EFL Teachers and Students Perspectives on the Use of Arabic in Grades 11-12 English Language Classrooms in Oman

EFL Teachers and Students Perspectives on the Use of Arabic in Grades 11-12 English Language Classrooms in Oman: An In-Depth Investigation of the Pedagogy

Data Analysis and interpretation

Overview

The previous chapter presented the methods and procedure used to collect the primary data for the current investigation. This section presents the statistical analysis and presentation of the findings of the study. The study is related to the use of Arabic language in English language learning classrooms in Oman. The research hypothesis has been tested with the help of both the primary and secondary data. A questionnaire was prepared and disseminated for the collection of primary data. The primary data was entered into SPSS 18.0 software where various statistical analyses including descriptives and inferential statistics were performed.

STUDENT PERSPECTIVES

Respondent Profiles

A sample of 233 students participated in the study to explore their views of using Arabic while learning the English language in Omani EFL classrooms. The gender was almost equally distributed (50.6% female and 49.4% male) (Fig.1). The participants were drawn from the Governorate regions of Muscat (25.3%), Sharqiah (26.2%), Dakhliya (24.9%), and Dhaharah (23.6%) (See Fig. 2). The students were from Grade 11 (47.64%) and 12 (52.36%).

Figure 1. The gender of student participants

Figure 2. Participants by Governorate

Descriptive Statistics

Table 1.Summary descriptive statistics of students perspectives on the use of Arabic language in EFL classrooms in Oman

N Mean S.D Percentiles

25th 50th (Median) 75th

The Arabic language should be used in English language classrooms in Oman 233 2.94 1.292 2.00 3.00 4.00

Using Arabic language can simplify students English learning practice 233 3.45 1.266 3.00 4.00 5.00

Using only English in EFL classrooms can help students to learn it much better 233 3.34 1.349 2.00 3.00 5.00

Using the Arabic language in English classrooms could save time 233 3.32 1.353 2.00 4.00 4.00

Using students' first language (Arabic) is significant in English language classes in Oman 233 3.31 1.351 2.00 3.00 5.00

Using the Arabic language in the primary stages of learning the English language is very effective 233 3.50 1.384 2.00 4.00 5.00

Using the Arabic language helps learner to express his/her ideas easily 233 3.06 .924 3.00 3.00 3.00

The Arabic language is essential in English classroom to present and clarify new word vocabularies 233 3.45 1.351 2.00 4.00 4.50

Effective English language learning is grounded on using merely English language in the EFL classrooms 233 3.17 1.387 2.00 3.00 4.00

Teachers who use the Arabic language can better support and encourage learners to be involved in the classroom activities 233 3.47 1.303 2.00 4.00 5.00

The Arabic language is a helpful tool to know about students' background and interests 233 3.46 1.171 3.00 4.00 4.00

It is better to use the Arabic language to check learners' understanding 233 3.64 1.253 3.00 4.00 5.00

It is very useful when teacher uses the Arabic language for clarifying some English language problematic linguistic or grammatical rubrics 233 3.97 1.144 3.00 4.00 5.00

Students benefit from teacher's feedback if the Arabic language is used 233 3.28 1.213 2.00 3.00 4.00

Students usually participate more effective in the English language classrooms when teacher uses the Arabic language during the EFL class activities 233 3.52 1.243 3.00 4.00 5.00

English language learners got motivated when the Arabic language is used in the classroom 233 3.08 1.328 2.00 3.00 4.00

Students 233 1.51 .501 1.00 2.00 2.00

Table 1 shows the summary of students perspectives on the use of Arabic language in an English language-learning environment. A sample of (N) 233 students participated in the study. The Likert scale had five items i.e. strongly agree, strongly disagree, not sure, disagree, and strongly disagree. The mean of >3 signifies agreement, 3 implies not sure, and <3 signifies disagreement. Table 1 shows that all students agreed in general (mean score>3) about all the parameters except for one item; the Arabic language should be used in English language classrooms in Oman (M = 2.94, S.D = 1.292).

The use of Arabic in English Language Classrooms

A question was posed to the students to find out their views on the use of Arabic in English language classrooms. As it can be seen in Figure 3, the students views on the use of Arabic in an English language classroom were varied with only 12.88% stating that they strongly agree and 25.32% that they agree with the use of Arabic. However, the majority either did not agree (Strongly disagree 16.31% strongly disagree and 24.46% agree) with the use of Arabic in an EFL class or were not sure (21.03%) whether or not it should be used. Concerning whether the students thought using the Arabic language could simplify their English learning practice, 27.04% and 23.18% mentioned that they strongly agree and agree respectively. Most respondents were either "not sure" (25.75%) or did not agree (8.15% "strongly disagree" and 15.88% "agree"). A cross tabulation was done to establish the relationship between the student's perception of the use of Arabic in English learning classroom and the opinion that using Arabic would simplify learning the English language.

Table 2.

