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OneSizeFitsAll?Ananalysisofheritageandnon-heritagelanguagelearnerperformance

inGCSEArabic.

Anna-MariaRamezanzadeh

Researchconductedat:DepartmentofEducation,UniversityofOxford

Reportcommissionedby:BritishCouncil(2016)

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INTRODUCTIONAs the first languageofanestimated300millionpeopleacross23countries, stretchingfromMorocco to the borders of Iran, Arabic is the fifthmost widely spoken languageworldwideandoneofthesixofficiallanguagesoftheUN.ArabicalsoplaysanimportantroleintheIslamicfaithandisutilisedbyoverabillionMuslimsforliturgicalpurposes.IntheUK,itisthefifthmostwidelyusedcommunitylanguage,withArabsconstituting4%oftheBritishpopulation(Bernasek&Canning,2009).Both the demand and opportunities for learning the language have grown rapidlyworldwide over the past decades (Al-Batal & Belnap, 2006). The Arabic GCSE (GeneralCertificateofSecondaryEducation)isoneofthemainavenuesviawhichthelearningofthislanguageispursuedintheUKeducationalcontext.Asyet,however,thenatureandsuitabilityofthisGCSEhasyettobeexamined,particularlywithinthecontextofthediversepopulationofpupilsstudyingthelanguage,includingmanywhofall intothecategoryofheritage language learners (HLLs).This reportpresents thedetailsofa two-phasestudyexploringthelearningandteachingexperiencesofstudentsandteachersoftheGCSEandtheperformanceofheritageandnon-heritagelanguagelearners(NHLLs)onexamtasks.Thefindingsofthisstudyarepresented,andtheimplicationsandrecommendationsforresearch,practiceandpolicyarediscussed.

LITERATUREREVIEW

THEARABICLANGUAGEArabicbelongstotheSemiticbranchoflanguages.Itsalphabetcontains28letters,allofwhichfunctionprimarilyasconsonants;vowelsareaddedasdiacriticalmarks(Figure1).The script is cursive,written from right to left,with the shape of each lettermodifieddependingon itsposition intheword.Arabicmorphology is richboth inflectionallyandderivationally;thelanguagefollowsarootandpatternsysteminwhichthree-letterrootsare adapted to different verbal or noun forms. The language boasts an extensivevocabulary,withalargenumberofsynonyms,andinvolvesarangeofcomplexagreementpatterns.

Figure1.TheArabicAlphabetandScript

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ISARABICADIFFICULTLANGUAGE?TheperceptionofArabicasa‘difficult’languageispervasiveamongbothnative-speakersand foreign language learners alike (Belnap, 2006). Reasons cited for this include thepronunciation of some letters, and the lack of cognates between Arabic and English(England,2006).Afurtherchallengetolearnersisthe‘diglossic’natureofthelanguage.Arabicisbranchedintospokendialects(‘amiyyah),andaformal,standardvariety(fusha)(Anderson & Suleiman, 2009). This differentiation between varieties is important in apedagogicalcontextsince,inthemajorityofeducationalsettings,onlytheformalvarietyistaught(Wahba,2006).Althoughimportant,ithasbeenarguedthatlearningonlyMSAessentiallyrestrictslearners’applicationofthelanguage,leavingthemunabletofunctioninarangeofsocialsituations.Thisissueaffectsdifferentlearnersinanumberofwayssincetheirexposuretoandorientationstowardsthelanguagewilldictatethevarietytheymostrequire.

Dialects(‘Amiyyah)Dialectsarethemediumforevery-daycommunicationintheArabworld(Wahba,2006).Theyarenottaughtbutacquiredthroughnatural interactioninthehomeenvironment.WhilsteverynativespeakerofArabicspeaksalocaldialectastheirmothertongue,inwhichthey eventually reach spoken proficiency (Allen, 2004), nearly every speaker of Arabic,nativeandnon,issocialisedintoacceptingthenotionofsupremacyoffusha,thehighervarietyand theofficial languageofgovernment,mediaandacademia inArabcountries(Belnap,2006).DialectsaredistinctfromformalArabicinanumberofaspects,includingelements of pronunciation and morphosyntax (Albirini, 2014) and vary, often quitedrastically,fromcountrytocountry.

FormalArabic(Fusha)Although fusha is not spoken as a native language, it is the variety of Arabic taught ineducationalinstitutionsintheMiddleEastandaroundtheworld(Wahba,2006).Exactlywhatthetermfushadenotesisthesubjectofcontinuingdebate.WhileitisusedbysomeresearcherstodenoteonlytheModernStandardvarietyofArabic,itcanalsobeexpandedtocoverClassicalArabic,whichincludestheQur’anicvariety(Wahba,2006).- ClassicalorQur’anicArabic:Thisisthelanguageofclassicaltexts,whichincludespre-

Islamic poetry, liturgical and scholarly texts. The sacredness of theQur’an and theimportanceoflearningfushainordertoaccessitsmeaningleadtothepreservationofthisstrandofArabic.ThisvarietysharesitssyntaxandmorphologywithMSA,butisusuallystudiedasaseparateskillandsubject(Wahba,2006).

- ModernStandardArabic(MSA):MSAisusedasthelanguageofthemedia,academia,and government across the Arab world (Scott-Baumann & Contractor, 2012). TheabilitytooperateinMSAisaspecialisedskilllearntinschools,thusproficiencyinthisvariety isdependentonaperson’s levelofeducation.Traditionally, itwasheldthatMSAwasa ‘unifiedandunifyingpan-Arab language variety’ (Elgibali&Taha, 1995,p.97),andadvocatesclaimedthatitcouldbeusedanywhereintheArabworldbynon-nativespeakers(NNSs)andtheywouldbeunderstood.Whilstthereisanelementoftruthtothisaxiom,sinceallArabspeakersstudyMSAinschools,theissueinlearning

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this strand as an all-purpose communication tool is whether or not learners canunderstand what is being spoken around them. Communication inMSA by nativespeakersisunnaturaland,asaresult,attemptstoengageinitforthesakeoflearnersusuallydisintegrate(Elgibali&Taha,1995).

Whatshouldbetaught?In light of the different strands of Arabic and their uses, the challenge for curriculumdesigners and teachers is ensuring that the Arabic taught in the classroom both fulfilsstudents’motivationsandequipsthemwiththeskillstofunctioninArabicwithregardstotheirpersonalareasofinterest.WhilstinstructioninMSAiscertainlyavaluableskill,andthecallfordiversificationinArabicclassroomsisinnowayacryfortheabandonmentofthe study of formal Arabic, the perpetuation of this one-size-fits-all approach createsproblemsinmeetingtheneedsofstudents,andensuringauthenticityofcontent.Learningismostlikelytotakeplacewhenlearnersperceivethecontenttoberelevanttotheirinterestsandgoals(Spolsky,1989).InlinewithDoughty’s(2003)stancethatlanguageinstructioniseffectiveonlywhereitisrelevanttothelearners’needs,studentsmustbeassured that what is being taught are skills applicable in real-life situations, and thatmaterialsusedforteachingtheseskillsmatchthis.

ARABICINTHEUKArabic teachinghas enjoyed a longhistory inBritain, datingback to the1600s.Of latesecuritybenefitshavedriventhedemandforArabiclanguageteaching(Worton,2009),ashasthegrowingUKpopulationofbothArabsandMuslims.Recently,theBritishCouncilreleasedareportcallingforthelearningofArabicforeconomic,socialandpoliticalreasons,situatingArabicinsecondplaceonitslistoflanguagesBritainneedsforthefuture(Tinsley&Board,2013).Ithighlightsschoolsandschoolcurriculainitsbroadoutlineofstrategiesthatneedtobepursuedtoboostthelearninginthecomingyears.ThemostcomprehensiveaccountofArabicinschoolsandsupplementaryclassesintheUKwaspublished in a report entitled ‘The TeachingofArabic Language andCulture inUKSchools’ (Tinsley,2015).This report identifies207schools (amere4%of schools in thecountry)teachingArabiceitheraspartofthecurriculum,orasanextra-curricularactivity.ThevastmajorityofthesewereMuslimfaithschools.Arabic,inallschools,ismorelikelytobeofferedinKS4thanKS3,giventheavailabilityoftheGCSE.

THEARABICGCSETheGCSEisusuallytakeninYear11.Examinationsandcoursesyllabusareofferedsolelyby thePearson Edexcel examboard. The course typically takes two years to complete.AlthoughfiguresfortheArabicGCSErepresentonly1%ofoverallGCSElanguageentries,ithas seen rapid growth in uptake since its introduction in 1995, with the latest figuresshowingover3,000entries for2014,comparedto just1,000twentyyearsago (Tinsley,2015).Whatisunclearfromofficialfigureshowever,arebothlevelsofachievement,and

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thenumbersofstudentssittingexamsasindependentcandidates1,andthosewhohavebeentaughtthesubjectaspartoftheirschoolcurriculum.

SpecificationBothashortcourseandfullArabicGCSEcourseareofferedbythePearsonEdexcelexamboard.Thefullcoursecoversfourunits:Speaking,Listening,ReadingandUnderstanding,andWriting.Fortheshortcourse,studentscanfocusoneitherSpokenorWrittenlanguage.Inlinewithrecentreformsintheeducationsystem,theArabicGCSEwasrecentlyupdatedforfirstteachingin2017.ItnowincludesaHigherandFoundationTier,thoughonelevelmustbetakenacrossallpapers.Thespecificationoffersdetailsofthegrammaticalfeaturesandtopicareastobecoveredduring the course, along with a list of core vocabulary (Edexcel, 2016). Topics includeIdentityandculture;Localarea,holiday,travel;School;Futureaspirations,studyandwork;andInternationalandglobaldimension.

ThespecificationmakesnoexplicitmentionofthetypeofArabicthatshouldbetaughtinthecourse.However,anexaminationofthecorevocabularyandexammaterialsclearlyindicatestheModernStandardvarietyhasbeenadopted.Althoughbriefreferenceismadeto the ‘standard spoken’ variety in the context of the speaking and listening papers, adefinitionandtheparametersofthisvarietyarenotelaborated.Furthermore,noguidanceisprovidedinthemarkschemesastohowtodealwithinstancesofdialectuse,eitherinthespokenorwrittenunitsoftheexam.InlightofthedescriptionsofthevarietiesofArabicandtheiruseshithertoextrapolated,evenacursoryglanceatthetopicscovered inthecourse,allofwhichrepresenttopicsthatwouldfallcomfortablyundertheumbrellaofdailyinteractions and thus dialects, should set off alarm bells, raising issues regarding bothtransparencyinthemarketingoftheGCSEArabicsyllabus,aswellastheauthenticityofthelanguageandskillsbeingtaught.

