Teaching System in Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

1.Learning Vocabulary. Best,(1991) states that one can learn or add vocabulary by looking at the appendices of dictionaries that list them separately. By understanding how words are formed, vocabulary can be enriched. For example the word ‘examination’ is clipped to form the word ‘exam’ which is easy to remember. The same principle applies to word ‘Advertisement’ which is clipped as ‘ad’. By removing some part of other words, new words can be learned. For example, editor can be changed to learn edit. Emotion can be changed to emote. Words can be learnt by remembering the first letters of word .For example, radar means radio detecting and ranging. Two smaller words can be joined to form a word like flowerpot, popcorn, living room, day dreaming and so on. By understanding certain terms in words, we can enrich vocabulary. ‘Dis’ shows negative meaning For example, dislike, disobey, disgracefully and so on. Words like malfunction, malnutrition shows something bad or wrong. All these methods can be used to improve vocabulary of a person. 2.Defined vocabulary word or phrase from a Western point 2.1Boyfriend As per http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/boyfriend.htm,Boyfriend means a lover of a girl or a young woman. It has other meanings like male friend or a favored male companion . Some of the usage of boyfriend followed by western culture are as follows She will be getting married to her childhood boyfriend. She met her boyfriend after 10 years. She was posessive of her boyfriend. I like to test my sisters boyfriend. 2.2Girlfriend A female friend or the favored female with whom one is romatically involved is the meaning of the term girlfriend. For example, Diana and her girlfriends arranged the party. David’s girlfriend died today morning. 2.3Mother-In-Law http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mother-in-law states that by the term Mother-in-law,what is implied is the mother of the spouse-wife or husband.For example, David’s mother-in –law has lost her job.What is meant here is that it is the mother of Davids wife. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mother-in-law 2.4 Father-In-Law By the term Father-in-law,what is implied is the father of the spouse-wife or husband.For example, Rhea’s father –in-law has come to the party.What is meant here is that the father of Rheas husband has come. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/father-in-law 2.5Alcohol By the term Alchohol,what is impied is an intoxicating liquid .A liquid or brew which contains alchohol as the active agent. “Drinking alcohol ruined him” ( http://www.answers.com/topic/alcohol) 2.6 Pub Pubs (public houses) are typical British bars: places where alcoholic drinks are served. 3. Teaching system in Saudi Arabia Public education was nonexistent before 1924, the year in which Saudi Arabia was unified. Department of Education was started under the Ministry of Interior and private schools were placed under this and more public schools were opened. Secondary schools or schools for higher education were started in the year 1940. The department of education was placed under the ministry of education in the year 1953 in Saudi Arabia. Elementary school is the first stage of education with compulsory six year training. The children were admitted at the age of six. Those who complete the elementary stage successfully are taken to the next level i.e; intermediate. It is a three year process. The third stage is the secondary stage which is again three year process. The students cover general areas in the first stage of this level, and in the second and third stage, they cover arts or science. There are several specialized schools in technical field like the Commercial Schools, Agricultural institutes, Industrial institutes, Health institutes, Religious institutes and Comprehensive Secondary Schools. Technical education has been kept under General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT), This has been done from 1980’s.The real problem with technical education in Saudi Arabia in 80’s was that access was not given to higher education. No higher polytechnics, junior colleges were started in Saudi Arabia making it impossible for the student to pursue further studies. Graduates of the intermediate section would like to enroll for general secondary education as they can get a seat in University. Technical and vocational subjects are still not taught in general secondary education leading to a situation where the students will not feel enthusiastic about it. That has changed now. Thirty three technical colleges are in Saudi Arabia. Provision has been made to grant degree in technical enginnering.More over the students is prepared a career in Commerce, Technology, Management and other professional areas. (Alzalabani ,2002) Technical colleges were opened in the areas of Riyadh, Jeddah,Dammam,Abha,Buraida and Ahsa.Moreover under the supervision of Royal commission of Jubal and Yanbu,Yanbu industrial college and Jubal industrial college was started. There has been a policy change of starting new colleges every year. The aim of these colleges is to prepare