The Extent to Which Teachers of Arabic Language in Al-Hisa Educational Directorate of Schools of Jordan Acquire E-Learning Competencies

This study aimed at recognizing the degree of availability for the e-teaching competencies shown by the Arabic language teachers at the district of Alhisa, in the light of the study variables: gender, School Stage and Experience. To accomplish the goals of the study the researchers prepared a questionnaire composed of 69 items that are distributed over four dimensions. After confidence being inspected and verified by specialists the questionnaire was distributed over the sample of the study (in this case it was the population) which was composed of 21 male and 30 female Arabic language teachers. The results indicated that all sample members obtained e teaching competencies by medium level. The results also indicated statistically significant differences among the sample members attributed to the gender to the favor of female teachers, while there were no statistically significant differences attributed to the school stage. There were statistically significant differences among sample members attributed to the experience to the favor of male teachers who have experience 1-5 years.


Introduction
Language, every time and everywhere, is still considered the most important behavior of people that families seek to teach their children.Parents strive to stimulate their babies to practice voicing the letters and words correctly.Such trend is common among all nations everywhere.Each nation takes care of it language and seeks to transfer it from one generation to another.Arabic language is not an exception of such trend.Scholars and researchers are still interested in Arabic language, in which Holy Quran had been revealed, where Allah Almighty made it as the language of the last Holy Book.Allah Sayeth "A book whose verses had been distinguished and explained, a lucid Arabic Quran for people who understand" (Fussilat,3).
Many studies and research are interested in teaching Arabic language in a correct way of writing, listening and speaking.Despite the vast advancement of modern educational approaches, we still find weakness in language level among students and complaints of teachers and educators.
Therefore, the government focused early on the preparation and training of teachers through establishing institutes and colleges so as teachers can acquire better skills and approaches to teach Arabic language and transfer their knowledge to the students in different stages.
Our contemporary age has witnessed a revolution in knowledge creation and publishing far beyond the classical levels.Such state required prequalification of Arabic language teachers so as to comply with this overwhelming development and provide them with new competencies that serve Arabic language.Many studies called for more interesting teachers' preparation like Salim (1425 H.), Jouelle (1422 H.), Alkhaleefah (1425 H.) and Haidar (1421 H.), so as to encounter the cognitive revolution challenges witnessed nowadays by the world.The most critical challenges are the modern technologies and innovations in the computer, telecommunication and software industries, as well as the web which helped the teaching process (Alshihri, 1429 H.).There are many Most studies of e-teaching indicated its concept and terminology.Moseilhi and Mohammad ( 2007) defined e-teaching as "an interactive educational pattern based on the teacher and learning environment in a way that facilitates teaching through using multimedia to introduce educational materials and programs to the learners that accomplish the educational goals inside and outside the institute".
Many studies (Saadah & Sartawi, 2003;Alajab, 2003;Almousa, 2005;Salim 1425 H;Attar, 1426 H;Staitiyah & Sarhan, 1429 H;Shahatah, 2001) indicated the characteristics, benefits and goals accomplished by e-teaching.Qazaq (2014) indicated that many educational studies asserted that education development depends on the level of professional growth of the teacher, and his/her technical-educational competencies.He also focused on the importance of available competencies to apply the e-teaching in the educational process.
Therefore, a great need to improve the level of Arabic language teachers has emerged through benefiting the new technology as well as the traditional approaches so as to achieve the educational goals better.
For the teacher who wants to use the e-teaching efficiently, he has to get the technical and educational competencies besides the general knowledge, so as to run with the speed development in the e-teaching and interact with educational electronic sites and tools and his/her students.
Most studies discussed the concept of competency in general and competency of e-teaching in specific.The International Board of standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ISTPI, 2006) and(Richey et al., 2001) defined the competency as "a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable individual to perform specific professional activities efficiently according to the expected job criteria for the job".Mar'ei (2003) defined it as "The capability to do a thing efficiently and effectively with a determined level of performance".Almihmadi (2012) determined the competencies that should be found in the teacher of Arabic language in order to use the e-teaching, besides the traditional competencies, as follows:

•
Skills related to the competency of using computer.
• Skills related to the competency of using internet.
• Skills related to the competency of managing the electronic assignments.