HERITAGELANGUAGELEARNERS2Theterm‘heritagelanguage’originatedinCanadainthe1970s(Cummins,2005)andtheconcept has since spread to the UK, where the term has become synonymous with‘community’ language (Murphy, 2014). To date, no consensus exists on exactly whatconstitutesaHLL.AframeworkforcategorisingdifferentdefinitionsofHLLsisproposedbyBale(2010),whodividesthemintoancestral-andproficiency-basedapproaches.Proficiency-baseddefinitions categoriseHLLs as individualswhohave learned theHL inchildhood but have not reached native-speaker status due to a language shift beforeadulthood (Murphy, 2014). This proficiency-based definition is the most commonlyassumedinstudiesregardingclassroompracticesinceithasmoreimmediatepedagogicalconsequences,enablingteachers,intheory,tounderstandandinteractwithlearnersbasedontheirlevelsofproficiencyandthenatureoftheirpreviousexposure(Murphy,2014).

1ThosewhoknoworhavestudiedArabicindependentlyandsimplysittheexamatschool.2AfulldiscussionofthecomplexitiesofdefiningheritagelanguagelearnersofArabicisofferedbyRamezanzadeh(inpress).

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The ancestral-based definition centres around a personal, historical, ethno-linguisticconnection to the language in learnerswhomayhavehadnopreviousexposure to thelanguageputtingthem,intermsofcompetence,onaparwithabinitiolearners.Fishman(2001)highlightsthecentralityofhistoricalandpersonalconnectionstothelanguagetothedefinitionofaHLL.Thiscouldeitherbeintheformofahistoricaltietothecountryorpopulationthatspeaksthelanguage,orthelearnermayhavebeenraisedinacommunitywherethelanguageisspoken(ComanaruandNoels,2009).IdentifyingHLLsofArabicusinganancestral-baseddefinitioniscomplex.ThisislargelyduetothesacraltiesbetweenArabicandtheIslamicfaith.SinceArabicisthelanguageoftheQur’an,andmostMuslimsareraisedinhomesandcommunitieswhereArabicisusedforworship (Scott-Baumann & Contractor, 2012), a broad definition of HLL would thusencompassanenormous rangeof learners. Italsoconflates thevarietiesofArabic thatdifferentstudentshavebeenexposedtosincetheQur’anicvarietythatnon-ArabMuslimswillhavebeenexposedtodiffers inmanyrespectsfromthecolloquial,unwrittenformsspokeninArabhouseholds.The proficiency definition appears thusmore useful, however, in the context of Arabicthereareanumberof issueswith its application. Theprimaryonebeingexactlywhichstrainofthelanguagetheterm‘heritage’refersto.Arestudentsraisedinahomewhereonlyadialectisspoken,consideredHLLinaclassroominwhichonlyMSAistaught?Asmallnumberofstudieshaveattemptedtoestablishaspecificdefinitionof‘ArabicHLLs’.

- Husseinali(2006)identifiesthreedistinctgroupsoflearnersinhisstudyintoArabiclearners in an American University. The first group includes learners of Arabdescent,thesecondnon-ArabMuslims,andthethirdstudentsofallotherethnicandculturalbackgrounds.Hegoeson,however,tocollapsethefirsttwogroupsintoone,identifyingtheonlycriterionforqualifyingasaHLL,therefore,asanaffinitytotheArabiclanguage.

- Mango (2011) also proposes two groups of HLLs: thosewho come from homeswhere Arabic is spoken, and those whose connection to the language ispredominantlythroughreligion.Littletheoreticalbasisforthisdefinitionhowever,isoffered,althoughitisinlinewiththeproficiency/ancestraldistinctionhithertooutlined.

- IbrahimandAllam (2006)proposeperhaps themostdetailedbreakdownofHLLcategories available thus far in the literature. They divide learners into fourcategories:thosewithArabicasahomelanguage,thosewithoneArabparent,butwhereArabicisnotspokenathome,non-ArabMuslims,ArabswholivedinArabcountriesbutwhoattendedinternationaleducationalinstitutions.

What all of these distinctions still appear to ignore, however, is the aforementionedproblemthatlearnersarebeingexposedtodifferentvarietiesofthelanguageineachofthesecategories.

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METHODOLOGYToaddressthegapsintheliteratureonArabicHLLsinthecontextoftheGCSEthisstudyisbothdescriptiveandexploratoryinnature.ThestudystartsbycollectingbackgrounddataonthesamplerecruitedtoprovideinformationonwhichtobaseHLL/NHLLcategorisations.PerformancescoresonarangeofauthenticGCSEexamtasksareexploredtoshedlightonanydifferencesbetweenparticipantsbasedonexistingtheoreticaldefinitions.Informationon the perceptions of students and teachers concerning distinctions between differentgroupsoflearnersarecollectedandanalysedtojudgewhethertheseperceptionssupportor diverge from those categories proposed in previous research. Data on participants’learning and teaching experiences is also collated and analysed as a sourceof possibleexplanations to any differences or trends noted among participants. Data on thesevariables are collected using both quantitative and qualitative measures to provide adetailedpictureofHLLandNHLLperformanceinrelationtotheArabicGCSE3.

RESEARCHQUESTIONSA total of five research questions (RQs) were formulated to explore patterns in theperformanceofHLLsandNHLLs:

1)Whataretheethnic,religiousandlinguisticbackgroundsofstudentsenrolledinArabicGCSEcoursesinasampleofsecondaryschoolsinEngland?

2)Dothebackgroundsofstudentsenrolled inArabicGCSEcourses insecondaryschoolsinEnglandcorrespondtothedifferenttheoreticalconceptualisationsofaHLL?

3)IsthereadifferenceinperformanceonArabicGCSEtasksbetweenstudentsofdifferentheritagebackgrounds?Ifso,inwhatdirection?

4)Dostudentsandteachersperceivedifferencesintheperformanceoflearnersofdifferentheritagebackgrounds?

5)WhataretheperceptionsofstudentsandteachersoftheArabicGCSEregardingtheirrespectivelearningandteachingexperiences?

PARTICIPANTSThepopulationwereteachersandstudentsoftheGCSEArabicinschoolsaroundEnglandoffering the subject as an optional or compulsory component of their curriculum. Nodatabase of schools in England offering the GCSE is currently available, which madeidentifyingmembersofthepopulationacomplicatedprocess.Muslimfaithschoolsarethemostobviouscandidatesinthisgroup,andthesewereidentifiedviathewebsitefortheAssociation for Muslim Schools. Mainstream secondary schools offering Arabic wereidentifiedviainternetsearches,schoolsidentifiedinTheTeachingofArabicLanguageandCultureintheUKreport(2015),andcontactsmadeviatheBritishCouncil’sArabicSchoolsTeam.

3SeeRamezanzadeh(2015)forthefulldetailsoftheoriginalstudy.

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Thecompletesampleconsistedof8teachers,and102students.Theseparticipantswererecruitedintwophases4:

- Phase 1: All secondary schools offering Arabic were contacted and invited toparticipate.Intheinitialroundofdatacollection,atotaloffiveschools,6teachersand75studentswererecruited.Althoughthepopulationincludedfaithandnon-faith, single-sex andmixed, independent and state schools, all 5 of the schoolsrecruited in this phase were Muslim girls schools. Participants in this samplecompletedthequestionnaires,examtasks,andtookpartininterviews.

- Phase2:Inordertowidentherepresentativescopeofthesample,twonon-faithschools were later invited to participate in the study. For logistical reasons,participants in this sample completed the questionnaires only. This sampleconsistedof2teachers,and27studentsfromonegirls(8students),andonemixedcommunityschool(19students).

INSTRUMENTS

QuestionnairesQuestionnaireswereusedtogatherdataconcerningparticipants’backgroundsandtheirperceptions of the Arabic GCSE. Since no previous study has specifically focussed ondifferences in performance amongst learners of different heritage backgrounds withregardstotheArabicGCSE,boththequestionnairesforteachersandstudentsareuniquetothisresearchandweredevelopedbytheresearcher. Itemsincludedclosed,multiple-choiceaswellasopen-endedquestions.

StudentQuestionnaireTheStudentQuestionnairewasdividedintofoursectionswithatotalof36items.ThefirstthreesectionsweredesignedtoascertainwhetherstudentsfitintodifferentcategoriesofHLL by building a profile of their ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds. The finalsectionaskedstudentstorespondtoitemsregardingtheirperceptionsoftheArabicGCSEandanyperceiveddifferencesintheperformanceofHLLandNHLLs.

TeacherQuestionnaireTheTeacherQuestionnairewascompletedatthesametimeastheStudentQuestionnaire.Itwasdivided into threesectionswitha totalof25 itemsoverall. The first sectionwasdesignedtoelicitinformationaboutthenatureandextentoftheprovisionofGCSEArabicintheirschool, includingclasssize,hoursofdelivery,andtheexamboardoptionsbeingtaken, as well as the resources used, and the language of delivery. The second askedteachers for their views on student performance, and whether they detected anynoticeabledifferencesintheperformanceofstudentsfromdifferentbackgrounds.

4Wherefindingsofthequestionnairearediscussed,datafrombothsamplegroupsarepresented.StatisticalanalysisoftheperformanceofdifferentgroupsofstudentsincludesdatafromPhase1only.

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InterviewsAsemi-structuredinterviewprotocoldevelopedbytheresearcherforuseinbothgroupandone-to-oneinterviews.Eachinterviewlastedbetween10-20minutes,andallwererecordeddigitally.Thesewereconductedtogivestudentstheopportunitytoexpandontheirquestionnaireresponses,particularlyinrelationtotheirlinguisticbackgrounds,andtoairtheirviewsonanyperceiveddifferencesinperformancebetweendifferentstudentsandtheirperceptionsoftheirownperformance,andanyreasonsforthese.TeachersofArabicwerealsoinvitedtoparticipateinone-to-onesemi-structuredinterviewsinordertoexpand on their responses to the questionnaires, and to elaborate on their overallexperiencesinprovidingArabicinstruction.

GCSEExamTasksMeasuresofstudents’performancewereelicitedbyadministeringexamtaskstakenfrompreviousGCSEexampapers. Thesewere scored according to theofficial Edexcelmark-scheme,byboththeresearcherandaqualifiedArabicexaminer.Intotal,studentswereaskedtocompletefivetasks;twolisteningtasks(5markseach),tworeadingtasks(5markseach), andonewriting task (20marks).A totalof40markswereavailableoverall. Thiscombinationoftaskswaschosentoprovideascompleteapictureofstudents’performanceacrossdifferentskillsaspossibleduringthetimeavailable.Theadministrationofspeakingtasksunfortunatelyprovedunfeasiblesincetherewasinsufficienttimetoconductthesetaskswithintheschools’schedules.

FINDINGS

1.Whataretheethnic,religiousandlinguisticbackgroundsofstudentsenrolledinArabicGCSEcoursesinasampleofsecondaryschoolsinEngland?Across thesamples frombothphases, themajorityof studentswereofAsianorigin,asshowninChart1.Afurther20%wereofArabheritage.Allstudents indicatedthattheywere from Muslim backgrounds, despite the sample including two non-faith schools.Profilesofthestudentsfromthetwophasesarepresentedseparatelybelow.

