Integrating Arabic Football Commentary into Arabic Learning
A Stylistic-Pedagogical Model
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32332/ijalt.v7i02.11530Keywords:
Football Commentary, Rhetorical Skills, Stylistic Expression, Stylistic LearningAbstract
This study investigates the potential of Arabic football commentary as an authentic pedagogical tool to enhance learners’ stylistic competence in Arabic. Traditional teaching methods often emphasize memorization, which limits spontaneous and expressive use of language. To address this gap, the research aims to explore how football commentary can foster learners’ awareness and application of Arabic stylistic expression. Using a qualitative pedagogical case study, data were collected from 30 undergraduate students of Arabic Language and Literature at Universitas Islam Internasional Darullughah Wadda’wah. The research process consisted of three stages: analysis of professional commentators’ rhetorical features, practice sessions where participants produced their own commentary, and focused group discussions to capture learners’ perceptions. Findings reveal that this method improved students’ sports-related vocabulary, rhetorical skills such as metaphor and hyperbole, and overall motivation. Challenges included the rapid pace of commentary and dialectal interference, which require structured instructor guidance. The novelty of this study lies in systematically integrating football commentary into language teaching, transforming a popular cultural practice into a structured pedagogical approach. It is suggested that Arabic curricula incorporate authentic commentary activities to enrich stylistic learning and inspire more engaging classroom practices.
References
Abouelgamal, Tarek. ‘Le Commentateur Sportif Comme Figure Moderne de La Faṣāḥa’. Arabica 71, no. 6 (December 2024): 704–39. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700585-20246903.
Al Saqqar, Fawwaz, Raghad Hadidi, Bassmah AlTaher, Bader Al Madi, Huda Alkhenizan, and Osama Salaita. ‘Impact of Arab Sports Commentators on Jordanian Audience Reaction’. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social and Community Studies 20, no. 1 (2025): 285–306. https://doi.org/10.18848/2324-7576/CGP/v20i01/285-306.
Alanazi, Mohammad S. ‘The Use of Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Arabic in Translation Tasks: A New Perspective’. Cogent Arts & Humanities 11, no. 1 (December 2024): 2366572. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2366572.
Al-khresheh, Mohammad Hamad, Suheyla Demirkol Orak, and Shatha F. Alruwaili. ‘The Development of Language Proficiency through Global Skills Enhancement Using Web 2.0 Tools in University EFL Contexts: A Mixed Methods Quasi-Experimental Study’. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 12, no. 1 (July 2025): 931. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-05210-2.
Almelhes, Sultan. ‘Enhancing Arabic Language Acquisition: Effective Strategies for Addressing Non-Native Learners’ Challenges’. Education Sciences 14, no. 10 (October 2024): 1116. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14101116.
Alqudah, Mustafa Mohammad, and Isyaku Hassan. ‘A Pragmatic Analysis of Figures of Speech in English Top Matches Football Commentary’. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 15, no. 4 (April 2025): Pages 185-191. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v15-i4/25189.
Altakhaineh, Abdel Rahman Mitib, Afakh Said Younes, and Ashraf Allawama. ‘A Corpus-Driven Study of Gratitude in English Acknowledgements by Arabic-Speaking MA Students: Constructing L2 Academic Writer Identity’. Cogent Arts & Humanities 11, no. 1 (December 2024): 2346361. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2346361.
Baharun, Segaf, and Nur Hanifansyah. ‘Efektivitas Pembelajaran Kitab Al-Af’al Al-Yaumiyyah Pada Daurah Ramadhan Di Pon Pes Dalwa’. Shaut Al-Arabiyah 12, no. 2 (November 2024). https://doi.org/10.24252/saa.v12i2.52825.
Borg, Simon. ‘Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching: A Review of Research on What Language Teachers Think, Know, Believe, and Do’. Language Teaching 36, no. 2 (April 2003): 81–109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444803001903.
Bursais, Abdulmalek K. ‘Arabic Translation and Cultural Adaptation of a Training Load and Player Monitoring in High-Level Football Questionnaire: A Cognitive Interview Study’. PLOS ONE 19, no. 4 (April 2024): e0302006. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302006.
Candra Susanto, Primadi, Lily Yuntina, Euis Saribanon, Josua Panatap Soehaditama, and Esti Liana. ‘Qualitative Method Concepts: Literature Review, Focus Group Discussion, Ethnography and Grounded Theory’. Siber Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary 2, no. 2 (September 2024): 262–75. https://doi.org/10.38035/sjam.v2i2.207.
Cockrell, Karen Sunday, Julie A. Hughes Caplow, and Joe F Donaldson. ‘A Context for Learning: Collaborative Groups in the Problem-Based Learning Environment’. The Review of Higher Education 23, no. 3 (March 2000): 347–63. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2000.0008.
