Palestinian kindergarten teachers in Israel and Arabic education policy
Language practice, ideology, and management
This study aims to explore language education policy among Palestinian Arab kindergarten teachers in Israel, employing the framework of language policy proposed by
Spolsky (2009), based on three major components: language practices, language ideologies, and language management. A mixed-method research approach consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection is employed. A questionnaire was completed by a total of 509 kindergarten teachers. In addition, a semi-structured interview was carried out with 12 kindergarten teachers, selected from among those who answered the questionnaire, in order to gain a deeper understanding about Arabic language education policy. The data revealed that Palestinian Arab kindergarten teachers in Israel mostly use a mixture of Standard Arabic (StA) and Spoken Arabic (SpA) as the medium of instruction, using Hebrew or foreign words only sparingly. They express positive attitudes towards Arabic’s role as an important language in Israel. They also show positive attitudes about StA, believing that it is necessary to master it, yet facing difficulties while using it when speaking with the children. Regarding language management, they conduct activities that help develop StA skills, both for themselves and their students. Finally, there are significant interrelations between the kindergarten teachers’ background variables (religion, type of city they live in, seniority, education, and district) and language practice, ideology, and management. Based on these findings, it is important to construct a clearly-defined StA educational policy in Arab kindergartens.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Background: The Palestinian linguistic repertoire in Israel
- Arabic education policy in Israel and the role of teachers
- Research questions
- Methodology
- Semi-structured interviews
- Interviews
- Theme 1. Arabic language practices among kindergarten teachers
- Theme 2. Ideology of kindergarten teachers toward language usage
- Theme 3. Language management of kindergarten teachers
- Theme 4. Challenges facing kindergarten teachers while using the StA
- Discussion and conclusions
- Notes
-
References
References (80)
References
Abu-Rabia, S. (2000). Effects of exposure to literary Arabic on reading comprehension in a diglossic situation. Reading and writing,
13
(1), 147–157. 

Abu-Saad, I. (2010). Arabs of the Naqab: Past, present and future challenges. Beer-Sheva: The Negev Center for Regional Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. (In Arabic.)
Al-Toma, S. J. (1969). The problem of diglossia in Arabic: A comparative study of classical and Iraqi Arabic. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Amara, M. H. (1995). Arabic diglossia in the classroom: Assumptions and reality. Israel Oriental Studies,
15
1 (11), 131–142.
Amara, M. H. (2006). The vitality of the Arabic language in Israel from a sociolinguistic perspective. Adalah’s Newsletter,
29
1, 1–11.
Amara, M. H. (2014). Policy and teaching English to Palestinian students in Israel: An ecological perspective to language education policies. In V. Zentoz, Z. Jasone, & D. Gorter (Eds.), Minority languages and multilingual education: Bridging the local and the global (pp. 105–118). Dordrecht, Heidelberg, NY & London: Springer. 

Amara, M. (2016). Language, identity and conflict: Examining collective identity through the labels of the Palestinians in Israel. Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies, 15(2), 203–223. 

Amara, M. (2018). Language, identity and conflict: Arabic in Israel. London & NY: Routledge.
Amara, M. (2020). My language is my identity: Towards a comprehensive language policy to meet the challenges of Arabic in Israel. Dar al-Huda and Dar al-Fiker. (In Arabic.)
Amara, M., & Mar’i, A. (2002). Language education policy: The Arab minority in Israel. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. 

Amara, M. H., & Spolsky, B. (1986). The diffusion and integration of Hebrew and English lexical items in the spoken Arabic of an Israeli village. Anthropological Linguistics,
28
(1), 43–54.
Amir, A., & Musk, N. (2014). Pupils doing language policy: Micro-interactional insights from the English as a foreign language classroom. Journal of Applied Language Studies,
8
1, 93–113.
Arias, B., & Wiley, T. G. (2013). Language policy and teacher preparation: The implications of a restrictive language policy on teacher preparation. Applied Linguistics Review,
4
1, 83–104. 

Auerbach, E. R. (1993). Reexamining English only in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly,
27
(1), 9–32. 

Badawi, E. (1973). The levels of contemporary Arabic in Egypt. Cairo: Dar al-Ma’arif. (In Arabic.)
Barakos, E., & Unger, J. (Eds.). (2016). Discursive approaches to language policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Bassiouney, R. (2009). The variety of housewives and cockroaches: Examining code-choice in advertisements in Egypt. In Al-Wer, E. & de Jong, R. (Eds.), Arabic Dialectology (pp. 271–284). Leiden & Boston: Brill.
Blau, Y. (1976). The revival of Hebrew and the revival of literary Arabic. Jerusalem: Hebrew Language Academy.
Blommaert, J. (2010). The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge University Press. 

