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Background and Purpose: The role of collocation learning strategies is less of a concern as mediator. Although several correlation studies of bivariate factors have provided the relationship between the variables, many cannot answer the question of how the relationship exists. Also, a lot of studies have taken into account the variables of collocation learning strategies as mediator factors and have not illustrated clearly the relationship between independent variables (motivation) and dependent variables (collocation knowledge). As such, the aim of the present study is to identify the knowledge of Arabic collocation by taking several factors, namely; motivation and collocation learning strategies that have the potential to increase the knowledge of Arabic collocation in Malaysia. Methodology: In this study, a cross-sectional design was applied. Simple random sampling was used, where a total of 344 final year Arabic language students from eight public universities in Malaysia took part in the study by completing a set of tests and questionnaires. The data were analyzed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. Findings: The findings show there is a direct and indirect relationship between motivation variable, collocation learning strategies and collocation knowledge. In addition, the learning strategies factor also serves as a partial mediator. Contributions: This study suggests that collocation learning strategies play a role in the relationship between motivation and collocation knowledge in the context of Arabic language at higher education level in Malaysia. Keywords: Collocation learning strategies, motivation, collocation knowledge, Arabic language, public universities. Cite as: Asbulah, L. H., Aladdin, A., & Sahrim, M. (2020). The effect of motivation on Arabic collocation knowledge: The mediating role of collocation learning strategies. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 5(2), 1-18. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol5iss2pp1-18

The main objective of this paper is to answer the following questions: a) In subject-related matters, what are the fundamental factors that demotivate non-Muslim learners from learning Arabic? Moreover,; b) How can Arabic language educators encourage Arabic learners to become more motivated to learn the language? An open-ended questionnaire was distributed to 207 respondents in order to investigate the demotivating factors among non-Muslim Arabic learners. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 20 respondents were used to conduct an in-depth investigation of the factors that demotivated Arabic learners regarding subject-related matters. Based on the respondents' elaboration on the issues raised, the researcher explored the underlying patterns of thinking that go beyond the surface level through the analysis of these data obtained using the two types of instruments. According to the study's findings, the main demotivating factor of subject-related matters is the Arabic language. The Arabic language was difficult to learn from the pronunciation, then the writing system and spelling (orthography). And its diacritics after that grammar and vocabulary memorization. In other words, the students are demotivated from learning because of the complexity of the language in general.

Strategi pembelajaran kolokasi merupakan strategi yang dipandang sepi dalam kurikulum bahasa Arab, namun para sarjana mengakui bahawa ia adalah strategi dominan yang digunakan dalam kalangan pelajar bahasa asing yang mempunyai keupayaan di tahap sederhana. Kajian ini meninjau tahap penggunaan strategi pembelajaran kolokasi bahasa Arab dalam kalangan pelajar bahasa Arab di universiti awam Malaysia. Untuk tujuan itu, satu set soal selidik jenis skala Likert telah diedarkan kepada pelajar bahasa Arab yang sedang mengikuti pengajian di universiti awam dan sudah berada pada tahun akhir pengajian. Kajian ini menggunakan pensampelan rawak mudah. Seramai 344 orang pelajar daripada lapan buah universiti awam menyertai kajian ini. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa strategi pembelajaran kolokasi dalam bahasa Arab adalah dominan walaupun berada pada skala penggunaan yang sederhana. Kajian ini mencadangkan strategi pembelajaran kolokasi bahasa Arab yang baru berdasarkan substrategi pengecaman, masteri teknik (kefahaman, pengulangan, penonjolan, kamus, sosial dan imejan) serta aplikasi. Selain dari itu, dapatan kajian ini juga menunjukkan bahawa strategi pembelajaran kolokasi perlu dimanfaatkan oleh pelajar terutamanya dalam memainkan peranan autonomi bagi meningkatkan kompetensi dalam penggunaan bahasa Arab terutamanya aspek kolokasi. Kata kunci: kolokasi; strategi pembelajaran; bahasa Arab; bahasa asing; universiti awam ABSTRACT Arabic Collocation Learning Strategies have been marginalized in the Arabic language curriculum system, but scholars acknowledge that it is a dominant strategy used by students, especially in the learning of foreign languages with moderate capabilities. This study examines the level of use, of Arabic language collocation strategies among Arabic language students in public universities. For that purpose, a set of Likert scale questionnaires were distributed to Arabic language students studying in public universities, who are in their final year of study. This study uses simple random sampling. A total of 344 students from eight public universities participated in this study. The findings show that collocation learning strategies in Arabic language are dominant even though they are at a moderate scale of use. This study proposes a new Arabic collocation learning strategy based on recognition, mastery techniques (understanding, repetition, highlighting, dictionary, social and imagery) and applications. The findings also discovered that collocation learning strategies should be utilized by students especially with regards to the autonomous role in using specific strategies and techniques to enhance competency in the Arabic language, especially in collocation. Keywords: collocation; learning strategies; Arabic language; foreign language; public universities

