Pressures from English-language media can crowd out the learning of Arabic by young Emirati children, a study has found.Research following 20 Emirati families has highlighted the way the likes of YouTube and digital learning media, along with English-speaking nannies, can move a household’s “linguistic centre of gravity” towards English.However, the researchers behind the study also found that learning Arabic could be strengthened by, for example, religious study and storytelling, with determined efforts by parents to counteract other influences.The study is the latest contribution to a long-running debate on Arabic skills among children in the UAE, with concerns expressed over a lack of proficiency in the country’s native language among many.Called 'From home to policy: Strengthening Arabic through intentional practices in Emirati early childhoods,' the study has been published in a new book, Early Childhood Education in the Arabian Peninsula.It is written by Dr Nadine Jaafarawi and Dr Fatma Said, both associate professors in applied linguistics at Zayed University.The work involved the researchers spending time over the course of a year with 20 UAE families, each with at least one Emirati parent. The research focused on the learning of Arabic by children aged two to five.One parent told the researchers that hiring English-speaking nannies “gradually shifted the household’s linguistic centre of gravity towards English”.English-speaking nannies are influencing the language used in the UAE. Nicole Hill / The NationalShow caption: English-speaking nannies are influencing the language used i…“YouTube, cartoons and digital learning tools in English further normalised her children’s use of English in informal spaces,” the researchers wrote.“These choices, though framed as pragmatic, contributed to English gaining symbolic dominance within the household because of the ease of access children have to technology.”While there is Arabic content on media platforms, Dr Said said material in English was often more appealing.Muhamed Al Khalil, professor of practice in Arabic at NYU Abu Dhabi, who was not connected to the new paper, said the issue of native-language learning being compromised by English was not unique to the UAE or the Arab world.“Established languages of the world are being crowded by English, especially through schooling, science and the media,” he said.But he added the issue was compounded in the UAE by the multilingual environment, with English often the lingua franca, or shared language, for people from different parts of the world. Social media, such as TikTok and Instagram, may also promote English at the expense of Arabic, he suggested.“The fortress for Arabic is the family,” he said. “It’s the parents, the grandparents, who are leading a rearguard battle to keep a certain level of proficiency of Arabic among the children.“The students, as they go to school, they’re surrounded by English from studying, speaking to their peers, social media, pretty much everywhere. Arabic becomes only the heritage language that grandfather speaks, or parents teach them, or an Islamic studies teacher comes and teaches them. This is the risk. It’s more and more becoming a heritage language.”What can be done?There is, the Zayed University researchers said, much parents can do to improve their children’s Arabic proficiency.Dr Said said online Arabic content could be used to strengthen language skills, preferably when there was an adult who could interact with the child. The parent may, for example, comment on, or reinforce, what is said in a video.Rules within the home about Arabic can also help, with Dr Said saying a family should be consistent in its use of the language. Using only Arabic at the dinner table is one example of a worthwhile rule, she said.It is particularly important for “emotional” and “instructional” interactions to be in Arabic.“These are really important because these are what kids remember: how my mother showed me love or how my mother expressed instructions for such and such. Those always sit with the child,” she said.“I always tell parents: ‘If you take care of your Arabic and you get them to read and listen, and expose them to Arabic media and songs and poetry and these kinds of things, and you are consistent in that, don’t worry about the English, because they will catch up, because that’s the dominant language at school and the media.’”The choice of kindergarten can have “a considerable influence” on a child’s Arabic skills, Dr Jaafarawi said.“A child may come from a home where the family has worked hard to establish Arabic, but if the kindergarten does not recognise or build upon that foundation, there can be a break between the home and the school.”She said it was not only a question of how much Arabic is on the timetable, but also whether children use Arabic in play, stories, songs and conversations, and whether it was “taught in a lively, age-appropriate way”.“Children in early childhood learn through relationships, repetition, movement, play and meaningful communication,” Dr Jaafarawi said.“A short, isolated Arabic lesson will not necessarily counterbalance an otherwise entirely English environment.”Policy choices matterThey said the responsibility for ensuring children had good Arabic skills lay not just with families, because optimum outcomes were achieved when homes, government policy and kindergartens were aligned.These policies, which come alongside federal efforts by the Ministry of Education, address concerns expressed over many years, some from members of the Federal National Council, about poor Arabic skills among schoolchildren and university students in the UAE.Introduced last year, Dubai’s policy requires Arabic language education to be provided to all children aged up to six years. “KHDA’s policy … calls for Arabic to be taught through play, inquiry, stories and meaningful interaction. It also requires sufficient time with qualified Arabic educators,” Dr Jaafarawi said.ADEK has introduced a requirement for certain lengths of time to be spent on Arabic, with the amounts increasing year-on-year.The researchers said these developments fulfilled many of the requirements highlighted in their study.“However, time allocation alone is not enough,” Dr Jaafarawi said. “The quality and nature of the interaction matter. Arabic should not be presented to children as a difficult, formal or less enjoyable language while English is the language of creativity and play.“It should be experienced as a living language through storytelling, games, exploration, affection and culturally familiar experiences.”Prof Al Khalil has faced issues with his children, as they attend an American school with limited time available for teaching Arabic.He switched them out of Arabic classes, deciding instead that they should be taught the language at home.Other parents, who may not be able to offer high-quality teaching themselves, may consider hiring tutors, he suggested, especially if their children are at private schools, where Arabic teaching may be more limited.“Increasingly I have Emirati friends who are putting the children into more private tutoring for Arabic and it does make a big difference. I’ve seen that,” he said. “ … Just like in my case, you sometimes have to take corrective action, remedial action.”