The Problem and Questions of the Study
The competencies of e-teaching owned by the teachers are the successful methods to benefit the new technology.
The teacher is the most important element.He is the human resource that should use the e-teaching and skills of design and development besides raising the level of motifs by learners so as the latter will recognize this type of education and modern technology.
Despite the efforts of Jordanian Ministry of Education to introduce the computerized syllabuses and link schools to the web, the adoption of these facilities is still very limited.Due to the scarce studies in Jordan about this topic, upon the knowledge of researchers, we will try, in this study, to answer the following two questions: 1) What is the level of e-teaching competencies owned by the teachers of Arabic language in the schools of Al Hisa District-Tafila?
2) Are there statistically significant differences (a<0.05) in the level of e-teaching competencies among the Arabic language teachers in Al Hisa attributed to gender, class grade and experience of teacher?

Goals of the Study
This study aimed at determining the e-teaching competencies by the teachers of Arabic language in the light of gender, grade and experience.

Importance of the Study
The Ministry of Education in Jordan has computerized parts of the curricula including the curriculum of Arabic language.The Ministry computerized 480 hours of material that need simplification as viewed by teachers, field supervisors, and specialists of writing textbooks.This view focuses on that such materials should benefit the potentials of technology.Almajali et al. (2012) indicated that the field visits to schools showed discrepancy in using the computerized materials inside the classrooms by teachers.Therefore, the recognition of competencies owned by the teachers is the first step for a successful computerization process of curricula, especially the Arabic language one.
This study can provide specialists in the Ministry of Education with the levels of competencies owned by teachers and competencies they lack.The Ministry, upon this study, can conduct seminars and training programs necessary for developing the teachers' skills in e-teaching, in addition to that this study will present a list of all competencies necessary for Arabic language teachers.

Procedural Definitions
• E-Teaching Competencies: • Competency: Qandeel (1412h) defined it as "knowledge, skills and capabilities the individual acquires to become parts of his behavior, which in turn will enable him/her to do satisfying behaviors in cognitive aspects".
Competency can be defined procedurally as the sum of information, experiences, skills, activities and different behavior patterns that are expected to by practiced by teachers of Arabic language, while in the same time are supposed to be presented in their teaching behaviors during teaching process and can be noticed and measured through the instrument of the study.
• E-Learning: Defined by Museilihi and Mohammad (2007) as "a type of interactive learning based on the learner essentially and on design of learning environment by using multimedia to introduce specific materials to the learners inside and outside the institute that achieve educational goals".
• E-Learning Competencies: Procedurally, it can be defined as the "minimum skills of e-learning necessary for the teachers of Arabic language in district of Al Hisa, Jordan, to perform teaching with high level of efficiency and effectiveness in applying the e-learning inside and outside the classrooms".

Level of Competency Availability:
The researchers define it procedurally as the level of available e-teaching competency of the Arabic language teacher which is measured by the level set by the teacher for him/herself on the instrument prepared for this purpose.
• Arabic Language Teacher: A person who holds at least a Bachelor degree in Arabic language and teaches it.

Limits of the Study
The study was bound with the determination of the level of grasping the e-learning (teaching) competencies in the schools of Al Hisa District from the first-semester of academic year 2014/2015 in the light of their estimation of availability through responding the questions of the instrument prepared by the researchers for this purpose.

