English as a Second Language
The influence of Arabic as a language is profound on many languages especially the influence on vocabulary. Indeed, many languages derive their vocabulary from Arabic in spite of the fact that the latter is largely used in Islamic countries.
1.2 billion Muslims worldwide employ the use of Arabic language in religious citations and prayers (Carter & MnCarthy, 2009).
Background of the Study
Teaching English, as a foreign language, to native Muslims or Arabic speaking country nationals may invoke questions that could be ordinary to ask for other languages as taught in the classroom. Such questions are spread in language literature and include personal questions like: Is language learning similar to classroom learning? What strategies do good language learners employ? My teacher’s style does not match mine. What should I do? Why are other students progressing more quickly than I am? What are reasonable expectations for proficiency and progress? (Cook, 2008).
Many students particularly those in secondary levels annually migrate to UK. This is a global phenomenon where mixtures of language speakers are immigrants. The ages of these students largely constitute school age (Ellis, 2008). Many situations arise of importance for these students worth the attention of an investigation. First is the acclimatisation or adaptation entirely to a new country perhaps with totally differing cultures from the students’ nativity. Second is the concern of the concept of exposure and relationship of these youngsters towards native’s way of living, food or all types of behaviour (Allwright & Hanks, 2009). Even much worrying is the total sum of communication especially those that involves English as this is the most commonly used language in the UK as a majority of the young immigrants are predominantly engaging in English as a second language, perhaps even for the first time.
Before completing a metamorphosis to join, enjoy and feel settled in the UK, the trauma challenge even comes when the student immigrants have to start learning or ideally enrol for school or college life. General communication with peers, teachers and community become excruciatingly unbearable for some students. The learning, of course, is a different experience as subjects are largely taught in English (Chamot & O'Malley, 1994). The stress levels can become fever pitch with extreme consequences in certain cases. A student who for instance feels ill equipped to acclimatise in a foreign environment finds it extremely difficult to imagine that his or her core business, education or training is equally compounded into a difficult language (Genesee, 2008). It is envisaged here that these rough beginnings for these student immigrants can totally have the complete effects on the future development of these youngsters’ academics. Many studies are abound on learning and cognition. However, that is only to the extent of fitting pieces of training in classes for the learners to understand (Guirora, 2006).
While there may be a lot of efforts to tailor make education to these specific and unique students with varied backgrounds, it is not entirely enough to look into the concept of fitting a more adjusted class work for purposes of ending students and emphasising enjoyable, quick and productive learning (Coady, 2008).
First the provision of a more adjusted leaning for cognition depended on a number of factors within and without the classroom walls. In the majority of cases, the assumption was that all students who sat in a classroom had similar capacity for absorption of class material as delivered. Further assumption was easily that once a perceptually above average technique was in-vogue, it would unanimously be suitable for transfer from class to class; from subject to subject and from student to student (Cook, 2008). This could go on well with the efforts of complete concentration in the classroom. However, it disobeyed the students’ backgrounds completely (Chamot & O'Malley, 1994).
First, these student immigrants from Arabic worlds are often perceived as more conservative and religious. The response to acclimatise in a foreign land can be pre-supposedly taken to be very different for them even taking so long. This may give us the first hypothesis of this study (Kennison, 2013). When Muslims from a majority of the Muslim countries migrate to the UK, they may not immediately comprehend the true nature of a free type of society. Of course, this argument is not local to Muslims only. It may equally apply to all immigrants. However, applied psychologists have argued that females tend to be a bit emphatic on their response to situations by being variously described as emotional. Yes, all human beings of both sexes have been described in many circles as emotional. This may make their responses to be unique especially looking at their backgrounds (Kirk & Gillon, 2007). While these may still be perceptual and rightly classified as subjective, it gives birth to the first hypothesize of this study stated below: H1: Muslims from Arabic Speaking Countries are conservative and may take long to adjust to the teaching of English as a foreign language.
The first major objective of this study, therefore, is to link the perceptual conservative nature of the student immigrants from Arabic countries to UK and learning outcomes in English education. Specifically, the objective seeks to answer the following question: Does conservatism by nature or religious doctrine impact on comprehension of English as a second language among learners from Saudi Arabia?
Literature Review/ Theoretical Framework
Previous studies while paying glorious tribute to the concept of uniform dissemination of knowledge in a typical classroom situation presupposes the following. That all students are equally endowed to understand at the same pace and depth. The feeling is that once a teacher has the right content, right lesson planning and timetables ‘properly’ fitted; the system is fit to go. Any student should absorb as much as the other as long as the delivery mode is uniformed through the use of language similarity and similar classroom theatrics to capture the attention (Norris & Ortega, 2006). This theory may be totally dangerous to the extent that it presumes human beings are inorganic machines to be oiled on the same incentive levels for similar performance. The second hypothesis, therefore, is premised on the fact of difference in human behaviour and response to different stimulus. Organisation behaviour and motivation theorists have differed with this notion of uniform response to external stimulus. Inherent in this theory is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that challenges stability and Constance once a lower need is satisfied (O'Grady, 2007). Human beings, according to Maslow’s theory of need satisfaction, cease to be motivated by similar circumstances once there is the feeling of satisfaction of the previously needed and satisfied need. The second hypothesis is thus stated: H2: All students respond equally to the teaching of English as a foreign language (White, 2008). Our second hypothesies leads us to attempt to answer to the following question: Do all students of Saudi origin immigrants to UK, respond equally to comprehending English as a foreign language?