students for a career in engineering and technology. The system of education followed in these types of institutions in Saudi Arabia is credit system. (Alzalabani ,2002) The course is divided into semester system and the course duration is two years. That means 4 semesters has to be completed by the student and 90 credits have been assigned to the course. The technical colleges have various specialties. Technical specialties are divided into two sections. Auto or electric technology, electric instrument technology and production technology is open to industrial and secondary schools. Graduates from general secondary schools can enter into fields of industrial electrics specialty, chemical lab and technology and industrial production technology. Graduates from the secondary commercial institute automatically qualify for commercial specialties. (Alzalabani ,2002) Students are given the encouragement of studying in colleges of technology in form of incentives. Full time students receive a monthly payment of 1000 Saudi Riyal and a graduate has every chance of receiving the College of Technology Certificate upon successful completion of the course. The graduates of excellence can continue their studies at the college of technology in Riyadh for B.Sc.Goverment vocational loans are provided to the needy students and there has been an increase in the number of students enrolled. (Alzalabani ,2002) Total no of students enrolled in the year 1996:6,999 Total no of students enrolled in the year 2002-2003:33,876 The faculty members in the year in 2002-2003 were 2,215.That means the faculty student ratio was 15.29 which can be termed as healthy. (Alzalabani ,2002) 4.Language and Culture Hymes, 1989 states that the growth of language is closely related to cultural settings. Every society or country has a culture which is reflected in the language. Language and culture are inter related and woven together.The growth of culture can be possible only through language as beliefs and traditions are passed on to the next generation only through language.On the other hand, language growth is stimulated by cultural settings. A word may mean one thing in a particular culture and some other meaning in different culture. Culture exerts a strong pressure on the usage of language on social communication. A member of cultural group may be sharing the same meaning of word while member of another group may be sharing different meaning. For example, The word ‘dog’ means a quadruped animal with a tail. This particular animal makes a distinct sound, and mostly protects man and his property. This is the denotative meaning of the word.But ‘dog’ also means either a very servile person or a very loyal follower.This is the connotative meaning of the word.By denotative ,what is meant is primary meaning of the word.By connotative meaning what is meant is the signification of the word.But this connotative meaning has different meaning in different cultures.The meaning of conotative meaning of the word stated above is for western culture.’Dog’ in chinese culture means a vey bad thing. Bloch, (1991). The other example is the word ‘greasy’.What is implied is the application of grease on engine of car.But the connoative meaning of the word greasy is that it is bad food if applied to food or bad people if the word is applied to people.The term ‘leaves falling in autumn’ can imply graceful ,beautiful while it can also mean death. 4.1Arabic and English Culture in words For positive meanings, English culture uses the term warmth .For example Rajeev was given a warm hug when he arrived in London.In Arabaic culture the feeling of warmth is expressed in “cold”. Shunnaq, A. (1993). The reason for the change in the meaning can be attributed to culture. Arabic is the official language in Middle East, being spoken in more than 15 countries, in that region. English is a language that has been mainly spoken in England, America, and the Commonwealth countries. There is also geographical difference in the culture followed by both worlds. Newmark (1998, 1991) states that culture is a way of life. Bloch (1991) states that an understanding of culture will help us to operate in a specific environment. Culture includes knowledge, belief, art, and traditions, habits acquired by a group of people in a society. A culture usually has one language to its credit and that can cross into other cultures also. Here in this case, Saudi Arabia has got Arabic language as base but an alien language English has also seeped into the culture. The vocabulary of the language is dependent on the cultural aspect of people and it is against this background the use of English in Saudi Arabia has to be seen. Saudi Arabian culture prohibits the use of terms like pub, Alcohol, boy-friend, girl-friend and the use of terms mother-in law and father-in-law has different meanings when compared with western culture. If we use the term ‘lovely weather’ what is meant is the start up or greeting to English culture. In Arabic culture, what is meant is that it is lovely weather and nothing else. ( Chick, 1996). Western culture does not see anything wrong in addressing ones own boss by name .For example, as per Western culture, there is nothing wrong in saying “Hi!John” to boss. Saudi Arabian culture deems it rude to call ones boss by name. As Valdes puts it, talking differs from culture to culture (1988).  