The Pedagogical Approaches for Teaching Arabic Curriculum in Nigeria: An Empirical Study

Teachers, especially those who teach Arabic, should possess an excellent pedagogical approach to teaching the language. It is a component of teaching any language as a second language. This study aims to determine the pedagogical strategies used by Arabic language instructors at Nigerian education colleges to teach creativity. Additionally, the present study investigate the accessibility of the teaching resources utilized to teach Arabic in college education curricula. This quantitative study, which used a self-administered survey questionnaire, involved 180 Arabic language students from the eight Southwest colleges of education that were chosen. The sample was selected using a random sampling methodology. The data were evaluated using statistical software called SPSS-20 for descriptive statistics analysis that includes mean and standard deviation. This study demonstrated the difficulties that the pedagogical approaches which include instructional materials availability and usability when teaching Arabic. Projectors, audio cassettes, instructional videos, and Arabic-programmed computers are mentioned in teaching materials used in education colleges to teach the Arabic language. According to this survey, some colleges of education in the Southwest lack the availability of the instructional materials, while others have them but don't use them for Arabic courses. As a result of this study's findings, Arabic language instruction in Nigeria needs to adopt a more effective pedagogical approach to make Arabic courses more productive and relevant, like other courses like French and English language.


Introduction
In the recent role of the learner and the student in the educational process, the modern perspective on teaching differs from the previous one.The instructor used to be the only source of knowledge.However, as of late, the curriculum, the teacher, and the student have been working together as a cohesive unit.The main factor in the educational process' success is this unit.As a result, every flaw or weakness in any component has a detrimental effect on the process's quality of instruction.Teachers must adopt new teaching strategies to fulfill the diverse demands of the pupils.Additionally, the instructor should implement student-cantered activities and draw on real-world applications to help the students connect with their environment (Duan et al., 2018).
Modern teaching approaches are essential in higher institutions and colleges of education, just like in any other educational setting.One way an instructor and a schoolteacher differ is the ability to supervise students.In contrast to an instructor, the schoolteacher is under the supervision of the headmaster and an educational supervisor.Understanding the instructor's lecture techniques is challenging when there is no oversight.As a result, the researcher concluded it was crucial to plan a study that investigates the teaching strategies employed by professors and identifies the most popular ones in teaching the Arabic language (Alhirtani, 2019).
Literature has identified that over twenty countries recognize Arabic as their official language, making it one of the living languages.Over three hundred million people speak it worldwide.Additionally, since 1973, it has been one of the languages endorsed by the UN.Furthermore, the population speaking AL is growing yearly for many reasons, such as identification, family, and religion (Hanna, 2021).However, learning and teaching Arabic is a challenging endeavor.If educators fail to investigate the causes of this decline, students' motivation and performance will suffer.According to the literature analysis, some explanations include the instructional strategy.Most students enter the classroom with preexisting motivations and interests in Arabic.Still, some professors fail to apply practical strategies to foster these interests and motivate students to increase or retain their initial enthusiasm.Students view the AL as an uninteresting and undesired topic partly because most teachers teach it in outdated and customary ways.In addition, many instructors were more focused on completing the curriculum on schedule than their students' motivation and interest or the approach they used to address their needs and variances (Sahrir et al., 2016).
Educational methods are prominent among the educational elements as they complement our current era's teaching and learning process.For this reason, no one can deny their role in the academic field, given their outstanding distinctiveness.These teaching aids are characterized by superior features that make them attractive and practical devices in the educational field.Therefore, I emphasized that these teaching aids are devices developed to assist teachers in imparting structured knowledge and attitudes toward learners in an academic context (Aladdin, 2016).
Specialists in the educational field believe that the teaching and learning process goes through many stages at different times, and each time has its appropriate methods and means.These stages facilitate the settlement of relationships between the teaching and learning processes and their methods and techniques.It can be said that educators believe that what was new in terms of educational methods in ancient times has become old over time, and what is new now will become old one day in the days of future generations (Hashim et al., 2019).
Undoubtedly, educational methods are essential in teaching and learning the Arabic language to Arabic students in institutes, centres, colleges, and universities.Given the wide spread of educational methods through electronic platforms and modern programs that came with the COVID-19 pandemic, specialists in the educational process now see that relying on educational methods, traditional methods, and prescribed books only is insufficient for teaching the Arabic language in our universities and colleges of education in this current era.
This current study noted that many researchers in the field of teaching the Arabic language in colleges of education in Nigeria are concerned with the problem of the curriculum used to prepare the Arabic language in these colleges in general and did not specify their problem with this approach (Adeyemi, 2016).It is known that the curriculum has four elements.Therefore, this current study focused on one of these problems, which provides educational means in this curriculum.This curriculum relies on old teaching methods, such as the use of blackboards and chalk and academic curricula, which have led to boredom, neglect, and lack of interest in teaching the Arabic language among students in colleges of education in Nigeria.These educational methods are limited and outdated in the National Council for Teaching the Arabic Language curriculum, with the absence of a language laboratory in the education colleges.Hence, this study confirmed that the lack of appropriate modern means while teaching the Arabic language deprives students of contemporary information.It is knowledge of the mental, motor, and emotional levels.It also leads to their reliance on the traditional method.