Literature Review
The topic of Arabic language teacher competencies and the e-teaching competencies attracted the interests of educators and researchers, where many studies were conducted on this topic: Qazaq ( 2014) study aimed at recognizing the competencies of Mu'tah University academic staff in e-teaching as perceived by them.The sample consisted of 20 academic personal distributed over different majors and academic ranks.The researcher prepared an instrument that measured the cognitive and e-teaching competencies and its application.Results indicated that academic staff have got the e-teaching competencies by high and medium levels, besides that there were no differences between the majors level in having the competencies of applying e-teaching due to the academic rank or source of qualification.
Bani-Doomi and Daradkih ( 2012) study aimed at exploring the competencies of e-teaching owned by computer teachers at the schools of King Hamad Project in Bahrain, in the light of gender, experience in teaching and job title.To accomplish the study the researchers applied a questionnaire distributed over a sample of 160 male and female teachers.Results indicated that the level of having e-learning competencies by computer teachers was high besides that there were no statistically significant differences among all dimensions in the instrument attributed to the gender, while there were statistically significant differences attributed to the experience for all dimensions.
Almihmady ( 2012) study aimed at recognizing the level of proficiency in the necessary skills for using computer, internet and managing e-assignments by female teachers of Arabic language at the secondary stage in Makka H.
The study also aimed at recognizing their proficiency of e-teaching competencies.To accomplish the goals of the study the researcher employed a questionnaire of 39 skills distributed on a pre-determined sample of 24 teachers.The results indicated that the level of the skills proficiency required for using computer was low while their level of managing the e-syllabus was good.The study indicated no statistically significant differences attributed to the experience.
Almohammadi ( 2011) study aimed at creating a program for Arabic language teachers in the light of their educational competencies.The study selected a sample of 40 male and female Arabic language teaching in directorates of education of Karkh and Rasafah, Baghdad, Iraq who completed the training courses.
The researcher applied a questionnaire composed of 40 competencies distributed among five dimensions: planning, implementation, teaching aids, human relations and classroom management and assessment.In the light of teachers performance results the researcher assessed 21 positive competencies represented the strength aspects where the performance was good.The researcher also assessed 19 negative competencies represented the weakness aspects which in turn represented the actual training needs for the teachers.These weak competencies were improved through a training program held for the in-service teachers.
Alqurani ( 2010) study aimed at determining the approaches of developing the syntactic skills and the level of teachers' capabilities in such aspect.The sample was composed of 30 female teachers of third secondary grade in Maka H.The researcher applied the note card as an instrument for the study, and measured the teacher proficiency in the skills of reading the linguistic evidences, explanation and analysis.She also focused on the skill of errors correction, conclusion skill and application.The researcher found that teachers were highly proficient in the approaches of developing the skills of reading, explaining and analyzing the linguistic evidences, skill of syntax, skill of conclusion and skill of application.She also found teacher were moderately proficient in the skills of errors correction.The study found no statistically significant differences attributed to the experience except the skill of error correction where the results were statistically significant and to the favor of the more teaching experienced teachers.
Allawh and Allawh ( 2010) study aimed at recognizing the obstacles that encounter the Arabic language teachers when implementing the e-teaching programs as an educational instrument, and the impact of gender, and experience on these obstacles.The researchers created a measure composed of four dimensions: -Teacher related obstacles.
-Students related obstacles.