62.7

20.6

6.9

4.9 2 2.9

Chart1:EthnicBackgrounds(CompleteSample)

Asian

Arab

BlackAfrican

Mixed(White/Asian)

Mixed(Other)

Anyotherbackground

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Phase 1: Students came from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, with the vast majority(77.3%)ofSoutheastAsiandescent(Indian,Pakistani,Bangladeshi)aspresentedinTable1.

Table1.Phase1–ParticipantEthnicitiesEthnicity Frequency PercentAsianIndian 18 24AsianPakistani 31 41.3AsianBangladeshi 9 12Arab 5 6.7BlackAfrican 4 5.3Mixed(White/Asian) 5 6.7Mixed(Other) 1 1.3Anyotherbackground 2 2.7Total 75 100

Thenumberof students fromArabbackgrounds in this samplewas comparatively low.Thesestudentswereaskedinthequestionnairetostatetheircountryoforigin.Inresponse,twoidentifiedthemselvesasAlgerian,onePalestinianandtheotherIraqi.Thefifthstudentwhoselectedthe‘Arab’optionstatedhercountryoforiginas‘Somalia’.ThisisinterestingsincethreeotherstudentswhoidentifiedasSomalididsobyselectingthe‘BlackAfrican’optionintheethnicityitem,andidentifyingSomaliaastheircountryoforiginwhenasked.One student who selected ‘Mixed (Other)’ noted that she was ofmixed Pakistani andAlgerianparentage.

Inaddition,fivestudentsofnon-ArabheritagerespondedthattheyhadlivedinanArabcountryandhadspenttwoormoreyearsoftheirearlyormid-childhoodinthere.

Phase2:Inthissample,despitebeingdrawnfromtwonon-faithschools,allparticipantsindicatedthattheywerefromaMuslimbackground.Interestingly,learnersineachofthesetwoschoolshadcomparativelyverydifferentethnicbackgrounds.InSchool1,16ofthe19studentsindicatedthattheywereofArabethnicity.Theremainingthreeconsistedofonestudentofmixedheritage(Arab-Kurdish),andtwoofSomaliorigin.InSchool2,6outofthe8studentswereidentifiedasbeingofAsianethnicity,alongwithoneSomalistudent,andoneAlbanianstudent.

LinguisticBackgrounds

The linguisticprofilesof studentswere formedon thebasisof their responses to itemsregardingtheirhomelanguage,whetherornottheycommunicatedinArabicwithfamilyorfriends,andwhetherArabicwasspokenbyanyoneelseathome.

Phase1:Whenaskedtoidentifythelanguagestheypersonallyusedathome,fivestudentsinthisgroupwrote‘Arabic’,eithersolelyorinadditiontootherlanguages.WhenaskedwhetheranyoneintheirhomespokeArabic,atotalof15studentsconfirmedthatthiswasthecase.Thisfigureincludedthefivestudentswhoanswered‘yes’totheirownusage,plusafurther10whohadnotlistedArabicasalanguagetheypersonallyusedathome.It is

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interesting to note the discrepancy between responses to these two items, which isperhaps indicative of the fact that while students may not see themselves as activecommunicatorsinthelanguage,theydounderstandthelanguagebeingused.

Studentswerealsoasked toprovide further information regarding their levelofArabicusageathome,ifany(Table2):

Table2.Phase1-Students’LevelofArabicUsageatHomeLevelofUse FreqIuseafewwordsinArabic 4IholdsomebasicconversationsinArabic 8IspeakfluentlyinArabic 4Iunderstandafewwords 3Iunderstandbasicconversations 6IunderstandtheArabicspokenathomewell 7

TheseresultshighlightaspectrumofproficiencylevelsamongststudentswhouseorareexposedtoArabicintheirhomes.Whilstoverhalfofthesestudentscanholdsomebasicconversationsinthelanguage,onlyfourclaimedtobeabletospeakArabicfluently.

Phase 2: Students in the non-faith schools presented different linguistic profiles. AllstudentsinSchool1indicatedthatArabicwasspokenintheirhomes,17ofthemindicatingthatthistooktheformofanArabicdialect.WhenaskedabouttheirlevelofArabicusage,17ofthemindicatedthattheyspokeArabicfluentlyand/orunderstoodtheArabicspokenat home well. Only one indicated their highest level of skill as ‘I hold some basicconversationsinArabic’,andtheotherthattheyunderstoodbasicconversationsinArabic.

Participants’ levels in School 2 were starkly different, with 6 indicating no level ofcommunication in Arabic, and only two indicating that they used or understood a fewwordsinthelanguage.Itseemsclearfromtheseresultsthatallstudentsinthefirstnon-faithschoolwereproficient,ifnotfluentinArabic,whereasinthesecondschool,learnershadonlyhadcontactwiththelanguagethroughtheirfaith.

Overall,thequestionsregardingstudents’demographicprofilespresentapictureofthecomplexmake-upofstudentsinthissampleofGCSEclassrooms.NotonlydosomeclassescontainstudentsofArabheritage,butalsothoseofdifferentethnicitieswhohavelivedinanArabcountryduringchildhood.Thesestudentsarebeingtaughtalongsidethosewho,whilstnotexposedtoArabicforcommunicativepurposesintheirhomes,maybefamiliarwiththelanguagethroughreligiousobservance.Evenamongstthesestudentshowever,thelevelofexposure,previousstudyandindeedcurrentstudydifferbasedonwhetherornottheyattendextra-curricularclasses,andwhatthoseclasses involve.Furthermore, itcannotbepresumedthatstudentsinnon-faithschoolswillbeforeignlanguagelearners,sinceclearlybasedontheresponsesoftwoschools,classcohortscanberadicallydifferent,and in fact in School 1, all students have Arabic spoken in their homes, whereas thebackgroundsofthoseinSchool2resemblethoseofthestudentsfromfaithschools.

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2.DothebackgroundsofstudentsenrolledinArabicGCSEcoursesinsecondaryschoolsinEnglandcorrespondtothedifferenttheoreticalconceptualisationsofHLLs?

ThebackgrounddatafromstudentsinPhase1wereanalysedaccordingtotheproficiencyandancestraldefinitionsoutlinedbyBale (2010) to identifywhether students couldbecategorisedmeaningfully according to this framework. Data was also viewed from theperspectiveofArabic-HLL-specificdefinitionswiththesameintention.

TheAncestralDefinition

Ifweconsider religion tobean integralpartofaperson’s identityorancestry, thenallparticipantsinthissamplewouldbeconsideredHLLsbyvirtueoftheiradherencetotheMuslim faith, as proposed byHusseinali (2006)with his conflation of the categories oflearnersofArabethnicity,andthoseofnon-ArabMuslimheritage.

Thisuseoftheancestraldefinitionisproblematicforanumberofreasons.NotonlydoesitmakeitimpossibletotestforanydifferencesbetweenHLLsandNHLLswithinthissample,since no students of a non-Muslim backgroundwere recruited, it ignores the fact thatstudentsexposedtoArabicathomewillnotonlyhavebeenexposedtoadialectvariety,but are unlikely to have learned orthographic or decoding skills, since dialects are notwritten.Incontrast,studentsexposedtoQur’anicArabicwillmemorizedcertainphrasesandwillusuallyhavelearnedtophoneticallydecodetheQur’anicscript(Scott-Baumann&Contractor, 2012). To further complicate thematter, these two categories are likely tooverlap,withsomeArabMuslims learningtospeak indialect,butalsoreadtheQur’an,thoughwithlimitedcomprehension.Thisisreflectedintheconsiderablevariationwithinparticipants’characteristicsandtheirperformance(whichvariedbetween2.5-100%).

Thatbeingsaid,thefactthatmanyMuslimsbeginlearningArabicoutsideofschoolfromayoungage (Scott-Baumann&Contractor,2012) therearegrounds to suggest thatnon-Arab,non-MuslimstudentsmaybeatasignificantdisadvantageatGCSElevel.Thisisanareathatclearlyrequiresfurtherstudy.

TheProficiencyDefinition

It appears, from the descriptions of students’ backgrounds outlined above, that theproficiencydefinitioncanbeappliedwithcautionandcaveats.Intotal,15studentsinPhase1fellintothiscategorybasedontheirquestionnaireresponses(Table3),indicatingtheuseofArabicintheirhomeenvironment.

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Table3.Phase1-HLLParticipantProfiles

No. Ethnicity HomeLanguages

Arab

icat

home?

Variety

Arab

icwith

family

Arab

icwith

friend

sArab

icTV

1 Arab Somali,English,Arabic Y Dialect Y Y Y

2 Pakistani PushtoandEnglish Y MSA5 N Y N3 Pakistani English Y Dialect Y N N

4 MixedOther(Pakistani/Algerian) English Y Dialect Y N Y

5 Mixed(White/Asian) English Y Dialect Y Y N6 Arab Arabic(Algerian) Y Dialect Y Y Y7 Bengali English,Bengali Y Dialect Y N N8 Arab Arabic Y Dialect Y Y Y9 BlackAfrican Somali Y MSA/Dialect Y N Y10 Arab Arabic,English Y MSA Y Y Y11 BlackAfrican Somali Y MSA Y N Y12 Arab Arabic,English Y Dialect Y Y Y13 BlackAfrican Somali,Arabic Y MSA/Dialect Y N Y14 Mixed(White/Asian) English Y MSA Y N N15 Bengali Bengali Y MSA Y N N

Obviouslytheuseofaproficiencydefinitionimpliesalevelofproficiencyinthelanguage.Onequestionnaire itemwasdesignedtoelicit informationregardingstudents’ languageskillspriortobeginningtheGCSE(Chart2).Accordingtotheresultsofthisitemallstudentswhofittheabovementioneddefinitionreportedsomelevelofproficiencyinthelanguagebefore they started their GCSE, with over half able to write sentences and hold aconversation.

5 It isunclearas towhyorhowstudentsselectedtheMSAoption for theArabicspokenathome.Thereareanumberofpossibleexplanations.Oneisthatstudentswerenotawareoftheterm‘MSA’,anditsdistinctionfromadialect.AnotheristhatfamilymembersdidindeeduseMSAinthehome,perhapsincaseswhereparentshadgoneabroadtostudyArabicinaneducationalinstitutioninanArabcountryandreturnedwiththeabilitytospeakinMSA.Furtherstudieswouldberequiredtoinvestigatethisissue.

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This proficiency definition conforms to Ibrahim and Allam’s (2006) distinction betweenstudentsexposedtoArabicasahome language,andnon-ArabMuslimsexposedtothelanguagethroughreligiouspractice.ItshouldbementionedthatwhilstthisdefinitiondoesdoawaywiththeconflationofQur’anicArabicandothervarieties,thereisstilltheissueofconflatingdialectswithMSAinthecaseswherestudentsidentifiedthevarietyofArabicusedinthehomeasvernacular.Intheabsenceofanyotherframework,theproficiencydefinitionishereadopted,thoughwithcaution.

3. Is there a difference in performance on Arabic GCSE tasks between students ofdifferentheritagelanguagelearnerclassifications?Ifso,inwhatdirection?