Creswell, John W, and J David Creswell. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, 2020.
Habib, Moh. Tohiri, Masnun Masnun, Menik Mahmudah, and Sultan Abdus Syakur. ‘A Psycholinguistic Approach to Enhancing Arabic Vocabulary and Morphology Mastery Through Inspirational Quotes’. An Nabighoh 27, no. 1 (June 2025): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.32332/an-nabighoh.v27i1.1-24.
Holtzhausen, Louis J., Sofiane Souissi, Omar Al Sayrafi, Awartani May, Abdulaziz Farooq, Catharina C. Grant, Vasileios Korakakis, Safia Rabia, Souhaila Segers, and Karim Chamari. ‘Arabic Translation and Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 5 (SCAT5)’. Biology of Sport 38, no. 1 (2021): 129–44. https://doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2020.97673.
Ironside, Pamela M. ‘Teaching Thinking and Reaching the Limits of Memorization: Enacting New Pedagogies’. Journal of Nursing Education 44, no. 10 (October 2005): 441–49. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20051001-02.
Kirsch, Claudine. ‘Using Storytelling to Teach Vocabulary in Language Lessons: Does It Work?’ The Language Learning Journal 44, no. 1 (January 2016): 33–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2012.733404.
Kumpulainen, Kristiina, and Sinikka Kaartinen. ‘Situational Mechanisms of Peer Group Interaction in Collaborative Meaning-Making: Processes and Conditions for Learning’. European Journal of Psychology of Education 15, no. 4 (December 2000): 431–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172986.
LEUNG, CONSTANT, and GUADALUPE VALDÉS. ‘Translanguaging and the Transdisciplinary Framework for Language Teaching and Learning in a Multilingual World’. The Modern Language Journal 103, no. 2 (2019): 348–70.
Mahfud, Choirul, Rika Astari, Abdurrohman Kasdi, Muhammad Arfan Mu’ammar, Muyasaroh Muyasaroh, and Firdaus Wajdi. ‘Islamic Cultural and Arabic Linguistic Influence on the Languages of Nusantara; From Lexical Borrowing to Localized Islamic Lifestyles’. Wacana 22, no. 1 (May 2021): 224. https://doi.org/10.17510/wacana.v22i1.914.
Mahmoud, Abdulmoneim. ‘Modern Standard Arabic vs. Non-Standard Arabic: Where Do Arab Students of EFL Transfer From?’ Language, Culture and Curriculum 13, no. 2 (July 2000): 126–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310008666594.
Mahmoud, Alaaeldin. ‘Multilingual Poetics in Arabic and Persian Maqāmāt: Between al-Taṣannu‘ Andsabk’. Postmedieval 15, no. 3 (September 2024): 657–86. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41280-024-00334-1.
Maloch, Beth. ‘Scaffolding Student Talk: One Teacher’s Role in Literature Discussion Groups’. Reading Research Quarterly 37, no. 1 (January 2002): 94–112. https://doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.37.1.4.
Salih, Abdelrahman Abdalla, and Lamis Ismail Omar. ‘Enhancing EFL Learners’ Engagement in Situational Language Skills through Clustered Digital Materials’. Frontiers in Education 9 (November 2024): 1439104. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1439104.
Solehudin, Muhamad, Nur Hanifansyah, Masnun, Yusuf Arisandi, Menik Mahmudah, and Syarif Syaheed. ‘The Psycholinguistic Effects of Blackboards and Colorful Chalk on Arabic Vocabulary Acquisition in Malaysian’. Izdihar : Journal of Arabic Language Teaching, Linguistics, and Literature 8, no. 2 (August 2025). https://doi.org/10.22219/jiz.v8i2.36624.
Styszyński, Marcin. ‘Evolution of Arabic RhetoricFrom Classical Balāgha to Modern Concepts of Persuasion’. In Routledge Handbook of Descriptive Rhetorical Studies and World Languages, 1st ed., by Weixiao Wei and James Schnell, 69–86. London: Routledge, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003195276-7.
Zaidan, Omar F., and Chris Callison-Burch. ‘Arabic Dialect Identification’. Computational Linguistics 40, no. 1 (March 2014): 171–202. https://doi.org/10.1162/COLI_a_00169.
Abd An-Nur Hamidi. ‘Football and the Art of Sports Commentary in the Arabic Language - Stylistic Features and Future Prospects’. Wisdom Journal For Studies & Research 4, no. 04 (July 2024): 756–77. https://doi.org/10.55165/wjfsar.v4i04.270.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Segaf Baharun, Nur Hanifansyah

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.







