Challenges and Problems Faced by Native Arab Students in Learning English - Literature review Example

Challenges and Problems faced by Native Arab Students in Learning English Literature Review Introduction In the current globalized world, English language has become important not only as a medium of instruction, but also as an important tool of communication in the diaspora of international students in universities and as a means to gain more advantageous positions in a workplace. Influx of foreign students, including Arab students seeking education in western universities have increased manifold, with the new economic policies opening the doors to international students. Educational institutions across English speaking countries have recognized this and have taken a number of steps like including mandatory orientation courses for international students and son on. However, many international students in general, and students who are native Arab speakers in particular, face a number of difficulties in mastering the English language and therefore feel confused and uncertain about their academic progress in their study areas. This work shall first understand the general cultural differences within the broad classification of native Arab speakers that impede learning English and secondly review the English learning difficulties they face because of different academic teaching and learning styles, inherent language differences between Arabic and English in 1) the writing skills 2) the spoken language and finally, look into strategies to improve native Arab speakers learning English. Simultaneously, it shall also study some of the suggestions for reducing the difficulties of native Arab speakers in learning English, and also identify a few possible areas of future research in this area. Cultural Barriers in English Learning of Native Arab Speakers Just as all most other international students native Arab speakers too have problems in orienting themselves not only to English which is a foreign language, but also to assimilating to the different academic and social culture of the western countries as compared to their homelands. The work of Afaf Meleis (1982) studies some of the major social characteristics and dilemmas faced by Arab students in western universities (the United States of America), and offers a good background study of this group of international students and their travails. Meleis (1982) states that western education is valued greatly by Arabs and is aspired by many (p. 439). Consequently one can find an increasing number of Arab students seeking western education every year. Pertinent to this review is the point that Meleis (1982) makes on the term “Arab” itself; while the name is denotes a group of people hailing from the same geographical region with a shared religion and many cultural beliefs and customs, they can come from different political, historical and traditional backgrounds (Berger 1962; Hamady 1960; Patai1973; Racy 1970) like Yemenis, Jordanians, Saudi Arabians, Egyptians. The researcher terms these social characteristics as “social properties that represent a core of Arabism” (Meleis 1982, p. 440) and manifest themselves in several common ways. For example, Arabs have a culture of networking into large, extended families and thereby they fulfil their affiliation needs. Significantly, when in foreign universities the networking and affiliation offers them the much needed advice and contextual support from fellow Arabs which largely values trust, body language and oral messages rather than on written messages (pp.441-2). Furthermore, by culture, Arabs revere the instructor/educator’s knowledge and authority on the subject and therefore to analyse/view critically any of the educator’s “published material is rarely done because of the revered respect for such material inculcated in the Arab student” (Meleis 1982, p. 444). So how is this social property important to this review? Meleis (1982) argues that, it shall be advantageous for educators to understand why some undergraduate or graduate students do not fare well academically in their initial period of studies; for example, Arabs may have hardly had few written assessment to fulfil as against the western universities which have a mandatory system of relying on written assessments to mark student understanding of the subject. Again when it comes to problem-solving, critical analyses, choosing electives and alternatives in academics, the native Arab students are not used to questioning, nor are they trained to critically assess material for the valuable contributions and neither are they given choices to select from (pp. 442-4). All these points contribute to their confusion when they are exposed to completely different and new systems of education and assessment, and in addition, their lack of comprehension and fluency in the English language, making them feel more alienated (Psychology Today 1979 cited in Meleis 1982) and misunderstood, silent in the classrooms, increasing their affiliation needs. Meleis (1982) lists a series of steps that can be incorporated both by the host country and the home countries to lessen the cultural background differences for native Arab speakers in western countries. The suggestions include, setting up specific orientation programmes for these students to minimize cultural shocks, setting up of network sponsorships that will enable families settled in the host country to take native Arab speaking students and guide, advice and mitigate the inhibitions of the new students and ensure smooth cultural transitions in addition to teaching English (pp.445-7). While the