ThissectionconcentratesonthefindingsofPhase1,whichidentifyanadvantageamongststudents in the HLL category. Although performance data was not collected fromparticipants in Phase 2, studentswere asked to provide their predicted or actualGCSEArabicgrades.InSchool1,inwhichallstudentsrecordedArabicasbeingspokenintheirhomes, 100% of students reported a C-A* grade. 74% reported that they had eitherachievedorpredictedanA*,thusaddingsupportthefindingspresentedbelow.

86.793.3

80 80

53 53

83.3

66.7

33.3 35

5 8.3

0102030405060708090100

PercentageofStudents

Skill

Chart2.Phase1- HLL&NHLLSkillsReportedPre-GCSE

HLLs

NHLLs

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ComparisonofOverallPerformance

Performance for HLLs and NHLLs based on the proficiency definition were compareddefinition using statistical analysis6. Participants’ performance was measured via theirscoresoutofapossibletotalof40onaseriesoffiveGCSEexamtasks.Participants’scoresontheseexamtasksprovideaninsightintotheircurrentlevelsofperformanceacrossthreeofthefourskillstestedintheirfinalArabicGCSEs.

Firstly, the total overall performance scores were compared for HLLs and NHLLs.ParticipantsintheHLLgroupsignificantlyoutperformedthoseintheNHLLgroup,scoringonaveragealmost10marksmore.

ThisdifferenceisperhapsunsurprisinggiventhefactthattheHLLcategorywasestablishedusingaproficiency-baseddefinition,meaningstudentshadpriorlinguisticknowledgeandskills attained in their home environment before commencing formal study of thelanguage.Thisisdespitethefactthatthelanguagethatthemajorityofthesestudentshadbeenexposedtowasofacolloquialnature. Itappears,therefore,thatknowledgeofanArabic dialect did aid in these participants’ performance in responding to exam tasksrequiring use and understanding of MSA. Dialects do differ in their distance from thestandardvariety (Abirini, 2014). Itwouldbe interesting to seewhether therewereanydifferences in performance of students from different dialect backgrounds, thoughunfortunatelysamplesofsuchstudentinthisstudyweretoosmalltoanalyze.

6Anindependentsamplest-test.

8.6 7.479.93

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6.034.4

6.42

17.03

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Reading Listening Writing OverallPerformance

AverageScore

AssessmentCategory

Chart3.Phase1- HLL&NHLLPerformanceScores

HLLs

NHLLs

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Skill-BasedComparison

Inordertoidentifywhetherornotthesedifferenceswerereflectedacrossallthreeskillstested, total reading, total listening, and writing scores were compared for HLLs andNHLLs7.ScoresforlisteningweresignificantlyhigherforHLLsthanNHLLs.ReadingscoreswerealsosignificantlyhigherforHLLs.Differencesinwritingbetweenthetwogroups,ontheotherhand,failedtomeetstatisticalsignificance.

Judgingfromthelackofsignificanceindifferencesbetweenparticipants’writingscores,itappears that,whilst anHLL advantage existed overall, knowledge of a dialect failed totranslateintomoreadvancedwritingskills inthisparticularsample.Theconfinementofdialects to the spoken realm meant that, although HLL students may have enjoyedincreasedaccesstospeakingandlisteningopportunities,unlessstudentswereschooledinorthographyandspelling,theseskillswouldhavebeenlacking.

4.DoteachersandstudentsperceiveadifferenceintheperformanceoflearnersfromdifferentbackgroundsenrolledinGCSEArabiccourses?

Basedon theanalysisandcodingof the interviewdataandquestionnaire responsesofteachers and students from Phase 1, it appears that higher performance levels wereperceivedacrossfourdifferentcategoriesofstudents.ThesegroupsarepresentedinTable4,alongwithadescription,andexamplesoftheresponsesfrombothstudentsandteacherssupportingthiscategory.

Table4.Phase1-CategoriesofStudentsPerceivedtoPerformBetterthantheirClassmatesintheArabicGCSE

Category Description Quote–Teachers Quote-StudentsArabicspeakers

StudentsofArabheritageandthosewhowereraisedinanArabcountry.

StudentsofArabheritagearefamiliarwithmostofthevocabulary.Theyperformwellinallfourskills.ForArabspeakersit’sfine.

ObviouslytheArabsarebetterthanus,becausethey’reArabs.IlearntArabicwhenIwaslivinginEgypt…Iknowagreaterrangeofvocabulary.

Somalistudents

StudentsofSomaliheritagearealsodeemedtohaveanadvantageinlearningArabic.

Theymightbegoodinspeakingandlisteningbecausetheirlanguageisabitclosertoourlanguage,plustheparentscanspeakArabic

WehavequiteafewArabicwordsinourlanguage,sothatreallyhelpsmeinArabic.Therearesomanysimilarwords…andyoujust,like,understandit.

7AMann-WhitneyUtestwasusedtostatisticallycomparethescoresforthetwogroups.

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‘Alimahstudents

Studentswhoareenrolledin‘Alimahcourses.

Thesestudentsperformbetterthanotherstudents

Thepeoplewhogomosqueandthey’reinthe‘Alimahclasses,theyknowthegeneralvocabularyandlittlegrammarrules,soforuslotwe’relearningitfromscratchwhereastheyalreadyknowitandtheycanapplyitquicker.

Urduspeakers

Studentswhoidentified‘Urdu’asalanguagetheyspokeathome.

StudentswhospeakUrdufinditeasiertolearnArabic.

UrduhelpsmelearnArabic.Ithinkithas(helped)becausesomeofthewordsarereallysimilar,andthealphabet’sreallysimilar.

ArabicSpeakers

Of the five classes participating in this phase, four contained students from an Arabicspeakingbackground.Itwasdecidedthatthiscategorywouldbelabeled‘Arabicspeakers’,ratherthan‘Arabstudents’,sinceit includedstudentswhowerenotethnicallyArabbutwho had been raised in Arab countries or were exposed to Arabic in their homeenvironmentsinchildhood.Studentsinthiscategorygenerallyfelttheyhadanadvantageoverotherstudentsineitherallorsomeofthefourskills,andwereperceivedtohaveanadvantagebyteachersandotherstudents.

Teachers’Perceptions

Teachersnoteddifferencesbetweentheperformanceofthesestudentsandthosewhodidnotfitthiscategory,withArab-speakingstudentsperformingbettereitheracrossallfourskillsorinindividualones.Anumberofdifferentreasonswerecitedascontributingtothisadvantage, in particular a familiarity withmost of the vocabulary. One teacher noted,however, that it was not solely knowledge of vocabulary that gave these students anadvantagebutagraspoftheappropriatewaytousethewordsthey’dlearned:‘IfItakeanon-ArabicspeakerandanArabicspeakerandtheylearnthesamevocabitwillbeeasierfortheArabicstudenttoputthatvocabintherightcontext,butforanon-Arabicspeakeritneedstimeandskillstodothat.’Thissameconceptwasdescribedbyanotherteacherasthe‘style’ofArabic.Thiscouldbeinterpretedeitherasappropriateuseofvocabularyinthe right semantic context, or the appropriate integration of words into sentences bycorrectusageofmorphosyntacticrules.Adetailederroranalysisofthestudents’writtenresponseswouldshedlighttheexactnatureofthedifferencesin‘style’betweenArabicandnon-Arabicspeakers.

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Students’Perceptions

StudentsidentifiedashavinganArabic-speakingbackgroundspokethemselvesoffindingtheGCSEcoursegenerallyeasierthantheirclassmates.Theyalsospokeofanadvantageintermsofvocabulary,aswellasexposureandopportunitiestousethelanguageoutsideoftheclassroom.Onestudent,forexample,whousuallycommunicatesinEnglishathome,willaskhermothertospeaktoherinArabicifshehasanexam.Thisisincontrasttothosestudentswhodonotfallwithinthiscategory,themajorityofwhomhave‘neverspokenArabicoutsideofschool.’

Nevertheless,theperceivedadvantageofspeakingArabicorbeingexposedtoitinahomeenvironment brought with it its own challenges, largely due to the aforementioneddifferences betweenMSA and dialects. It is interesting to note, for example, that onestudentofAraboriginswrote‘AlgerianArabic’asherhomelanguage;perhapsalludingtothefactthatshefeltitwasdifferentfromstandardArabic.

AfurtherproblemwasusingtheArabictheyhadlearnedinschoolintheirhomecontext.Somestudentsfeltthatthecoursecontentdidnothelpthemwithconversationalskills:‘IthinktheGCSEArabictheydon’tteachyouhowtospeakoutsidetheschooloranything.It’sallbasedintheclassroomsotheArabictheyuseisfusha,whichisthetraditionalArabic,buttheydon’tteachyouthedialectwhichyouneed…toactuallycarryaconversation.’Or,asanotherstudentpertinentlyputit,‘it’snotthesameArabic.’Thisgoesbacktotheissueoflanguageauthenticity.

Ontheotherhand,transferringtheskillstheyhadaccumulatedathomeintotheclassroomenvironmentmetwithvariedsuccess.Whilststudentsdidfeelthatknowledgeofadialecthelpedoverall,theyfacedproblemsinswitchingtoMSAintheclassroom.Asonestudentphrasedit,‘[It’s]challengingsometimesbecauseyouhavetogofromthewordsthatyouknow to the words that you’re supposed to be speaking instead.’ Another also founddifficultiesnotjustinswitchingbutinstickingtoonevariety,‘Iwasmixingthemup;theformalandmyArabic.Itdoesn’tsoundgood…’It’sinterestingherethatthisstudentusestheterm‘myArabic’,highlightingthegulfperceivedbetweenthe‘formal’MSAstrandandthelanguagesheisfamiliarwith.Thisdifficultyseemedtobemostapparentinthespeakingcomponent,unsurprisinggiventhatdialectsarespokenratherthanwritten.Thewritingpaper,ontheotherhand,presentedlessofachallengegiventheopportunityforstudentstoeditbeforesubmittingtheirpaper,‘it’seasierinthewritingbecauseyougetmoretimetothinkaboutwhattheactualwordshouldbe,butinspeakingit’shardbecauseyouhavetosayitonthespot,soyougetconfusedbetweenwhichwordsyoushouldbeusing.’Evenwiththisadvantagehowever,studentsstillfacedsomeproblemsintheareaofsyntax.InspokenArabicit iscommonpracticetoplacethesubjectatthebeginningofasentencewhereas inMSAthesentencestructurefollowsastrictVSOpattern(Alhawary,2011),adifferencethatsomestudentsfoundchallenging,‘Istillgetconfusedwhethertoputthenounor the verb first’. It is perhaps this that caused the lack of significance inwritingperformancesincegrammaticalaccuracyconstitutesaportionofthemarksforthewritingpaperaccordingtothemark-scheme.

Overallhowever,theadvantageofspeakingaformofArabicforperformance,asopposedtonoArabicatallwasdeemedtooutweighthedifficultiesfacedinswitchingfromadialecttoMSA.

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ThosestudentswhodidnotfallwithintheArabic-speakercategoryhighlightedwhattheyperceived to be an advantage amongst those from Arabic-speaking backgrounds. Theypicked up on others students’ lexical knowledge, and the resulting facilitation inunderstanding,‘sheknowstheanswers,sheknowsmostofthevocab.’

