Motives for learning Arabic for non-native speakers

 Motives for learning Arabic for non-native speakers

The learner constitutes an essential element in the educational process, as he is the axis on which you focus, and therefore he is first and foremost the goal of the educational process. educational subjects.

Each age stage has its own psychological and mental characteristics. Indeed, individuals differ among themselves in terms of mental abilities and psychological characteristics within a single age stage. Hence the principle of individual differences related to the growth of learners emerged, which should be considered when preparing and selecting educational materials.

And if the difference in capabilities applies to members of the same society, then it is more appropriate for it to apply to students of the Arabic language who are not native speakers of it. As they come from different environments, different cultures, and different nationalities, which leads to differences in their mental abilities and their willingness to learn the Arabic language.

Linguists, educators, and psychologists emphasize the existence of a close relationship between the individual’s growth patterns and his ability to learn a foreign language. There is also a calculated difference between young and old learning a foreign language. This difference should be considered in the materials presented to each of them. For non-native speakers, it is a basis for preparing and choosing their books. The place does not allow here to review the characteristics of growth for each stage, as this has been mentioned at length in books on psychology, but what concerns us here is to know the motives that drive learners to study Arabic for non-native speakers.

Motivation is defined as an internal state that initiates the organism and directs its behaviour. Hence, motivation is an internal feeling that occurs in the individual, and it cannot be observed directly, but it can be inferred from the apparent behaviour.

Motivations play a major role in learning any language, as they are what make learners accept to learn the language they want to learn, and it was also found that one of the reasons for the success of learners in learning a particular language is the presence of a group of motives behind this success. To learn something that was called to complete it, and to achieve its goal, and Frank Medley says: Knowing the needs and factors that drive the learner to learn the language can determine for us the purposes of teaching the language as well as the means to achieve them.

Therefore, researchers distinguish between two types of motivations that motivate learners to learn a second language.

These two types are:

1- Instrumental motives. 

2- Complementary motives.

 The student who is motivated by instrumental motives to learn a specific second language does not learn this language except to achieve a specific short-term goal, such as the pursuit of a job, the desire to spend time enjoying tourism, or in response to the requirements of a particular course, or in preparation for obtaining an academic degree, or the desire to possess Reading skill to relate to specific writings, or in response to religious rites that need to be performed in this language.

The important thing in this is that the student who is directed by such motives is limited to acquiring the amount he needs from this language, and in the form that achieves his goal, satisfies his need, and fulfils his means. 

As for the student who is motivated by complementary motives to learn a specific second language, he learns it not to fulfil an urgent requirement or to achieve a purpose, or to satisfy a specific functional need. The goal of the learner who is driven by integrative motives is to communicate with the speakers of this language, practice their language, understand their traditions, and live their culture. He is a person who is motivated by the desire to achieve a degree of integration between his culture and the culture of others, and such a student is often broad-minded, well-informed, deep-thinking, and tolerant in accepting others, so he is not hindered from communicating with them by preconceived ideas, opposing tendencies, a sense of preference, or Bigotry blinds him from seeing good in them. He respects their culture, if he does not accept it, and he believes that his way of life is not the only way to live in it, that there are methods and methods that require respect if not worthy of transfer and benefit.

In the field of teaching Arabic as a second language, we can find vivid examples of these two types of motivations.

Among those who learn this language as a second language are those who do so to meet limited private purposes, which end with the end of the need to learn or practice this language. Some of them study this language in the hope of a job in an Arab country (such as workers in oil companies and others), and some of them study it in order to practice the rituals of the Islamic religion such as prayer, and some of them study it for other commercial, cultural or political purposes, and these different forms of motives are what we call instrumental motives or purpose.

 On the contrary, we find among the learners of Arabic as a second language those who study it not for a close purpose, an urgent need, or a job requirement, but rather they study it to communicate with the Arab person and experience his culture. Those who learn the Arabic language for this purpose are generally characterized by respect for Arab culture and want to live in patterns of eastern culture that differ more or less from their cultural patterns, whether in the view of man, the universe, or life.

Learning a second language is not an easy matter and a path that is not a smooth one. Rather, it includes mental processes and forms of effort and suffering that require patience and perseverance. Hence the motives play a role in learning the Arabic language and its culture, just as the intensity of the motivation to learn a second language depends on the success of the learner in Learn it.

The role of motives in learning the Arabic language and its culture:

Studying the motivations of learners to learn Arabic as a foreign language can play an important role in:

1- Linking the course and its vocabulary to what can be expected to happen in the classroom.

2- Paying attention to developing special courses that include a true translation of the goals that were set considering the objective definition of the students' motives

3- Confirming the teaching relationship between the teacher and the learners by identifying their motives  

4- Determine the teaching processes and procedures in accordance with the skills that learners wish to acquire, and direct these processes and procedures towards achieving the goals

5- Adapting the teacher's teaching skills to the nature of teaching processes and procedures that are commensurate with the language skills required for learners.

6- Knowing the best ways to motivate learners to learn and maintain their enthusiasm, by linking these methods to their desires and goals.

And if we have talked about motives and their importance in the field of teaching Arabic as a foreign or second language, we find ourselves facing a question: How can we identify the motives of students of Arabic as a foreign or second language so that we can choose the topics to be taught that satisfy these motives?! To answer this question, we say:

There are several ways to find out, including:

1- To benefit from the results of psychological and social studies on the nature, stages, and requirements of development.

2- To go to the students themselves and ask them about their motives and needs behind learning the Arabic language as a foreign or second language. The results of this study revealed the most important reasons behind the motivation of these learners to learn the Arabic language, which are:

A- Reading the Holy Quran

B- Reading Islamic sciences (jurisprudence - monotheism - biography ... etc.)

C - comparison between Islam and other religions

D- Traveling to Arab countries for tourism.

E- Work in the Arab world in professional fields.

In conclusion, when discussing the motivations of the scholars, we should not be limited to one of the previous methods, but it is preferable to be guided by the opinions of experts and to benefit from the results of previous studies, as well as knowledge of them from the students themselves. Where learning in such a situation is meaningful, and then the learner eagerly accepts it because it meets his needs and suits his inclinations. 

" Learning Psychology and Learning Theories " Dar Al-Kitab Al-Hadith - Kuwait - 1995 AD, p. 30.

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