Environment related obstacles
The sample was composed of 84 female and male teachers who were selected purposely.The study found that all study items which represented the obstacles against e-teaching greatly were attributed to gender variable, while there were statistically significant differences attributed to the years of experience and to the favor of whom who have more than 11 years.
Sabgha ( 2009) study aimed at recognizing the level of Arabic language teachers' proficiency in the competencies of the approaches of developing the skills of overt reading by the sixth grade female students in Makka H.The sample consisted of 35 female teachers where the researcher used note card as an instrument for the study.
Results indicated the high proficiency of sixth grade teachers in the approaches of developing the skills of comprehension the read text and appropriateness of reading.
Alomari ( 2009) study aimed at recognizing the e-teaching competences availability for secondary stage teachers in the Governorate of Mikhwa H.The sample consisted of all 306 secondary stage teachers.The researcher used the questionnaire as the tool of the study.The results indicated that there were available e-teaching competencies by those teachers in the topics of e-teaching, computer license; networking and internet license, and design of software and educational multimedia with medium degree.There were no statistically significant differences attributed to the specializations, or years of experience.
Alshihri ( 2008) study aimed at assessment of academic staff performance level in e-learning environment at the Arab Open University (Riyadh Campus).The sample was composed of 76 academic persons where the researcher used the questionnaire as the tool of the study.The study concluded that the know-how of academic staff in the e-learning management system was between medium and high, while it was between low and medium in e-learning management system application; and its was between medium and high in educational design of syllabus taught through the system.
Al-Abdulkareem ( 2008) study aimed at recognizing the status of using the e-learning at the Kingdom Schools in Riyad H.The sample consisted of all 297 female and male teachers.The results indicated that the most important dimensions of e-learning application in the schools and the most used levels in the secondary stages, were the computer courses.The study indicated statistically significant differences in using approaches of e-learning and patterns of this usage, to the favor of female teachers.
Alkhalid ( 2006) study aimed at recognizing the educational and technological competencies owned by the teachers of Second Amman Directorate of Education.The researcher developed two questionnaires for this purpose.The first questionnaire was distributed to the teachers to determine the level of their proficiency in these competencies.The second questionnaire was distributed to the students to recognize the level of practicing new roles inside the classrooms by teaches.Results indicated that teachers got the educational and technological competencies at high levels.
Theresa and Kim ( 2006) study aimed at recognizing the e-teaching competencies, where it showed the need for assessing the e-teaching in order to develop a program of education competencies at Texas University.The study emphasized the importance of these competencies as a basis for e-teaching experience.
The previous studies emphasized the importance of having teaching competencies in general and e-teaching competencies in specific by teachers.The studies were different in results of determining the level of e-teaching competencies proficiency by teachers.All studies that the researchers have conducted didn't discuss the topic of Arabic language e-teaching competencies except the Almihamadi's ( 2012) study which focused only on the competencies of e-teaching by female teachers in Makka H.
This study is distinct than previous studies in that it focused on Arabic language e-teaching competencies for both female and male teachers in all stages of schools in Jordan.

Methodology
The researchers adopted the descriptive-analytic methodology due to its suitability to the study goals, and that this study is classified as a descriptive research that depends on data collection about the variables of the study.

Population and Sample
The population of the study consisted of all female and male teachers of Arabic language in secondary and primary schools at Al Hisa District in academic year 2014/2015.The population was 51 female and male teachers.The sample consisted of all population members.The researchers distributed a questionnaire on the sample and retrieved all forms.
Table 1 shows the distribution of population upon gender, stage and experience of teaching.The study adopted the questionnaire as the tool to collect data from sample members in order to measure the level of e-teaching competencies owned by Arabic language teachers in Al Hisa.
The tool was composed of two parts.
1) The first part consisted of the general information of independent variables (gender, stage of class and experience years).
2) The second part consisted of 69 competencies arranged into four main dimensions of e-teaching:

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The level of available competencies of e-teaching culture ( 17).

•
The level of available competencies of using computer ( 19).

•
The level of available competencies of driving networks and internet ( 19).

•
The level of available competencies of designing the software and multimedia ( 14).
The researchers used Likert Quadrible Gradual Scale (highly available, moderately available, low available, unavailable).

Validity of the Instrument
To verify the tool confidence in terms of objectivity, linguistic formulation and number of items, the researchers applied the logical confidence.This was made through specialists in several Jordanian Universities, then upon their opinions and suggestions the instrument was modified.