Anumberof students spokeof thebenefit ofhavingArabic-speaking individuals in theclassroom,sincetheyprovidedanextraresourcethroughwhichtoseekhelp.‘ItmakesmefeelIcanlearnthingsfromthemaswellwhentheytalk’/‘Theyalsohelpusaswell,wecanaskthemquestions.’ThisisinlinewithLee’s(2005)findingsthatHLLsoftenactas‘linguisticandculturalbrokers’inclass(p.558).

Conversely,thepresenceofArabicspeakersmayhavealsohadademotivatingeffectonsomeindividualsintheclasswhospokeofhavingtoworkextrahardinordertokeepup,‘It’ssortofasetbackbecauseyouneedtobeconstantlylearningvocabularysoyoucanbeuptherewiththerestoftheclass.’Thisisaproblemexacerbatedbythefactthatallclassesinthisstudyweremixed-ability,meaningArabic-speakingstudentsweretaughtalongsidethosewhohadhadmuchmorelimitedexposure.

SomaliStudents

TwoclassesalsoincludedstudentsofSomaliorigin.Whilstthesestudentsfellunderthecategory of HLL according to their questionnaire and interview responses, there are anumberofissuesdistincttothisgroupworthyofnote.

Teachers perceived that these students had a potential advantage in the speaking andlistening components of the course due to Arabic exposure at home and similaritiesbetweenSomaliandArabic.It isnotclearhowfarthisadvantagetranslatesintowritingskills, since the teachers noted difficulties amongst these students in spelling. Thesestudents also highlighted the difficulties they faced in spelling, but overall expressed afamiliaritywithArabicforthesamereasonsascitedbytheirteachers.‘Wehavequiteafewwordsinourlanguage,sothatreallyhelpsmeinArabic;‘there’ssomanysimilarwordsandyoujust,like,understandit.’

WhatisinterestingaboutthesestudentsisthattheiradvantageinArabicstemmedbothfromtheirexposuretoArabicinthehome,andalsothesimilaritiesbetweenSomaliandArabic.TherelationshipbetweenSomalisandtheArabiclanguageisacomplexone.WhilstSomaliissituatedinAfrica,itisamemberoftheArabLeague,thoughSomaliandEnglisharetheofficiallanguagesofthecountry.TheSomalilanguageitselfcontainsalargenumberofArabicloanwords(Ahmad,2013),thoughitdoesnotsharetheArabicscript.TheissueofwhetherArabsidentifyasAfricanorArabiscomplicated,demonstratedbythefactthatwhilstoneSomalistudentselected‘Arab’ontheethnicityitem,herteacheridentifiedheras‘notArab’butsaidthatshedidwatchArabtelevision.Somalicommunities,onthewhole,retain a strong adherence to the Islamic faithwith an emphasis onmemorizingQur’an(Andrzejewski,2011).LittleresearchexistsonSomalis,particularlythoselivingintheUK,and the relationship between their identity and familiarity with the Arabic language.UnfortunatelythenumberofSomalistudentsinthissamplewastoosmalltorunstatisticaltests,makingfurtherstudiesintothisareaallthemoreimportant.

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‘AlimahCourseStudents

In two schools it also became apparent that some students attended extra-curricularreligiousstudiesclasses,knownasthe‘Alimahcourse,aprogramofIslamicstudies,takeneither in English or Urdu, which involves explicit instruction in Arabic grammar. Theseparticipantswere perceived to have an advantage in the Arabic GCSE by students andteachers. During the interviews it became apparent that studies at themosquemeantdifferentthingstodifferentstudents.

Teachers’Perceptions

Itwasnotedby teachers that studentswhowereundertaking the ‘Alimah coursewereperformingbetter intheirArabicstudies inschool.Oneteachersaidthat ‘studentswhostudyin[themosque]…performbetterthanotherstudents’.ShealsonotedthatthestyleofArabicstudiedinthemosquewasQur’anic,butthatneverthelessitappearedtohelpthemacrossthefourskills.Anotherteacheralsohighlightedtheimpactofmosquestudiesonstudents’motivation,notingthatthosestudentsweremoreinterestedinlearningthelanguageandsodidn’tcomplainlikeothersstudentsaboutthefactthatitwascompulsory.

Students’Perceptions

Students,whenaskedabouttheirmosquestudiesandtheirrelationtotheArabicGCSE,attributedtheiradvantagetothefactthattheycoveredalotofthevocabularyfromschoolinthemosque,‘everythingwedoinmosquewedoinschool’.Studentswhodidnotattendtheseclassesappearedtoperceivetheirmosque-goingclassmates’advantage,‘sometimesinwritingwhenthere’sacertainwritingtaskandweonlyknowabitofvocabulary,butsomepeoplecanaddanythingtoitbecausetheyknowlotsofvocabulary.’

Unfortunately, given the different uses of the term ‘mosque’, unbeknownst to theresearcherbeforehand,itwasnotpossibletoseparateoutthestudentstakingthiscoursefromthosewhowerenotstudying it inordertocompareperformances.Futurestudieswouldbenefitfromthisdifferentiation.

UrduSpeakers

AsignificantproportionofstudentsinthissamplespokeUrduathome.AlthoughstudiesonthelinguisticclosenessofArabicandUrduaresparse,anumberoftieshavebeennoted.Themostobvious is thesharedscript.Alsoapparent is the largenumberofArabic loanwordsinUrdu(Islam,2011).AninterestingissueraisedintheinterviewswastheuseofknowledgeofUrduasanaidtolearningArabic.

AlthoughonlyoneteacherfeltthatstudentswhospokeUrduhadanadvantage,therewasastrongsenseamongststudentsthatthishelpedtheminsomewaystolearnArabic.Thesimilarities in the script were noted; however more prominent was the use of Urduknowledgeas anaid to vocabulary learning, noting, ‘UrduandArabic arequite similar;somewordsyoucanjustmakeintoArabic’;‘WespeakUrduathome,sosomeofthewordsaresimilar,andit’sjusteasiertorememberit,andsomewordssoundthesamesoyoucanjustsortofrelatetoit.’StudentsthusappeartobenefitfromsomeoftheArabicloanwords

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inUrdu,andspokeoffindingassociatewordsinUrduaswellasEnglishtohelpthemretainnewArabicvocabulary.

However,itshouldbementionedthatnotallUrduspeakingstudentsfeltthiswasthecase.Infact,somestudentsfeltthesimilaritiesbetweenUrduandArabicwereahindrance,‘It’sconfusingbecausewe’redoingUrduaswell…andthey’rekindofsimilarsowegetconfusedwiththemboth.’Anotherissueisthevariabilityinliteracyandfluencylevelsamongthiscategoryofstudentdependingontheirhomeenvironmentandwhetherornottheyhadstudiedthesubjectinoroutsideofschool.Thisisalludedtointheaforementionedquote,sincethisstudentisnotonlyaspeakerofUrduasahomelanguagebutisalsostudyingthelanguageatschool.

ThesegroupshighlightnewlevelsofcomplexityinthecontextofArabicHLLsandwarrantfurther study in order to determine the exact relationship between their distinctexperiencesandrelationshipstoArabicandtheirperformanceinthelanguage.

5.WhataretheperceptionsofstudentsandteachersoftheArabicGCSEregardingtheirrespectivelearningandteachingexperiences?Together, the interviews and questionnaires gave participants from Phase 1 and 2opportunities to expand on their experiences with the Arabic GCSE in general. Theseresponseswerecoded,andfellunderthethreecategories,presented inTable5.Theseprovideinterestinginsightsintosomeofthedifferencesbetweengroupsoflearners,andtheoverallperformanceofthissample.

Table5.Phase1&2-ThemesinPerceptionsRegardingLearningandTeachingExperiences

Theme Categories QuoteReasonsforStudyingArabic

Religious,travelandcommunication,enjoyment/interest,careerprospects,furtherstudy,compulsory

IwanttobeabletounderstandtheQur'an…tocommunicatebetterwithmyfamilymembers…It’stheloveofthelanguage

Attitudes PositiveattitudestowardslanguagelearningNegativeattitudes

Forthemit’slikeadeadlanguage…Idon’treallylikelearningit.Itcanbereallyhardtolearnsometimes…I’dprefernottodoit.

Resources LackofResources It’sreallyhard,tobehonest,tofindgoodresources.That’sthefirstobstacleinteachingArabic,especiallytonon-Arabspeakers.

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ReasonsforStudyingArabic

Students were asked in an open ended question to identify their reasons for studyingArabic. Themain reason cited by students was a desire to understand religious texts,primarilytheQur’an.GiventhefactthatfiveoftheschoolswereMuslimfaithschools,theemphasisonunderstandingtheQur’anisnotsurprising.

VeryfewstudentsgavetheuseofArabicforcareerpurposesasamotivation.Thissmallpercentagemaybeduetorestrictionsongirls’careerprospectsinSoutheastAsiancultures(Ghuman, 2005), or it couldbe a lackof awarenessof particular jobs thatmay requireArabicincontrasttoothercareerpaths,thoughthiswouldrequirefurtherinvestigationinordertodeterminethevalidityoftheseinterpretations.

JustoveraquarterofstudentsstatedthattheywishedtocommunicatewithArabspeakers,eitherintheUK,orthroughtravelingtoArabcountries.Thiswassupportedininterviewswithstatementssuchas, ‘halfofmyfamily… Idon'tunderstandthemwhentheyspeakArabic,soIcanunderstandwhatthey'resayingathome.’Thoughthisisthesecondlargestcategory, it still small incomparisonwith the findingsofotherstudies, suchasSoliman(2008)who recorded these particularmotivations as being oneof themost prominentamongst learners ofArabic. Thismaybedue to the limitedopportunities perceivedbystudentstocommunicatewithArabspeakersgiventhemakeupoftheircommunitiesathome,andculturalrestrictionsonwomentravelingabroad(Mohee,2011).

13.7%ofstudentsindicatedthattheywereonlystudyingArabicsinceitwascompulsoryintheir school, giving no other personal motivation, noting in their interviews andquestionnaireresponses,thattheyweretakingit‘becauseIhavetwo(sic).’Afurther17.6%ofstudentssimplywrote ‘to learna language’,oravariationofthisstatement,withnoexplanationastowhatusetheywerehopingtoputit.Theseresponsescouldpossiblybe

42.2

27.517.6

13.7

11.8

7.8

6.93.9 3.9 1

Chart4.Phase1&2- ReasonsforLearningArabic

Religious

CommunicationwithArabspeakers

Tolearnalanguage

Compulsory

Enjoyment/Interest

TogetaGCSE

Travel/CommunicationinArabcountries

Career

Homelanguage

University

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interpretedasstudentstakingthesubjectonlytofulfillthelanguagecriteriaintheirlistofGCSEoptions.

Onlyaroundatenthofstudentsindicatedanelementofenjoymentorinterestbehindtheirstudy of Arabic. This may be due to the fact that in 4 of the 7 schools the subject iscompulsory.