Research Question
1-What is the role of educational methods in teaching and learning the Arabic language?2-To what extent are teaching aids used in teaching and learning the Arabic language in colleges of education in Nigeria?

Literature Review Pedagogy of Learning
The term "pedagogy" describes the "interactions between teachers, college students, and the mastering surroundings and the mastering tasks."This broad span of time includes how teachers and students interact with one another and the scholarly methods used in lecture halls.Every teacher has a unique coaching style and employs a private pedagogy.This is frequently explained by how teachers instruct their students.A good trainer should be equipped with various coaching and study aids that can be utilized in the study space.Essentially, pedagogy is the art of teaching; it is the ability to impart knowledge and skills in ways that learners may comprehend, consider, and witness (Mynbayeva et al., 2018) The main focuses of pedagogical principles were the instruction of studying arrangements and tactics, connections with students and learning about the environment, established educational standards, and anticipated talents and attitudes.Knowledge acquisition relies on the pedagogical strategies instructors employ in the study space.Colleagues frequently use various instructional techniques, but some are more effective and suitable than others (Bascopé et al., 2019).The precise number of topics to be taught, understanding the diverse demands of a wide range of inexperienced individuals, and adjusting the real-world circumstances in the study space and surrounding environment are often critical to the efficacy of pedagogy.Preferably, excellent teachers have faith in their pupils' capacity to learn and diligently apply various pedagogical techniques to guarantee this knowledge acquisition (Olayinka, 2016).
According to Lozano et al (2017) learning by doing is an efficient method of instruction because it involves hands-on experience.This type of instruction is frequently used in science classes, where students learn in labs.They test their knowledge and hone their talents in a highly real-world environment.Active learning, Bloom's Taxonomy, Case Study Method of Instruction, Gamification, Peer Instruction, Student Engagement System, and Flipped Classroom are some pedagogical approaches we encounter.A Proficient educator must possess various coaching and learning resources that they can utilize within the classroom.Teachers must have genuine expertise and effective pedagogical skills to convey concepts to their pupils and facilitate effective learning effectively.This study aims to clarify pedagogical strategies for improved instruction.However, recent talks have been concerned with the need to improve college instructors' pedagogical competence and questions.As a result, in many countries today, college teacher education has gained significant traction.An apparent lack of research in this area contributes to inadequate evidence of how training impacts coaching.The current study aims to investigate the value of pedagogical techniques in improving education and their necessity considering globalization.
A common term for pedagogy is exercises of instruction, or education, activities that impart knowledge or skill.The Oxford word reference defines education as the science, calling, or hypothesis of teaching.The word "pedagogy" comes from the Greek words "boy" and "leader," which are adapted into French and Latin to refer to a man watching over a child.The art and science of teaching children is known as pedagogy.Knowles established a new theory of adult learning, which he called andragogy, to differentiate between adult and child learning.Since "Andre" means "man," the term "andragogy" is appropriate for describing the science and practice of assisting adults in learning (Knowles, 1995, p. 82).This is the reason, according to Simon, why education has not had much respect in England as a field of inquiry and study.Levine also points out the same thing without delving into a historical comparison (Adebisi, 2019).

