Arabic Language Teacher Education

Abstract

Quality teacher preparation programs have been shown to greatly impact student learning outcomes as studies often refer to the importance of quality teacher education as a key factor in learning. Linguistic realities in the Arab world reflect a bleak situation where Arabic language teachers remain largely poorly prepared and deprived of sustained and meaningful professional development. This situation is manifested in students' results on international standardized Arabic language proficiency tests. This chapter describes current practices in teacher Arabic language teacher education and cites student Arabic language learning outcomes as demonstrated on the 2011 PIRLS test. The chapter covers research done on the importance of effective teacher education including quality of preservice admissions, and field experiences associated with those programs.

Full text

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Arabic Language Teacher Education
Hanada Taha
Endowed Professor for Arabic Language, Zayed University, UAE
Abstract
Quality teacher preparation programs have been shown to greatly impact
student learning outcomes as studies often refer to the importance of quality
teacher education as a key factor in learning. Linguistic realities in the Arab
world reflect a bleak situation where Arabic language teachers remain largely
poorly prepared and deprived of sustained and meaningful professional
development. This situation is manifested in students’ results on international
standardized Arabic language proficiency tests. This chapter describes current
practices in teacher Arabic language teacher education and cites student Arabic
language learning outcomes as demonstrated on the 2011 PIRLS test. The
chapter covers research done on the importance of effective teacher education
including quality of preservice admissions, and field experiences associated with
those programs.
Key words: Arabic language – Teacher preparation – Arabic language teaching
and learning – Arabic PIRLS - Arabic teacher preparation – Arabic language
professional development – Arabic language teachers credentialing
Introduction
The importance of quality teacher preparation programs has been one of
the most repeated mantras in the world of education recently. Research published
in the field of education in many parts of the world has emphasized the role of

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competent teachers in ensuring quality instruction and learning outcomes
(Alamoush, 2009; AlMazroui, 2010; Darling-Hammond 2006, 2010; Darling-
Hammond, Holtman, Gatlin, & Vasquez-Heilig, 2005; Faour, 2012; Taha, 2013;
Taha-Thomure, 2009). Quality teacher preparation programs are expected to
graduate well prepared teachers are those who not only have mastery over the
subject matter, i.e., content they teach, but have various pedagogies and
methodologies that they employ to ensure that learning happens (Darling-
Hammond, 2000, Darling-Hammond, Holtman, Gatlin, & Vasquez-Heilig, 2005;
Faour, 2012). Well prepared teachers promote higher order thinking skills in their
students through the use of hands-on and real world experiences that they can
resolve, analyze and reflect on (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Darling-Hammond,
Holtman, Gatlin, & Vasquez-Heilig, 2005). In addition, well prepared teachers
tend to stay longer in the teaching profession, and produce better student learning
outcomes (Darling-Hammond, 2006).
Current Status of Arabic Language Teachers
In his work entitled “Arab Education Report Card”, Faour (2012) depicted
that most teachers in the Arab world lack the knowledge and skills required for
functioning within an economically and politically changing world. Faour,
moreover, emphasized that the deficient teacher education programs in the Arab
world do not help teachers engage their students in any of the 21st century skills

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including critical thinking skills, higher order thinking skills, oral presentation
skills, and accepting a diverse body of interpretation when it comes to classroom
discussions. Recent studies indicate that despite the reform efforts introduced in
Jordan as one example, pre and in-service teacher training remain unfit for its
purpose (Bannayan et al, 2015; Innabi and El Sheikh, 2006). Arabic language
teachers are no exception in this and they share with many other teachers in the
Arab world the same plight of being ill-prepared. This, though, is a serious matter
as Arabic language teachers play an immensely important role in the Arab world.
They are entrusted with ensuring that the students reach adequate fluency and
accuracy in their native language (Arabic) and are able to think, analyze, and
create using this language. Moreover, whatever learning happens (or does not
happen) in class carries its effect over to all other subjects that use Arabic as the
language of instruction, including Mathematics, Sciences and Social Studies. If
students are to acquire some desired 21st century qualities such as critical
thinking, conflict resolution, and higher level thinking skills, it is a necessity that
they reach a level of proficiency in their native language that qualifies them to
easily focus their attention and cognitive effort on concepts and ideas rather than
on linguistic aspects of expression.
In the knowledge age where economy is built around the idea of creating
knowledge and new ideas, language becomes critical as it is the carrier of all
those new ideas and knowledge. Students need to learn how to access knowledge,
assess, analyze, and do new things with it, and if they have poor language