AwarenessoftheutilityoftheArabiclanguageforcareerprospectsandfurtherstudywasextremelylow,withonly1studentmentioningthisintheirresponse,andonly4indicatingadesiretousethelanguageforemploymentpurposes.Thisisalsoincontrasttostudiesconducted inothereducationsettings,andhighlightsaworrying lackofattentionbeingdrawntotheimportanceofArabicasavaluableworldlanguage.

Phase2:Whenexaminedseparately,someinterestingfindingsarosefromtheanalysisofresponses from the non-faith schools. These are presented in Table 6. In particular, itemerged that a large number (42%) of students from School 1 stated that they werestudyingArabicsolelyforthepurposesof‘gettingaGCSE’.ItappearsfromtheirresponsesthattheyweregivenachoicebetweenArabicandSpanish,andsincetheirhomelanguage(anotherresponsecommononlytothisgroup)wasArabic,thiswasthereforetheeasieroption: ‘because I had a choice between Arabic and Spanish and I don’t know a lot ofSpanish’/‘Mainlybecauseit’saneasyGCSEsoI'mmainlydoingitfortheGCSE’.

Table6.Phase2–ReasonsforLearningArabic FrequencyCategory %Total Total School1 School2Enjoyment/Interest 14.8 4 0 4Tolearnalanguage 18.5 5 1 4CommunicationwithArabspeakers 7.4 2 1 1Career 3.7 1 1 0Travel 7.4 2 1 1Religious 22.2 6 3 3University 3.7 1 0 1HomeLanguage 14.8 4 4 0TogetaGCSE 29.6 8 8 0

ThisappearstocontributetotheviewthatmanystudentsofAraborigintaketheGCSEasan‘easyoption’.Thisviewisproblematiconanumberoffronts.Firstly,itcanunderminethevalueofaqualificationinanotherlanguageamongstbilinguallearners,presentingitaslessofanachievement for themsince theymay speak the languageathome. It is alsomisleading:whilst in this sample,many students appear to be taking the exam for thepurposesofobtainingagoodgrade,HLLstudentsinPhase2notedcertaindifficultiesinansweringexamquestions.Theirwrittenresponsesinfactwerenotsignificantlydifferentto those in theNHLL group, indicating that students’ exposure and familiaritywith thelanguagevariesdramaticallywithintheHLLgroup.Furthermore,theperpetuationoftheideathattheexamisdesignedfornativeorheritagespeakersisdemotivatingforstudentsof other backgrounds, adding to the perception of Arabic as a difficult subject.Nevertheless,thedistinctadvantageinatleastsomeareasoftheGCSE,raisestheissueofthevalidityandaccessibilityoftheexamforawiderangeoflearners.

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Attitudes

PositiveattitudestowardslearningtheArabiclanguagewereexpressedbystudentsacrossthesample.WhenaskedabouttheirexperiencesstudyingtheArabicGCSEseveralstudentsexpressedtheir loveoftheArabic languagewithphrasessuchas ‘I think it’sabeautifullanguage’and‘It’sinteresting’.Onestudentalsoexpressedadesiretocontinuelearningthelanguagethroughhighereducation.

These positive attitudes were dwarfed, however, by the tide of comments concerningstudents’frustrations,boredomandoveralldemotivationtowardslearningthelanguagewhichemergedduringtheinterviews(Table7).InallPhase1schools8,studentsexpressedfeelings of apathy towards the Arabic GCSE. This was also highlighted by most of theteachers.StudentsinSchool3hadoptedtotaketheArabicGCSEoutofachoiceofArabicand Urdu, and levels of demotivation in these students appeared lower during theirinterviews.However,oftheremaining47studentswhowereobligedtotaketheGCSE,almost half (46.8%) explicitly expressed the fact that they would drop the subject ifpossible.Giventhevolumeofcommentsrelatingtostudents’demotivationininterviewsandquestionnaireresponses,thequalitativedatapertainingtothisissuewerecodedintotwothemes:

Table7.Phase1-ThemesinNegativeAttitudesTowardsArabicGCSETheme Description QuoteLackofutility Distinctlackof

instrumentalandintegrativemotivationsamongststudents.Studentsonlytakinglanguagebecausetheyareobligedto.

There’snopoint.It’snotlikeweneeditorsomething,orwe’regoingtoaplacewherewe’regoingtospeakArabic.

Difficultyofthelanguage

Arabicperceivedasadifficultlanguage,oftenincontrasttootherMFLs,concernsoverthevolumeofvocabulary/topicsthatneedtobecoveredforexams.

TheGCSEArabicsyllabusisveryintense,especiallyfornon-ArabspeakersYoulookatthewordsandyougetthissortoffeeling,like,‘I’mnotgoingtorememberthis’,soyouleaveit.Idon’trevise.

LackofUtility

StudentsinmanyinterviewgroupsexpressedtheirconcernsaboutthelackofutilityoftheGCSE.Thiscamefromstudentsofallbackgrounds.OftheNHLLs,severalexpressedthefactthattheycouldnotseethemselveseverneedingtocommunicateinArabic,eitherabroadorwithintheircommunities.ThiswasespeciallytrueinschoolssituatedinareaswithlowArabpopulationsorwheretherewasperhapslessintegrationbetweenthevariousMuslim

8Althoughitwasnotpossibletoconductinterviewswithstudentsfromthenon-faithschools,thelackofsurveyresponsesrelatingtofuturecareerorstudyprospects,andthehighnumberofresponsessuggestingthestudentsweretakingArabicsimplytogainaGCSE,suggestasimilarlyworryingpictureastotheperceptionoftheutilityoftheGCSEpastresultsday.

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communities. In this context, one teacher described Arabic as ‘a dead language’. Shecontinuedthat‘theyonlylearnithereinclass,theygohome,there’snochancetopractice,noactivities,noculturalactivitiesintown’.Thisisaninterestingobservationsincestudents’dailylivesarecertainlynotdevoidofArabicgiventhefactthattheyusethelanguageeverydayintheirprayersandworship.Whatishighlightedhereagain,albeitindirectlyperhaps,istheschismbetweentheArabicusedforreligiousritualsandtheArabicintheclassroom.

Thiscouldexplainwhy,despitethefactthatalmosthalfofthestudentsidentifiedreligiousmotivationsbehindtheirArabiclearning,levelsofmotivationandinterestinthesubjectwerelow.StudentsandteachersmentionedthefactthattheyperceivedadifferenceintheQur’anicandMSAvarieties,eventhoughatabasiclevelitcouldbearguedthattheyverysimilar in both syntax and morphology (Wahba, 2006). When asked whether Qur’anicArabicorexampleswereincorporatedintothelessons,teacherscommentedonthefactthat itwasnotapartofthecurriculum,andthatwithtimeandresourcesalreadytight,theywerenotabletoaccommodatethisextensionincontent.

Furthermore,thefactthatstudentsgavereligiousmotivationsfortheirArabiclearningwasexplainedbyoneteacheras‘aspirational’,ratherthanarealisticallyachievablegoal,‘Ithinkit’sjustanaspiration,thattheQur’anisinArabic,IwanttolearnArabic’.ItcouldalsobearguedthatsucharesponsewasexpectedinthecontextofanIslamicschool.Ontheotherhand, some may feel that this interpretation undermines the integrity of students’responses,andthatinfacttheydidharborakeendesiretoaccesstheirreligioustextsbutthatthecontentoftheGCSE,andthewayitwasbeingtaughtwasnotinlinewiththeseinterest, which, despite genuinely strong motivations, had left students feelingdisillusionedwithArabicaltogether.Eitherway,themismatchbetweentheexpectationsof these students and the aims of the Arabic GCSE, and the worryingly high levels ofdemotivationinthisrespectareacauseforconcernandneedtobeaddressed.

Difficulty

Thedifficultyofthelanguagewashighlightedasacommonthemeamongststudentsfromallschools,aswellassomeoftheteachers.Thiscategoryincludedcommentsabouttheperceived inherent difficulty of the Arabic language, pervasive across other learningcontexts(Stevens,2006)andspecificdifficultiesinstudyingfortheArabicGCSE.Anumberofstudentsappearedtohold thebelief thatArabicwasan inherentlydifficult language‘becauseifyouthinkthatyou’relearningawholenewlanguage,it’snotgoingtobeeasy,especiallyArabic,it’squiteadifficultlanguage’,particularlywhencomparedtootherMFLs:‘I’ddoanotherlanguage,FrenchorSpanish,theeasyones’;‘Maybesomethingabiteasier,French…’

Thechallengeofvocabularyacquisitionwashighlightedbyallteachers,whoidentifieditasintegraltosuccessfulperformanceintheGCSE.Butalongwiththestudents,teachersalsoemphasisedthatthevolumeofvocabularyintheGCSEsyllabusmadeteachingandlearningitdifficult.Studentsspokeofthedifficultyinlearningsomanywordsinsuchashortspaceoftime,‘there’slotsofvocab…toomuch’;‘it’s50billionwords’.Studentsalsocomplainedaboutthemethodsinuseintheirclassroomsforlearningthenecessarywords.Inseveralclassrooms,accordingtothestudents,thistooktheformoftheteacherwritingwordsontheboardforstudentstocopydownandmemorise.Whilstsometeachersprofessedthatthiswastheonlywaytheycouldgetthroughthevolumeofvocabularyrequiredforthe

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exams,thisappearedtobecausingdemotivationamongstthestudents,totheextentthatsomesaidthey’dgivenuplearningthemaltogether, ‘Idon’tbotherrevisinganymore.Ican’tlearnanymorevocabulary.Ijustleaveittochance;ifitcomesintheexam,itcomesintheexam.’ItcouldbearguedthatthisisexacerbatingthedifferencebetweenHLLsandNHLLs as hitherto defined, given the fact that not only have HLLs typically acquired asignificantportionofvocabularyfromhome,buttheyarealsoexposedtothesewordsincontext.

Vocabulary was also noted as an issue in the context of the writing paper, which themajorityofstudentsidentifiedasthehardestofthefourpapersfortheexam.Teachersattributed this difficulty to the fact that thewriting paper requires additional languageknowledgeontopofvocabulary,notrequiredtosuchadegreeinotherpapers.Thewritingpaperistheonlyoneinwhichstudentsarerequiredtoproducethelanguageunprepared,without prior knowledge of the topic, implementing both lexical and grammaticalknowledge.Thistestingofgrammaticalknowledgewasnotedbystudentsasachallenge,particularlyintheareaofsyntax,‘IwritethewayItalk[inEnglish],soit’skindofdifficultforme’;‘youhavetomixthewordsupforittomakesense’;‘whenyou’rewritingyouhavetokeepalltherulesinmindandsometimesyoujustdon’trememberallofthem’.Althoughdifferences in performance on the writing paper between HLLs and NHLLs were notsignificantinthisstudy,thismayofferanexplanationastodifferencesinperceptionsofdifficultyregardingthelanguage,since,unliketheNHLLs,afarlowerproportionofHLLshighlighteddifficultiesinapplyinggrammaticalrulesinwriting.