Oldin (1989) states that violation due to pronunciation is pardonable in alien culture but it is highly unpardonable when the normal culture discourse is violated, with the potential to affect the “presentation of self”. The culture of boy-friend and girl-friend is not accepted in Saudi Arabia. As per Islamic traditions, it is wrong to have any relationship between boys and girls before they are married. Boys and girls are not supposed to go to parties together and the party culture in on a high in English speaking countries. It is taboo also in Islamic culture for the girl to stay alone in a party. The differences in cultures represent an area of difficulty, and the difficulty will be increased if there is wide gap in culture beliefs. This has to be overcome in a manner befitting the local culture. For example, Saudi Arabia does not have snow and if we want to teach something like ‘white as snow’, it will not strike a chord with Arabic culture. Saudi Arabian teachers can use the term ‘white as cloud’ or ‘white as cotton’. The role is dependent on the skills of the teacher. The teacher should have the knowledge about Saudi Arabian culture and should have the skill to dilute the most culturally complicated terms and discharge them in such a way that it is made digestible to the students. The teacher should also understand the role of emotiveness. For example if the teacher uses a term ‘boyfriend’; it can be implied as friends of boys who are boys. But the connotative meaning is that ‘boyfriend’ can be girls and that is not correct as per Islamic culture. There is a view that the teacher in Saudi Arabia should not teach girl-friend and boy-friend as both the words have high connotative meanings. People talk with each other in a certain way that the relationships are formed and networks of friends are created. When two persons are from different cultures, they may end up being unfriendly with each other though they have not started with that intention. Arab culture makes them curious to know the personal details of the other person like the marital status, the no of children, the reason of not having children, salary and employment details, and the age of person and so on. While this is ok for Arab culture, this is considered taboo in Western culture (Berns,1990). Sneezing in public places is part of culture and various cultures have various interpretations. In English or Western culture, the other person will say ‘Bless You’, when he hears the sneezing. In Arabic culture, the person who has sneezed should say ‘praise to God’ to which hearer should say ‘may God have mercy on you ‘and the sneezer should say ‘may God reward you’. It is a lengthy process in Arabic culture. Bus stops are the other places that are in question where cultural differences can strike. Western culture does not consider anything bad if a person is silent towards another person in the busstop.But in Arabic culture it is a very bad thing to do. A person being silent can be considered aloof and distant by Arab culture. The western culture may consider another person intruding into their personal space if the person approaching is total stranger.Westen culture start with exchange of greetings, taking their topics to neutral areas like weather and so on and then coming back to personal issues if the other person does not feel offended. In Saudi Arabian culture, after exchange of greetings, then personal questions are probed which Westerners may not feel happy about it. (Valdes,1998) Arabic culture does give more importance to flower language when addressing persons. English or western culture does limit themselves to 'sir' or 'madam' while Arabic culture may say like 'His Eminence, the Sheik) to address important clerics. Arabic culture has God deeply ingrained in their speech. Arabic culture is closely related with Islamic culture and everything occurs as God wills. The phrase God willing is there in every speech of Arabic culture. This when translated to Arabic means 'insha allah'.The phrase when translated into western culture may send a signal of 'maybe’. It can also send a translated phrase of 'some day’. Arabic culture feels that there is divine involvement when the greeting is exchanged first and divine greeting is also exchanged at the time of parting.’ peace be with you' is the exchange given at the time of meeting and 'may God safeguard you' is the final greeting. The phrase when translated to Arabic means "Assalamu alaikum" and "Fi amanilah".For Arabic culture, the way English speaking people interact, they feel a lack of divine involvement rooted in western culture. (Yahya Kharrat,2002) Moreover in English culture there is nothing wrong with using ‘please give me a cup of coffee ‘ and ‘Could you please give me a cup of cofee’.In Arabic culture in using these type of phrases and situations and that is using ‘please ‘ at the beginning. That means ‘please give me a cup of coffee’ is the correct way to express in Arabic culture. Pub and alcohol culture is not allowed in teaching in Saudi Arabia. But people are indulging in this practice of drinking in private and not in public. A severe punishment is also there from the Saudi Arabian government. The student may attach wrong meaning to this word if it is not taught properly. The teacher should state the status of the Saudi Arabian culture to these words and then proceed to teach this word in lieu of foreign culture. That will help the student to understand about other cultures and encourage thinking also. Cohen (1996) has stated that teaching of foreign language and utterance has to be done in context of sociocultural aspects of the country and will lead to linguistic curiosities which can improve communication. The term mother-in –law is used in Saudi Arabia in a different context. That principle also applies to the term father-in-law. Both these terms are intended to mention relatives in Saudi Arabia. The term mother and father in Saudi Arabia are used to mention those persons by birth. That does not mean that the relatives are humiliated. They are respected and treated well in Saudi Arabian culture. In support to what Cohen said, the difference in the meaning of word can be taught. Conclusion The teacher can be selective in certain words and should teach certain words in lieu of the local culture and alien culture.The teacher should not keep the student away from the alien culture as globalization has made the world has come closer. Rather, the teacher should try to integrate words that are predominantly derived from an alien culture in a manner that is sensitive to the local culture.The aim of the teacher should not be to give basic vocabulary and syntax teaching to students,rather develop full competence in sociolingustic skills.Otherwise ,communication with English culture can be negative experience. English is the only second language taught in Saudi Arabia. English is not taught in primary schools and it has been taught from middle school. The first age when students of Saudi start to learn English will be in the range of 12 and 13 and that means they have reached the seventh grade. The students should learn to read ,write, speak, listen and that offers them a window of opportunity. This principle is applicable to public schools only. In private schools ,English is taught from the first year onwards.English should be used as a tool by Saudis to understand science and technological advancements made by Eglish countries and to develop the technical skills by sending Saudis to western universities and gain more knoweldge.It can be a process of reverse brain drain.That will also help them to be part of International ultural and economic progress.English can be used to gain m ore job oppurtunities as more countries are coming to Saudi to set up oil exploring units.This can be used as a diplomacy tool with English countries and moreover Saudi Arabia should see English teaching in amore serius manner.The gap between the knoweldge gained by public and private school students should not be widened. The use of English should be instilled in such a way that religious commitment and culture are upheld and nothing is done to dilute the cultural aspect of Saudi Arbia which they are proud of.The dimension of teaching English for specific purpose should be avoided and what should be followed is to teach English for general purpose. References Alzalabani ,2002,‘International briefing 11: training and development in Saudi Arabia’, International journal of training and development, Vol 6(2), pp.125-140 Best,Wilfred,1991,’Improve Vocabulary’,The students companion,Longman,pp.56-60. Bloch, 1991, Language, Anthropology and Cognitive Science.Vol. 26(2), pp. 183-198. Boyfriend,2009. ‘In Usage Examples’,Visited April 18th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/examples/boyfriend Chick,1996,’ Intercultural Communication’, Sociolinguistics and language teaching , S.McKay and N.Hornberger (eds.)pp.30 Cohen,1996.’ Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching’, Speech acts. pp.412.  GirlFriend,2009,’ In Usage Examples’,Visited April 18th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/examples/girlfriend ‘mother-in-law’,Visited April 18th,2009 ,from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mother-in-law ‘father-in-law,Visited April 18th,2009 ,from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/father-in-law “Drinking alcohol ruined him”,Visited April 18th ,2009,from http://www.answers.com/topic/alcohol Hymes, 1989. ‘Models of Interaction of Language and Social Life’, Directions in Sociolinguistics,New York pp.433. Newmark, P. (1981). Approaches to Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.pp.213 And Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice Hall pp.22. Shunnaq,1993, ‘Lexical Incongruence’, Arabic-English Translation due to Emotiveness in Arabic. Vol.2(2), pp. 37-63 Oldin, 1989, Language Transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning, Cambridge University Press pp.173.  Valdes, 1988, Culture Bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching,Cambridge University Press. PP.4-18. Yahya Kharrat ,2002,‘Learning the Culture as well as the Words’, Humanising Language Teaching,Vol.4(1)pp.25-43. Read More