This study investigates the meanings of the near-synonyms al-asfār and alkutub (the books) and their English translations. It aims at identifying the contextual meanings of the Qur'ānic near-synonyms based on different exegeses of the Holy Qur'ān. Then, it explains the semantic differences that exist between the Qur'ānic pair and how such semantic differences are reflected in two English translations of the Holy Qur'ān. Besides, it highlights the meanings of the polysemous lexical item alkutub (the books) in different Qur'ānic contexts and how the various senses of this lexical item are transferred to English. The study adopts the RC-S approach as a theoretical framework for data analysis. It also employs the qualitative approach for collecting and analyzing the data of the study. The exegeses of the Holy Qur'ān are consulted to identify the semantic differences between the Qur'ānic near-synonyms as well as the meanings of the polysemous lexical item alkutub (the books). The findings reveal that there are some semantic differences between the selected Qur'ānic near-synonyms and that such semantic differences are not reflected in the English translations. The findings also show that the polysemous lexical item alkutub (the books) and its singular formal-kitāb (the book) are literally translated in some Qur'ānic contexts. The study provides recommendations for readers as well as translators especially the translators of the Holy Qur'ān. Keywords: contextual meaning; denotative meaning; near-synonyms; polysemy; synonymy; translation.

The Holy Qur'ān includes near-synonyms which have seemingly similar meanings but convey different meanings upon deeper analysis of the semantic constituents of these words. Such near-synonyms usually pose a challenge that often presents itself to the translators of the Holy Qur'ān. This study investigates the meanings of near-synonyms and their translation issues in the Qur'ān. It aims to identify the contextual meanings of Qur'ānic near-synonyms based on different exegeses of the Qur'ān. Then, it explains the nuances that exist between the pairs of Qur'ānic near-synonyms and how such nuances are reflected in two English translations of the Qur'ān. The study adopts the Relation by Contrast Approach to Synonyms (RC-S) as a theoretical framework for data analysis. It also employs the qualitative approach for collecting and analyzing the data of the study. Besides, it makes use of different exegeses of the Qur'ān to identify the differences in meaning between each pair of the Qur'ānic near-synonyms. The analysis of the data reveals that there exist some nuances between the pairs of Qur'ānic near-synonyms in terms of denotative and expressive meaning. The findings also show that the differences in meaning between the pairs of near-synonyms are not reflected in the English translations. Therefore, the study recommends that readers as well as translators should look for nuances between Qur'ānic near-synonyms whenever they find two words with similar meanings in order to perceive the Qur'ānic text appropriately and translators should make an effort to reflect the nuances between the pairs of near-synonyms in their translation.

Arabic is always perceived as a language for Muslims specifically Malays in Malaysia because it is a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religion country. The main purpose of this study is to examine the non-Muslim Malaysian learners’ motivational orientations towards learning Arabic as a foreign language in the Malaysian context. A mixed method research approach was adopted in order to answer the research questions in which the instruments of the questionnaire for quantitative data and semi-structured interview were selected for qualitative data collection. The questionnaire was administered to 207 non-Muslim Malaysian learners of Arabic (NMMLAs), while the semi-structured interviews involved 20 respondents. Data from the semi-structured interviews were used to further reinforce the quantitative data collected from the questionnaires, thus providing a deeper understanding and richer representation of the NMMLAs’ orientations for learning Arabic as a foreign language. In determining the underlying orientations toward learning Arabic, the NMMLAs show three types of orientations namely instrumental, intrinsic and integrative. It appears that instrumental orientation is the strongest reason for learning Arabic as the need to fulfil the university requirement. Encouragingly, the NMMLAs show moderate motivation toward both the intrinsic and integrative orientation in learning Arabic. It is hoped that this study provides new insights and perspectives into teaching and learning of the Arabic language to non-Muslim learners in the Malaysian context as well as to offer the teaching of Arabic in a wider context.