4
proficiency, they will not be able to carry out those 21st century functions that are
critical in a knowledge-based economy. Those functions are impossible to attain if
not practiced in the classroom on a daily basis where discussions of diverse
opinions, debates, analysis of multiple interpretations of an issue or a text, and
deep reflection on teaching and learning are not main and recurring staples. The
Arab Knowledge Report (2014) stipulated that in order for the Arab world to
move into the knowledge economy and ultimately knowledge society, it will need
to resolve 8 challenges that it currently faces. Those challenges can be
summarized as follows: 1) a weak educational, research and training system; 2) an
inflated public/government sector; 3) a weak private sector; 4) a weak
entrepreneurial system; 5) youth unemployment; 6) Arab brain drain; 7) weak
governance; 8) a rigid look at the Arabic language and how it is taught. The
report recommends that Arabic language instruction and infrastructure need to be
modernized since the national language is the impetus for any knowledge society
and that language needs to be in sync with the demands of a knowledge economy,
productivity, modernity and humanity.
The challenges cited by the Arab Knowledge Report are not isolated from
several other reports that flagged the teaching and learning of Arabic language as
an essential component to mending the educational system in the Arab world.
However, most Arabic language teachers are the product, or most likely the
victims, of those same broken educational systems and teacher education
programs that fall short of adequately preparing them in content knowledge,

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pedagogical skills, and higher order thinking skills (Education in the Arab World,
2009; Faour, 2012). They are the outcome of educational systems that expect
them to teach from prescribed grammar-based textbooks that are outdated, boring,
and unresponsive to student needs. Many teachers of Arabic are found to be
lacking in content knowledge and in adhering to the use of Modern Standard
Arabic (MSA) as the language of instruction in their classrooms (Alamoush,
2009; Obaid, 2010).
The Arabic language is a diglossic language (Aldannan, 2010; AlMoosa,
2007; Ferguson, 1959, 1991; Obeid, 2010) that has many regional spoken dialects
and a higher level written standardized variety. All textbooks are written in MSA
and students are tested in all content in MSA. This means that conducting Arabic
language class using local dialects which can vary from community to another
and from one Arab country to another and from one geographical area to other
causes a gap in students' learning and ability to fully comprehend the subject
matter they will be assessed on (Arab Thought Foundation, 2009). The same can
be argued for subjects taught using Arabic language which might include
mathematics, science, social studies, and extracurricular activities.
Covering the textbook content, memorizing verse and prose, laboring over
grammar and memorizing syntactical and spelling rules, seem to be the bread and
butter of most teachers in public school systems in the Arab world and as such,
teachers are there to teach regardless of whether students learn or not (Faour,
2012; RTI, 2012). Quality control measures are absent and periodical national

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standardized tests that illicit useful data to help track students' progress and
achievement are almost non-existent (AlDannan, 2010; Alrajhi, 2006; England &
Taha, 2006; Obaid, 2010, Taha-Thomure, 2008). Added to that is the absence of
Arabic language academic and pedagogical authorities in charge of drafting
national language policies, accrediting Arabic language teachers, producing
quality studies on Arabic language teaching and learning, assessing Arabic
language national learning outcomes and drafting policies based on results,
designing Arabic language arts standards, and creating a professional learning
community for Arabic language teachers. This absence has had some serious
consequences on the state of Arabic language teaching and learning as reflected in
students’ results on international standardized literacy tests which will be
discussed in some detail in the next section of this paper, and probably has had
tragic consequences on all other subject matter taught in Arabic including science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects.
The problem of preparing Arabic language teachers is quite alarming as
most of them join the teaching profession via various channels including: (1)
colleges of education that provide training in primary education with no Arabic
language content or subject matter, (2) colleges of Art with a degree in Arabic
literature with no preparation in pedagogy and methods of teaching, (3) various
colleges and various degrees that have no connection to Arabic language nor
education, and in some cases (4) no college degree at all. The United Nations
Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) found that in Arab