Various schools of thought are emphatic that improving classroom delivery systems have equal and similar impact on learning. Previous scholars in this matter have thus drummed up so much support for cognition as a learning tool particularly in complex learning environments. True there is unanimity that the learning environment especially where young immigrants are new to a whole lot of culture difference like in the UK need be improved and guide for higher outcomes. However, it appears a quick fix for a problem whose roots are not bare, but whose symptoms may be rushed for treatment. This may result indeed in nothing less than symptomatic treatment minus looking into the depth of the problem (White, 2008). The third and final hypothesis of this study looks into the scenario of the students being a mixture in the classrooms with natives. The natives might be already conversant and fully adopted in the UK culture, combined in similar lessons and techniques with new immigrants into the environments. The immigrants might still be trying to evolve to conform to stranded socialisation due to limitations of communicative value because of handicaps in language, creating woeful difficult times for the culture newcomers. Even a third scenario can be imagined where immigrants into the same school level have a varied degree of the use of the English language because of their previous stations. Certain students come in semi-equipped while for many it might be lower performing levels. These together have a huge impact on the evolution rate towards complete integration, socialisation and activation of learning among the young student immigrants (Coady, 2008). The foregoing arguments lead to the third hypothesis as: H3: Lack of Previous English language backgrounds does not affect learning among UK Immigrant Students of Arabic language (Ellis, 2008). The final question for our final objective of establishing, whether, previous background in English endows certain category of students with quicker learning styles, leading us to our third and last major question: Does previous English language background affect learning outcomes in terms of the overall outcome parameters among newcomers to UK from Saudi Arabia?
Research Methodology
Even though new methodologies have been worked on to enhance the students’ higher academic levels, literacy skills in English remain a major upset. This situation is ever also compounded by the limiting scenario of time. The immigrant students appear to only have limited time for their academic life in the UK as regulated by the UK visa rules. As such, comprehensive development of higher skill sets in reading, writing or even speaking, remains a real challenge (Cook, 2008). It is, therefore, fitting to look into an alternative system or technique that looks past the glossy pathways of building conceptual frameworks for new knowledge, teaching learning strategies, focusing on reading in all classes, giving students opportunities to engage in free reading, and, finally helping students move beyond the text, according to proponents of cognitive theory as seen by Crandall, Jaramillo, Olsen, & Peyton, 2001.
Educational psychology emphasizes cognition and learning. Research is advancing to look into the reading, writing and speaking components of cognition as consideration of learning. Distinct educational theories and practice derive from the different perspectives from the phenomena of cognition, which perspectives correspond to view of European and North America learning systems of empiricism, rationalism and pragmatism.
Empiricist view looks at learning as a process where skills and association are acquired and transmitted through behaviour. Central to this behavioural element is motivation. On its view, the cognitive concept emphasise on the understanding of theories. It is also rationalist approach where planning, problem-solving and compression of language is core. Finally, the pragmatist theory views knowledge as distributed among people through books, tools, and communities.
This study seeks to take into the dimension of longitudinal timings as an integral component of evaluating the impact of cognition on learning. It is for the benefit of rich literature to help in the comprehensive frameworks for dealing with the murky scenario of delayed or difficult adoption of student immigrants into UK. Yes, educators have been looking at ways to help them achieve at higher levels, but these largely looked into structured mental pictures (Genesee, 2008). Historical trends or relating course content with realism has remained a daunting task. Consequently, students have become stressed completely when faced with the reality of speed of learning particularly when comparing with their native-English-speaking peers. Frustrations and weird occurrences or incidents are possibly reported. General feelings of frustrations mount a lot and the whole essence of education melt in into real-time frustrations (Kennison, 2013).
Analysis and discussion
This study seeks to look into the framework of inclusive educational environment that incorporates students’ backgrounds and comparison of background impact on learning outcomes. It specifically will look into student performance over a period of time clubbed for convenience. It has chosen to view the UK as running a four year secondary school program. The focus of the research will be on secondary school students who were non-Britons prior to joining secondary school education before immigration or those who lived in UK one year before joining the middle level schools. Specifically, these students will have come from Saudi Arabia whose data will be obtained from the immigration office of Saudi Arabia and corroborated with the United Kingdom Embassy in Saudi Arabia (Auirora, 2006). The study will follow all the immigrants in the last one year. The student’s backgrounds would be established on a likely scale to establish their possible self perceptual levels of the written or Spoken English. A dichotomy of perception would be created between the time of coming to UK and the perception of performance as of the time of interview (Chamot & O'Malley, 1994). Data will be collected by way of face to face interviews and the answering of questionnaires by student immigrants in various UK schools. Specifically, the focus will be on students who have recently come to UK within the last one year and have joined the secondary school system. This would give a fair glimpse into the true focus of education for newcomers to UK being English Mastery particularly those with Arabic background (Carter & MnCarthy, 2009).
Research Design and Methods
Descriptive statistics will be applied on data which will be analysed using the Statistical Package for Social scientists (SPSS), version 20, for both their qualitative and quantitative strengths. MANOVA will be used for testing variations and linear regressions analysis used to test hypotheses for strength of various hypothetical impacts on English language learning outcomes and usage. Measures of central tendencies will be used to distinguish dispersions and gender and environmental background differences.
The report seeks to provide insights into strategies with newness to cater for a combination of enhanced cognitive tools for teaching English to immigrants into the UK while balancing correctly the situational considerations abound just before
and after their arrival in the U.K for secondary education. This is the focus of this study.
References
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Kennison, S. (2013). Introduction to language development. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
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