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengesahkan dan memeriksa kebolehpercayaan instrumen strategi pembelajaran kolokasi bahasa Arab. Seramai 5 orang panel pakar telah terlibat bagi mengesahkan instrumen ini. Untuk tujuan tersebut, soal selidik telah diedarkan kepada 61 pelajar tahun akhir yang sedang mengikuti program pengajian bahasa Arab di universiti awam sebagai responden dalam kajian ini. Perisian Winsteps Version 3.69.1.11 telah digunakan untuk pemeriksaan ke fungsian item dari aspek kebolehpercayaan dan pengasingan item-responden, polariti dan kesesuaian item mengukur konstruk serta nilai korelasi residual terpiawai. Ia juga membenarkan penyingkiran atau pemurnian item berdasarkan polariti item, kesesuaian item dan menentukan nilai bersandar berdasarkan nilai korelasi residual terpiawai. Analisis akhir mendapati tiada item disingkarkan. Instrumen akhir menunjukkan sebanyak 40 item yang sesuai digunakan untuk mengukur konstruk strategi pembelajaran kolokasi. Dapatan daripada analisis telah berjaya membuktikan secara statistik bahawa item-item ini mempunyai tahap kesahan dan kebolehpercayaan yang tinggi dan wajar digunakan untuk para pelajar di peringkat IPT. Kata kunci: Instrumen strategi pembelajaran kolokasi, bahasa Arab, model Rasch This study aims to test the validity and reliability of the Arabic collocation learning strategies instrument. A total of 5 expert panels were involved in validating the instrument. For that purpose, questionnaires have been distributed to 61 final year students of Arabic language programs at public universities as respondents in this study. The validity and reliability of this study were measured using Rasch Measurement Model using the Winstep version 3.69.1.11. Final analysis found that no items were dismissed. Final instrument shows that 40 items were suitable to be used to measure collocation learning strategies constructs. Findings from the analysis has statistically proved that the items in this instrument has a high degree of validity and reliability as well as suitable to be used by students at the IPT level. Keywords: Arabic collocation learning strategies instrument, arabic language, Rasch model

One of the objectives of Law Faculty of National University of Malaysia known as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (henceforth UKM) is to produce trained and capable graduates in multiple fields of law and practice, including Islamic law. UKM uses two medium of instruction in teaching; Malay language and English. Arabic language is not directly used in teaching law students but they will be exposed to Arabic terms and references in Islamic law courses. In four years of study, students of the Law Faculty at UKM have to sit for 8 Islamic law courses such as Introduction to Islamic Law, Islamic Criminal Law, Islamic Family Law, Islamic Jurisprudence and Evidence and Procedures in the Syariah Court. To enable the students to master the Islamic law courses, they have to learn the Arabic language in 3 semesters within the first two years of their study. Many questions have been posed as to the relevance of studying the Arabic language for students in FacultyofLawat UKM. This paper serves to answer such questions. The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of teaching Arabic language to the students of Law Faculty UKM. A brief overview of the implementation of teaching Arabic to the law students in UKM is provided. The relevance of studying Arabic language is explained and discussed. This paper also identifies some of the challenges faced in teaching Arabic to law students especially to the non-Muslims. The paper concludes with some recommendations for future improvement.

