The Integrative Teaching Problem of Arabic Morphosyntax
Descriptive Analysis Study on Integrative Sharaf-Nahwu Teaching of Arabic
Language
Mad Ali and Asep Sopian
Departemen Pendidikan Bahasa Arab, Fakultas Bahasa dan Sastera, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudhi
No. 229, Bandung, Indonesia
{madali, asepsopian}@upi.edu
Keywords: Problem of Teaching Planning, Teaching Process, and Evaluation, Integrative Arabic Morphosyntax
Teaching.
Abstract: This study aims to discuss about the teaching problems of Arabic morphosyntax to avoid the mistakes
experienced by the students lately. The focuses of this study are teaching planning, teaching process and the
evaluation of teaching. The goal of this research is to describe these three variables comprehensively: the
existing problems, the process of teaching in the classroom as solution, and the implementation of
appropriate and comprehensive evaluation. The method used in this study is qualitative descriptive analysis.
The data in this study collected through a test, questionnaire, and observation. The results revealed that
successful teaching activity is inseparable from careful and measurable planning, controlled implementation
processes, and ongoing and periodic evaluations. The teaching planning model should include objective,
materials, methods, tools/resources, and evaluation, while the model of teaching process should include the
integration of morphology and syntax. Furthermore, the evaluation model should be in oral, as well as in
written, also as formative and summative tests. Lastly, the tests should be an integration of tashrif
memorization, its use in sentence formation, its use in dictionary and its contribution to the understanding of
lexical and structural meaning.
1 INTRODUCTION
Morphosyntax is a new term which is derived from
the combination of term morphology and syntax.
Morphology deals with the study of word building,
while syntax with sentence building. In Arabic
language, morphology is known in term of ilmu
sharaf and syntax as ilmu nahwu.
Ilmu sharaf is equivalent with morphology
because it studies morpheme—the repeated tiniest
form at several places but owns same meaning. For
example, in Indonesian language, me- form exists
at many words, like menulis (writing), membaca
(reading), menyembah (worshipping) and many
others, shows the same meaning which is ‘actively
doing something’; ber- form in berfikir (thinking)
and bertanya (asking) posess a meaning of ‘doing
activity’; -an form in hafalan (recitation) and
bacaan (reading ) as ‘symbolizing a thing affected
by an activity’; so that ter- and me-kan form, all of
them are in different words with the same meaning,
so called morpheme. Morpheme does not only
consist of prefixes and suffixes, but also includes
root words like baca in different forms, such as
membaca, dibaca, terbaca, bacaan, pembaca, and
bacalah. The word baca in each word has same
basic meaning, so it is considered as morpheme too.
Indeed, root words differ from prexifes/suffixes as
the former is called as independent morpheme, and
the latter as dependent morpheme. So, according to
that differentiation, the word menulis (write),
berfikir (think), terinjak (being stepped on) and
others are singular words which each word has two
morphemes: me-, ber-, ter- as dependent morpheme
and tulis, fikir, injak as independent morpheme
(Chaer, 1984).
This concept is applied to languages, including
Arabic, for example the sound of (ta) in the words
,
,
,
, etc. is morpheme because
even if it is at different places, it always has the
same meaning, that is you as a man or a woman. For
example, the sound of (uuna) in the words
, , , , and so on has the
same meaning, that is many men, so these are called
780
Ali, M. and Sopian, A.
The Integrative Teaching Problem of Arabic Morphosyntax - Descriptive Analysis Study on Integrative Sharaf-Nahwu Teaching of Arabic Language.
DOI: 10.5220/0007175007800785
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 780-785
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
morphemes (Hasanain, 1984). Then, this sharaf
science or morphology is basically about the base
word and derivative words or word invented.
The ilmu nahwu is comparable with syntax
because it similarly studies sentences’ structure,
which consists of constituents: subject, predicates,
objects, complement, and adverb (Qaddur, 1996).
Each of these constituents will be occupied by the
word forms discussed in morphology. However, the
choice of the word form is not arbitrary, because
each constituent will demand a special form
according to its context. For example, subject
constituents can only be occupied by nouns, can not
be occupied by verbs. Verbs can only occupy
predicate constituents, can not occupy subject,
object, or complement constituents. Similarly, other
forms of words demand a certain position that is
right for each of them.
