Bridging Declarative and Procedural Knowledge in Arabic Syntax: The Role of Tadrībāt ‘alā al-Anmāth in Developing Students’ Mastery of Nominal and Verbal Sentence Patterns

Hairuddin Hairuddin; Asfar Rinaldy; Suharia Sarif; Suleman D. Kadir

doi:10.23971/jallt.v4i2.529

Authors

Hairuddin Hairuddin Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sultan Amai Gorontalo
Asfar Rinaldy Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sultan Amai Gorontalo
Suharia Sarif Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sultan Amai Gorontalo
Suleman D. Kadir Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sultan Amai Gorontalo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23971/jallt.v4i2.529

Keywords:

Arabic syntactic competence, pattern-drill method, Tadrībāt ‘alā al-Anmāth, nominal and verbal sentences, Arabic language pedagogy

Abstract

This study addresses a persistent challenge in Arabic language instruction, namely the gap between students’ theoretical understanding of grammatical rules and their ability to apply those rules in authentic language production. Focusing on the construction of nominal (jumlah ismiyyah) and verbal (jumlah fi‘liyyah) sentence patterns, the study investigated the implementation of the Tadrībāt ‘alā al-Anmāth (pattern-drill) method and its contribution to the development of students’ Arabic syntactic competence. Employing a descriptive qualitative design, the research involved 20 eighth-grade students and one Arabic language teacher at an Islamic junior secondary school in Gorontalo Regency, Indonesia. Data were collected through participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and instructional document analysis, and were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model. The findings indicate that prior to the intervention, students frequently demonstrated difficulties in organizing syntactic constituents and relied heavily on memorized sentence models. Through systematic and repetitive pattern-based exercises, students showed noticeable improvements in sentence accuracy, structural variation, and confidence in both spoken and written Arabic production. The study further reveals that pattern-drill instruction functions as an effective pedagogical mechanism for transforming declarative grammatical knowledge into procedural language skills. These findings contribute to Arabic language pedagogy by highlighting the value of structured pattern practice in fostering functional syntactic competence and supporting more communicative approaches to grammar instruction.

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