The Structural Approach to Teaching the Phonetic Level of Arabic: A Pedagogical Model for Teaching Speech Sounds in the First Cycle of Primary Education

Abstract

Language teaching requires a thorough understanding of the relationships that govern how linguistic structures function within language systems. Teaching these structures in accordance with their linguistic properties makes them easier to learn and understand. The structural approach to teaching speech sounds is grounded in this principle: Sounds are taught as spoken units rather than as written letters because language exists in spoken form before it is represented in writing. A review of educational practice indicates that the teaching of speech sounds in the first cycle of primary education does not adequately account for their phonetic dimensions. Moreover, the teaching of Arabic sounds and letters is not consistently grounded in rigorous linguistic principles. Therefore, this article develops a pedagogical model for teaching Arabic speech sounds in the first cycle of primary education through the structural approach, particularly structural drills. The proposed model also accounts for the pedagogical sequence through which lessons are presented in schools.