east jerusalem students’ attitudes towards the acquisition of hebrew as a second or foreign language in the arab educational system of east jerusalem and society’s support东耶路撒冷学生态度的希伯来语作为第二外语或阿拉伯东耶路撒冷的教育系统和社会的支持.pdfVIP

Creative Education 2012. Vol.3, Special Issue, 996-1005 Published Online October 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) /10.4236/ce.2012.326151 East Jerusalem Students’ Attitudes towards the Acquisition of Hebrew as a Second or Foreign Language in the Arab Educational System of East Jerusalem and Society’s Support Salman Ilaiyan Academic Arab College for Education in Israel, Haifa, Israel Email: salman@macam.ac.il Received August 14th th th , 2012; revised September 12 , 2012; accepted September 27 , 2012 This is a pioneering study examining the eighth grade students’ attitudes in the Arab Education System in East Jerusalem towards learning Hebrew as a foreign/second language: their readiness to communicate in it, and the extent of the community support to learning it. The study is based on Schuman’s (1978) social theories regarding acquiring foreign/second language. The extent of the learner’s social integration in the community of the foreign/second language determines the extent of his success in acquiring the language. The study sample included 643 eighth grade students from East Jerusalem schools who are learning He- brew as an elective subject. The study questionnaire included three parts: 1) Attitudes towards learning a foreign/second language; 2) Readiness to communicate in a foreign/second language; 3) The social sup- port. The