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The Religious Objectives of Teaching English in Saudi Arabia
The Religious Objectives of Teaching
English in Saudi Arabia:
An Annotated Bibliography
Reem Asiri
1436/2015
In Saudi Arabia, English has received a lot of care from the Ministry of
Education as well as from the community. It is taught as a foreign language,
EFL. Many developments have occurred to English as a subject matter to follow
up the teaching methods and techniques in the world. Al-Hajailan (2003) states
that "English was taught in the elementary stage from 1348 H . . .". Now,
English is taught in Saudi schools as a compulsory subject from grade four. The
Saudi students attend 45 minutes a day, five days a week.
This annotated bibliography is about the religious objectives of
teaching English in Saudi Arabia. Actually, there are religious objectives for
teaching English in Saudi Arabia. You may wonder what are those religious
objectives! The Saudi English teacher is required to achieve a religious
objective in each lesson. Teaching English has a number of Islamic objectives.
Those objectives are: to spread Islam, to produce a good man, to keep the
Islamic identity and others.
What motivate me to write about the religious objectives of teaching
English in Saudi Arabia is that when I was a trainer as an English teacher, my
supervisor forced me to put at least one religious objective even if the study
is about grammar! Then I became wondering, is it necessary to achieve the
religious objective in English subject? If yes, how?, and why? Do the English
textbooks in Saudi Arabia help in achieving these objectives? Do all teachers
achieve these objectives? Do the students benefit from these objectives?
In fact, there are no entire books or academic articles discussing the
objectives of teaching English in Saudi Arabia. However, there are a number of
articles and books which discuss teaching English in Saudi Arabia in general
and discussing the objectives have come in between these books and articles.
So, the selected articles for this annotated bibliography are about teaching
English in Saudi Arabia. However, all of
them have stated that spreading Islam is one of the objectives of teaching
English in Saudi Arabia.
(1)
English
Language Teaching in Saudi Arabia: a World System Perspective
Faruk, S. M. G. (2013). English
Language Teaching in Saudi Arabia-A World System Perspective. Buletinul Stiintific al
Universitatii Politehnica din Timisoara, Seria Limbi Moderne, (12), 73-80.
This
paper investigates how English language teaching adopted to support Saudi
Arabia's policy of using English. It unravels the confluence of the
socio-political and economic factors of globalizing Saudi Arabia. It analyzes
the policies of Saudi English language education. The researcher stated that
the Saudi people use English as a tool to spread Islam all over the world. He
also states that English in Saudi Arabia can be used to spread the faith of
Islam and to serve the humanity. He concludes his paper by stating the
objective of teaching English in Saudi Arabia and spreading the faith of Islam
is among them. English is seen as an international language, but the religious
value is considered.
(2)
English in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mahboob, A., & Elyas, T. (2014).
English in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. World Englishes, 33 (1), 128-142.
This
study started with a socio-historical overview. It examines the politics of
teaching English language in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It discusses the
debates and issues around the English language. The paper clarifies the
features of Saudi English that reflect the local cultural norms and practices.
The researchers have found that Saudi English reflect the religious values and beliefs
in addition to the Saudi culture and society.
(3)
Teaching
English in Saudi Arabia: Prospects and Challenges
ur Rahman, M. M., & Alhaisoni,
E. (2013). Teaching English in Saudi Arabia: Prospects and challenges., pp.
112-118.
This
paper reflect some issues related to teaching English in Saudi Arabia. It discusses
the present status of ELT in Saudi Arabia. It stated that having the students
to understand Islam is the first main purpose of education in Saudi Arabia. It
is stated also that acquiring the linguistic competence to present and explain
the Islamic concepts and to participate in spreading Islam as one of the
objectives of Teaching English. They have to Another stated objective of
teaching English is to enable students to have an awareness towards religion
issues and prepare them to participate in their solutions. It stated the
challenges of teaching English in Saudi Arabia. Finally, it presented some
remedies for those challenges. Finally, the policy makers are asked to
contribute in solving the challenges of teaching English in Saudi Arabia.
From a previous analysis of the English textbooks in Saudi Arabia by me
in the last semester, I interfere that most of the developed (new) textbooks of
English involve few topics, words/phrases, and pictures related to Islam. On
the other hand, the old textbooks have a lot of topics, words/phrases, and
pictures related to Islam so that Saudi students can talk about their religion
to non-Muslims. They graduate with a number of ideas, words, and phrases
related to Islam. By this way, they can achieve the religious objective of
teaching English in Saudi Arabia.
It is found also that all of the Saudi English teachers achieve the
religious objective in their lessons. But, most of the English teachers think
that the developed textbooks of English do not help to achieve the religious
objectives. However, they presented various ways of achieving the religious
objective. Among 12 Saudi English teachers, five of them use some verses of Qur'an
or the prophet Mohammed's words in their lessons. Four of them remind their
students about the blessings of Allah and tell them to thank Allah. Three of
them have different ways to achieve the religious objective like talking about
ablution if the lesson about cleaning, talking about applying the Islamic
behaviors, and taking the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) as a hero for us instead of
the foreign heroes whose pictures are involved in the new textbooks.