ResourcesTeachers highlighted problems with finding appropriate and enjoyable resources forstudentsofallbackgrounds,‘It’sreallyhard,tobehonest,tofindgoodresources.That’sthe first obstacle in teaching Arabic, especially to non-Arab speakers.’ The paucity ofresources forArabicwas furtheremphasisedby the readilyavailablematerial forotherlanguages, ‘if you compareArabic to other languages, there’s very, very few resourcesavailable online, and textbooks.’ They also noted the difficulty in finding appropriateresources online, particularly audio and visual resources, since themajority of sourceswould,intheory,bedeemedappropriatematerialforGCSElevel,suchasTVprograms,orrecordedconversations,aredeliveredinadialect.Studentsalsohighlighted issueof a lackof resources, expressingaparticulardesire formoreaudioandvisualmaterialandengagingclassroomactivities, ‘I thinkweshoulddomore activities becausemore people find it easier to learn thatway.’ Several studentsspoke of methods akin to rote learning, claiming teachers relied heavily on studentscopyingfromthewhiteboard.Suchmethodsareclearlyproblematic,notonlyintermsofefficacy,butalsointermsofengagementsincestudentsfoundthispracticeboringandoff-putting.Insummary,anumberofworryingtrendswerehighlightedbyparticipants,bothinkeepingwith themes established in the literature, aswell as problemsunique to this particularsample. The disparity between the language in the classroom and students’ Arabicexposure, relationship with the language, and motivations not only complicates HLLdefinitions,butisleadingtoaworryinglevelofdemotivationamongststudents,manyofwhomexpressadesiretolearnthelanguageforverypersonalreasonswhicharen’tcatered

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to in the classroom. This is exacerbatedby a lackof resources and classroomactivitiescompoundingstudents’apathytowardsthelanguage.

IMPLICATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONSThoughthesefindingsarepreliminary,andfurtherexaminationisneededintothelearningandteachingofArabicintheUKschoolscontext,anumberofrecommendationscanbemadebasedontheoutcomesofthedatapresentedinthisstudyfortheareasofpractice,researchandpolicy.PRACTICE

ProvisionThe growing importance of Arabic on the world stage necessitates an increase in theprovisionofArabicintheUKeducationsystem.Thereisaneed,therefore,toexpandthenumberofschoolsofferingArabic,inparticularamongstnon-faithschoolsofwhichonlyveryfewofferthesubject.However,astheresultsofthisdatashow,expandingprovisiontonon-faithschoolsisnotenough.Withintheseschools,Arabicshouldbemadeavailabletoawiderangeofstudents,sothat it isnot justseenasanoptionforthosewithArabheritage or religious ties to the language. Furthermore, there is a need for a strategicapproachtoteachingandexaminingthelanguageinsuchsettings,sothatstudentswhostartlearningthelanguagefromscratcharenotdisadvantagedinanyway,incomparisontotheirheritagelearnercounterparts.

DifferentiationSincedifferencesintheoverallperformanceofHLLandNHLLsweresignificant,teachersmayconsideranumberofoptionsindifferentiatingbetweenstudents’needsandabilities.Onesuchoptionwouldbestreamliningclasses,offeringseparatelessonsforeachgroupsoasto focus, forexample,onreadingand listeningskillswithNHLLswhilstconcentratingearlier on in the year on writing skills with HLLs, or teaching strategies for HLLs todifferentiatebetweentheirdialectandMSA,whichtheynotedasdifficult.Alternatively,ifkeptwithinthesameclass,whichmaybemorefeasibleforsmallerschoolsorclasses,HLLsmaybeencouragedtoplaytheroleof ‘culturalbroker’wherepossible,particularlywhenitcomestospeakingArabic,sincethiswasnotedasbeingusefulinsomeclasses.ThiscouldservethedualpurposeofprovidingHLLswithopportunitiestopracticetheirMSAspeakingskillsandofferingNHLLsopportunitiestolistentoArabicbeingspokenin the classroom, since audio-visual resources are scarce. Thismayprove a particularlyusefulmodelincaseslikeSchool1,inwhichalargenumberofstudentsareproficientinthelanguage,andcouldhelptheirclassmatespracticetheirspeakingandlisteningskills.Carewouldneedtobetakeninensuringthatthisexercise,however,doesnotdemotivatesome students who, in comparing themselves to their HLL counterparts, may feelintimidatedorthattheirspeakingskillsareinadequate.

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Resources–Sharing&DevelopmentTheissueofresourceswasidentifiedbybothteachersandstudentsacrossthesampleasan area of concern. It appears, thus, that the problem of resources highlighted byresearcherssuchasAndersonandSuleiman(2009),Wahba(2006),andAl-Batal(2007)intheAmericanadultlearnercontextalsoappliestoGCSEclassrooms.Thisisclearlyanareawhichneeds tobeaddressednotonlyby researchers inorder toestablish thekindsofresourcesandactivitieswhichwouldpromoteeffectivelearning,butalsobyteachersandcurriculumdesignersinthiscountryandabroad.Whilst there are a growing number of print resources for learning Arabic in general,materialaimedatstudentsstudyingfortheGCSEisscarce.IncomparisontootherGCSEsubjects,onlinesearchesyieldpreciouslittleinthewayofquantityorvariety9.Clearlythereisamarketthenforthedevelopmentoftextbooks,worksheets,andotherteachingaids.However, rather than wait for these to appear, one recommendation is that Arabicteacherssharetheir resourcesonline,asdoteachersacrossthecountry forotherGCSEsubjects.Theteachers inthisstudyspokeofregularlydevelopingoradaptingtheirownresources,nodoubtapracticeadoptedbyArabic teachersaroundtheUK.Thus,onlinesharing platforms, whereby teachers pool resources they have developed or foundthemselvesmaynotonlyalleviatesomeoftheburdenplacedonteacherstodeveloptheirownmaterials,butmayofferopportunitiestoalsoshareideaswithintheArabicteachingprofession for engaging tasks, exercises and approaches to keep students motivatedthroughouttheyear.Thismayalsoproveavaluabletoolforstudents.Inschoolsinwhichitisunfeasibletoofferstreamlined provision, an alternative approachmight be to direct students of differingabilities to online resources via which they can supplement their own learning, thusfacilitatingdifferentiationandofferingopportunitiestoengagewithdifferentvarietiesandapplicationsofArabicbothwithinandoutsidetheclassroom.Thismayaidinaddressingsome of the dissatisfaction students feel towards the course as it currently exists, asdiscussedbelow.In addition, this may address the complaint raised regarding the lack of audio-visualmaterial, and ‘fun’ language learningactivities,whichwasa sourceofdemotivation forsomestudents.Anonlinecollectionofresourcesandlinkstosuchmaterial,mayfillthisgap, andhelp to alleviate theburdenof long and arduous internet searches placedonteachers.

Timeframe

Oneproblemidentifiedbyseveralteacherswasthevolumeofvocabularyrequiredfortheexam.Thespecificationincludes79pagesofwordsstudentsarerequiredtolearn,totallyalmost2,000individualitems.Teachersinoneschoolthemselvessuggestedtakinglongerto cover theGCSEmaterial as a solution to this problem. These teachers had taken tointroducingGCSEvocabularywithYear7studentsinpreparationfortheexamin5years’time.ThisallowedthemtimeinYears10and11tohonestudentswrittenandspokenskills.

9(althoughthereare2websiteswhichexistwhichoffersomeschemesofworkandworksheets,andafacebookgroupusedbyanumberofArabicteachers.)

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This,ofcourse,isonlyfeasibleinschoolswherethereisfreedomtointroduceArabicfromKS3.Thispresentsanobstaclefornon-faithschoolsinparticular,sincetheremaynotbethe scope to introduce the language earlier than Year 10, thus potentially excludingcompletebeginnersfromtakingupthelanguageorattainingahighgrade.

MotivationOnemajorthemearisingfromthisstudywasthatofstudents’motivation.Thisrefersbothtostudents’reasonsforstudyingthelanguage,aswellastheirengagementandinterestinthe subjectduringandoutsideof class. In relation to the former, it appears thatmanystudents’expectationsofwhattheywilllearnintheirArabicGCSEcourseareoftenatoddswith what is being taught. These desires and expectations, however, are not alwaysarticulated by the students in the classroom. Teachers are thus encouraged to gaugestudents’interestsatthebeginningofthecourse(andifpossible,atmultiplepointsduringthe year to track any changes). This would then help them to cater to students’expectationsandkeepstudentsengagedthroughouttheyear.If,forexample,therearestudentsintheclasswhowishtocommunicatewiththeirfamilies,extramaterialcouldbeprovidedtohighlightthewaysinwhichstudentscanuseMSAandadaptittotheirhomeenvironment.Ontheotherhand,ifstudentsaredrivenbyadesiretounderstandreligioustexts,examplesofvocabularyorgrammaticalrulescouldbedrawnfromthesesourcessoastohighlighttheapplicationofstudents’knowledgetothatwhichtheyareinterestedin.Thisdoesplacegreaterdemandsonteachers.However,ifthisstrategyisadoptedalongsidethesharingofresourcesrecommendation,thesetwopracticesmaycounterbalanceeachotherintermsofworkload.Italsohasthepotentialtoproducehigherlevelsofengagementand subsequently higher levels of achievement amongst students as a result of theirincreasedmotivation,ashasbeendemonstratedinstudiesinotherlanguages/contexts(Dörnyei&Chan,2013).In addition to information regarding students’ motivations, increased awareness ofstudents’linguisticbackgroundsandtheirrelationshiptotheArabiclanguagewouldalsobeofusetoteachers.Knowledge,forexample,ofthefactthatsomestudentsfromUrdu-speakingbackgroundsuseknowledgeoftheirhomelanguagetoaidinlearningArabicisastrategythatcouldbeutilizedbyteacherstoaidthememorizationofvocabulary,throughapproachessuchasthekey-wordmethod.Althoughthismaybemoredifficultforteacherswhodonotspeakthesamehomelanguagesastheirstudents,anawarenessoftheskillsstudentsbringtotheclassroomwouldaidteachersinhelpingstudentstoidentifytoolsandmethods they can use for developing Arabic language skills, thus easing the task ofacquiringArabicintheshortspaceoftimeprovidedfortheGCSE.Furthermore,anunderstandingofstudents’ identities fromtheirownperspectivecouldhelp teachers encourage students to develop an affinity with the language and soconceptualise it as part of their language identity (Dornyei, 2005) Recent studies intostudents’motivationtheorisethatmoremotivatedlanguagelearnersvisualizetheirfutureself-concepts as incorporating language skills. Care should be taken to draw links andhighlight those areas of students’ language learner identities that relate to the Arabiclanguage so as tomotivate students throughout the year.Whilst thesemay be scarce,incidentssuchasthemislabelingbyoneteacherofaSomalistudentas‘not-Arab’whenthe studentherself identifiedas suchmayprovea sourceofdemotivation for studentssincethiscreatesagulfbetweenheridentityandthelanguage.