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countries where data is available, half of the primary school teachers are lacking
in both pre-service and in-service training and are not equipped to deal with a
rapidly changing world in which data and information are constantly challenged,
edited, and updated (Faour, 2012).
Student Results on Standardized Arabic Literacy Tests
High quality teacher education, accreditation, and later professional
development and training have been linked to improved and high performance on
standardized tests (Darling-Hammond, 2000; 2010; Education Testing Service,
2003; NCATE, 2006; Taha, 2013). The value added model assesses gains in
student achievement by estimating the impact individual teachers have after
accounting for all other factors that affect student learning such as socio-
economic status, class size, giftedness or disability, and achievement in the last
two years (Coe, Aloisi, Higgins, & Major, 2014). England and Taha (2006) argue
that the quality of language programs is heavily dependent on the quality of
teaching and the quality of teaching has been shown to be related to the quality of
preparation and pre-service training teachers receive (Bannayan & Al-Attia, 2015;
Darling-Hammond, 2006). The links between student achievement, thus, and
teacher preparation are quite strong and telling and as such merit a closer look at
some of the results on international literacy tests.

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The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an
international, standardized, literacy achievement test for native fourth graders in
primary schools. Each country takes this literacy (reading comprehension) test in
its own national language. The test's purpose is to measure students' ability to
read in their native language and comprehend both literary and informational texts
using the following processes: (1) being able to access straightforward
information, (2) making explicit inferences, (3) explaining ideas presented in the
text, and (4) analyzing the meanings, language, and other features presented in the
text (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Drucker, 2012). The PIRLS test was first
administered in 2006 with the participation of 46 different educational systems
from around the world. In 2011 another round of PIRLS test was administered
with the participation of 45 different educational systems including five Arab
countries (Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman). The
test comprised 10 reading passages, five of them were informational and five
were literary. The test was designed in such a way where there was 20% focus on
retrieving explicitly stated information, 30% focus on making straightforward
inferences, 30% focus on interpreting and integrating ideas and information, and
20% focus on examining and evaluating content, language, and textual elements
(Mullis et al., 2012). The latest PIRLS was administered in 2015 and the results
are expected to be announced in summer 2017.
Results from the 2011 PIRLS test show that out of the 45 countries
participating in the test, Morocco was ranked 45th, Oman 42nd, Saudi Arabia 41st,

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Qatar 37th, and United Arab Emirates 34th all scoring well below the international
scale average of 500. Countries with the highest achievement on the PIRLS 2011
test were Hong Kong, Russian Federation, Finland, Singapore, and Northern
Ireland. High performing countries showed strength in the ability to interpret,
integrate, and evaluate reading comprehension skills and strategies (Mullis et al.,
2012). The PIRLS test administrators analyze, as well, five indicators that could
affect students' reading performance. Those are (1) home environment, (2)
teacher education, (3) school resources for reading, (4) school climate, and (5)
classroom instruction.
If taken as indicators of student achievement in Arabic language literacy,
the picture those results draw is quite alarming and calls for immediate action on
part of those nations. The results could reflect the fact that educational systems in
those countries and most of the Arab world, including teacher preparation
programs, curricula, and assessment are in need of serious analysis and large scale
reform. Most educational reform and development initiatives to date in the Arab
world have randomly focused on numeracy, science, and English language
leaving Arabic language lagging behind (Sabella, 2014; Toukan, Alnoaimi, &
Obaidat, 2006). Some national initiatives left Arabic language education reform in
the hands of the somewhat inexperienced and outdated curriculum directorates
found in ministries of education. Most reform initiatives in Arabic language
education are centered mostly on writing in-house textbooks based neither on
solid pedagogical and linguistic theory nor on a deep understanding of Arabic

10
language arts standards that can give teachers a real benchmark against which
learning outcomes could be assessed (Taha-Thomure, 2011).
Arabic language Teacher education Programs
Feuer, Floden, Chudowsky, and Ahn (2013) at the National Academy for
Education described several attributes related the teacher preparation programs
(TPP) quality and evidence used to measure them. They listed those attributes as
follows: (1) admissions and recruitment criteria measured via GPAs of high
school graduates, average score on entrance exam such as Scholastic Aptitude
Tests (SAT), American College Testing (ACT), etc.;( 2) quality and substance of
instruction including course syllabi, course offerings, lectures and assignments,
textbooks and required content courses; (3) quality of the field experience or
teaching practice including field work policies ad required hours, qualifications of
mentors, and records from observations of student teaching; (4) faculty
qualifications; (5) effectiveness in preparing employable teachers; and (6) success
in preparing high quality teachers.
The author examined several Arabic language teacher education program
websites, those included: Bahrain Teachers College at the University of Bahrain,
College of Education at the Sultan Qaboos University, College of Education at
Qatar University, and College of Education at Al-Mansoura University in Egypt.
Many other university websites were examined including Ain Shams University
in Egypt, United Arab Emirates University, College of Education at the