The relationship between the perception of use of Arabic language and the view that it can simplify students English learning practice

Using the Arabic language can simplify students' English learning practice Total

Strongly disagree Disagree Not sure Agree Strongly agree The Arabic language should be used in English language classrooms in Oman Strongly disagree 12 9 14 1 2 38

Disagree 5 13 22 12 5 57

Not sure 1 10 15 191135102870016 7 49

Agree 0 3 7 21 28 59

Strongly agree 1 2 2 4 21 30

Total 19 37 60 54 63 233

Table 2 shows that out of the 233 students 21 students who agreed that the Arabic language should be used in English language classrooms in Oman also agreed that using the Arabic language can simplify students' English learning practice (see blue circle). The same can be said of the 4, 21, and 28 students within the blue cycle who together are 74 participants (about a third of all the respondents) who both agree that Arabic should be used in EFL classrooms in Oman and believe that it can simplify their English learning experience.

Figure 3. The Arabic language should be used in English language classrooms in Oman

Figure 4. Using the Arabic language can simplify student's English learning practice

As compared with students who felt that Arabic would simplify English language learning in class (Figure 4), the majority of learners were of the opinion that using English only in EFL classrooms can help students to learn it much better (24.03% agreed and 25.32% strongly agreed) (Fig. 5). Only a few either strongly disagree (13.3%) or disagree (14.16%). However, a significantly large number of respondents (23.18%) are not sure whether English only classes would enable them to learn the English language much better.

Figure 5. Using English only in EFL classrooms can help students to learn it much better

The usefulness of Arabic in EFL Classrooms

A series of questions were asked to determine the value of using Arabic as their first language in English language classrooms. More specifically, they were asked they thought that using Arabic could save time, is useful during the nascent stages of learning the English language, helps learners to express their ideas easily, and clarification of vocabularies.

Table 3 sho3ws that only 52.4% of the participants agree or strongly that using the Arabic language in English classrooms could save time, 18% neither agree nor disagree, and 29.6% either disagree or strongly disagree.

Table 3.

Using the Arabic language in English classrooms could save time

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Strongly disagree 32 13.7 13.7 13.7

Disagree 37 15.9 15.9 29.6

Not sure 42 18.0 18.0 47.6

Agree 68 29.2 29.2 76.8

Strongly agree 54 23.2 23.2 100.0

Total 233 100.0 100.0

Figure 6

Table 4 presents the views of students that the use of students first language (Arabic) is significant in English language classrooms in Oman. Out of the 233 students, 48.9% agree or strongly agree that the use of Arabic by the students is necessary for EFL classes in Oman, 19% neither agree nor disagree, and 31.8% either disagree or strongly disagree.

Table 4.

Using students first language (Arabic) is significant in English language classrooms in Oman.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Strongly disagree 27 11.6 11.6 11.6

Disagree 47 20.2 20.2 31.8

Not sure 45 19.3 19.3 51.1

Agree 55 23.6 23.6 74.7

Strongly agree 59 25.3 25.3 100.0

Total 233 100.0 100.0

Figure 7. Response to the likert scale used to know the significance of Arabic language in EFL classrooms in Oman.

The contexts in which the students tend to use Arabic in Oman EFL classrooms

Table 5 shows the effectiveness of using Arabic in the early stages of learning the English language. Of the 233 students, the results indicate that the majority of students (58.1%) agree or strongly agree that using the Arabic language is very effective in the nascent stages of learning the English language, only 14.6% percent neither agree nor disagree, and 27% either agree or strongly disagree with this observation.

Table 5.Using the Arabic language in the primary stages of learning the English language is very effective

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Strongly disagree 29 12.4 12.4 12.4

Disagree 34 14.6 14.6 27.0

Not sure 34 14.6 14.6 41.6

Agree 64 27.5 27.5 69.1

Strongly agree 72 30.9 30.9 100.0

Total 233 100.0 100.0

Figure 8. Response to the effectiveness of using the Arabic language in the early stages of learning the English language

Table 6 depicts the students' perception of using the Arabic language to learners to express their ideas easily. Out of all the students who participated in the study, only 24.1% of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that using Arabic would help them express their ideas easily, the majority of the participants (55.8%) could neither agree nor disagree, and 20.2% disagreed or strongly disagreed.

Table 6.Using the Arabic language helps learner to express his/her ideas easily

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Strongly disagree 13 5.6 5.6 5.6

Disagree 34 14.6 14.6 20.2

Not sure 130 55.8 55.8 76.0

Agree 37 15.9 15.9 91.8

Strongly agree 19 8.2 8.2 100.0

Total 233 100.0 100.0

Figure 9. Responses to how the Arabic language can help students to express their ideas in an EFL classroom.

Concerning the use of Arabic language to clarify new concepts and vocabularies, Table 7 shows that the majority of the students (55.7%) agrees or strongly agrees, only 15% neither agree nor disagree, and 25.3% disagree or strongly disagree.

Table 7.The Arabic language is essential in English classroom to present and clarify new word vocabularies

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Strongly disagree 33 14.2 14.2 14.2

Disagree 26 11.2 11.2 25.3

Not sure 35 15.0 15.0 40.3

Agree 81 34.8 34.8 75.1

Strongly agree 58 24.9 24.9 100.0

Total 233 100.0 100.0 Table 8 depicts the opinions of students about the view that effective English language is grounded on using merely English language in the EFL classrooms. As it can be seen, 45% of the 233 students agree or strongly agree, 20.2% neither agree nor disagree. A significantly high number of respondents (34.8%) disagree or strongly disagree that effective English language is grounded on using merely English lan...