Linguistic Practices In Teaching English To Arabic Students (Essay Sample)

Linguistic Assignment
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Features of the Social Context of Teaching
The term context of teaching is used to refer to anything in a student’s surrounding environment: social, physical, personal and institutional, that influences learning and teaching (Holliday, 1994). It is important for educators to develop an in-depth understanding of these social contexts so that they would be able to attain greater success in the student’s education process. Under the umbrella of the social context of teaching, the student physical environment refers to elements in the classroom where learning/ teaching occurs.
When reviewing the physical environment, one might check how desk arrangement can encourage some forms of interactions and discourage others (Holliday, 1994). Other factors in the physical environment that can impact students learning capacity include lighting in the classroom, heat, time of the day and even what day of the week. The relationships that exist between the student and the teacher and other cultural norms fall under the student’s social environment. These factors also play a significant role in influencing the events that occur in the classroom.
The institutional environment closely relates to the cultural norms of learning and refers to specific set standards that regulate the teaching and learning practices in a particular academic setting (Holliday, 1994). Lastly, the personal context relates to the personal attributes of the teacher and the student. This section of the paper will provide an in-depth discussing into the individual learner's and teachers, the classroom environment, the school context and the broader social context influencing the learning/education process. For more specificity, the paper will focus on education in Saudi Arabia.
The Social Context
As already indicated in the introductory section of the paper, the social context mainly refers to the cultural norms of the specific society. Cultural norms in this context refer to actions behaviors that are to be expected of the student and the teacher owing to their cultural background. This includes a person’s norms and attitudes towards age, gender, ethnic roles, and class.
By understanding the social context of a particular environment; one is able to frame the teaching system in a manner that is most appealing to the teachers thereby enhancing the learning experience. Saudi Arabia being an Arabic country, a significant percentage of the cultural norms reflects Arabic culture. Because of this, the teaching and learning practices in the country’s education system are largely influenced by Arabic cultural norms. Social context can be categorized into two key categories namely micro and macro social context.
Micro social context refers to those influencers that are within the classroom, and macro social context refers to those influencers that are outside the classroom. Under the context of Saudi Arabia, the Arabic language can be said to be a macro social element due to the fact that it emanates outside the classroom. In a review of the learning practices in the region, it is evident that a significant percentage of the students and teachers who are of Arabic descent speak Arabic as their mother tongue and English as their second language.
The fact that the Arabic language is what the students and teachers use most when they are in their social context, the y are more likely prefer using it as their language of choice instead of the English language. The English language is found within Saudi Arabia’s society micro social context as it is primarily utilized in the schools and as a result is more of a second language than a primary language.
The impact of the social impact on education is also seen when reviewing the use of the English language between the males and females in the country. Due to the disparities between the number of males and that of females in the country’s education system, the number of females who speak the English language is quite smaller as compared to the number of males in the country.
Individual Learners
The context of individual learners is found under the personal environment which covers the contributions of the students or teachers to the classroom. The personal environment includes stressors that the individual learner may be dealing with, the student's attitudes towards learning, the learner’s attitude towards the teacher, and the learner’s ability with regards to the subject matter (Matsuda, & Matsuda, 2010). Individual students play a significant role in the social context of teaching due to the fact that they occupy the subject position within the context of teaching.
The success or failure of the teaching/ education system is based on the individual learners understanding or failure to understand what is being taught. As indicated under the Saudi Arabian context due to the fact that a significant percentage of the students are Saudi, Arabic is spoken by most of them as the mother tongue. However, it is essential to note that there are also individuals from different nationalities within Saudi Arabia’s education system who do not speak Arabic as their mother tongue but instead have their own.
However, these individuals from different cultural backgrounds like the Hindi learners are able to speak Arabic due to the social influence of living in an Arabic speaking country. A review of the two categories of individual learners reveals that learners who are not of Arabic descent have a more positive attitude towards the learning of the English language than those who are of Arabic descent.
It is also evident that individual learners in the 16,17,18 year category are more open to learning the English language than those who are still in intermediate school. The difference in interests is largely due to student psychology and the expected role of the English language in their lives.
The psychology of students in their 16,17,18 years category is more mature and as a result are more practical with life thereby making them more open to the English language. In discussing the individual learner context, it is essential to note that the learners have different personalities, and level of capabilities which are variations that influenced their reception of the teaching practice.
Teachers
Just like the individual learners, teachers also fall under the personal environment category of the social context of teaching. Because of this, the teachers approach to teaching is also largely influenced by their age, beliefs, personal understanding of the subject matter and culture (Young, & Walsh, 2010). Other factors that can influence the teacher as he/she engages in the teaching practice include the salaries and the teacher’s mother tongue. Teachers b who are non-native English speakers might not teach English with the same level of vigor as native English speaking teachers due to what might be their biasness towards the subject (Young, & Walsh, 2010).
Within Saudi Arabia’s teaching practice, teachers have to prepare the units of the areas that learners need to cover before the commencement of the semester and a week after the final exams to prepare for the coming semester. Teachers are ascribed individual schedules which dictate where the classes they need to be in and the specific times.
Classroom Environment
Classroom environment refers to those elements that are within the area where learning is taking place and are capable of influencing the learning process. The more sophisticated the elements in this environment are, the better the learning experience is and the higher the success rate of the teaching process. Some of the major elements in the classroom environment include lighting and ventilation, size of the rooms and arrangement of chairs and tables, cabinets and paintings, projectors computers and a number of other equipment that aid the learning process.
School Context
School context covers those elements which are within the school environment and have the capacity to influence the teaching practice. The more equipped a school, the more likely it is for learners and teachers in the school to have a good educational experience. This is largely due to the fact that the things they might need are within their reach. As a teacher secondary school in Saudi Arabia, some of the elements in the school context include a large building, a source room with a smart board, round tables, a canteen in the hall and a number of other rooms like the principles room, the kitchen, art room and teacher’s room.
Analysis
Based on the information provided above, two contextual parameters that significantly influence learning are classroom facilities which fall within the classroom environment and the level of student motivational which falls under the personal context.
Classroom facilities Influence on Learning and Teaching
As already indicated in the first section of the paper, classroom facilities refer to those elements that are found in the classroom and that are capable of influencing learning. Studies have revealed that the more facilities there are in a classroom, the better the learning experience and the more likely for students to better grasp the context of what they are learning (Crookes, 2010).
Key classroom facilities that significantly influence learning include textbooks, lighting, ventilation, desks, and chairs. The facilities serve to improve the learning experience by making the learner comfortable with his/her learning environment thereby enhancing the learner’s capacity to understand what is being taught (Tudor, 2001).
By ensuring that students are comfortable with the classroom environm...