11
University of Jordan, and Umm AlQura University in Saudi Arabia but were not
included because they either offered generalist four-year education programs that
are not Arabic language specific or because the information provided on the
websites was not clear enough or comprehensive enough.
This chapter looks at some of the Feuer et al. (2013) measures described
earlier including: (1) quality of students entering the program, (2) curriculum, (3)
field experiences and (4) induction practices (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb,
& Wyckoff, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 2000, 2006; Darling-Hammond, Holtman,
Gatlin, & Vasquez-Heilig, 2005).
Quality of Pre-Service Teachers Entering the Program
Ensuring that only the best pre-service teachers are admitted into teacher
education programs has been shown to be one of the best ways to ensure
graduating effective teachers who can make a difference in the classroom.
Teacher education programs that have higher entry standards of their students and
strict selectivity criteria tend to be more effective programs (Cooper & Alvarado,
2009; Plecki et al, 2012). Teachers with higher cognitive abilities have been
shown to be better teachers in the classroom (Boyd et al., 2006; Fetler, 1999;
Rockoff, Jacob, Kane, & Staiger, 2011). High standard admission criteria might
be one of the best indicators of the quality of teacher education programs. The
highest ranking teacher education programs around the world make sure that

12
stringent admission criteria are in place to ensure that only the best qualified
students are admitted into their programs. Admission criteria for the National
Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore, for example, ask students interested in
their undergraduate program to show proof of GCE, O and A levels passing
scores, or International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, in addition to passing an
English language proficiency test, a physical proficiency test, a recommendation
letter from their high school principal and an interview. Admission criteria in the
United States, for example, require most high school students regardless of the
major they want to specialize in to pass the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or the
American College Testing (ACT) which test knowledge in reading, writing and
math, in addition to an essay and a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of B-
or higher.
In most Arab countries students with the highest (CGPA) in high school
are traditionally accepted into colleges of engineering, medicine, and theoretical
sciences, and those with the lowest high school CGPA are sent off to the colleges
of arts, law and education. High school CGPAs required for admission vary
widely from one university to another and from Arab country to another ranging
from 65% for Jordanian colleges of education (Alamoush, 2009) to 80% at
Bahrain Teachers College (BTC, 2014).
Colleges of education in the Arab world vary in their admission
requirements. Many colleges of education including the University of Jordan
(Alamoush, 2009), United Arab Emirates University and Kuwait University are

13
examples of universities that do not have a specialized pre-service Arabic
language teacher education programs and have opted instead for a general
approach that awards a generalist teaching diploma for primary school teachers
leaving middle and high school teaching to graduates with no formal training in
pedagogy. Entry into those colleges is guaranteed based on the high school
CGPA, an interview, and in some cases testing is required. In the universities
surveyed, it was found that the Bahrain Teachers College at the University of
Bahrain screens via a battery of tests including English language, Aptitude and
Arabic language in addition to an interview. However, when screening Year 1
pre-service teachers for its Bachelor of Education program, pre-service teachers
who do not score well on the English and Mathematics streaming tests tend to be
lumped into the Arabic and lower elementary classroom teacher programs. This
can have grave ramifications on the Arabic language profession which is for the
most part left with the weakest pre-service teachers who could not “make it” into
other specializations. As a matter of future policy and strategic educational
reform, it will be crucial to tighten up selection criteria for future Arabic language
teachers at teacher education colleges as it will have an impact later on student
achievement as emphasized in many studies (Cooper & Alvarado, 2009; Darling-
Hammond, 2006).
Quality of Teacher Education Curriculum Used