suggestions may be possible in small clusters, it may not be practical to practice especially given the different nationalities peculiarities that exist within the broad classification of native ‘Arab’ speakers. English as Language of Instruction: Difficulties in Teaching and Learning Significantly, research work of Eugene B. Gallagher (1989) focusing on students’ adaptation to and learning of English as the ‘Language of Instruction’ (LI) within the settings of medical colleges in Saudi Arabia, reveal some important barriers, both in terms of teaching and learning. In principle, the transition from Arabic to English should be easier for native Arab speakers in their home settings, when English is LI. But, in reality this does not effectively happen, observes Gallagher (1989). Alluding to Meleis (1982) Gallagher takes his research further and points out that, the “LI declared in university catalogues and official statements is not as a rule the unitary instrument for teaching-learning that it purports to be” (p.566). This means, while the textbooks and the primary material for instruction to students may be in English, the more important aspects like repeated listening to lectures, discussions and debates that make students articulate their ideas and express their thinking abilities, or doubt-clearing sessions in laboratories are mostly carried out in their native languages and not LI/English, effectively becoming a barrier to learning English and inhibiting the communication capabilities in LI. Furthermore, the researcher explains that Arabic language has been considered vital to the spread of their culture and religion and across regions where Islam is practiced, Arabic has a place of pride and respect with the legitimized associations lent by holy text Quran and Prophet Mohammed (Gallagher 1989, p. 568). This pristine pride that Arabic speakers “hold that Arabic surpasses other languages in beauty because of its inherent qualities” (Patai 1976, p. 44) also becomes a barrier to the learning of English. The orthodoxy and tradition sanctified by the religion and culture of Arabic stands strongly the opposite of modernization of the western language of English. Even in fields of higher education like medical colleges (the place of the research) Gallagher (1989) points out, there exists a deficiency in learning to use or communicate in English. According to the English Language Difficulties Committee constituted specifically to improve English as LI found three aspects that needed to be addressed; (1) general understanding of English language of the students was only at the level of a seventh-grader (2) the percentage of students sufficiently prepared to continue English learning at the university amounted only to about 20% of the students; and finally, (3) since instructions in English were not a part of the curriculum after the second year, the “English competence of most students tended to decline from that point on” (pp. 575-6). This research (Gallagher 1989) has been useful in understanding some points that are barriers to learning English, in homeland settings of native Arab speakers. Problems existed for those teaching English too as there was a mismatch between the expatriate teaching faculty expectations and the native speaker student expectations (pp.572-5); in short, one has to be careful to choose faculty who understand the native speakers and the nuances of Arabic, as well as possess good proficiency in English, and communication skills. Writing Skills and English Language Mufeeq Doushaq’s (1986) research investigates the academic writing problems faced by Jordanian Arab students studying English at the university level. The work suggests that the problems can be grouped into three types: a) problems with construction of sentences, b) appropriate paragraph formations and c) the coherence of the basic content. One very significant point that this research points out is that, as seen earlier, native Arabic speakers rely more on oral and contextual cues to foster relationships (Meleis 1982) rather than on written messages. It is beyond the scope of this research to analyse if this reliance does indeed contribute to the weakness in writing Arabic of native speakers. However, Doushaq (1986) observes that weakness in mastering Arabic writing skills definitely play a role the mastery of writing skills in English which is a foreign language. Doushaq (1986) cites previous research (Kaplan 1966) and states that even international student who have no problems with the syntaxes of English language structures find academic writing, for example, theses/dissertations or term papers, a problem. This is because the rhetoric and thought sequences of the native speakers of English differ largely from that of a native Arab speaker and therefore, when the latter attempts to write in English they have difficulties in coherently expressing their ideas (p. 4). The performance levels of the 96 Jordanian students divided into four groups who constituted the research (Doushaq 1986) subjects, “in English and Arabic compositions was not satisfactory” (p. 30). Inadequacies are visible in the lack of organization of essays, sequencing points in the order of their importance, development, argument and substantiating the arguments with evidences, paragraph unity, subject unity and coherence of ideas and thoughts (Doushaq 1986, pp. 33-35) which are directly attributed to the lack of strong writing skills in Arabic and hence the same lack is transferred to English writing too. Furthermore, the study argues that students’ often failed to match “language functions with language expressions” (Doushaq 