A strong evidence that achieving the religious objectives by our old
English teachers succeed is that there are a number of Suadi teachers, doctors,
and profs who are from King Khalid University and who participate in spreading
Islam. Examples of those are: Prof. Abdullah Hadi Al-Kahtany, Prof. Mohammed
Zayd, Dr. Areej Mostafa, Dr. Eman Asiri, and others. I am also as an English
student has achieved the religious of English by clarifying some Islamic issues
to a Kenian non-Muslim housemaid who became Muslim later on.
In my point of view, it is a good thing to teach our students some
Islamic issues with English language actually to spread Islam or at least to
clarify any Islamic issue to non-Muslim if necessary. Based on my analysis of
the English textbooks in Saudi Arabia, it
is suggested to involve the developed English textbooks with more basic Islamic
issues related to pray, fasting Ramadan, Al-Hajj, the Holy Mosques, the Prophet
Mohammed and his followers, and Qur'an. It should not be a religious subject,
but to achieve the main goal of teaching English in Saudi Arabia, the English
textbooks should be replanned to involve more Islamic issues.
References
Al-Hajailan, T. (2003). Teaching
English in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh: Aldar Alsawlatia.
Faruk, S. M. G. (2013). English
Language Teaching in Saudi Arabia-A World System Perspective. Buletinul Stiintific al
Universitatii Politehnica din Timisoara, Seria Limbi Moderne, (12), 73-80.
Mahboob, A., & Elyas, T. (2014).
English in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. World Englishes, 33 (1), 128-142.
ur Rahman, M. M., & Alhaisoni,
E. (2013). Teaching English in Saudi Arabia: Prospects and challenges.
Arabic as a lingua franca in the Muslim World
Arabic as a Lingua franca in the Muslim World:
An Annotated Bibliography
Reem M. Moshabab Buhran
Much has been written about the relationship between religion and
language. No doubt that Islam and Arabic has a strong relationship since the
Holy Quran is written in Arabic. The articles selected for this bibliography
represent the strong relationship between Muslims and the Arabic Language. However,
it is intended to select only three separate articles which study Arabic as a
lingua franca for Muslims. These articles state that Arabic is a lingua franca.
The authors of these articles do agree on the importance of Arabic as a religious
language for Muslims.
This annotated bibliography will help a researcher to discuss the
relationship between language and religion, particularly, Arabic and Islam. The
articles selected for this annotated bibliography may differ in their
methodology, but all agree that there is a strong relationship between Arabic
and Islam, and that Arabic is the lingua franca of the Islamic world due to the
huge number of Muslims.
(1)
Lexical
Borrowing from the Arabic Language in an Islamic Course Conducted in English
Arshad,
N. I. & Shah, M. I. A. (2014). Lexical Borrowing from the Arabic Language
in an Islamic Course Conducted in English, Middle-East Journal of Scientific
Research, 20, 110-117.
This article analyzes the processes
of borrowing that occur in the retention of Islamic Arabic words. Actually, it
finds out that the Islamic Arabic words make up the majority of the borrowed
features. Finally, it suggests teaching Islamic studies in Arabic besides
English. So, this study strengthens the idea that Arabic has a strong
relationship with Islam.
(2)
A
Melkite Arabic literary lingua franca from the second half of the first
millennium
Blau,
J. (1994). A Melkite Arabic literary lingua franca from the second half of the
first millennium. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies,
57 (01), 14-16.
This article states that the
Greek Orthodox, Molkite, adopted Arabic as its literary language. It presents
many Arabic manuscripts. Also, it states that these manuscripts are important
for the history of Arabic. Thus, this article demonstrates that Arabic was a
lingua franca for a long time because of the religion of their speakers.
(3)
Language
Use in the Islamic faith in Cameroon: The Case of a Mosque in the city of
Maroua
Kouega,
J. & Baimada, F. G. (2011). Language Use in the Islamic faith in Cameroon:
The Case of a Mosque in the city of Maroua. Journal of Language and Culture,
3 (1), pp. 10-19.
This article examines language
use and religion, Arabic and Islam in particular. It checks what language is
used in what part and in what purpose. Finally, it finds out that Arabic is the
dominant language used. So, the findings of this study prove that Arabic is
used broadly due to the number of its speakers who are Muslims.
The previous articles proved that Arabic has a strong relationship with
Islam. The findings of these articles showed that Arabic is the lingua franca
of Muslims. Since Arabic has all the features to be a lingua franca, and since
the number of the Islamic countries is huge, we can treat Arabic as a lingua
franca for all. It is hoped from the responsible and the applied linguistics to
work hard and conduct more studies regarding the lingua franca of Muslims,
Arabic.
References
Arshad,
N. I. & Shah, M. I. A. (2014). Lexical Borrowing from the Arabic Language
in an Islamic Course Conducted in English, Middle-East Journal of Scientific
Research, 20, 110-117.
Blau,
J. (1994). A Melkite Arabic literary lingua franca from the second half of the
first millennium. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies,
57 (01), 14-16.
Kouega,
J. & Baimada, F. G. (2011). Language Use in the Islamic Faith in Cameroon:
The Case of a Mosque in the city of Maroua. Journal of Language and Culture,
3 (1), pp. 10-19.
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