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Effective teacher education programs have a solid curriculum that
balances content knowledge courses with pedagogy and methods courses
especially in programs that are training primary school teachers (Cooper &
Alvarado, 2009). Effective teacher education programs ought to have enough
subject matter courses where students graduate with a body of knowledge that
enables them to run their classes. They will also need training in child
development, classroom management, social context of schooling, lesson
planning, assessment of learning, action research, and using data to drive practice.
Reviewing the websites of some of the Arab universities, the author picked the
universities which had details of their teacher education programs posted online
and found out the following: Sultan Qaboos University in Oman requires
Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) in Arabic language students to take 67 credit
hours in Arabic language and literature including Abbasid, Umayyad, literary
analysis ,and syntax, 30 credit hours in pedagogy and educational psychology,
nine credit hours of teaching practice done in the fourth year of the program, in
addition to 17 credit hours in university general requirements and electives (see
Table 12.1). The Bahrain Teachers College in the Kingdom of Bahrain Arabic
language teacher education B. Ed. program requires students in the Bachelor of
Education in Arabic language and Islamic Studies to complete 11 credit hours in
university general requirements, 15 credit hours in teaching practice starting in
freshman year and throughout the four-year program, 70 credit hours in pedagogy
and educational psychology, 60 credit hours in Arabic language and Islamic

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studies content courses and methods courses that include syntax, Arabic
children’s literature, standards-based instruction in the Arabic language
classroom, Arabic writing strategies and reading strategies, etc. as shown in Table
12.1.
Table 12.1
Arabic language Education Degree Plan at Sultan Qaboos University
FIRST YEAR
SEMESTER ONE
Cr.
H
SEMESTER TWO
Cr.
H
ARAB1001
Arabic (univ. requirement)
3
LANC1009
English (univ. requirement)
3
LANC1008
English (univ. requirement)
3
ASLM2106
Analytic Interpretation
3
ARAB1110
Introduction to Linguistics
3
ARAB2125
Syntax & Morphology (1)
3
PSYC 1000
Introduction to Educational
Research Methods
1
ARAB2325
Old Literature Criticism
3
ARAB1220
Jahili Literature
3
COMP1100
Introduction to Computer
2
ARAB3215
Rhetoric
3
HIST1010
ASLM1010
Oman & Islamic Civilization
OR Islamic Culture
2
TOTAL
16
TOTAL
16
SECOND YEAR
SEMESTER THREE
Cr.
H
SEMESTER FOUR
Cr.
H
ARAB2220
Umayyad and 'Abbasid
Literature
3
ARAB****
Department Elective
2
ARAB2115
Syntax & Morphology (2)
3
ARAB3155
Syntax & Morphology (3)
3
ARAB3235
Linguistic & Literary Sources
3
ARAB3210
Abbasid Literature
3
ARAB3130
Language Sounds
3
ARAB2260
Literature of Oman & Gulf
3
EDUC2007
Educational objectives
3
PSYC2000
Educational Psychology
3

16
SOCI2320
Omani Contemporary
Society
1
EDUC2004
Foundations of Educations
3
TOTAL
16
TOTAL
17
THIRD YEAR
SEMESTER FIVE
Cr.
H
SEMESTER SIX
Cr.
H
ARAB4115
Syntax & Morphology (4)
3
ARAB4150
Prosody & Rhyme (Qafia)
3
ARAB4120
Semantics & Dictionary
3
ARAB4235
Andalusi & Moroccan
Literature
3
ARAB****
Dept. Elective
2
ARAB****
Dept. Elective
3
TECH3007
Intro. to Instructional
Technology
3
CUTM3011
Methods of Teaching (1)
3
*******
Univ. Elective
2
PSYC3000
Counseling and Development
3
CUTM3206
Educational Curriculum
3
********
Univ. elective (univ.
requirement)
2
TOTAL
16
TOTAL
17
FOURTH YEAR
SEMESTER SEVEN
Cr.
H
SEMESTER EIGHT
Cr.
H
ARAB4320
Modern Literary Criticism
3
ARAB4330
Comparative Literature
3
*******
Univ. Elective
2
EDUC3104
Educational system in Oman
& Gulf
3
ARAB4245
Contemporary Literature
3
CUTM4500
Teaching Practice
9
CUTM4011
Methods of Teaching (2)
3
PSYC4000
Psychological Measurement
and Educational Evaluation
3
ARAB3170
Syntactic Texts and Exercise
3
TOTAL
17
TOTAL
15
http://www.squ.edu.om/tabid/4665/language/en-US/Default.aspx

