Research on Learning Strategies in Arabic Language Education

The learning of Arabic language like any other foreign language contains four main aspects; reading, writing, speaking and understanding while listening.[i] This learning process can be enhanced if the most appropriate Learning Strategy is used. In this paper the most appropriate Learning Strategy of Arabic Language is suggested. The course outlines for Arabic language are thoroughly studied and several professors and experts of Arabic Language from Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Sudan are interviewed. The author, who himself has vast experience in teaching Arabic language, also had the opportunity to sit in the Arabic language classes to observe various strategies and methodologies adopted by different professors while teaching Arabic. In this paper the time spent on teaching Arabic to the students is also discussed. The appropriate size of the class room i.e, the number of students in Arabic language class also matters in improving the quality of Arabic among the students. The matter of teaching Arabic in Arabic only or in the native language of the students will also be touched in here. As the time has changed and the world is moving ahead on a fast pace, it seems necessary to apply the “Direct Method” while teaching Arabic or any foreign language.[ii] This paper will shed light on what is meant by “Direct Method”. The idea of making the student sit and memorize the dry rules of grammar has become obsolete. The idea of telling the student what part of the phrase is subject or predicate, or what is object and what is a noun or verb, may come later. The idea of memorizing the bulk of new vocabulary in the beginning can also be postponed. Hence a paradigm shift is needed here while talking about the Methodology of Teaching Arabic Language, under the heading of “Direct Method”.   [i]     Muhammad Abdul Khaliq, Professor of Arabic and co-author of 'al-Arabia baina Yadaik'. The author of this research paper had a personal interview with him on 21.03.2014, in the Institute of Arabic Language, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. [ii]    This method is adopted roughly by some great scholars of Arabic language like Dr. V. Abdur Rahim who taught Arabic language for decades in the Islamic University of Madina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The author was fortunate to meet with him many times and get benefitted from his experience. See for details: Abdurrahim, V. (1999), Arabic Course for English-Speaking Students, Leicester: UK Islamic Academy. See also: Abdullah, F. Ibrahim. (1999), Iqra Arabic Reader. Chicago: Iqra International Educational Foundation. Moreover see: Fawzan, Abdurrahman and others. (2004), Al-Arabia Baina Yadaik, Riyadh: Ministry of Education.

Synthesis and Characterization of Shape Memory Polyurethane/Conducting Polymer Blends and Their Nanocomposites

Shape-memory polyurethanes (SMPUs) blends and nanocomposites with conducting polymers (CPs) have fascinated noteworthy considerations for both academic and industrial research due to their important and captivating applications. In the present study, four CPs namely polypyrrole (PPy), polyaniline (PAni), polythiophene (PTh) and poly(aniline-co-thiophene) (PAni-co-PTh) were prepared via chemical oxidative polymerization and used to synthesize the blends and nanocomposites with shape-memory polyurethane (SMPU). Polyurethane was prepared by addition polymerization using polyethylene oxide (PEO) and poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol) (PPG-b-PEG-b-PPG) as soft segment, while 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (2,4-TDI) as hard segment. Four series of PU/CPs blend and composite films for each conducting polymer with the varying weight % of CP (0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0%) were fabricated. The structural characterization and morphology of the prepared samples was inspected by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Mechanical, thermal, electrical and shape memory properties of the SMPU/CPs blends and nanocomposites were also investigated. Improved mechanical performances such as tensile strength and Young’s modulus of PU/CPs blends were observed with higher content of CPs, while nanocomposites showed decreasing trend with CPs owing to globular morphology, outcome of layered adsorption of CPs over multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs). Thermal stability was found to increase systematically with increasing CPs content in blend and composite films. Differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) scans indicated an increase in glass transition, melting and crystallization temperatures for blend samples with CPs loading (0.1-1.0 wt. %). While for nanocomposites, better DSC parameters were observed with 0.1% CPs content. All prepared samples followed the same trend with different CPs except PTh-based blends and composites which was due to the lack of interaction between PU segments and PTh chains. X-ray diffraction results also complimented the DSC studies. Moreover, the electrical conductivity of PU/CPs blends and nanocomposites was also found to be a function of CPs loadings. However, nanocomposites possessed higher conductivities values compared to their respective blends ascribed to the presence of thermally more stable and electrically conductive modified carbon nanotubes in composites. Remarkable recoverability of thermally triggered shape memory (SM) behavior was achieved for all prepared PU/CPs blends and nanocomposites.