1986, p. 36) pointing not to “linguistic difficulties only, but also include stylistic, educational and cultural factors” (p. 37). The research also recommends some valid ways to offset some of these problems. For example, it acknowledges that there are no universally accepted “logic or rhetoric” as they vary with culture, it suggests that “contrastive rhetoric” can be introduced in academic writing pedagogies and planning teaching materials accordingly (Doushaq 1986, p. 37). Another simple and pertinent suggestion is that students can be helped by familiarizing themselves “with the rhetorical means of writing” appropriately in English through “analysis of model texts in English” (Doushaq 1986, p. 37). However, not much has been suggested to help native Arab speakers with the syntax problems in English writing. Another very recent research that sheds more light on the problems on English writing skills of native Arab speakers is that of Khairi Obaid Al-Zubaidi (2012). The author examines and discusses the problems faced by postgraduate and research students with respect to their academic writing skills, at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) International Campus Kuala Lumpur. Al-Zubaidi (2012) also envisages to find ways and means of reducing these problems for native Arab learners. Al-Zubaidi (2012) models the discussion on the recent research literature on the language and skill-sets required of students seeking education in western universities especially in the United States of America, and identifies eight critical categories to classify the requirements. The skill-sets are 1) communication 2) computation 3) community 4) critical thinking and problem solving, 5) information management, 6) interpersonal 7) personal and 8) technology (Miles and Wilson 2004 cited in Al-Zubaidi 2012 p. 47). Candidly stating that most of the universities in the Middle-East have not updated their universities to meet the western standards of education, the author observes that this lack is visible in the native Arab speaking students at Malaysian university (Al-Zubaidi 2012 p. 48). Apart from the aspect of clinching better jobs in the global market, excellent English writing skills are imperative to students because within the academic milieu, good writing skills are highly valued. This is so because, “to write well requires the combining of multiple physical (Marfilius 2009, cited in Al-Zubaidi 2012, p. 47) and mental processes in one concerted effort to communicate information and ideas” and furthermore, proficiency in academic writing demands “students to incorporate and synthesize diverse sources of knowledge into an authoritative viewpoint” (Glaizer 1994; Foster & Russell 2002 cited in Al-Zubaidi 2012, p. 47). Important abilities like critical thinking and deeper analysis capabilities are enhanced through academic writing practices and therefore essential for any student. Discussing the cultural problems encountered by native Arab learners of English, Al-Zubaidi precisely points out that “Arab students are not familiar with the measure of responsibility for their own learning in the new values of academic community and challenges of writing their thesis or other research papers for publications” (2012, p. 48). Furthermore, these students are also unaware of citation requirements and face problems on that count too. Al-Zubaidi evaluates the following barriers to learning English in native Arab speakers and suggests remedies to overcome them: 1) poor writing attitude 2) awareness regarding academic writing conventions 3) plagiarism and citation requirements 4) environmental differences despite common religious backgrounds and 5) lack of even basic English-writing skill-sets like grammar and syntax. Traditionally Arab universities focus on “exam-based education” and therefore all the students are involved in activities towards preparations towards the exams; hence they “tend to ignore the importance of team work activities, oral presentations, and term papers simply because these are not included in exams” (Al-Zubaidi 2012, p. 48). Inevitably this gets reflected as poor writing quality in their assignment requirements and fail to meet the analytical capabilities that are a pre-requisite at the western universities. Lack of academic writing abilities are one of the most challenging barriers to students (Kruse 2003) since it poses difficulties for many native Arab speaking postgraduates in areas of choice of apt topics for research, development of arguments and counter-arguments, interpreting and concluding analysis. Compounding their problems are the requirements of proper referencing and citations in western universities; plagiarism is a serious offence and improper referencing of sources is viewed very negatively. Grammatical errors and syntactic errors worsen their written as well as oral communications. Additionally, many such international students have difficulties in adjusting to a foreign place in their new settings and unfamiliar people. Among the various suggestions given by Al-Zubaidi (2012) to remedy the situation, two are worth considering seriously although they may pose difficulties in the process of implementation. One is that the university pedagogy should approach the cultural barriers, attitudinal barriers to writing, and academic writing difficulties in a combined manner by integrating such students to form a developmental community amongst themselves with encouraging faculty members and peers. This will help both academic and social integration among the native Arab learners of English and the teaching staff and also pave way for better