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The Sultan Qaboos teacher education program adopts a relatively more
classical course of teacher preparation for Arabic with an emphasis on Arabic
language and literature similar to those one sees in the Arabic major offered in
colleges of arts. No courses in Arabic language teaching strategies are required
including writing strategies, reading strategies, standards-based instruction in the
Arabic classroom. At the Bahrain Teachers College the emphasis in its B.Ed.
program is more on teaching methods, educational foundations, and methods
courses in addition to teaching practice which makes the nature of these two
teacher preparation programs differ significantly. Al-Mansoura University did not
have a breakdown of its course offerings online but described the program as one
that is dependent on studying the various eras of Arabic literature in addition to
syntax, rhetoric and literary criticism, and Islamic studies with 75% of the course
load dedicated to content courses and 25% dedicated to pedagogy courses
(Ministry of Higher Education, 2005).
Field Experiences
Having frequent and well-designed teaching practice/practicum
opportunities early on in the teacher education program has been found to be one
of the more powerful components in graduating effective teachers (Cooper &
Alvarado, 2009; Darling-Hammond, 2006; Feuer et al., 2013). Exposing pre-
service teachers early on in their teacher education to as many real life school

18
experiences as possible helps them experience, hands-on, what teaching is all
about and gives them the opportunity to put into practice the strategies and
concepts they have been taught in their program (Allen, 2003).
Teaching practice and various field experiences allow students to bridge
the gap between course wok they take in college and real life experiences that
they will most likely face when in the classroom. Making sure that pre-service
teachers have interested and effective cooperating teachers and supervisors who
are well aware of best practice in their field is key to a successful teaching
practice experience (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Taha, 2013).
The common practice, however, in teacher education programs in the Arab
world is to leave the practicum till the third or last year as is the case with the
Sultan Qaboos University program and Qatar University, for example. Teaching
practice starts in Year 3 of the program in Ain Shams University and Al-
Mansoura University (Egypt). Jordanian universities, according to Alamoush
(2009), do not really graduate Arabic language teachers but rather teachers who
have had some content knowledge in Arabic language and literature with very
limited teaching practice or practicum time allocated to the program (three credit
hours for the diploma). She adds that the emphasis in teacher education programs
in Jordan on the content focuses more on the quantity rather than the quality.
Teaching practice in Jordan according to Alamoush (2009) remains very weak,
loosely tied to the course work pre-service teachers do at the college, in addition
to the fact that schools in which pre-service teachers are placed for teaching

19
practice are quite crowded and do not give them the needed opportunities and
resources to implement modern teaching methods. Add to that the very limited
time pre-service teachers spend in teaching practice which is about eight days a
year in Years 3 and 4 of their Bachelor’s degree.
Bahrain Teachers College requires pre-service teachers to go on teaching
practice starting Year 1 and every year thereafter till pre-service teachers graduate
with teaching practice counting for 15 credit hours distributed across the four-year
program (two credit hours which are equivalent to 25 days are spent in schools in
Year 1, two credit hours in Year 2, two credit hours in Year 3 and nine credit
hours which are equivalent to 80 days in Year 4).This gives pre-service teachers
at Bahrain Teachers College about155 days of teaching practice over the span of
their four- year degree.
One of the main weaknesses in most Arabic language teacher education
programs in the Arab world has to do with the very limited time pre-service
teachers spend in actual classrooms, observing and shadowing experienced
cooperating teachers , co-teaching, reflecting on the practices they see, analyzing
videos of themselves teaching, keeping journals in which deep reflections and
analyses of teaching are noted, planning lessons with the cooperating teachers in
addition to designing standards-based activities and assessments (Taha, 2013).
A good and cooperative relationship with Ministries of Education (MOE)
and universities with teacher education programs is crucial as students are being
placed for practicum in public schools and with various cooperating teachers

20
(NIE, 2014). The MOEs are needed to facilitate the process of pre-service teacher
placement in teaching practice and ensuring that student-teachers are paired with
the most effective and able to coach, cooperating teachers that the system offers.
New Teachers' Induction
Teacher education does not really end with graduation. Ensuring that new
teachers are placed in the “right” schools and ensuring that they have a year or
two of a carefully designed induction program into the profession are necessary
tools to retaining those teachers and “settling” them into a profession that is quite
demanding (Allen, 2003) and are important to student achievement. Placing new
graduates in schools that are failing on quality assurance measures, in which the
administrators are not supportive of the new teachers, or placing them in schools
whose environment is substandard could be detrimental and could be the catalyst
that will lead new graduates to leave the teaching profession in search of easier
jobs that can give them better support.
Having a well-planned one or two-year induction program that eases new
teachers into the profession and coaches them until they get the “hang of things”
could play a significant role in how effective these teachers end up being in the
classroom and will thus affect student achievement. Highly effective teaching
systems ensure that new teachers are helped from day one of their joining the
school and set a roadmap for their professional development (Darling-Hammond,