Politeness strategies in French have a primary goal of establishing and maintaining good social relationships between fellow members of the community. They are determined based on the principles of savoir vivre , literally translated as the knowledge of living, and savoir faire , the ability to say or do the right thing. In general, students taking French face difficulty in understanding the use of the pronoun Vous and Tu . This indicates that they do not master the concept of politeness in this language. Many studies have been made on this issue but none was done among students in Malaysia. In this study conducted among UKM students, questionnaire was distributed to identify the existing problem and intervention strategies, such as the use of flashcards and oral drills in role-plays were carried out. Implications derived from this study on the teaching and learning of the French language is that researchers are able to identify strategies to address the problems faced by students and to come up with a method that can be used in teaching to facilitate students’ understanding of the concept. Once this concept is clearly understood, this in turn will boost students’ confidence to converse in French.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the linguistic phenomenon of Acoustic Prepositional Deletion (APD) ( نزع الخافض سماعيا , nazʿi al-khāfiḍ smaʿyan) in the Quran. It mainly addresses deleting thepreposition إلى , ilā from some verses of the Quran despite being preceded by an intransitive verb. Thestudy applies the perspective of Cognitive Linguistic (CL) theory and its relevant approaches to the analysis of the data included. Construction Grammar (CxG) is mainly used to examine to what extent the (non)existence of an element (i.e. preposition) of a particular construction may lead to the alternation of the spatial relationships existing between its elements, and what consequences may appear due to the manipulation of the existing relationships. The study finds that APD results in new partially or totally different, opposite or negative, abstract or manner spatial relationships between the construction entities which in turn result in different semantic conceptualization of these relationships. It also finds out that the degree of loyalty to the spatial scene in the Target Text (TT) varies from partially loyal to disloyal. This validates Croft’s (2001-2017) hypothesis that meaning is both construction and language specific.

The intended learning objectives of SKBL3113 Psikolinguistik includes possessing a firm understanding of psycholinguistic knowledge and applying the knowledge in other linguistic disciplines. Unfortunately, learners have difficulties in achieving these goals. Thus, this paper presents the intervention the course instructor made through topical presentations and reflective diary writing to assist undergraduates recall what they learned previously and remember what they were learning in SKBL3113 Psikolinguistik longer. Results show that learners who scored high marks in the topical presentations and reflective diary writing eventually did well in their quiz – an indication that decompartmentalised learning have begun to place.

SKBL3113 Psikolinguistik is a BA Linguistics (Hons.) final-year course in UKM; hence, learners are expected to apply previous linguistic knowledge to this course. However, learners had difficulties in relating previous knowledge to what they were learning. This paper presents the intervention made to assist learners recall what they have learned and to not compartmentalise their knowledge. Results indicate that learners who reflected meaningfully in their reflective diary writing can relate the knowledge they were acquiring to their previous knowledge better than those who did not. This suggests reflective diary writing can help learners decompartmentalise their learning.

A Strategic Action Research Project that focused the needs in teaching and learning of foreign languages and translation courses concluded that students at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) belong to a new generation who are more comfortable with using technology and the internet in their learning. The research findings showed that the demand for online learning is high among the respondents. The students taking these courses use language learning websites to enhance comprehension as well as performance tasks in their learning. This article discusses a pioneer research *UKM-PTS-043-2010 in preparing materials for foreign language teaching and learning on UKM website. These will be used to assist students in learning Arabic, Korea, French and Thai. The focus of the discussion is on the communicative translation approach and also on the preliminary challenges in synchronizing and preparing the materials for the website.

The main focus of this study is to investigate the non-Muslim Malaysians’ attitudes and motivations towards learning Arabic as a foreign language. The study aims at examining the respondents’ attitudes towards learning foreign languages in general, towards learning Arabic language in particular and attitudes towards Arabic native speaker. This study also aims at investigating the motivational orientations among the NMMLAs in learning Arabic as a foreign language. The findings reveal that the NMMLAs’ held a high positive attitudes towards foreign languages, and held a moderate positive attitudes towards Arabic language and its native speakers. As to motivations, the respondents were instrumentally motivated to learn Arabic language with the need to fulfil the university requirement having the highest ranking whereas the intrinsic and integrative motivation came second with the same mean score . By conducting this research, it is hoped to widen the horizon of teaching Arabic in Malaysia, not only to Malay Muslims learners but also to non-Muslims.