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Afinalrecommendationwithregardstostudents’motivationsrelatestotheverylowlevelsofcareerandfuture-studyrelatedreasonsgivenbylearnersforstudyingthelanguage.Asaforementioned,thismaybeduetothefactthatstudentsinthissamplearelimitedintheirtravelopportunities.However,what is equally as likely is that studentsareunawareofcareeroruniversityoptionsthatmakeuseofArabiclanguageskills,northeimportanceofArabic globally. Highlighting these prospects to students throughout the year couldheightenstudents’engagementswiththelanguage,andhelpthemtovisualizethemselvesusingArabicinthefutureintheirplacesofwork.Inaddition,highlightingopportunitiesforstudentstoutilizetheirlanguageskillsduringtheirschooloruniversitycareers,forexamplethrough volunteering or charity work, may also combat the view espoused by somestudentsthatArabichaslittleutilityintheirday-to-daylives.

Transparency&Authenticity

According toWilmsen ‘it is an open secret in the Arabic teaching profession that thelanguagetaughtintheclassroomisnotthesameasthatusedinspeech’(2006,p.125).Itisclearfromareadingofthesyllabusandfromtalkingtostudentsinthisstudy,manyofwhomweredisillusionedbytheirArabicstudies,thatthisstatementcouldbeappliedtotheUKsecondaryschoolcontext.Thereappearstobea lackof transparencyaboutthenatureoftheArabiclanguagetaughtintheclassroomandthepotentialapplicationofskillsacquired in the GCSE course to real life situations. Solving the mismatch of skills andlanguage varieties will take time, effort, andmoney, but in themeantimemaking thenatureofthecoursecleartostudentsfromtheoutsetmayavoidsomeofthefrustrationsand disappointment that the students in this sample felt towards the course. Byhighlightingandemphasizingtheareasinwhichstudentscanapplytheirknowledge,forexample inreadingnewspapers,websites,novels,andanycrossoverbetweenMSAanddialect/classicalArabic,studentscanbetterperceiveandmeasurethefruitsoftheireffort.

LanguageVarietiesDatafromboththeexaminationtasksandtheinterviewsindicatesthatbothstudentswhoareexposedtovernacularformsofArabic,andthosewhoundertakeArabicinstructionina religious context have an advantage in the realmsofMSA.Whilst further research isneededintoexactlyhowthisknowledgetranslatesintobetterperformanceonexamtasks,it is clear that neither exposure to dialects, nor classical Arabic negatively impactedstudents’performance.ThisofferssupportfortheintroductionorincorporationofboththesevarietiesintotheArabicGCSEclassrooms.Thisshould,ofcourse,bedonewithcareandcaution,andofferedinlinewithstudents’motivations,withareminderthatitistheMSA variety that is being examined overall. Whilst it is not required for examinationpurposes,exposuretoandknowledgeofdialectsappearstohavehelpedHLLsinboththereadingandlisteningpapers,andapplicationoflanguageskillstoreligioustexts,asisdonein the ‘Alimah course,appears tohaveaided students in thewriting componentof thecourse.Theinclusionofthesevarietiesthusholdsthepotentialnotonlytobooststudents’satisfactionwiththecourse,buttoboosttheirlanguageskills,andincreasetheirculturalawareness.

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Networking&RepresentationA further recommendation which could aid in the development and sharing of ideasamongst the Arabic teaching profession is the establishment of an organization orassociationwhichrepresentsandbringstogetherteacherstofacilitatetheimprovementandexpansionofArabiclanguageprovision.TheBritishCouncilorganizesanannualconferenceonConferenceforArabicLanguageandCulture,whichhasprovedaninvaluableopportunityforArabiclanguageprofessionaltonetwork,andwhichisbeingfollowedupviaaseriesofeventsandprojects.However,atpresent,no formalorganizationexists to representArabic language teachers in theUK.Whilst there are various networks on social media, it seems Arabic language teachersgenerally operate independently without the support of their counterparts in otherschools.Astrong recommendation fromthis research,onewhichwouldaidnotonly inimprovingtheareasofpracticebutalsoresearchandpolicy,wouldbetheestablishmentofsuchanetworkandregulareventsandopportunitiesforteacherstomeetandshareideasandresources,andtacklethechallengesthatsomanyappeartobefacing.RESEARCHFurtherresearchisneededintotheareasofArabiclanguagelearnersintheUK,particularlyin the settings of secondary schools, since this is the only level atwhich students takestandardized examinations. Investigation into the teaching and learning of Arabic atprimarylevelisalsonecessary.Empiricalstudiesarerequiredintotheeffectsofdifferentmethodsofteaching,ofincorporatingdifferentvarietiesofArabicintheclassroom,andofstreamlining students into different classes. Further investigation too into students’performanceonspeakingexamsarealsonecessary,sincetheywerebeyondthescopeofthisstudy.DifferencesbetweenHLLsandNHLLsshouldalsobe furtherexplored tostrengthen theconclusions reached in this study, and to explore whether or not the differences inperformance exist across a wider sample of schools. From this, new theories of thecategorization of HLLs can be developed which apply to the Arabic language. Furtherdomainsofstudy,highlightedbythisparticularresearchalsorequirefurtherexamination.Theseinclude:themotivationsofArabiclearners,theeffectsofextra-curricularstudyonstudents’performance,inparticularthosestudentsstudyingthe‘Alimahcourse,andthelinksandbenefitsofstudents’home/firstlanguages,inparticularUrduandSomali,andhowtheseaidlearners’progressinacquiringMSA.POLICY

CurriculumDesignThefindingsofthisstudyraiseseriousquestionsforthoseinchargeofsettinganddesigningtheArabicGCSEcurriculumandexaminations.ThesignificantdifferencesinHLLandNHLLperformanceraisestheissueofthesuitabilityofasingleexamforsuchabroadspectrumofstudents.IfstudentsofArabicheritagebackgroundsarenotbeingsufficientlychallengedby current examinations, and if students of non-Arabic heritagebackgrounds arebeingexcludedordiscouragedfromtakingtheexamsaresultofboththedifficultyofmeeting

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the requirements for the exams, as was evidenced by the views expressed during theinterviewsinthisstudy,thenthecurrentsystemisnotfitforpurpose,andcertainlynotforexpansion.ThedevelopmentsintheGCSEproposedin2016,forfirstteachingin2017,whichincludethe incorporation of a Higher and Foundation Tier go some way to helping teachersdifferentiatebetweenstudents.However,theraisingofthelevelsassessedbytheexamacrossthetiers,whichbringstheminlinewiththoseforFrench,Spanish,andotherMFLs,isproblematicgiventhefactthattheteachingofArabicinnon-faithschoolsbeforeKS4israre, and presents a further obstacle to the expansion of provision both between andwithinschools.ItisvitalthatdevelopmentsbeguidedbyaclearunderstandingofthestructureandnatureoftheArabiclanguage,notjusttheoretically,butasitisusedinpractice,andbyresearchintotheArabiclanguagelearnerpopulation.Provisionmustalsotakeaccountofstudents’motivationsforlearningthelanguage,andthosepracticesandsubjectcontentwhichmaydemotivatethemanddiscouragethemfrompursuingtheirArabicstudies.WhilstthereisofcourseaneedforstandardizationbetweenlanguagesintermsofthelevelsreachedbyGCSE/A-Level,thereisalsoaneedforauthenticityandskillsthatcanbepracticallyapplied.Inthesedomains,ArabicdiffersfromsuchlanguagesasGerman,French,orSpanish,afactwhichshouldbereflectedinthecurriculumandexaminations.

TeacherTrainingIf provision is to be expanded, there is also a dire need formore teacher training. Asaforementioned, only one university offers a PGCE in Arabic, and whilst SOAS is alsoofferingteachertrainingcourse inconjunctionwiththeQatarFoundation International,moreneedstobedonetomakethistrainingaccessibletoteachersaroundthecountry,both in terms of time and location. Bodies such as the AMS and Muslim TeachersAssociation may also consider providing this training in addition to the services theycurrentlyprovidetoUKMuslimfaithschools.Inthelongerterm,theexpansionofArabicteaching will prove highly problematic if not impossible without an increase in theavailabilityofteachertraining/qualificationsforArabicteachers.WhilstthepushfortheexpansionoftheprovisionofArabiclanguagelearningisagoodthing,thereisclearlyaneedtoinvestigateandimprovethecurrentsystemsothateffectivemodelsandapproachestoteachingandassessingthelanguagemaybedevelopedbefore/asexpansiontakesplace.Furtherdevelopmentsinresearch,policy,practiceareneededtoensure that students are being catered to at GCSE level, and that teachers are beingsupportedtoofferthebestprovisionpossibleiftheaimsofexpandingtheavailabilityofArabicistobemet.Notonlyareindependenteffortsineachofthesearenasnecessary,but a concerted and collaborative effort between teaching professionals, researchers,curriculumdesigners,andexaminersisalsoneededtoensurethateachareainformstheother.

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LIMITATIONSAnumberof limitationswereencountered in conducting this study,which support theneedforfurtherresearchtoconfirmthefindingshighlightedinthisreport.

- Thegeneralizabilityofresultsislimitedbythesamplesize.Thisrelatesbothtothenumberofschoolsinvolved,thenumberofparticipantsoverallandineachcategoryoflearner,andintermsofthebackgroundsofstudentsandteachersinvolved.Theabsenceofstudentsfromotherfaithbackgroundsisalimitationthatshouldberemediedinfuturestudiesinordertobettertestfor differencesbetweenHLLs andNHLLs according to an ancestral-baseddefinition.

- AnexplorationofdifferencesinperformanceonspeakingtaskswouldalsohelptoexpandorunderstandingoftheextentofanyHLLadvantage.

- An examination of performance amongst students in non-faith schoolswouldalsobeofgreatvalue,thoughunfortunatelywasbeyondtheremitofthisparticularreport.

- Thisstudyofferedacross-sectionalanalysisofdifferencesbetweenstudentsof heritage and non-heritage backgrounds, highlighting an imbalance inperformancebetweenthetwogroups,alongitudinalstudywouldprovidevaluableinsightintowhetherthesedifferencespersist,andifso,whetherthe two groupswould benefit from separate learning paths, or whetherinstructioncanservetoleveltheplayingfieldandequipNHLLswiththeskillsneededtoperformaswellastheirHLLcounterparts.

CONCLUSIONDespite the limitations hitherto outlined, this study offers a major step forward inresearching the learning and teaching of Arabic in the UK. It highlights a number ofimportantfindingsrelatingto:

- thedemographicsoftheArabicGCSEstudentpopulation,- the difficulty in categorizing Arabic language learners using existing

frameworks,- significantdifferencesintheperformanceofdifferentcategoriesofstudents

onexamtasks,- perceptionsofperformanceamongststudentsandteachers,- thenatureofparticipants’learningandteachingexperiences,inparticular

students’motivations.

AnumberofrecommendationsaremadebasedonthesefindingsforallthoseinvolvedintheprovisionanddevelopmentofArabiclanguageteaching.Itishopedthatthesewillgosomewaytoaidingtheprocessofimprovingandexpandingprovisionofthismuch-neededlanguageacrosstheUK.

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