Teaching the Arabic Language in Nigeria
The consensus among academics and researchers is that the quality of their teachers significantly influences kids' academic success.The user's writing is already scholarly.The available empirical data indicates that teachers prioritize ensuring and improving their students' academic achievement throughout the learning process.As such, teachers play a critical role in advancing education, especially in the formal educational environment of schools and universities.For pupils who are not native speakers, learning a language is a process without exceptions.There is a growing trend of studying Arabic as a second or foreign language.There is a noticeable increase in academic institutions offering Arabic language learning programs with various specialisations and goals.Improving and promoting Arabic instruction quality and educational outcomes are the shared goals of all these stakeholders.The Arabic language has become more accessible to learn for those who are not native speakers because of recent technological breakthroughs (Samsuri, 2023).
However, the primary goal of teaching Arabic to Nigerian students pursuing higher education differs across different institutions.The sampled Arabists concurred that the goals and philosophies of teaching Arabic in Nigeria entail attaining academic and communicative abilities.Arabic programs aim to produce Arabists in the context of globalization and technological progress, in addition to functioning as teacher education programs, particularly in education colleges.Usually, these specialists should be able to use language resources as fundamental tools to function effectively in modern human cultures.Put another way, graduates of Arabic programs should be competent enough to engage in linguistic and metalinguistic (discourse on the structure of the language) discourse with educated native speakers of the language (Kamorudeen, 2021).
In addition, Asmawati et al (2020) the goal of integrating active learning strategies into Arabic instruction is to help students acquire the Arabic language skills they need, particularly those related to al-Istima' (listening), al-Kalaam (speaking), al-Qira'ah (reading), and al-Kitaabah (writing) to do this, learning strategies are used.The planning stage, which includes all the steps necessary to create a detailed plan for achieving the learning target, is the first stage of the learning process.The pedagogical approach focuses significantly on the learning process, which is widely seen as vital.Students can acquire knowledge and skills through educational experiences by participating in various activities and applying creativity.
As a result, the literature above shows that the advancement of technology and science is the model teachers need to use to impart knowledge to their students.Numerous tasks are involved in creating a learning format that can boost students' enthusiasm and inventiveness.Students' creativity can be stimulated, challenged, encouraged, and motivated through learning processes such as active learning, which is one strategy or alternative learning model that aligns with the new paradigm.In addition to being familiar with a wide range of scientific theories and concepts, they can also understand and learn new things.

