Teaching Arabic to the Deaf in the Context ofDigital Transformation

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight the role of mastering sound instruction in developing the communicative competence of non-native Arabic learners. The study sheds light on a range of phonetic difficulties that learners of Arabic face in pronouncing some distinctive sounds in the Arabic phonetic system, and the impact of this on the development of their communicative competencies and skills.The research takes the sounds of Qaf (ق) /q/ and ‘Ain (ع) /ʕ/ as an applied example. We recorded the pronunciation of a group of Chinese learners using the Praat program and analyzed the differences between the model pronunciation and the learners' pronunciation. The results revealed difficulty in producing the target sounds, which affects the development of the learners' communicative competence.The study concluded with the necessity of investing modern linguistic theories, digital media, and artificial intelligence applications in teaching Arabic sounds, in a way that contributes to improving pronunciation performance and supporting the communicative competence of non-native Arabic learners.