The aim of this paper is to investigate some semantic interlingual errors in the writing performance of Libyan English as Foreign Language Learners (LEFLLS). The study seeks to analyze these errorsthat appear in the learners’ written production. The data was gathered from 25 essays written by 25 Libyan postgraduates majoring in different fields. It was collected and organized according to the errors committed. Errors taxonomy adapted from James’ (1998) and Al-Shormani and Al-Sohbani’s (2012) was used in identifying and analyzing these errors. Semantic errors were classified into five categories namely formal mis-selection, formal misformation, lexical choice, collocation and lexico-grammatical choice. The semantic errors identified were 346. These errors were classified into four categories namely, formal misformation (46.7%), distortion due to spelling (32.4%), lexical choice (40.6%) and lexicogrammatical choice (2.4%). The results show that direct translation from the first language (L1), assumed synonym and misselection of letters sub-categories score the highest number of the errors, i.e.14.2%, 13.08% and 12.08% respectively. While the sub-category, both collocations incorrect error was the lowest (0.52%). The other errors take the form of paraphrase (11.5%) and Idiomacity (8.5%). Two main sources have been found to be the cause behind these errors namely, L1 influence and insufficient knowledge about the second language (L2). Moreover, cultural differences between L1 and L2 had its impact in the written products of Libyan students.

Reference switching (Iltifat) is a unique style found in the holy Qur’an. It is a rhetorical device in Arabic language. Nonetheless, it is used in an extensive and complex manner in Qur’an. Reference switching is defined as the change of speech from one mode to another. However, reference switching constitutes a problem for translators while transferring reference switches from one language to another, particularly in the Qur’anic discourse. This paper looks at the translation of reference switching in surah al-Baqarah specifically focusing on the translation strategies employed by the translator Yusuf Ali to transfer reference switching that is obvious in the Qur’an to English language. Personal reference switching has been classified into five categories: namely the switch from third to first person pronoun; the switch from first to third person pronoun; the switch from third to second person pronoun; the switch from second to third person pronoun and the switch from first to second person pronoun. Newmark’s translation strategies are used as a basis to explore the translation strategies applied by Yusuf Ali. The study reveals that Yusuf Ali opted for five strategies in translating reference switching in surah al-Baqarah. They are literal, expansion, free translation, compensation and a dual strategy of transposition and footnote. However, the study reveals that these translation strategies are inapplicable in conveying the meaning of iltifat. The findings of this study will hopefully pave the way for more investigations into the translatability of reference switching in other surahs of the holy Qur’an. Additionally, the findings of this study will be a step forward toward improving reference switching translation in future interpretations of meanings in the holy Qur’an.

The importance of the immediate learning context (ILC) on language learning motivation (LLM) has been asserted by different theorists and researchers and incorporated in a number of LLM models. The teaching materials, amount of variety in classroom work, the nature of the classroom organization, and the nature of the teacher-student relationship can all influence motivation. The aim of this study is to investigate the different motivational variables in the immediate learning context among the non-Muslim Malaysian learners of Arabic (NMMLAs). The focus variables of the immediate learning context in this study are teacher's personality and teacher's method of teaching. The study adopts a mix method approach where a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were employed to obtain the data. The questionnaires were distributed to 207 respondents who are non-Muslim Malaysians learning Arabic as a compulsory subject at the Faculty of Law in UKM. In order to gain more insights, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 respondents. The findings reveal that teacher's personality seems to play the most important role in shaping the culture of learning Arabic as a foreign language. The teacher's style and method of teaching is another important component in language instruction that motivated the Arabic language learners in their classroom.

The objective of this study is to investigate the demotivating factors associated with learning Arabic as a Foreign Language (FL) on the part of non-Muslim Malaysian learners. The data were obtained from an open-ended questionnaire distributed to 207 students learning the Arabic language at a public university in Malaysia and from semi-structured interviews with twenty respondents. Using qualitative data analysis, nine demotivational factors were identified, namely (1) subject-related factors; (2) teacher-related factors; (3) class-related factors; (4) negative attitudes towards the FL; (5) course materials and learning content; (6) the compulsory nature of the Arabic course; (7) time constraints; (8) lack of opportunities to communicate in Arabic; (9) lack of ability. It is hoped that by understanding the factors that demotivate learners of Arabic, teachers can improve the process ofteaching and learning the Arabic language, and try to avoid pitfalls in order to enhance learners’ motivation towards learning Arabic.