The Situation of Using Kurdish Language in the Law Department at Kurdistan Universities

Abstract

More than one language of instruction can be discerned in the higher education system of the Kurdistan Region. In the colleges and departments of pure and applied sciences, the programmes are taught in English or a mixture of English and Kurdish. However, Kurdish is not yet fully relied on in colleges and departments of humanities and social sciences. That is, in some departments and colleges, it is still assumed that the Arabic language is dominant in the learning process. The main aim of this study is to determine the level of use of Kurdish as a medium of instruction in law departments at Kurdistan Region universities. Additionally, to understand the effects of the Kurdishization of education in the law department on the learning process and to unveil the obstacles facing the process of Kurdishization of programmes and teaching, specialised subjects in the law department at the universities of the Kurdistan Region. The research is descriptive and relies on a survey method to obtain the opinions of 103 students of both genders (male and female) in different stages of the Department of Law at the University of Garmian during the second semester of the academic year (2022-2023). This research has reached several concluding points, chief among them being that the language used in the student-related activities is Kurdish, while in the teacher-related tasks, Arabic is mainly used. Kurdishization of the law in the law department will also have several positive effects on the learning process, including making students feel comfortable, reducing their level of fear and anxiety, and enabling them to participate in questions, answers, scientific discussions, and classroom activities. Meanwhile, the study found that there are several obstacles to the process of Kurdishization of the curriculum and teaching of law departments in universities, including the lack of a legal curriculum in Kurdish and an underestimation of the capacity of the Kurdish language dictionary for conveying and teaching legal subjects.