting, so when they go outside of school in real life, they are faced with a much different language that has many words and sounds that are unfamiliar to them. Thus, this gap between the variety they learned in the classroom being somewhat different from the variety used in real life caused confusion that put them in uncomfortable situations.
The 'problem' of diglossia in the Arab world: an attitude study on modern standard Arabic and its Arabic dialects. Arabic diglossia and Arabic as a foreign language: Students' perceptions in World Learning Oman Center. An investigation into the impact of Arabic diglossia on second language learners of Arabic: Motivation and perception research School of Linguistics, Bangor University Wales, UK.
In Annual Conference on Change and Continuity in the Middle East: Rethinking West Asia, North Africa and the Gulf After.
Does the difference between Spoken Arabic (al 'amiya) and Modern Standard Arabic have an impact on the development of the following skills? Which variety of Arabic language do you prefer Customary Arabic (al 'amiya) and Modern Standard Arabic. Does the difference between Colloquial Arabic (al 'amiya) and Modern Standard Arabic (al 'Fus-ha) impact your social communication with native Arabic speakers in real life?
Have you experienced any ridiculed actions of the native Arabic speakers due to the use of Common Arabic (al 'amiya) or Modern Standard Arabic (al 'Fus-ha). Does the difference between Standard Arabic (al 'amiya) or Modern Standard Arabic (al 'Fus-ha) embarrass you when interacting with native Arabic speakers in real life.
