Kecenderungan Psikologi Pelajar di Institusi Pengajian Tinggi terhadap Pembelajaran Bahasa Arab: Kajian di Kalangan Pelajar Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)

This study aims to identify key factors that affect the psychological preference towards Arabic language learning among students in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). Learning Arabic in HEI is a continuation of learning Arabic language in lower secondary, upper secondary and tertiary level-matriculation. Research problem was derived from the issue of Arabic language proficiency and achievement among university students which showed less favorable results despite sufficient exposure and learning facilities provided by the institutions. This study employed survey research design that involved a participant of 100 first year students from two respective faculties in USIM where Arabic is a requirement and pre-requisite for their studies. In addition, most of the students had been exposed to this language acquisition process during their school years. Findings indicate that the factors such as students 'background, interests, motivation, environment and educational technology play such important roles in determining the success of learning a language. However, in order to obtain more comprehensive results, further research needs to be done which includes other variables, constructs and samples from each faculty, institutions, year of study and etc. This study contributes to the understanding of psychological preference towards Arabic language learning in the context of higher education. Several strategies and approaches of teaching and learning have been proposed to enhance the skills and language proficiency among students.