The Role of Derivation in Teaching Quranic Vocabulary: Between Theory and Practice

Abstract

Words with close meanings often cause difficulty in understanding the meanings of Quranic text. At times, Quranic words with similar meanings are even used in the wrong context. As such, understanding the morphological and semantic differences between Quranic words with close meanings becomes necessary. Therefore, this research aims to explore the roots and semantic differences of Quranic words with similar meanings and ascertain the role of derivation in teaching Quranic vocabulary. The research employed the descriptive-analytical approach to trace Quranic words with similar connotations and determine their derivation methods. The findings showed that the etymological origins of Quranic vocabulary with similar meanings can help greatly in clarifying the semantic features of the words. Similarly, the findings revealed that referring to the morphological structures of words helps to discover the meanings of Quranic words with similarity in linguistic origin and difference in structure. Therefore, derivation can be an effective means of determining the connotations of Quranic words, which can be useful in teaching Quranic vocabulary. This research could help instructors to advance the method of teaching Quranic vocabulary as well as the Arabic language in general. Nevertheless, the research is limited to the role of derivation in teaching Quranic vocabulary, and thus, further studies may focus on how the origin and formation of words can help students to develop language skills.