ضعف مهارة التحدث لدى طالبات الصفوف المبكرة : الأسباب والمقترحات
The study aimed to reveal the extent of the weakness in speaking skills among early grade students, the reasons and suggestions in the city of Buraidah. To achieve the study’s objectives the descriptive survey method was used, and the study sample consisted of (56) Arabic language teachers in Buraidah schools. The sample was randomly selected from the study population and the study tool was a questionnaire distributed to the sample. The study concluded that the reasons for the weakness in speaking skills among early grade students led to several results the most prominent of which are: reasons related to the teacher such as the lack of opportunities for the teacher to train students in verbal communication and the rarity of linking conversation teaching to educational activities. There are reasons related to the student including: the predominance of using colloquial language over classical Arabic while speaking and the weakness of the student’s linguistic repertoire. Other reasons relate to the school environment and curriculum such as the absence of school facilities that develop language among students and the absence of sound labs designated for conducting appropriate tests and exercises to develop speaking skills. The study also showed the importance of the sample’s agreement with the proposals to address the reasons for the weakness in speaking skills including proposals related to the teacher using motivational methods and reinforcement for students to develop speaking skills and allowing the teacher to give students the opportunity to practice verbal communication. Proposals related to the students include: the student’s participation in discussions and dialogue inside the classroom and the development of the student’s language through reading and other practices. Proposals related to the school environment and curriculum include activating extracurricular language activities and providing school facilities that develop language among students. Through the analysis of the previous data the researcher reached a number of conclusions as follows: 1) There are many reasons for the weakness in speaking skills among early grade students some of which are related to the teacher others to the student and others to the school environment and curriculum. 2) There is support from the study sample for proposals to address the weakness in speaking skills among early grade students in the city of Buraidah some of which are related to the teacher others to the student and others to the school environment and curriculum. (Published abstract)