Instructional Materials Used in Teaching Arabic in The College of Education
Instructional material can be considered any object or resource that aids a teacher in clearly communicating skills and information to a student.By employing instructional materials, the learner enhances their perception of instruction.These materials are all kinds of resources utilized to convey, store, record, and preserve information for teaching and learning.Numerous expressions refer to educational resources.These include educational resources, learning aids, instructional media, and materials.These terms all relate to resources that help students become proficient readers and writers, which allows teachers to impart knowledge to their students (Muflihah & Aziz, 2018).
According to Wekke (2017), instructional materials are objects and materials that offer a comprehensive body of knowledge and are primarily self-supporting during the teaching and learning process, as opposed to being supplemental.Instructional media and instructional materials are used interchangeably in this study.
Diverse scholars categorise educational resources in various ways.Print, projection, and non-projection materials are the categories into which More and Ghani & Daud (2018) divide them.The printed materials include books, workbooks, pamphlets, brochures, newspapers, and periodicals.While film strips, slides, motion pictures, videos, and computers are projection materials, chalkboards, bulletin boards, and flat pictures are non-projection materials.
Numerous challenges exist in teaching and learning Arabic language and literature in Nigerian postsecondary institutions.These challenges are mainly evident in the way the curriculum is designed and the resources that are made available.Thus, this study aims to analyse these challenges and offer practical answers.Several noteworthy results were obtained from fifty (50) Arabic language and literature professors and fifty (50) students.The results showed that the highlighted barriers resulted from the Nigerian government's unfavorable attitude towards discipline.Thus, the results will aid in creating appropriate teaching methods for Arabic language and literature at Nigerian postsecondary institutions (Folorunsho, 2015).
In addition, the needs analysis conducted by Abdullahi (2019) aims to shed light on the necessity of the creative course materials that will be created and developed for the successful teaching and learning of Arabic courses, particularly for students in Primary Education Studies (PED) department, (175) NCE II students who took PED 219 (Arabic in Primary Education 11) in their first semester of NCE II and PED 126 (Arabic in Primary Education 1) in their second semester of NCE I during the 2017-2018 academic year made up the study's population.A straightforward random selection method was used to choose 120 students.Quantitative data was collected using a 4-point Likert scale.Frequencies and straightforward percentages were used to analyse the data.The results verified the additional benefits of learning Arabic for students, the educational system, and national integration.The study also discovered that Arabic language training requires relevant courseware and instructional materials to improve learning outcomes.The efficient learning of the Arabic language was further hampered by parental misperception, religious undertones, and students' Arabic origins.

Methodology
To achieve the objectives of this study, the researchers relied on descriptive and analytical approaches to suit this approach.Collected data and information were from the research sample and analysed using (SPSS).Descriptive research describes what exists and interprets it in that it is concerned with determining the circumstances and relationships between the research question, and thus, arriving at an answer to any of the questions is done by gathering evidence from the prevailing practices (Parampreet et al., 2018).On this basis, the researchers chose this approach to reach sufficient answers to the research questions.

Study Population
This study is based on students who study Arabic in colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria, affiliated with the National Council of Colleges of Education in Nigeria.The number of Arabic speakers in Nigeria is about 1 million people, according to 2021 estimates (OFER, 2021).These estimates include 1,500 Arabic language students in colleges of education in Southwestern Nigeria.The students include all the three levels of study.

Sample Size
The study sample consisted of 182 male and female students in the Arabic Language Department in colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria.They were randomly selected from the study population using the Excel program after obtaining a list of students in 8 colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria.

Instrument
To achieve the objectives of this study, "The Pedagogical Approaches for Teaching Arabic Curriculum in Nigeria: An Empirical Study," the researchers distributed a questionnaire that contained a set of questions related to the study questions.After developing this questionnaire in its final form, the researchers distributed it to an exploratory sample of the research community, outside of the sample members, who were students of the Arabic language in colleges of education in Nigeria, to ensure the clarity of the questionnaire paragraphs and to extract the reliability coefficient using the Cronbach alpha equation, as the reliability coefficient reached The resolution is (0.919), which are coefficients that confirm the stability of the scale.

Result
This research aims to identify the pedagogical approaches for teaching Arabic curriculum in Nigeria: an empirical study.Data was collected by distributing questionnaires to the samples, and the researchers obtained 182 responses from the sample members, which are Arabic language students in colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria.The researchers relied on the standard of arithmetic averages and the degree of agreement of the five-point Likert scale to measure the degree of agreement among Arabic language students in colleges of education in southwestern Nigeria, according to the following table:  3 indicates the respondents' results regarding the availability of educational materials in learning and teaching the Arabic language, as mentioned in the curriculum for teaching the Arabic language in colleges of education in Nigeria.All items obtained an average score with an average range between (3.17) and (2.96); item 1 (Projectors and movies are available in the college) has the highest mean with (3.17), while item 3 (Your teacher uses audio recordings to explain the lesson) has the medium mean with (3.07) and the item 5 (Computer drafts with Arabic programs are available in the Arabic Language Department at the college) has the lowest mean with (3.15).The results in the tables reported that all the items measuring the use of computers with Arabic programs received a high score average range between (4.24) and (4.20).However, item 5 (I like to use computers and Arabic programs to learn the Arabic language) has the lowest means with (4.15).In contrast, item 1 (The draft computer develops my desire to learn Arabic) has a medium mean of (4.21), and item 4 (Using a computer with Arabic programs helps me understand the Arabic language) has the highest mean score of 4.24.The use of audio recordings facilitates the process of learning the Arabic language 4.15 0.915 5 In Table 5 above, the results show the percentage of the validity of using audio recordings in learning and teaching the Arabic language; all the items were loaded above 4.0; however, the loadings were between the range of (4.24) and (4.15).The weakest of the items was item 5, which states that (The use of audio recordings facilitates the process of learning the Arabic language) (4.15).The most robust item (I learn the Arabic language faster by using audio recordings) has a mean of (4.24) with a standard deviation of (0.852), and item 1 (I like to use audio recordings to learn Arabic) has a medium mean of (4.21).

Discussion
Based on the results, the study revealed that most participants agreed with the availability of educational methods in their colleges.Most colleges have a projector, college viewing films, educational TV programs, computer drafts with Arabic language programs, audio recordings, and educational videos.The results also revealed that these educational methods are not available in some colleges in some states, as more than 30 percent of the study participants did not agree with the availability of these educational methods in their colleges, even though they are among the educational techniques mentioned in the Arabic language teaching curriculum of the National Council of Colleges of Education curriculum in Nigeria.These results are consistent with the studies Asmawati et al (2020); Folorunsho (2015); Mohammed et al (2021), which indicated the weak government interest in colleges of Arabic language and Islamic studies, the weak level of professors and lecturers in using educational methods and modern technologies in teaching the Arabic language, and the need for infrastructure such as buildings and equipped classrooms.Using modern technologies and appropriate frameworks for development enhances the effectiveness of these methods in teaching the Arabic language.
The findings above demonstrate the need for various approaches in Arabic instruction to meet predetermined learning objectives.Suppose the teaching materials are well-designed and the teaching staff is professional.In that case, students' interest and motivation will increase since the teaching staff's skills and the student's language and knowledge skills are related.Language teaching institutions that wish to produce high-quality work and have distinctive qualities that must be considered when learning Arabic do so in this way.That will help to dispel the misconception that Arabic is complex and confusing, and teachers must be aware of the student's proficiency level to adapt their lessons to fit their needs.Students' knowledge will advance if relevant material is provided.When the students are still in the beginner (mubtadi'in) stage of learning Arabic, the teacher assigns excessively challenging material.Naturally, this makes learning Arabic extremely difficult for students who are just starting, which helps the students understand that Arabic is challenging.Conversely, providing pupils who are already proficient in a subject with too little content (mutaqadimin) will quickly bore them because they have already mastered it.A teacher will find it much easier to provide appropriate information if they are first introduced to the level of their students.
Furthermore, the study's findings demonstrated that most respondents can not employ cutting-edge teaching strategies.The findings also revealed that Arabic students have little experience utilising contemporary instructional materials, including computers, smartphones, and YouTube, to learn Arabic.At the same time, most respondents stressed the importance of using contemporary educational techniques when learning Arabic and the ability to apply these techniques to the language.These findings emphasised that Arabic language students are not open to implementing modern instructional materials in learning Arabic.It also implies that to improve the processes of teaching and learning Arabic, the government and relevant officials must supply contemporary educational tools and technology that permit the use of the Internet, YouTube, and other educational programmes in the classroom.
In addition, this study's findings indicate that teaching Arabic through contemporary multimedia improves learning integration and effectiveness while increasing teacher productivity, hastening student comprehension, and strengthening the capacity for remote instruction.It has also become necessary for officials to provide and receive training on using instructional materials effectively.The result revealed that the students do not actively practise teaching techniques to understand the material, and Arabic language instructors give their students the chance to apply their skills.The results have shown that new pedagogical understandings are required for effective instructional design in learning Arabic.At the same time, it is important to use communication technology to improve student access, and it is also essential to answer the challenging question of "access to what?" Diverse fields of recent study on technology, corporeality, and teaching and learning can offer new insights into the nature of pedagogical activity.As a result, utilising educational technology resources has several advantages, including their capacity to enhance and support both spoken and visual communication.The response to the items of the study shows that students are more profoundly engaged with this multi-sensory approach, which also accommodates a range of learning preferences and styles.Arabic can be understood more thoroughly because of multimedia, interactive components, and graphics, which go beyond the constraints of conventional teaching methods.In addition, incorporating technology in teaching Arabic fosters an engaging and dynamic learning atmosphere.This break from traditional approaches fosters a collaborative and engaging environment, which encourages meaningful interactions between teachers and students.Using modern technology in teaching Arabic will enhance the students' exercises and engage them in active learning, resulting in a deeper understanding of literary concepts present in Arabic.