understanding of student problems by the educators, also help alleviate the alienation and confusion among the students (Lovitts 2001 cited in Al-Zubaida 2012, p. 49). Academic supervisors can also contribute by focusing improving the research capabilities of postgraduate students leading to better output of publications and so on. Oral Communication/ Spoken English Language While English writing skills are vital to academic development and knowledge acquisition in the western universities, the spoken word and oral communication skills in English are equally important in student interactions, communication and Emad Al-Al-Saidat’s analysis of English phonotactics pertaining to Arab learners of English (2010) offers a new approach to aid teaching and learning right pronunciations of English language through the use of syllable structures (pp. 121-134). This work studies English pronunciations of twenty-four Jordanian students from two universities. Three factors influence the pronunciation of non-native speakers of another language namely 1) age 2) mother tongue and 3) the personality of the learner/speaker (Al-Saidat 2010, p. 122). The literature review of previously conducted studies on the pronunciation errors of English words of native Arab speakers/learners sheds valuable information on the frequently mispronounced words like, “/ʧ/ and /ʃ/ as in ‘chair’ and ‘share’; /v/ and /f/ as in ‘fast’ and ‘vast’; /dʒ/ and /ʒ/ as in /dʒɑ:/‘jar’ and /ʒɑ:/ ‘jar’; /p/ and /b/ as in ‘pin’ and ‘bin’; /ŋ/ and /n/ as in /sɪŋ/ ‘sing’ and /sɪng/ ‘sing’; /s/ and /θ/ as in ‘sin’ and ‘thin’.” (Kharma & Hajjaj, 1989, p. 16 cited in Sidat 2010, p. 125) However, the most useful contribution to our study from the research of Al-Saidat (2010) comes from the study of syllable structure of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and English language (p. 127-8). The rules of consonants and vowel syllables juxtaposition in the pronounced word is very different in English and Arabic; for example, while no word begins with a vowel, it is not permitted to begin a word with two consonants without a vowel in between (Al-Saidat 2010, p. 128). Whereas in English, words with two consonant and three consonant clusters separated by a vowel are allowed; this poses a problem for native Arab speakers learning English and the research study (Al-Saidat 2010) finds that the participants had problems with “all words beginning with a three-consonant cluster or ending with three or more consonant cluster” (p. 128). More interestingly (due to mother tongue influence) they unintentionally add and “anaptyctic vowel” in order to “overcome this difficulty”, making it easier for them to pronounce such words. Such vowels are inserted in the start of the syllable or in the coda and varies with “the number of elements of each” (Al-Saidat 2010, p. 128). With appropriate word examples, the study explains the insertion of such vowels at the onset and the coda of the syllable to point to the obvious “interlingual and intralingual” influences (Al-Saidat 2010, p. 130). There are five suggestions given by the researcher in the conclusion of this study (Al-Saidat 2010) that offers some scope for further research in future. They are as follows: 1) Learners’ mother tongue syllable patterns to be introduced; 2) Short syllable patterns of English words introduction; 3) Long syllable patterns English words introduction; 4) comparative exercises between the syllable patterns of both the languages highlighting the differences between the two and lastly 5) stress more on the English syllable patterns so as to negate the common errors (Al-Saidat 2010, p. 133). These suggestions offer scope for analysing which words would be appropriate examples and be easily understood by native Arab speakers learning English and effectively correct the pronunciation problems. Another important work that deals with oral communication problems of native Arab learners of English is that of Jalal Ahmad (2011). Ahmad’s research deals with the pronunciation problems faced by Saudi learners in Najran University of Saudi Arabia. This case study by Ahmad (2011) takes into consideration only the preparatory programme students. Randomly selected eight students from various sections of Saudi Arabia, with no prior exposure to English speaking countries, nor received any instruction in English language are studied for difficulties in pronouncing English words. All of them had registered for the Najran University’s preparatory year programme after completing their secondary school education. Ahmad (2011) cites research work done earlier as the basis of his study of “phonology of phonotactics” (p. 25). Choosing four problematic words for each consonant sound in onset, middle and final word positions the participants’ pronunciations were recorded as they read the words aloud, and later, native English speakers were asked to point out the mistakes in the pronunciations with particular attention to consonant syllable sounds. The pattern of mispronounced words are similar to the earlier mentioned research findings (Al-Saidat 2010). Ahmad‘s (2011) study, however goes further in detail to analyse the mispronunciations in all the three positions; furthermore, the average percentages of the mispronounced words by the participants are also given in the form of graphs, and charts to facilitate easy interpretation. Ahmad (2011) observes in the discussion of his research, that “the consonant sound /ʒ/ represents the highest percentages of error in the Saudi students’ speech, it is mispronounced 66% by the participants, and /t/ represents the lowest percentage of errors, as it