The Use of Help Seeking Strategy In Oral Arabic Learning

Abstract

Learning environment has been identified to be one of the most important factors in learning process especially in oral skills which need sufficient practices. Arabic is learnt as a second and third language in Malaysia. It is a challenge for students to use it in daily especially when it comes to oral practice. During the corona virus pandemic in 2019 that hit all people worldwidely, practicing oral Arabic is getting more difficult. Most face to face classes has been turned into online classes, making oral Arabic practises becomes harder. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the extent that students seek for helps if they face difficulties in learning oral Arabic. The study is administered at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia. It is a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative study using a questionnaire of self regulated learning strategies and interviews. A number of 445 samples was involved in the quantitative data which were selected based on the stratified random sampling while the qualitative data engaged with 13 interviews. Overall, this study found that the level which students sought for help if they faced problems in learning oral Arabic was high. However, they were found to seek helps from their peers at a higher level compared to course instructors. As a consequence, this study suggested to utilize peers as learning assistants as well as internet as a communication tool between students and instructors.