Conclusion
The results of this study confirm the need to improve the quality of the Arabic language teaching curriculum of the National Council of Colleges of Education in Nigeria.The researchers present a set of recommendations to some authorities as follows: 1.The researcher recommends to the National Council of Colleges of Education in Nigeria: 2. We should not rely on traditional educational methods only in the curricula of teaching the Arabic language in colleges of education.3. Providing schools with educational equipment and materials and maintaining other equipment.4. Holding training courses for male and female teachers and college administrators on using and maintaining educational aids and their importance.5. Providing financial support to purchase educational materials and not relying on school donations.6. Schools must overcome all obstacles that emerged in the study or at least reduce their effects.7. Evaluation studies should be conducted on the reality of school educational methods, such as using textbooks for different grades to improve student achievement.8. Review the Arabic language teaching curriculum to develop the educational methods used in it because we are in the era of educational technology.

Table 2
Distribution of the Five Likert Scale Interval

Table 4
Usability of the Projector and Projector FilmsTable4shows the percentage of the usability of using the projector and showing films in teaching and learning Arabic, as in most of the items used in investigating this, results show that item 3 (I would like to learn Arabic if the teacher uses the projector and shows movies) has the highest mean with (4.25) while item 1(I learn Arabic faster using a projector) has the medium mean with (4.12), item 5 (The projector and showing of movies develop my desire to learn Arabic) has the lowest mean with (4.02) Table4reveals the suitability of computers prepared with Arabic programs as indicated above.

Table 5
The Suitability of Using Audio Recordings

Table 6
The validity of using educational videoTable6indicates the results of students' responses to the items measuring the validity of using educational video; as shown in the table, they all ranged between (4.21) and (4.08).The weakest of them is item (5), which states (I found using educational video allows me to retrace my learning) with (4.08).In contrast, item 2 (Educational video always has positive effects on learning the Arabic language) has the highest mean score with (4.21), and a standard deviation of (0.88), and item 5 (I found that using educational video gives me a chance to look back on my learning) has the lowest mean score with 4.08.Table7reveals the items used to determine the percentage of the suitability of educational television in teaching and learning Arabic among college students; the results show that the means of the findings ranged between (4.23) and (4.12).Item 5 (Educational video always has positive effects on learning the Arabic language) has the highest mean score with 4.31.In contrast, item 1 (I feel confident in using educational television to enhance speaking skills) has a moderate mean score of 4.16, and item 4 (I benefit from educational television appropriately in learning the Arabic language) has the lowest mean score of 4.12.