Reliability of the Instrument
To verify the stability level of the instrument the researchers applied coefficient of stability through test-retest method and stability coefficient for internal consistency by calculating Alpha-Cronbach Formula for the four dimensions.The total stability and coefficients of four dimensions were accepted as shown in Table 2.After the instrument was verified, the researchers distributed the copies among 51 teachers of Arabic language in Al Hisa where he retrieved 51 copies.

Statistical Processing
The researchers used SPSS package to extract arithmetic means and standard deviations to determine the available e-teaching competencies for these teachers.The criteria for availability of these competencies were: • If arithmetic means value was µ ≥ 3 the competency will be high.

•
If arithmetic mean value was 2.0 ≤ µ < 3 the competency is medium.
• If arithmetic mean value was µ < 2.0 the competency is low.

First Question
What is the e-teaching competency degree for Arabic language teachers at Al-Hisa District?
To answer this question, the researchers calculated the arithmetic means and standard deviations for the availability degree of e-teaching competencies for all dimensions and for all items as shown in Tables 3, 4, 5, 6,  7.
Dimensions in General: Table 3 shows that all dimensions got medium scores where the highest scores were for the second dimension by 2.89 and standard deviation by 0.58.This result may be attributed to the nature of the competencies of using computers which are needed by teachers in the class and outside school, besides that most daily life transactions are made now electronically.The least scores were for the dimension of designing software and teaching media by an arithmetic mean of 2.39 and standard deviation of 0.56.We can attribute this result to the nature of such competencies which require design in general, besides more specialized and dedicated training courses needed by teachers.The curriculum of Arabic language is not computerized except some personal efforts by teachers.The total score for the e-teaching competencies was 2.67 (arithmetic mean) and 0.48 (standard deviation).This can be attributed to that most teachers don't apply e-teaching frequently.This result agreed with the studies of Qazaq (2014) and Alomari (2009).

Dimensions in Detail:
Dimension of e-teaching culture competencies: Table 4 shows that all items here obtained medium scores where the highest one was for (I know the identity of e-teaching) by an arithmetic mean of 2.97 and standard deviation of 0.57.The least score was for (I distinct between synchronized and assynchronized of e-teaching tools) by mean of 2-08 and standard deviation of 0.89.This clearly shows that the culture of e-teaching is common among teachers moderately.If we took into account that the response to the questionnaire was self-estimation, this means that they have the moderate degree.
This result can be attributed to the weak application and practicing of e-teaching and little experience in using these competencies continuously.Perhaps the knowledge the teachers obtained during study in the university or training made the item (I know what is the e-teaching) obtain the highest score.This result agreed with the result of Alomari (2009).
Competencies of using computer: Table 6 shows that items 37+38 got the highest scores while the rest items scored medium.The highest score was for item 38 with arithmetic means of 3.44 and standard deviation of 0.67, because it is a basic competency in using the computer for the daily life uses inside and outside the job.The least scored item was 43 with arithmetic mean of 2.18 and standard deviation of 0.91.These competencies are simple and easy in using the application.
Competencies of Designing Software and Teaching Aids:

69.
I can participate with a specialized team to convert the content of Arabic language curriculum into electronic context 1.88 0.82 13 High Table 7 shows that item 69 obtained the lowest score where all other items obtained medium scores.The highest score was for item 56 with arithmetic mean of 2.98 and standard deviation of 0.68.The lowest item was 69 with arithmetic mean of 1.88 and standard deviation of 0.82.The researcher attribute these results to that competencies of design need know-how, training and experience necessary to accomplish the task, besides lack of awareness towards the training the design e-syllabus, by the supervising teams that train teachers.The highest score of item 56 can be attributed to that such competency is used daily by the teacher.This result differed with the studied of Bany Doomi and Daradkih (2012) and Almihmadi (2012).