was mispronounced only 2%. The consonant sounds /p/ and /ŋ/ represent significant percentages of pronunciation errors too. The percentage of mispronunciation for these two phonemes was respectively 35% and 29%. The consonant sounds /d/, /v/, and /tʃ/ also represent a considerable error percentage, as the percentage of mispronunciation for each of these three phonemes is respectively 19%, 15%, and 17%.” (Ahmad 2011, p. 33). Ahmad (2011) concludes with some pertinent suggestions to solve problematic pronunciations in students. The author rightly stresses on awareness as the first step to learning process. Involving both teachers and students, Ahmad (2011) states that while the former “should make learners aware of the importance of English pronunciation within English language learning programmes” and English communication skills, learners should be imparted with some “basic knowledge of phonetics and phonology, IPA symbols” (p. 34). Thus illumined, argues Ahmad (2011), with phonetic and phonological awareness of English, it will be possible for learners to automatically guide themselves regarding the correctness of their pronunciations (p. 34). Suggestions to pay particular attention to unfamiliar sounds, learners reading out the texts aloud in the class, giving situational dialogues to learners to boost confidence, all find a mention here by the author. These suggestions appear valid and offers scope for further study. Strategies to Improve English Learning A research done by Ibrahem Bani Abdo and Gerald-Mark Breen (2010) studies English as Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogical structures prevalent in Jordanian schools and provide a comprehensive analysis of learners’ attitudes. They address the deficiencies of the Jordanian EFL learners and present a customized pedagogy to remedy it. The work consists of both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the challenges that are encountered by Jordanian students’ acquisition of English language. This study is of particular interest because one of the researcher is a native English speaker, an American, who is a specialist in communications and ESL, and a professor with pedagogical expertise for speakers of English and Spanish, and the other researcher is a native Jordanian EFL instructor. The common platform of English and the strength of being native speakers of Arabic and English respectively, Abdo and Breen (2010) offers scope to authoritatively examine where the problems of a non-native speaker arise and offer strategies to overcome the same, pedagogically. The researchers (Abdo and Breen 2010) study the basic differences in the two languages viz. Arabic and English. They state that the huge differences between the two languages “in terms of alphabetic characters, grammar, syntax, and the overall linguistic logistics of the two languages” is one cause of problems, because it leads to a lot of negative transfers that hampers the learning process in native Arab speakers (p. 40). In terms of ease of transliteration from one language to another, Arabic to English would probably rank the lowest as compared to other European languages like Italian and Spanish. They also point to some key differences between the two languages in both spoken and written, like for example, Arabic is written from right to left as against English which written from left to right; orthographic differences – shapes of letters within Arabic words depend on their placement in the word whereas in English the letters change shape only as capital or small letters; a number of rules govern the grapho-phonemic treatment of vowels but predictable whereas in English they are irregular and unpredictable (Abdo and Breen 2010, p. 41). There are detailed analysis of other reasons for the problems encountered in English acquisition ranging from diversity of Arab student population in Jordan, to excessive focus on grades instead of language understanding to governmental policies, most of which have already been discussed earlier in this literature review work. Designing a study to identify beneficial features of language acquisition instruction for EFL learners in Jordan, Abdo and Breen (2010) collect data from randomly selected participants, five from the teaching faculty and six from the student population to conduct a quantitative analysis (pp. 42-3). Based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis done by the researchers (Abdo and Breen 2010), they suggest significantly effective strategies to help better acquisition of English language by native Arab/Jordanian learners. They are termed ‘strategies’ probably because they integrate a number of steps to be taken simultaneously outside the boundaries of mere academics, in their approach to solve the student problems, a forerunner to the integrated steps suggested by Ahmad (2011). Foremost of the suggested strategies is the initiation of a supportive, amiable atmosphere for the non-native speakers of English, by the instructors and the student fraternity to “include acting and talking in an approachable, honest, and non-critical manner, with the sole intention of ensuring language acquisition” (Abdo and Breen 2010, p. 46). Secondly, a genuine attempt to identify and understand the student norms and customs must be made by the teaching faculty because only this will pave way to explore the problems faced by the non-native speakers of English and encourage them to open up and avoid anxiety and alienation. As suggested succinctly “if the teacher seems like an insider, as opposed to an outsider or foreigner, far better listening, reception and likeability are more apt to