Borg, S. (1998). Teachers’ pedagogical systems and grammar teaching: A qualitative study. TESOL Quarterly. 

Borg, S. (2001). Teachers’ beliefs. ELT Journal,
55
(2), 186–188, 

Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching,
36
1, 81–109, 

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology,
3
1, 77–101, 

Byrne, B. M. (2012). Structural Equation Modeling Using Mplus. Routledge, New York.
Central Bureau of Statistics (2019). Population of Israel on the eve of 2020. [URL]
Corson, D. (1989). Foreign language policy at school level: FLT and cultural studies across the curriculum. Foreign Language Annals,
22
1, 323–338. 

Fang, Z. (1996). A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices. Educational Research,
38
(
1
), 47–65. 

Farrell, T. S. C., & Kun, S. T. K. (2007). Language policy, language teachers’ beliefs, and classroom practices. Applied Linguistics,
29
(3), 381–403, 

Feitelson, D., Goldstein, Z., Iraqi, J., & Share, D. L. (1993). Effects of listening to story reading on aspects of literacy acquisition in a diglossic situation. Reading Research Quarterly, 71–79. 

Ferguson, C. A. (1959). Diglossia. Word,
15
(2), 325–340. 

Featherstone, J. (2017). Preparing Arabic teachers for integration: The Edinburgh model. In Al-Batal, M. (Ed.), Arabic as one language: Integrating dialect in the Arabic language curriculum. Georgetown University Press. 

Fullan, M. G. (1991). Professional development of educators. The New Meaning of Educational Change, 315–344.
Garrity, S., & Guerra, A. W. (2015). A cultural community’s approach to understanding Head Start teachers’ beliefs about language use with dual language learners: Implications for practice. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood,
16
(3), 241–256. 

Guskey, T. R. (2010). Lessons of mastery learning. Educational Leadership,
68
(2), 52–57.
Hary, B. (1996). The importance of language continuum in Arabic diglossia. In A. Elgibali (Ed.), Understanding Arabic (pp. 69–90). Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
Hefetz, A. & Liberman, G. (2017). The factor analysis procedure for exploration: A short guide with examples. Culture and Education,
29
(3), 526–562. 

Holes, C. (1995). Modern Arabic: Structures, functions, and varieties. London & New York: Longman.
Holes, C. (2004). Modern Arabic: Structures, functions, and varieties. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
Horesh, U. (2015). Structural change in urban Palestinian Arabic induced by contact with Modern Hebrew. In Aaron Butts (ed.), Semitic languages in contact (pp. 198–233). Leiden: Brill.
Hornberger, N. H. (1989). Bilingual education and language maintenance. Dordrecht: Foris.
Hox, Joop J. & Bechger, T. M. (1998). An introduction to structural equation modeling. Family Science Review,
11
1, 354–373.
Hudson, A. (1992). Diglossia: A bibliographic review. Language in Society,
21
1, 611–674. 

Hult, F. M. (2014). How does policy influence language in education? In R. E. Silver & S. M. Lwin (Eds.), Language in education: Social implications (pp. 159–175). London: Continuum. 

Huntley, E. (2017). Preparing students for the future: Integrating dialect and standard into the Arabic foreign language classroom. In Al-Batal, M. (Ed.), Arabic as one language: Integrating dialect in the Arabic language curriculum. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. 

Hussein, R. F. (1980). The case of triglossia in Arabic with special emphasis on Jordan. PhD Dissertation, State University of New York.
Jabareen, Y. T. (2015). The Arab-Palestinian community in Israel: A test case for collective rights under international law. The George Washington International Law Review,
47
1, 449–480.
Johnson, D. C. (2013). Language policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Kasem, A. H., & Mansouri, F. (1998). An integrated approach to the teaching of diglossic languages in a foreign setting: The case of Arabic. The Journal of Arabic, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies,
4
(2), 47–68.
Kaye, A. (1972). Remarks on diglossia in Arabic: Well-formed vs. ill-defined. Linguistics,
81
1, 32–48. 

Kaye, A. (1994). Formal vs. informal in Arabic: Diglossia, triglossia, etc.: Polyglossia-multiglossia viewed as a continuum. Zeittchrift fur arabische linguisttik,
27
1, 47–66.
Kaye, A. (2001). Diglossia: The state of the art. International Journal of the Sociology of Language,
152
1, 117–129. 