Arabic morphosyntax includes the types of
words based on gender dimension, number
dimension, basic words and derived words that
include tashrif ishthilahi (word derivation which
produces certain meanings) and tashrif lughawy
(word derivation wich cuases the change of action
actors of verb or change of gender and number of
noun word), i'lal (dealing with the letters ),
ibdal (substitution of consonant or vowel), and
idgham (integration of double consonant). The types
of Arabic words are three, namely ism (noun), fi'il
(verb), and harf (words that have no complete
meaning without gathered with the other ones). The
types of the ism words are seen in terms of their role,
there are ism jamid (noun), ism sifat (adjective),
'adad ( number word), ism dhamir (pronoun), ism
isyarah (point word), and ism maushul (conjunction
word). Viewed from the gender dimension (sex), ism
consists of ism mudzakkar (male form) and ism
muannats (female form). Viewed in dimension of
numbers, ism consists of ism mufrad (singular), ism
mutsanna (double), ism jama '(plural). These forms
of ism
arise because of structure of the sentence in
Arabic must always be a muthabaqah (conformity)
in terms of gender and numbers between subjects
and predicate; even there is type of adverb, such as
hal (state of action), its gender and number must be
used according to the shahibul hal
(someone/something having state of action: subject
or object) (Ali, 2009).
The types of verb, seen in terms of their form,
are fi'l madhi (past tense verb), fi'l mudhari' (present
tense verb), and fi'il amr (instruction future tense
verb). These verb forms will undergo a change in the
suffix, and there is even a prefix change for past
verb, which is related to the gender and number of
the actors. That is because of the sentence’s
structure, especially regarding subject for the verb.
As for the harf, in Indonesian language it is
equivalent to kata tugas (task word), because its
words have no independent meaning except after
undergoing a certain task in the structure of the
sentence (Alwi, 2003). Harf which served as a
preposition for an object called harf jarr, which
served as a connector between the word called harf
'athaf, which served as a question sentence-shaping
called harf istifham, which served to form a
forbidding sentence called harf nahi, which served
to negate the predicate called harf nafi, which served
as a time statement called harf zharfiyyah, whose job
is to make a verb as noun phrase called harf
mashdariyyah, which in charge of strengthening the
statement called harf taukid, and so forth.
The scope of syntax in Arabic includes phrase
structure, sentence structure or clause, and i'rab
(change of state of word end). A phrase is a
combination of words that have no predicate
relationship. The formation of phrase structure is
closely related to the types of words of the three
types of ism (noun), fi'il (verb), and harf (words that
have no complete meaning without another words),
both in dimension of gender and number.
Arabic sentence can be seen in dimension of
form, can also be seen in dimension of meaning.
According to form dimension, Arabic sentences
consist of two types, namely jumlah ismiyyah
(nominal sentence) and jumlah fi'liyyah (verbal
sentence). On the nominal sentence, the subjects can
be in front of or behind the predicate, while on the
verbal sentence, the predicate is only in the form
of
fi'il (verb), and lies always after the subject. The
difference between the two is that on jumlah
ismiyyah (nominal sentence), the predicate may be
the verb, adjective, noun, numeral word, and
preposition phrase, while in jumlah fi’liyyah (verbal
sentence) the predicate is only verb.
Viewed through dimension of meaning, Arabic
sentences consist of news sentences, inquiry
sentences, prohibition sentences, and exclamation
sentences.
The types of Arabic phrase include the idhafiy
(noun) phrase, which is the combination of nouns
with nouns, the washfiy (adjective) phrase, which is
the combination of nouns with the adjective, the
'adadiy phrase, which is the combination of the
number word with the noun, the badaliy phrase,
which is the noun with the explanation, the phrase
taukidiy, which is a combination of nouns with its
affirmation, the phrase 'athfiy which is the
combination of nouns with nouns, or verbs with
The Integrative Teaching Problem of Arabic Morphosyntax - Descriptive Analysis Study on Integrative Sharaf-Nahwu Teaching of Arabic
Language
781
verbs associated with the connector, the phrase
maushuliy, which is the combination of conjunction
words with the shilah (clause and preposition phrase
), and the compound verb with objects and/or
adverb (Ali, 2010).
