STAKEHOLDERS' PERCEPTIONS AND IDEOLOGIES TOWARDS LEARNING SAUDI DIALECT IN MODERN STANDARD ARABIC CLASSROOMS

Abstract

Arabic is a diglossic language with two varieties: high -- Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and low -- spoken Arabic. As a result, there has been an ongoing discussion among specialists over which variety should be taught. The integrated approach, which teaches two varieties (typically MSA plus a local dialect), aims to enhance learners’ communicative competence. Recent studies have investigated learners’ and teachers’ perceptions and ideologies toward such integration, although as yet no studies have investigated the views of policymakers or university professors. Some studies have found that learners and teachers believe an integrated approach would enhance learners' communication needs, motivation, and cultural comprehension, while others found that students and teachers held ideological beliefs against this approach, or that they had expressed concerns such as confusion and decreased motivation. To bridge this gap, this mixed-method study explored 262 stakeholders (male, n=157; female, n=105), including learners, language teachers, policymakers, and university professors, to investigate their perceptions and ideologies regarding learning Saudi dialect in the oral skills classroom as support for learning MSA in an Arabic language program at a Saudi public university. Quantitative data was collected via questionnaires with all the stakeholders, and was followed up by three focus groups involving learners and by individual interviews with five policymakers and ten teachers. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics test such as repeated measures analysis, and the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The study found that stakeholders had positive attitudes toward dialect instruction / the integrated approach, and that the learners were the most enthusiastic group because their hope to better understand local culture and achieve academic success. In contrast, although the stakeholders perceived dialect instruction positively, they were concerned about some difficulties that might accompany dialect teaching in MSA classrooms, with teachers as the less concerned group. Regarding ideologies that work against the teaching of dialect, half of the learners held such ideological beliefs, while in general the teachers, policymakers, and professors did not hold such strong ideological beliefs, , with teachers as the less ideological group. Age was the most pertinent variable affecting stakeholders’ responses, and the older learners and younger policymaker and professors had more positive attitudes. Other variables such as gender played a lesser role in stakeholders’ responses. Younger female policymakers and professors held more positive attitudes toward integrated instruction, and policymakers who had not studied abroad tended to have negative attitudes toward integration, and to hold ideologies against dialect teaching. The finding of this study highlights strong agreement on the need for dialect instruction for academic and cultural reasons, and also the need to take into consideration the concerns expressed by those who such instruction would affect, including providing a well-planned curriculum and engaging with the concerns of those stakeholders who are skeptical of integrated instruction.