Volume 15, Issue 2 (2024)
LRR 2024, 15(2): 285-320 |
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Esmaili S, rahmani A. The Criteria of Sustainable Development in Organizing the Content of Arabic Textbooks in Junior High School. LRR 2024; 15 (2) :285-320
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-57800-en.html
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-57800-en.html
1- Assistant Professor in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran , esmaili@HUM.ikiu.ac.ir
2- Associate Professor in the Hormoz Research Center, University of Hormozghan, Iran
2- Associate Professor in the Hormoz Research Center, University of Hormozghan, Iran
Abstract: (2716 Views)
This research aims to investigate the standards for sustainable development when organizing content of Arabic textbooks in junior high school, utilizing a survey methodology. The primary tool for this study is a questionnaire developed by the researcher, encompassing criteria for religious, social, environmental, economic, and intellectual-scientific development. Descriptive statistics and correlation tests such as Pearson, ANOVA, and Friedman are employed for data analysis and description. The findings suggest an overall weak level of sustainability for development criteria in organizing the content of junior high school Arabic textbooks. Specifically, three criteria including environmental, social, and economic criteria exhibit a weak level of desirability, while only two criteria, religious and intellectual-scientific criteria, achieve a moderate desirability level. Regarding the correlation between criteria and sustainable development, the results indicate that environmental, social, and economic criteria have the highest correlation but have not reached a desirable level. It is recommended to improve the organization of junior high school Arabic textbooks based on sustainable development criteria by not only preserving religious and intellectual-scientific criteria but also incorporating environmental, social, and economic development criteria into the content of these books.
1. Introduction
Today, the subject of sustainable development has gained significant prominence in the fields of culture, education, and social sciences due to its role in improving the economic, social, and environmental conditions of society. Researchers have shown particular interest in examining and assessing the effectiveness of development criteria in the teaching and learning processes; this is because, in terms of effectiveness, it is believed that sustainable development can play a crucial role in creating and training a competent and responsible generation. A generation that can actively contribute to the holistic progress and development, fostering a constructive and mutual relationship between members of society and human resources. In this regard, due to the importance of textbooks in the teaching-learning process and their special role in promoting various ideas and human development criteria, incorporating sustainable development criteria, especially religious, social, economic, environmental, and intellectual-scientific criteria, in textbooks will play a significant role in applying these criteria in the academic and personal lives of learners; textbooks are one of the most important elements of the curriculum, through which knowledge, skills, and approved attitudes are conveyed to the intended audience according to the curriculum guidelines. Additionally, a textbook is the result of a learning plan and a roadmap; this plan and roadmap are usually the curriculum guidelines where objectives, content headings, and content selection and organization criteria are specified. Therefore, this article seeks to examine the sustainable development criteria in organizing the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school.
Research Question
To what extent have sustainable development criteria been considered in organizing the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school (seventh, eighth, and ninth grades)?
2. Literature Review
The theoretical foundations of this research are based on the necessity of incorporating sustainable development criteria (social, environmental, economic, religious, and intellectual-scientific criteria) into schools curricula; this is because achieving sustainable development requires coordinated efforts in various areas, including education, particularly in teaching and training and on the other hand, the process of individual identity formation in society is intricately tied to the elevation of culture and values. The school, as one of the influential institutions in shaping sustainable development and institutionalizing it in society, can be perceived as the primary foundation of sustainable development. Therefore, it is imperative that school textbooks be authored in line with the goals of sustainable development, and teachers actively participate in skill-building and educational courses related to sustainable development to enhance their knowledge and professional capabilities.
3. Methodology
The general approach of this article is practical and its nature is both quantitative and survey-based, but in terms of analysis, it is considered descriptive-analytical. The statistical population of this research includes all Arabic teachers in the city of Qazvin, from which a sample of 65 individuals was selected. The minimum age of the respondents was 23 years, and the maximum age was 50 years, with an average age of 41 years. Furthermore, their teaching experience ranged from 1 to 29 years. In terms of gender distribution, 23.1% of the respondents were male, and 76.9% were female.
