Students’ Acceptance towards Microsoft Teams for Learning Arabic Language

Abstract

The Arabic language is one of the third languages offered for degree students at UiTM. The students must complete three levels (I, II and III). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the methodology of teaching the Arabic language was by using the traditional way, which was face-to-face instruction. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the methodology of teaching in UiTM has shifted to Open and Distance Learning (ODL). This new way of teaching affected the students’ acceptance of learning the Arabic language as they were familiar with the traditional method of teaching. This study aimed to get feedback on student’s acceptance of using Microsoft Teams in teaching and learning the Arabic language. The objectives of this study are (i) to evaluate the Perceived Usefulness (PU) of Microsoft Teams among UiTM Students learning Arabic Language, (ii) to assess the Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) of Microsoft Teams among UiTM Students learning Arabic Language and (iii) to investigate the students’ attitudes towards using Microsoft Teams in learning the Arabic language. The sample consisted of 121 students from three different faculties: Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM), Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation (FSR) and Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies (FSPPP). The data were collected using Google Forms. The result shows that the students agreed that the application of Microsoft Teams for learning the Arabic language was easy to access, convenient and user-friendly. Other than that, they also agreed Microsoft Teams helped them to learn the Arabic language efficiently and perform a task quickly and were interested in using the apps for learning. It is suggested that MS Teams is one of the convenient online applications that can be used in learning the Arabic language via the Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode.