Learning English in Saudi Arabia: Enhancing Academic Achievement and Academic Excellence

The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia seeks to enhance the academic achievement and academic excellence of students in learning English in Saudi Arabia, develop their skills and advance them, and increase their linguistic knowledge, as the student’s academic achievement is one of the best and most important indicators of success or failure in the educational process as a whole, and weak academic achievement confirms the existence of a defect in the educational process from the student or the teacher alike.

Since the student enters school to start learning English in Saudi Arabia, the academic achievement journey begins with him, meaning his acquisition of social and behavioral skills and new knowledge. This academic achievement may increase or decrease according to the student’s mental abilities when studying the subjects and according to his psychological state, whether with his family or at school with his colleagues. Even the negligence of his teacher in the classroom may affect him significantly in learning English in Saudi Arabia in particular.

Types of academic underachievement

There are two types of academic underachievement:

• General academic delay: This type of delay is related to the student’s level of intelligence. We find that the intelligence rates among students with weak academic achievement range between 70-85%.

• Specific academic delay : This is a weakness in academic achievement in a specific subject, such as English or Arabic. The reason for this weakness is usually the student going through a specific situation or difficult circumstance, such as the death of a family member, or witnessing some situations of violence and harm, such as murder, displacement, wars, invasions, or even natural disasters.

Reasons for low academic achievement in learning English

The Ministry of Education is working to address the causes of the decline in English language learning in Saudi Arabia and to enhance academic achievement and academic excellence because the causes of the decline in academic achievement are numerous, including reasons related to the student, the teacher, the surrounding environment, the curriculum, and educational methods as well.

The biggest role falls on the teacher because he is required to find solutions that are compatible with the problems of learning English in Saudi Arabia. The student also has a role because he is the basis of the educational process. Unfortunately, the most important reasons for the weak evaluation of learning English in Saudi Arabia are the lack of proper practice in addition to the frequent use of the Arabic language while learning English.

We can divide the main reasons for poor academic achievement when learning English in Saudi Arabia:

1. Reasons related to the teacher: The most important of these reasons are:

• Wrong practices by teachers when learning English in Saudi Arabia, such as the teacher not speaking English, and the teacher not being keen on training learners to master English language skills in all its forms.

2. Reasons attributed to the learner: Here are the various reasons attributed to the learner in learning the English language in Saudi Arabia:

• One of them is the student’s lack of desire to learn because he feels that the language is not motivating for him, and he feels a loss of passion. This may be due to many reasons, or even due to the unique differences between students.

3. Reasons related to the curriculum or books: Here, the reasons for the poor academic achievement in learning English in Saudi Arabia may be the curricula that are not suitable for students because they do not try them on previous samples and know whether these curricula are suitable for students or not, in addition to the textbooks, most of which are not attractive to students and their content makes the student not interested in learning them because they have not been reviewed sufficiently by reviewers.

Problems facing students in learning English in Saudi Arabia

Students in Saudi Arabia face many problems while learning English , most of which are related to the basic skills in learning English, which are: listening, reading, speaking, and writing.

• First, listening: The listening problem is represented by the student’s weak ability when learning the English language to comprehend the audible texts. This weakness is a result of the student not being accustomed to listening to the English language a lot, whether from television or radio programmes, and not following native speakers of the English language.
• Secondly, reading: The weakness of students’ ability to read and their inability to pronounce words correctly comes from the student’s lack of familiarity with correct pronunciation and knowledge of the sounds of the English language .
• Thirdly, speaking: The problem here lies in the student not speaking in the correct way or facing difficulty in having a conversation quickly, as the student feels difficulty in keeping up with others who are more proficient in the language, due to the child not being accustomed to speaking English from a young age.
• Fourth: Writing: When a student learns English in Saudi Arabia, he is unable to express himself in English, so he finds many spelling mistakes and difficulty in forming sentences. This is due to the lack of practice in writing and reading as well.

Proposed solutions to enhance academic achievement and academic excellence

Despite the many problems facing students and teachers when learning English in Saudi Arabia, there are also some solutions that can be put into practice in addition to facilitating ways to implement them in academic education so that we can develop the educational process and help students acquire the main skills when learning English in Saudi Arabia. The most important of these solutions are:

• Supporting students psychologically when learning English in Saudi Arabia and encouraging them when they make any noticeable progress.
• Diversifying the methods and approaches of learning English in Saudi Arabia and developing education systems to make studying more enjoyable and exciting for students.
• Developing assessment systems that include many educational activities and computerizing the English language curriculum.
• Teaching students the importance of English in public life and in the job market.
• To make students aware of the importance of the English language in technological development and keeping pace with the development of the outside world.
• Use interactive discussions and dialogues in all classes.
• To learn about new scientific and technological methods to increase students' academic achievement.
• Teachers focus on providing students with skills and not relying on memorization and indoctrination.
• Conducting tests periodically to ensure students’ level and monitor their progress.
• English language teachers are interested in teaching English language curricula in a gradual manner from the easiest to the most difficult, and based on what the student has learned in the primary stages.
• Diversifying activities that help attract students to learn English in Saudi Arabia.
• Exploiting the role of technology and scientific development in teaching the English language by providing educational platforms, the Internet, and modern technology to motivate students to learn the English language in Saudi Arabia.
• Working to provide training for teachers inside and outside schools to teach them the best teaching methods and modern techniques.
• Providing many opportunities for communication between the school and parents to follow up on the stages of developing their children’s academic achievement at school.
• Honoring outstanding students periodically and encouraging them to continue this performance.
• Preparing students psychologically to be able to speak English without fear or shyness in front of others, and working to encourage them to face their fears and teach them ways to overcome them.
• Developing basic skills when learning English in Saudi Arabia using 21st century skills and self-education.

School.com and English Language Learning Courses

English is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world and is the official language in more than 50 countries. There are more than 400 million English speakers around the world, so the English language is the most important factor in communicating with others, whether in daily life or work all over the world.

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• 100% online training course

Madrasa.com offers individual training courses directly via Zoom, with the ability to set the appropriate time for study, whether evening or morning, with continuous follow-up from customer service.

• Training with specialists:

The Madrasa.com platform provides you with a large team of lecturers from the College of Arts, Languages, the British Council, and the American University, who are qualified and have extensive experience and help you overcome your English language learning obstacles, in addition to passing well-known language tests such as IELTS and TOEFL .

• Courses designed for you:

The school platform uses distinctive study methods through the latest global educational series, in addition to an English language placement test to determine the level of each student.

• Continuous follow-up:

When you choose the platform, it also provides you with all the scientific materials that you need to study outside the online classes, and it also works to develop a learning plan that suits all your needs and level.

• Advanced courses:

When you learn English in Saudi Arabia through the online school platform, you will be able to obtain all the advantages of actually attending online English language learning courses at reasonable costs that are incomparable to traditional courses at all.

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English language courses content on the Madrasa.com platform

You will be trained in English language courses in Saudi Arabia on the Madrasa.com platform according to your academic level in the English language, whether beginner, intermediate or professional, on basic items, which are as follows:

• Periodic assessment and guidance to know your level of progress in the English language
• Work on developing the four main English language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
• Training you to use and memorize English vocabulary.
• Training you to understand and apply English grammar.
• Training in skills to interact and communicate with others anywhere.
• Work on improving reading, writing and listening skills at all three levels.

There is no escape from studying the English language, as it is the basis for knowledge of every development, and working with it has become a necessity in life. In order to be able to pass school or university exams or international travel tests, whether for entertainment or work, you must master it. We have saved you the trouble of searching because the Madrasa.com platform enables you to learn the language online, i.e. via the Internet, at any time and in any place.