The research instrument is a questionnaire developed by the researcher called "Sustainable Development Criteria," which includes five criteria: religious, social, economic, environmental, and intellectual-scientific. The content of this questionnaire was extracted from articles and sources related to sustainable development, especially the research of Al-Kahelwat (2015). It was then designed with 35 questions and 5-point Likert scale options after initial modification and adjustment.
The validity of the questionnaire was meticulously examined. For more precise selection of items, the questionnaire was given to six professors in the fields of educational sciences, English language teaching, and Arabic language teaching. After receiving their feedbacks and making further revisions, the final version was used. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by analyzing the data from 20 questionnaires in the initial phase, resulting in a Cronbach's alpha of 0.98, indicating high reliability of the research tool.
To analyze the statistical data, the SPSS software was utilized. To examine the ranking of sustainable development criteria and differences in their means in the organization of the content of Arabic books, Friedman and ANOVA tests were employed. Moreover, to investigate the impact of each criterion on sustainability levels, Pearson correlation test was used, and descriptive statistical analysis was applied to calculate the sustainability levels of each criterion and its sub-indicators.
4. Results
The main findings of the research indicated that, overall, the level of sustainability of sustainable development criteria in organizing the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school is in a weak condition with an average of 2.93. However, concerning the sub-questions of the research regarding "the extent of attention to religious, social, economic, environmental, intellectual, and scientific criteria of sustainable development in Arabic textbooks for the junior high school," the findings revealed that the desirability level of the religious and intellectual-scientific criteria is average, while the desirability level of environmental, social, and economic criteria is weak.; in other words, the attention to environmental, economic, and social criteria in the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school (seventh, eighth, and ninth grades) was evaluated as weak, hindering the achievement of desirable levels of sustainable development in these books.
Furthermore, the results demonstrated that the highest correlation among different levels of sustainable development is between environmental, social, and economic criteria, indicating that these criteria have the highest correlation with sustainable development in Arabic textbooks for the junior high school. Regarding the ranking of the effectiveness of various criteria on sustainable development, statistical tests showed that the religious and intellectual-scientific criteria have the highest impact; these criteria have currently reached an average level of desirability in terms of sustainability, while other criteria, despite their high correlation, exhibit weak sustainability levels; in this regard, the highest coefficients of and belong to the environmental criterion, which has the highest impact on various levels of sustainable development. Following this, the social criterion has a coefficient of of and , and the economic criterion has coefficients of of and . The religious and intellectual-scientific criteria are placed after the mentioned criteria.
Therefore, as indicated by the results, it is essential to not only preserve and enhance the level of sustainability in the two religious and intellectual-scientific criteria but also pay necessary attention to achieving a desirable level of sustainable development in environmental, social, and economic criteria. This is crucial because without considering the growth of environmental, social, and economic criteria, sustainable development in the content of junior high school Arabic textbooks will not be achieved.
1. Introduction
Today, the subject of sustainable development has gained significant prominence in the fields of culture, education, and social sciences due to its role in improving the economic, social, and environmental conditions of society. Researchers have shown particular interest in examining and assessing the effectiveness of development criteria in the teaching and learning processes; this is because, in terms of effectiveness, it is believed that sustainable development can play a crucial role in creating and training a competent and responsible generation. A generation that can actively contribute to the holistic progress and development, fostering a constructive and mutual relationship between members of society and human resources. In this regard, due to the importance of textbooks in the teaching-learning process and their special role in promoting various ideas and human development criteria, incorporating sustainable development criteria, especially religious, social, economic, environmental, and intellectual-scientific criteria, in textbooks will play a significant role in applying these criteria in the academic and personal lives of learners; textbooks are one of the most important elements of the curriculum, through which knowledge, skills, and approved attitudes are conveyed to the intended audience according to the curriculum guidelines. Additionally, a textbook is the result of a learning plan and a roadmap; this plan and roadmap are usually the curriculum guidelines where objectives, content headings, and content selection and organization criteria are specified. Therefore, this article seeks to examine the sustainable development criteria in organizing the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school.
Research Question
To what extent have sustainable development criteria been considered in organizing the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school (seventh, eighth, and ninth grades)?
