The Interplay of Academic Writing Skills and Attitudes Toward Classical Arabic Among Graduate Students

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the academic writing skills of graduate students in educational departments at a leading state university in Saudi Arabia and investigate the correlation between these skills and their attitudes towards the classical Arabic language. Employing a descriptive analytical approach, the research utilized an academic writing test and the Attitude towards Classical Arabic Scale. A random sample of 105 male and female students, representing 45% of the study population, participated. Drawing from a compendium of essential Academic Arabic writing skills, encompassing 74 sub-skills distributed across 8 core competencies, the results of the writing test unveiled that the participants had achieved a satisfactory level of mastery in these skills. Key findings reveal that graduate students excel in style and linguistic accuracy while showing a need for improvement in formatting skills. The study also highlights positive attitudes towards Classical Arabic, with a strong preference for writing, followed by listening, reading, and speaking. Notably, a significant positive correlation was observed at a 0.05 significance level between students' possession of academic writing skills and their attitudes towards Classical Arabic. Furthermore, gender-based analysis indicated higher academic writing skill scores among female students in educational departments. Based on these insightful findings, pedagogical recommendations and suggestions for future research were also deliberated.