The academic compatibility of subjects and courses and its effect on students’ listening skills improvement in Arabic Language Laboratory of Iranian public universities (field study in Tehran universities)

The process of learning a new language begins with listening skills. Improving students’ listening skills requires providing them with decent compatibility with circumstances and different educational elements such as materials and curricula, which have an important role in learning this skill. This research aims to study the extent of scholastic compatibility in the materials and curricula in Iranian public universities and to identify the problems in the materials and syllabuses in Arabic language lab classes. Two approaches have been implemented in this study: a descriptive and field approach, and a research community that consists of Tehran public universities. As for the research sample, it comprises 145 male and female students of Arabic language and literature branch who are chosen randomly and 7 professors who teach Arabic language laboratory subject. The researchers used 3 tools to collect data in the field approach, including a questionnaire, observation, and interview. The researchers distributed the electronic questionnaire link among the study population after placing the questionnaire in the electronic questionnaire maker program “Porsa”. In addition to real classes, they also attended 20 online classes in Arabic language lab. The data were processed using “SPSS”, and structured analysis methods were used to analyze the interview data. The research concluded that the scholastic compatibility in Arabic language lab is very weak, and also the curricula due to the weakness of its objectives, the lack of educational resources, and limited hours allocated to teach this skill do not lead to scholastic compatibility. Therefore, the courses need to be reviewed by experts and authorities. Last but not least, almost all educational materials applied in the teaching of listening skills are inappropriate, or they do not provide sufficient properties of educational resources and can only be used as supplementary materials. Therefore, the recruiting of skilled and experienced tutors in teaching listening skills is one of the most crucial needs of universities, and it is suggested to avoid the employment of inexperienced tutors and try to design suitable educational materials for teaching listening skills.