Concerning the teaching of morphosyntax,
Syahatah (1996) said- that the objective of Arabic
morphosyntax teaching is to a) improve the style of
language and avoid it (structural) errors that
eliminate its aesthetics, so that by studying the rules
students can understand the error on what he wrote
and so quickly avoid it; b) enable students to think
and know the more detailed differences between
phrase structure and sentences; c) develop students'
richness of language with the expressions and
examples they are studying, which are around their
environment and able to express their interest; d)
organize the linguistic information of the students so
that it is easy to use it, and they are able to criticize
language styles and expressions with criticism that
can clarify the complexities and causes of the
ambiguities of the language styles; e) help students
familiarize themselves with accurately observing,
considering and making decisions, and generating a
sense of literature in their souls, because among the
functions of morphosyntax is to analyze expressions,
idioms, and language styles (idioms), differ between
the wrong expressions and language styles with the
correct ones, maintaining the relationship between
structure and meaning, and examine the changes that
occur; f) train students to use expression and
sentence structures correctly by knowing the
characteristics of beautiful and easy Arabic
sentences, for example they are trained that the
Arabic sentences consist of fi'l (predicates) and fa'il (
subjects) or mubtada (subjects) and khabar
(predicates), and consists of several complement
constituents, such as maf'ul bih (object), hal (state
information), tamyiz (explanatory expression), and
so on; g) establish correct language habits so as not
to be influenced by the flow of slang language; and
h) equip them with a number of Arabic structures,
and make them gradually able to distinguish
between the right one and the wrong one.
About the method of teaching rules
(morphosyntax) of Arabic, Syahatah (1996) said
that the method includes thariqah qiyasiyah
(analogy method), thariqah istiqraiyah/istinbathiyah
(conclusion method), and thariqah mu’addilah
(modifying method).
Regarding the model of teaching, Rusman (2012)
put forward at length about this, which broadly
includes the definition of teaching models, the basic
considerations of choosing a teaching model,
teaching patterns, the characteristics of teaching
models, and model-based teaching theories. This
needs to be applied to the teaching process of Arabic
morphosyntax.
Previous studies pertaining to morphosyntax
generally deal only with student errors on the
application of morphosyntax rules in Arabic text
writing. One of them, in 1988, is Saripudin’s
research on errors of Arabic rules experienced by
students majoring in Arabic Education IKIP
Bandung in preparing the insya (essay). Recent
research was conducted by Hamdani (2013) on
morphosyntax errors in the thesis of students who
have taken the end examination.
The research will be different with the author
before, because this research is intended to
overcome the same mistakes for students of the
Department of Arabic Language Education, FPBS,
UPI in the future, by doing treatment in the process
of teaching with Integrative Morphosyntax Teaching
Model, to grow inside students a paradigm that
sharaf
(morphology) and nahwu (syntax) must be
integrated in the teaching process, because each
other is interrelated, so it appears among nahwu-
sharaf experts a statement: sharaf is a mother of
science, while nahwu is its father. In order to
children be born of the two sciences, both must be
united in teaching.
2 RESEARCH METHODS
The research will be done by using qualitative
approach. The method used in this research is
descriptive analytic research. The instrument in this
study is the researcher himself. Data collection
techniques in this study include:
2.1 Test
This test is performed to assess students' ability in
morphosyntax.
2.2 Questionnaire
Questionnaires will be used to find out the student's
response to integrative morphosyntax learning
process.
2.3 Observation
Observations will be made to observe various
teaching-learning activities during applying
integrative morphosyntax learning.
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
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3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
To facilitate the presentation of findings and
discussion, the following framework diagram of the
results of this study is presented in figure 1.
Figure 1: Framework diagram of the results of this study.
3.1 Problems of Planning, Processing
and Evaluation of Integrative
Morphosyntax Teaching
Figure 1 is a reaction to the problematic teaching of
morphosyntax which focuses too much on changing
the shapes of words from one form to another,
without being associated with their use in the
formation of phrases and sentences to present or
understand a discourse by the use of a dictionary. So
from the planning, the process until the evaluation of
morphosyntax learning should pay attention to the
relationship between the elements of language listed
on the chart above.
These findings and discussions focused on the
learning elements of the three problematic variables,
which consist of learning objectives, materials,
methods, tools and resources, and evaluation.
3.1.1 Teaching Objective
The problem of planning is that the objective of
morphology teaching apart from the syntax in the
former planning, is that the objective of
morophology teaching only includes the objectives
set forth in Arabic source books, namely:
The objective of morphology test is to know the
change of words from one form to another for the
purpose of obtaining different meanings. For
exampel
:
(wrote),
(writer),
(written),
(writing each other), and so on.