21
2012). Good teacher education programs can guarantee producing strong and
quality teachers, but it is what happens in schools that ensures that quality
teaching is promoted. Induction programs help new teachers have access to a
professional community and to the expertise of the more mature teachers around
them. Induction programs are typically organized by schools in which new
teachers are appointed and include giving them access to a mentor who works
with them in addition to a reduced teaching load that allows them the time to
reflect on their practice, observe classes with their mentors, and be able to discuss
and deeply analyze what they see in the form of knowledge sharing sessions that
will help improve their own classroom practices (Darling-Hammond, 2012).
Arabic language teachers in the Arab world do not, for the most part, get
the benefit of a year-long or two-year induction program that allows them to settle
into the profession and be mentored by experts in the field while in their own
schools and classrooms. This can be due to a shortage in training staff at
ministries of education who are the largest employers of Arabic language
teachers. It also could be the result of the lack of cooperation between ministries
of education and colleges of education. There is as of recent, however, a
realization of the importance of induction and although the efforts to date remain
minimal, yet this could be a start. The Abu Dhabi Education Council, for
example, runs annual 3-day induction training for new teachers (ADEC, 2014),
however, induction is a long process of hand-holding and scaffolding- taken on
usually by the employer and possibly by the colleges that they graduated from-

22
that ought to be done throughout the year in classrooms rather than it being a one
time workshop. The Queen Rania Foundation is another example, whereby,
induction of newly minted teachers has featured quite prominently in their new10-
year curriculum and assessment policy plan (internal circulation white policy
paper).
The scarcity then of adequate induction programs, means that the most
newly minted and graduated teachers are thrown full thrust into teaching full
loads at their schools. The result of that often is disenfranchised young teachers
who are disappointed by a system that failed them and who tend to revert back to
old teaching methods that require little effort and little preparation (Bannayan &
Al Attia, 2015; NCHRD, 2012). Beginner teachers are asked to conform to the
existing system and to the status quo. These new teachers face a number of
challenges including a demanding profession, lack of support from school
administrations, classrooms in excess of 30 students, extra-curricular duties, lack
of resources including children's literature and classroom libraries, in addition to
meaningless administrative work. Given all these challenges, new teachers soon
reach a burn out stage and frustration levels that force them to stop trying. They
accordingly slip into the mold and start conforming to what everyone else is doing
in schools including teaching to the textbook, focusing solely on summative
testing, and losing interest in what they do. In the process, they lose the
opportunity to build on and carve their own distinctive professional identity that
every effective teacher needs to work on (Kremer-Hayon , Faraj, & Wubbels,

23
2002). None of the Arabic language teacher education programs reviewed had any
articulation on their websites of an induction program for new graduates on any
teacher education program.
Continuous Professional Development for In-service Teachers
It is not enough to prepare Arabic teachers and expect them to excel and
be effective and efficient teachers without sustained and continuous professional
development. Continuous professional development or what is called
“professional learning” (Fullan, 2007) is key to helping in-service teachers deepen
their knowledge, reflect on their practices, and receive support from peers within
their network. According to Fullan (2007), student learning depends on ensuring
that every teacher is learning all the time. Few teachers of Arabic receive
professional development and when and if they do it is mostly what educators call
“drive-through” professional development comprised of a few hours spent
looking at a new concept or strategy that does not lead to any change in classroom
practice (England & Taha, 2006). Ministries of education in several Arab
countries are slowly recognizing the importance of professional development as
indicated in the many “training bids” they post on their websites calling on
interested parties to bid for a chance to win a teacher training contract with them.
This is in itself a great start, but because of the lack of a strategic plan with long
and short term performance indicators linked to training, most trainings done thus
far have not yielded much results. If the end product of any professional
development or learning is to improve teacher practices in the classroom and thus