present themselves from the students to the teachers” (Abdo and Breen 2010, p. 47). And last but not the least, the researchers advocate “patience, gentleness and a polite attitude” in all student and teacher interactions with non-native English learners as an important strategy. This is because a feeling of comfort and support will go a long way to soothe interpersonal communications; “issues in international students, such as communication apprehension, avoidance, and introversion, patience, gentleness, and a polite attitude and demeanour from the EFL instructor will help to facilitate connectivity with the students and thus minimize these barriers to learning” (Abdo and Breen 2010, p. 47). Furthermore they point out that the creation of a “non-threatening environment”, especially in academic matters, “in which the students feel comfortable making mistakes in grammar, verbal communication, and writing” as it “is crucial in making students feel secure making errors” to help persuade and also convince them in a non-discriminating manner, “that mistakes are a natural part of the learning process” (Abdo and Breen 2010, p. 47). Conclusion Proficiency in English language as a medium, written and oral communication and instruction in the current scenario of changing political, economic and social equations, has become essential. This is especially so for non-native speakers of English in general and native Arab speaking students who seek western education. As non-native speakers of English, native Arab speaking students frequently have problems in learning and mastering English language. This work has reviewed literature on the different challenges and problems faced by native Arab speakers in their endeavour to learn English, with a view to understanding of the existent barriers and means of overcoming some of them, and to search for possible areas of carrying on future research. In the process of analysing previously conducted studies in related topics, the study first studied the barriers that arose due the culture that pervaded and united all the Arab world and contributed to their collective lingual and religious identities across the Arab countries. It then considered the problems that arose from the differences in the transference of skills from the mother tongue Arabic to the foreign language English. Since English writing skills are vital to survival in western academic settings, the causes of/and difficulties in English writing faced by native Arab learners were analysed and specific steps to improve the deficiencies have also been suggested. Following the written language, oral skills or the mastery of the spoken language and the barriers were analysed. Pronunciation problems predominantly figured in the literature analysis of the barriers to mastery of spoken English by native Arab learners due to the strong differences in consonant syllable structures in the two languages. Steps to improve pronunciations of native Arab speakers have also been provided, and also an avenue for further research prospect has been identified with respect to finding of suitable words to promote better pronunciation skills. Finally this work has reviewed the possibility of adopting a strategic approach, integrating various aspects of the problems as a whole, and improve acquisition and mastery of English language by native Arab speakers. The strategic approach is apt to prepare the students better by taking a non-judgmental and non-threatening, supportive approach to reassure native Arab speaking international students. This approach will help them to assimilate and survive better by fostering confidence and meeting the English language demands in western universities. The literature review has been useful in enlightening the researcher on the wealth of information available in the form of prior studies and also in gaining insights into possibilities of further studies. References Abdo, Bani Ibrahem and Breen Gerald-Mark (2010). “Teaching EFL to Jordanian Students: New Strategies for Enhancing English Acquisition in a Distinct Middle Eastern Student Population.” Creative Education, 1, 39-50. Scientific Research. Ahmad, Jalal (2011). “Pronunciation Problems among Saudi Learners: A Case Study at the Preparatory Year Program, Najran University Saudi Arabia.” Language in India Vol. 11. ISSN 1930-2940. Al-Saidat M. Emad (2010). “Phonological Analysis of English Phonotactics: A Case Study of Arab Learners of English.” The Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics Vol 3, pp. 121-134. 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Hamady, S (1960). Temperament and Character of the Arabs. New York: Wayne Publishers. Kruse O (2003). “Getting started: Academic writing in the first year of a university education”. In Lennart Bjrk, Gerd Bruer, Lotte Rienecker &Peter Stray Jrgensenn (Eds.), Teaching academic writing in European higher education. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 19-28. Marfilius, Scott (2009). Technology Toolkit for Writing. Available at http://www.tmcsea.org/districtservices/AT%20Notebook/Technology%20Toolkit%20 for%20Writing.pdf Meleis. I. Afaf (1982). “Arab Students in Western Universities: Social Properties and dilemmas” The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 1982), pp. 439-447. Ohio State University Press. Miles C and Wilson C (2004). “Learning Outcomes for the Twenty-First Century: Cultivating Student Success for College and the Knowledge Economy” in New Directions for Community Colleges. Patai, R (1973). The Arab Mind. New York: Charles Scribner's. Patai, R (1976). 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