Arabic Learning Styles in Public Universities: Convergence and Divergence of Madrasah and General Graduates

Abstract

This study describes the Arabic learning styles of students enrolled in an Arabic language course at a public university. It examines patterns of convergence and divergence among students from madrasah and general-school backgrounds across four linguistic aspects: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Using a quantitative descriptive survey design, the study involved 116 second-semester students of the Islamic Religious Education (PAI) Study Program at Universitas Negeri Padang who entered the program in 2024 and were enrolled in the Arabic language course. Because the 116 students constituted the entire population of the target cohort, total population sampling was employed. Participants  included 72 students from general schools and 44 from religious schools. Data were collected using a structured, closed-ended questionnaire based on the Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (VAK) learning-style framework. The questionnaire contained 30 items measuring VAK preferences across the four linguistic aspects and students’ general preferences in Arabic learning. Data were analyzed descriptively using frequencies and percentages, interpreted with similar patterns as convergence and different patterns as divergence. The findings showed that students did not demonstrate a uniform learning preference across all Arabic linguistic aspects. In phonology, kinesthetics learning was dominant across all groups (47–67%), while visual learning was consistently the least preferred. In morphology, auditory learning was dominant in three of four groups, although female religious-school graduates showed a relatively balanced distribution of VAK preferences. In syntax, auditory learning demonstrated the strongest convergence, dominating all groups (44–68%). In semantics, visual and auditory learning were the two strongest preferences, indicating a relatively balanced pattern. Overall, the findings demonstrate both convergence and divergence by educational background, gender, and linguistic aspect. These results highlight the need for flexible, adaptive, and multimodal Arabic instruction that integrates visual, auditory, and kinesthetics activities to accommodate diverse learner profiles in public university contexts.