The achievement of such purpose only fulfills
passive language mastering needs, such as reading
text, but has not yet fulfilled the need to speak
actively, such as composing a complete sentence
with the appropriate choice of word form, and
placing certain word categories on appropriate
syntactic functions to convey a discourse.
As a solution to that deficiency, the goal of
integrative morphosyntax teaching leads to the
following general goals:
To master and apply the principles and
theories about the science of sharaf
(morphology), especially in the field of
patterns of Arabic words, in reading Arabic
texts and composing Arabic sentences.
To apply all the rules of the Arabic word
derivation, both tashrif ishthilahi (word
derivation which produces certain meaning)
and tashrif lughawy (word derivation which
causes the change of action actors of verb or
change of gender and number of noun word)
in using Arabic- Indonesian-Arabic dictionary
to read and write Arabic text.
To memorize all the patterns of Arabic word
derivation, either groups of tsulatsi mujarrad
(verbs of original three letters), tsulatsiy
maziid (verbs of added three letters), ruba'i
mujarrad (verbs of original four letters) and
ruba'i maziid (verbs of added three letters).
The problem of the teaching process is that in
teaching the morphology apart from the syntax, the
teacher only teaches morphology in order to make
students understand the shapes of words that
undergo change, and understand the lexical meaning
of them, but does not emphasize the effort to
memorize them and not to teach their placement in
the syntax functions accurately and the role of these
forms in search for their meaning in dictionary. As a
solution, the teaching of morphology is related to the
syntax for applying each word form in composing
phrases, sentences, and in searching the meaning of
words in the dictionary to translate Arabic texts.
The problem of the evaluation system is that the
objective of morphology teaching apart from the
syntax is partial, only to understand the form without
understanding how to use it in opening the
dictionary and composing the sentence, so that the
type of evaluation is only transforming a word from
one form to several forms. The solution is to make
an evaluation system that includes memorizing word
patterns, using them in arranging phrases and
The Integrative Teaching Problem of Arabic Morphosyntax - Descriptive Analysis Study on Integrative Sharaf-Nahwu Teaching of Arabic
Language
783
sentences, and using them in opening Arabic-
Indonesian-Arabic dictionary.
3.1.2 Teaching Material
The problem of teaching planning is that the
materials of the Arabic morphology separate from
the syntax include only the table of tashrif (word
derivation) which consist of tashrif ishthilahi (word
derivation which produces certain meanings) and
tahrif lughawy (word derivation which causes the
change of action or change of gender and number of
noun word) for fi’il tsulatsi mujarrad (trilateral
verb), fi’il tsulatsi mazid (triple verb), ruba’i
mujarrad (quadruple verb), ruba’i mazid (tetra
more verb), fi’il mut’addi (transitive verb), fi’il
lajim (intransitive verb), fi’il mabny majhul
(passive voice verb) and mabni maklum (active
voice verb). The solution is that these materials are
complemented by their use in composing phrases
and sentences and in searching for the meaning of
words in Arabic-Indonesian-Arabic dictionaries.
The problem of the teaching process is that the
table of Arabic word derivation is only introducing
its form solely with its lexical meaning, less
emphasizing the memorization of the forms, so that
the students are difficult to apply them when reading
the Arabic texts without vocal marks; also not
explaining how to put every form of word that is
contained in this derivation table in syntactic
functions appropriately so that the wrong of
placement often happen.
The special material, fi'il bina majhul (passive
voice verb), often misapplied when translating
passive sentence of English language containing by
phrase, such as the sentence : The book is read by
Ali, often translated to Arabic
. The
correct one:
As a solution, the materials were perfected by the
creation of a simple tashrif (word derivation) table
with 22 chapters, which had previously exceeded
that number, then every form of the word pattern on
the table was taught how to use it in composing
sentences, and how to use it in opening a dictionary
to search for the meaning of words in the text which
are not written in the dictionary.
Especially for the form of fi'il bina majhul
(passive voice verb), this material is taught about its
use in making passive sentence that does not contain
by phrase, while for passive sentence containing by
phrase, it is expressed by the form of construct with
arrangement: subject (S) and predicate (P) consisting
of verb (V), object (O), and actors of action of verb
, such as
( = Subject (S) +
= Predicate (P) consisting of verb (V) +
= object (O) + = actor of action.
