Teaching Arabic as a Second Language in Nigeria

Abstract

Language learning as a scientific process and a student-centred activity requires a wide range of planned teaching-learning activities. A number of obstacles hinder the effectiveness of teaching and learning Arabic in Nigeria as a Foreign Language (AFL).This paper situates the search for durable interventions within the context of the present objectives of teaching Arabic in Nigeria, the realities of teaching the subject as a foreign language and the numerous barriers which frustrate the effectiveness of the teaching of the subject in Nigeria. The paper concludes that the haphazardness that characterizes the teaching-learning process has inexorably resulted in the circle of the production of Arabic teachers who lack requisite pedagogical competencies for teaching a foreign language. A number of recommendations are put forward towards ameliorating the situation.