2. Literature Review
The theoretical foundations of this research are based on the necessity of incorporating sustainable development criteria (social, environmental, economic, religious, and intellectual-scientific criteria) into schools curricula; this is because achieving sustainable development requires coordinated efforts in various areas, including education, particularly in teaching and training and on the other hand, the process of individual identity formation in society is intricately tied to the elevation of culture and values. The school, as one of the influential institutions in shaping sustainable development and institutionalizing it in society, can be perceived as the primary foundation of sustainable development. Therefore, it is imperative that school textbooks be authored in line with the goals of sustainable development, and teachers actively participate in skill-building and educational courses related to sustainable development to enhance their knowledge and professional capabilities.
3. Methodology
The general approach of this article is practical and its nature is both quantitative and survey-based, but in terms of analysis, it is considered descriptive-analytical. The statistical population of this research includes all Arabic teachers in the city of Qazvin, from which a sample of 65 individuals was selected. The minimum age of the respondents was 23 years, and the maximum age was 50 years, with an average age of 41 years. Furthermore, their teaching experience ranged from 1 to 29 years. In terms of gender distribution, 23.1% of the respondents were male, and 76.9% were female.
The research instrument is a questionnaire developed by the researcher called "Sustainable Development Criteria," which includes five criteria: religious, social, economic, environmental, and intellectual-scientific. The content of this questionnaire was extracted from articles and sources related to sustainable development, especially the research of Al-Kahelwat (2015). It was then designed with 35 questions and 5-point Likert scale options after initial modification and adjustment.
The validity of the questionnaire was meticulously examined. For more precise selection of items, the questionnaire was given to six professors in the fields of educational sciences, English language teaching, and Arabic language teaching. After receiving their feedbacks and making further revisions, the final version was used. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by analyzing the data from 20 questionnaires in the initial phase, resulting in a Cronbach's alpha of 0.98, indicating high reliability of the research tool.
To analyze the statistical data, the SPSS software was utilized. To examine the ranking of sustainable development criteria and differences in their means in the organization of the content of Arabic books, Friedman and ANOVA tests were employed. Moreover, to investigate the impact of each criterion on sustainability levels, Pearson correlation test was used, and descriptive statistical analysis was applied to calculate the sustainability levels of each criterion and its sub-indicators.
4. Results
The main findings of the research indicated that, overall, the level of sustainability of sustainable development criteria in organizing the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school is in a weak condition with an average of 2.93. However, concerning the sub-questions of the research regarding "the extent of attention to religious, social, economic, environmental, intellectual, and scientific criteria of sustainable development in Arabic textbooks for the junior high school," the findings revealed that the desirability level of the religious and intellectual-scientific criteria is average, while the desirability level of environmental, social, and economic criteria is weak.; in other words, the attention to environmental, economic, and social criteria in the content of Arabic textbooks for the junior high school (seventh, eighth, and ninth grades) was evaluated as weak, hindering the achievement of desirable levels of sustainable development in these books.
Furthermore, the results demonstrated that the highest correlation among different levels of sustainable development is between environmental, social, and economic criteria, indicating that these criteria have the highest correlation with sustainable development in Arabic textbooks for the junior high school. Regarding the ranking of the effectiveness of various criteria on sustainable development, statistical tests showed that the religious and intellectual-scientific criteria have the highest impact; these criteria have currently reached an average level of desirability in terms of sustainability, while other criteria, despite their high correlation, exhibit weak sustainability levels; in this regard, the highest coefficients of and belong to the environmental criterion, which has the highest impact on various levels of sustainable development. Following this, the social criterion has a coefficient of of and , and the economic criterion has coefficients of of and . The religious and intellectual-scientific criteria are placed after the mentioned criteria.
Therefore, as indicated by the results, it is essential to not only preserve and enhance the level of sustainability in the two religious and intellectual-scientific criteria but also pay necessary attention to achieving a desirable level of sustainable development in environmental, social, and economic criteria. This is crucial because without considering the growth of environmental, social, and economic criteria, sustainable development in the content of junior high school Arabic textbooks will not be achieved.
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