The problem of evaluation, is that the evaluation
of morphology materials that separated from the
syntax is only testing the ability to understand the
form of words and their changes only. The solution
is that the evaluation of the material includes
memorizing a form of word, and its use in
composing sentences and phrases, and in opening a
dictionary for translating Arabic texts.
3.1.3 Teaching Methods
The method of teaching morphology that is separate
from syntax, more emphasizes on lectures to
understand the form of words and their changes,
without being linked to their role in the language use
as a whole. As a solution, the lecture method is used
to present the theory, then the method of discussion
in the classroom and outside is increased, as well as
the method of giving assignment for each student is
applied. This is in reaction to the dominant lecture
method, and less emphasizing on individual tasks
that are carefully corrected by the teacher.
3.1.4 Teaching Tools and References
Regarding tools and references on morphology
teaching apart from syntax, there are only
blackboard and Arabic morpholgy textbooks that
speak only words and their changes in form. As a
solution, maximized the use of LCDs to display a
table of word derivation and examples of its use for
composing Arabic sentences, and maximized
Arabic-Indonesian-Arabic dictionary, such as Al-
Munawwir's (Arabic-Indonesian) dictionary by
Munawwir, A.W. (1997) and dictionary of
Indonesian-Arabic by Al-Kalali, A.M. (1993) to
exercise the use of word derivation tables in
translating Arabic and Indonesian texts, as well as
used al-Qur'anic texts and others as training texts.
Sources of reading material, in addition to the
Arabic books of Nahwu (syntax) and Sharaf
(morfology), also compiled a book that presents
integrative morphosyntax teaching.
3.1.5 Evaluation
Regarding the evaluation, designed oral and written
tests, conducted formatively and summarily, and
compiled a comprehensive test covering the
memorization of basic patterns of word and the use
of these basic patterns to compose phrases and
sentences and to use Arabic-Indonesian-Arabic
dictionaries. This is done in reaction to the planning,
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
784
process and evaluation of morphology teaching that
stand apart from the syntax, which only emphasizes
the written test of memorization about the basic
patterns of the Arabic words and their changes,
without testing their use for composing Arabic
sentences and using those basic patterns to search
for the meaning of words in the dictionary.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The success of an activity is inseparable from
careful and measurable planning, controlled
implementation processes, and ongoing and periodic
evaluations. Similarly, the success of teaching
activities will be achieved if planned well and
measurably in advance, if the teaching process steps
were carried out regularly, systematically, and
maximally, and if constantly evaluated as a control,
as well as regularly evaluated in the middle and end
of the program activities to assess the success of the
implementation process from planning to
implementation.
In the context of integrative teaching on
morphosyntax of Arabic language, and based on the
description, analysis and discussion of data on
planning, implementation, and on the type and form
of its evaluation, it can be concluded that the
integrative teaching process of Arabic morphosyntax
is a reaction to the freezing of traditional teaching
model of Arabic morphology and syntax which done
separately sharply. So it takes a long time to bring
together both functions in translating an Arabic text
and in composing new text both orally and in
writing.
For the beginner learners, teaching Arabic
morphology that emphasizes only the introduction of
derivation of word forms without drilling how to use
it in composing a phrase and sentence, can confuse
them when faced with reading and writing the
Arabic text to express their ideas and feelings in
Arabic. While reading the Arabic language text, they
have trouble opening an Arabic-Indonesian-Arabic
dictionary to search for the meaning of strange new
words. While writing and expressing orally, they are
difficult to choose which forms and types of words
and terms are appropriate for use in the syntactic
functions they use in accordance with the rules of
syntax they have ever studied. The absence of
meeting point between the Arabic morphology and
syntax can cause their difficulties to master Arabic
as a whole, either in listening, speaking, reading, or
writing skills.
On the basis of all above, the models of
planning, process, and evaluation of teaching Arabic
morphosyntax are made integrative, in the sense
that attempting to plan, teach, and evaluate the
teaching of word derivation with the whole process
of change from the base word into a word invented
in the morphology, has to be applied simultaneously
in arranging phrases and clauses, as taught in the
science of nahwu (Arabic syntax), that make it easier
for students to use the two sciences (morphology
and syntax) in understanding and composing Arabic
text, both oral and written.
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