نشریه دراسات فی تعلیم اللغه العربیه و تعلمها
پیاپی 5 (بهار و تابستان 1398)

The exercises of language learning textbooks are of great importance since they can be used to evaluate the learners’ performance and even competence. Hence, evaluating the textbooks embraces the investigation of their exercises. They are usually included among the criteria of language teaching textbooks. Accordingly, the present study attempted to evaluate the exercises of tenth and eleventh grade Iranian high school Arabic textbooks on the basis of Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy. The taxonomy was in fact the instrument applied in this research to classify and quantify each type of cognitive level in the exercises of the textbooks. The results indicated that comprehension and application levels were more frequent than higher levels of analysis, evaluation and creation. It suggested that the authors of the textbooks focused more on the translation of the existed expressions and comprehension of texts.

The Payam-e-Noor University educational system is based on distance education. Given that in distance and book-based education, the teacher’s role is limited and the instruction involves just individual and group forms of feedback classes, textbook development is wroth being carefully investigated and thoroughly studied. Examining Arabic Literature textbooks for Persian Language and Literature in Payam-e-Noor University based on three approaches of texts as “linguistic tools”, “information transfer tools” and “production stimuli” as well as the match between these books and the distance education system, some deficits can be observed. In the present study, evaluating the content of B.A. Arabic textbooks in Persian Language and Literature Department of Payam-e-Noor University based on these approaches, suggestions and criteria for improving the content of the books are presented. The research method is content analysis. The statistical population consists of the twelve Arabic reading and grammar textbooks. All in all, research results show that all books have text as a language tool; the original text is largely based on syntactic structure; there is no practice or assignment or introductory activity before the presentation of the text; linguistic details are emphasized; and questions are formulated based on linguistic and syntactic structures. In contrast, in all the books, the components of the two approaches of texts as information transfer tools and the production stimuli can hardly be seen.

Foreign language teaching textbooks play an important role in Iran’s Educational system. Vocabulary knowledge, as an important sub-skill contributing to learning foreign languages, is considered as one of important pillars of the four language skills. That being so, this comparative study seeks to uncover those aspects of vocabulary which have drawn the attention of Iranian textbook developers (Arabic and English). The paper also looks into any possible changes from the older textbooks to the more recent ones after the education change with respect to vocabulary. To this end, vocabulary exercises in both sets of seventh-grade textbooks were analyzed employing a checklist which embraced different aspects of vocabulary knowledge and was developed by the current researchers. Descriptive analysis of the findings indicated that the new English textbook has addressed a larger number of aspects although there are yet some aspects which were either neglected or not sufficiently attended. The new Arabic textbook, however, needs more attention to several aspects. The new English textbook, in comparison to the new Arabic one, has more varied and diverse vocabulary aspects. Finally, the study discusses the significance and implications of the findings and suggests that materials developers and teachers take into consideration more varied and complex aspects of teaching vocabulary.

From a communicative point of view in the society, information literacy (IL), as a skill for interacting in today’s information society, is related to many skills. This study aimed at investigating the possible relationship between IL skills and four basic Arabic language skills among students majoring in Arabic Language and Literature. In this survey, a researcher-made questionnaire was completed by a sample of 340 students among the ones majoring in Arabic Language and Literature in the academic year of 2015-2016. Based on the findings, IL has a positive and direct relationship with deep-understanding writing and reading skills. In a similar vein, improving IL skills among these students can develop their linguistic skills, their research procedures skills including reference identification, literature review, reading comprehension, writing skills as well as their learning and research motivation.

This study intends to compare the effectiveness of Jigsaw participatory and traditional approach teaching methods on the teaching of speaking and writing skills of Arabic language students of Farhangian University (a case study of Shahid Rajaee Campus of Urmia). The statistical population in this study includes all Arabic language students of Farhangian University of Shahid Rajaee campus in Urmia in the academic year of 97-96. The statistical sample of the study consists of 48 Arabic language students who were randomly assigned to two groups (24 experimental and 24 control groups). The experimental group participants received 12 sessions of Jigsaw participatory approach learning method, but the control group were taught using the traditional method of giving lectures. The research method is quasi-experimental and to achieve the research goals, a learning unit was developed based on the Jigsaw strategy and was implemented on the 24 students. A researcher-made test was used to collect the data. To examine the validity of the test, it was given to some professors specializing in the Arabic language teaching whose comments were applied after review. To analyze the data, MANCOVA and ANCOVA tests were run using SPSS software whose results showed that Jigsaw participatory teaching method has a statistically significant effect on the development of speaking and writing skills of Arabic students. Also, analysis of the data showed that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of students trained by the Jigsaw method in terms of their speaking and writing skills compared to those taught using the traditional method. Hence, the mean scores of the students in the experimental group in writing and speaking skills were (012/15) and (235/15), respectively while the mean scores of the control group were (35/13) and (164/14), respectively.

The aim of this study is to facilitate learning Arabic vocabulary for non-Arabic learners by specifying the standards necessary for designing mobile applications. The study followed a descriptive-analytical approach in which the standards of application design from previous studies were examined and analyzed in order to extract the relevant standards for designing applications of learning Arabic vocabulary for non-Arabic learners. The results were presented to some evaluators whose ideas were incorporated into the study. This study consists of six axes, nine standards and fifty-eight indicators. Furthermore, a series of suggestions were made including using the standards introduced in this study in developing applications for learning vocabulary and conducting evaluation studies on applications according to these specified standards.