Mar’i, A. (2013). WALLA BSEDER: A linguistic profile of the Israeli-Arabs. Jerusalem: Keter. (In Hebrew.)
McCarty, T. (Ed.). (2011). Ethnography and language policy. London & NY: Routledge.
Menken, K., & García, O. (Eds.). (2010). Negotiating language education policies: Educators as policymakers. London & NY: Routledge. 

Merritt, S. (2011). Conflicting ideologies about using and learning Spanish across the school years: From two-way immersion to world language pedagogy. Doctoral dissertation, UC Berkeley.
Nasasra, M. (2012). The ongoing Judaization of the Naqab and the struggle for recognizing the indigenous rights of the Arab Bedouin people. Settler Colonial Studies,
2
(1), 81–107. 

Nashif, E. (2019). The Arabic language in the Zionist regime: Colonial mask story. Doha: The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (In [Arabic).
Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research,
62
(3), 307–332. 

Palmer, J. (2007). Arabic diglossia: Teaching only the Standard variety is a disservice to the students. Arizona Working Papers in SLA & Teaching,
14
1, 111–122.
Pappé, I. (2011). The forgotten Palestinian: A history of the Palestinians in Israel. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
Pettit, S. K. (2011). Teachers’ beliefs about English language learners in the mainstream classroom: A review of the literature. International Multilingual Research Journal,
5
(2), 123–147. 

Phipps, S., & Borg, S. (2009). Exploring tensions between teachers’ grammar teaching beliefs and practices. System,
37
(3), 380–390. 

Ramanathan, V. (2005). Rethinking language planning and policy from the ground up: Refashioning institutional realities and human lives. Current Issues in Language Planning,
6
(2), 89–101. 

Saiegh-Haddad, E. & Henkin-Roitfarb, R. (2014). The Structure of Arabic Language and Orthography. In E. Saiegh-Haddad & M. Joshi (Eds.), Handbook of Arabic Literacy. (pp. 3–28). Dordrecht: Springer. 

Shohamy, E. (2006). Language policy: Hidden agendas and new approaches. London, England: Routledge. 

Shohamy, E. (2014). Language policy, language and social justice in Israel. In S. Donitza-Schmidt, et al. (Eds.), Issues in Language Teaching in Israel, I1, 64–97. Tel Aviv: Mofet. (In Hebrew.)
Shohamy, E., & Donitsa-Schmidt, S. (1998). Differences in attitudes, stereotypes and priorities regarding Hebrew and Arabic of Jews and Arabs in Israel. Tel Aviv University, School of Education.
Somech, S. (1980). The problem of language in modern Arabic literature. Teaching contemporary Arabic series. Tel Aviv: Ministry of Education and Culture, Curriculum Center, Tel Aviv University, Israel. (In Hebrew.)
Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spolsky, B. (2009). Language management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Spolsky, B. & Shohamy, E. G. (1999). The languages of Israel: Policy, ideology, and practice (Vol. 171). Multilingual Matters.
Stritikus, T. T. (2003). The interrelationship of beliefs, context, and learning: The case of a teacher reacting to language policy. Journal of Language, Identity and Education,
2
(1), 29–52. 

Suleiman, Y. (2003). The Arabic language and national identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Tannenbaum, M., & Yitzhaki, D. (2016). Everything comes with a price…: Family language policy in Israeli Arab families in mixture cities. Language and Intercultural Communication,
16
(4), 570–587. 

Yiftachel, O., Roded, B., & Kedar, A. (2016). Between rights and denials: Bedouin indigeneity in the Negev/Naqab. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space,
48
(11), 2129–2161. 

Younis, E. (2011). The influence of the Internet on the forms of creativity and reception in Modern Arabic literature. Dar al-Huda and Dar al-Fiker. (In Arabic.)
Wang, J., Hefetz, A., & Liberman, G. (2017). Applying Structural Equation Modeling in Educational Research. Culture and Education,
29
(3): 563–618. 

Woods, D. (1996). Teacher cognition in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Shahbari-Kassem, Abeer, Abeer Asli-Badarneh, Nareman Hende & Amal Roby-Bayaa
2024.
Reading stories in Arabic: the impact of lexico-phonological and diglossic distance level on comprehension and receptive and productive vocabulary among Arab kindergarten children.
Frontiers in Education 9

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 august 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.