24
most importantly have a positive effect on students’ learning outcomes (Stoel et
al., 2002) and achievements, then whatever trainings teachers of Arabic have
received thus far have not been of great value given the scores achieved on the
international literacy tests. These results, in addition to many outcries around the
Arab World that are sounding great concern over the quality of the Arabic
language teaching and learning, ought to prompt all ministries of education and
other concerned institutions to sit down and create data-driven and well-informed
strategies for professional development and learning (Ghanimeh, 1996; Taha,
2013; Taha-Thomure, 2009). Such strategies have to be grounded in data
extracted from the field rather than data taken from Western resources that remain
incapable of bringing great solutions beyond the context they were meant for.
What is needed now in the Arab world is professional development and learning
strategies that do not follow what is trendy and fashionable in the world of
Western education, but rather follow what is mostly needed in the Arab world
based on data collected from their own schools.
Future Needs and Plans
The needs of Arabic language education are many; however, in the area of
Arabic language teacher education future plans in the opinion of the researcher
will have to focus on:

25
1. Studying current practices in all Arabic language teaching education
programs in the Arab world. Enriching the field with data is key to helping
policy makers and stakeholders make the necessary and needed changes.
2. Tightening up admissions criteria inluding high school GPAs and
admission tests for those wanting to become Arabic language teachers.
3. Reviewing all Arabic language teacher education program structures in
light of international best practices and student achievement on Arabic
laguage tests. International successful models of teacher preparation take a
great interest in early and intensive field experiences, deep content
knowledge that is relevent, modern methods that are in touch with the
current pedagogic realities in each country, qualified faculty members who
speak a common pedagogic language and who understand K-12 teaching
and professional and ethical attributes, and graduate life-long learners
who are ethical and skillful teachers.
4. Requiring national, standardized exit exams for soon-to-graduate Arabic
language teachers that would be similar to the quaifying exams and
credentialing process that high performing countries require of their
teachers as a condition for licensure as a teacher.
5. Introducing a two-year induction program for all beginner teachers where
they get a lowered teaching load (lowered by 30%) so they can have time
to work with more experienced assigned mentors and coaches.

26
6. Ensuring that teachers have access to well designed, needs-based, data-
driven, meaningful, and continuous professional development and learning
opportunities that would help deepen their knowledge and reflect on their
practice.
7. Marketing the profession and elevating the status of Arabic language
teachers. Teaching in general and teaching Arabic language in particular
are not highly regarded in the Arab world. The reasons lurk in less than
desirable pay and benefits, an outdated and stagnant cadre and drive-
through professional development. In order to elevate the status of
teachers and espcially Arabic language teachers, Arab governements will
need to start dratfing a language & pedagogical strategy that expects to
have only highly prepared teachers in schools yet pays them generously as
well, give them adequate benefits and continuous professional
development opportunities.
Conclusion
The importance of having quality teacher education programs is a premise
that a large body of research has emphasized over time. Ensuring that the best
students are admitted into teacher education programs, creating programs that

27
have a coherent curriculum with very early teaching practice and practicum
requirements in addition to well structured induction processes form the key
components to poducing quality Arabic language teachers who, with the proper
follow-up and professional development opportunities, can deliver quality
teaching in the classroom (Goldhaber, 2006). Unfortunately, most Arabic
language teacher education programs in many Arab countries looked at in this
chapter do not even come close to having what it takes to produce quality
teachers. Results on International Arabic literacy tests such as the PIRLS confirm
extremely low student results in the language and reflect a dismal teaching and
learning situation across the Arab world that ought to summon immediate, large-
scale action and strategic planning.
Solutions will have to be draconian to teacher education programs that are
deemed sub standard and ought to be completely analyzed, evaluated and
deconstructed by intensive external and internal quality review mechanism and
then rebuilt, reconstructed, and redesigned with a different vision, approach,
curricula, faculty, and teaching practices that are capable of training the highest
quality pre-service teachers. Given that most teacher education programs are
housed with state and government run universities, it will be imperative to get
support from the highest level possible including ministries of higher education in
the Arab world in order to turn teaching and learning around. Educational policy
and reform will have to look at the right drivers for the Arab world rather than the
right drivers for other countries and cultures. Drivers such as technology and

28
mushrooming smart classrooms are not of much use within an environment that is
still struggling with basic literacy and numeracy skills in the ranks of its teacher
and student bodies.Teacher education should take a front seat in the policy
makers’ discussions and decisions. It all starts there. Indeed, in the beginning was
the teacher.

29
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