Second Question
Are there statistically significant differences at significance level (a≤0.05), in the degree of e-teaching competencies by Arabic language teachers at the schools of Al Hisa attributed to the gender, school stage and experience in teaching?
The Gender: The researchers calculated the arithmetic means and standard deviations for the e-teaching competency according to the gender.Table 8 shows the results.Table 8 shows apparent differences in the values of arithmetic means for the competencies of e-teaching for Arabic language teachers in Alhisa upon the gender to determine whether these differences are statistically significant or not, the researchers conducted the MANOVA Test as shown in Table 9.Table 9 shows statistically significant difference at significance level (a≤0.05) in the availability of competencies of e-teaching for Arabic language teachers attributed to the gender in terms of the competency of e-teaching culture only.The differences were to the favor of female teachers, which indicates that female teachers have greater desire to recognize the e-teaching than male teachers.This is attributed to that female teachers have more free time than male teachers in the same environment, besides that female teachers focus more on developing themselves and grasp the best of the knowledge and obtain more advantages materially and morally.This result agreed with the study of Al Abdulkareem (2008) which revealed statistically significant difference to the favor of female teachers in using e-teaching and its patterns.Our result differs than Bani-Doomi and Daradkih (2012) and I. Allawh and A. Allawh (2010) which assured no statistically significant differences according to gender.
The Class Stage: The researchers calculated the arithmetic means and standard deviation for the e-teaching competencies owned by the Arabic language teachers in the schools of Alhisa District.Table 10 shows the results.Table 11 shows no statistically significant differences at significance level (a≤0.05) in the degree of availability of e-teaching competencies for Arabic language teachers.This result might be attributed to the similarity of job conditions as well as the conditions of schools and stages, besides schools itself and the material, environmental and educational similar potentials.All teachers work under the same rules and administration in a school setting.
The training courses are held by the Ministry for all teachers in all stages. Experience: The researchers calculated the arithmetic means and standard deviations for the e-teaching competencies availability by the teachers of Arabic language, as shown in Table 12.  12 indicates that there are apparent differences among the values of arithmetic mean for the degree of e-teaching competencies availability for Arabic language teachers in Alhisa.To determine whether these differences are statistically significant or not, the researchers conducted the MANOVA Test as shown in Table 13.Table 13 shows that there were statistically significant differences of (a≤0.05) in the degree of e-teaching competencies availability by the Arabic language teachers, that are attributed to experience in both dimensions of e-teaching competencies culture and designing software and multimedia competencies.To determine to which one the differences were favored, the researchers conducted posteriori comparisons by Chavee method as shown in Table 14.Table 14 shows that differences were between experience years 1≤5 and 5≤10 to the favor of the 1≤5 years.The differences between experience years >10 and 1≤5 years were to the favor of 1≤5 years, for both dimensions and total.
This result indicates that differences were to the favor of less experienced teachers.This may be attributed to the fact that newly recruited teachers are more connected to new technology and using it during university years, than long experienced teachers.Most universities began to include technology in several aspects such as registration, computerized exams and library.The long experienced teachers are accustomed to the traditional approaches in teaching and have little desire and intention to acquire new competencies in the e-teaching.Many long experienced teachers don't have these competences during their career without adding up new approaches.
This study result has agreed with Bani-Doomi and Daradkah (2012) which indicated statistically significant differences attributed to experience.The result also agreed with Allawh andAllawh (2010), andAl Qurani (2010), but contradicted with the study of Alomari (2009) which indicated no statistically significant differences attributed to the experience in teaching.

Recommendations
In the light of results we recommend: 1) Organizing specialized training courses in e-teaching for teachers to acquire the competencies of e-teaching.

Table 1 .
Distribution the sample according to the independent variables

Table 2 .
Stability coefficient by test-retest method and Alpha-Cronbach coefficient for internal consistency

Table 3 .
Arithmetic means and standard deviations for the availability degree of e-teaching competencies by Arabic language teachers in Al Hisa schools

Table 4 .
Arithmetic means and standard deviation of the competencies of e-teaching culture for Arabic language teachers in Al Hisa

Table 5 .
Arithmetic means and standard deviations for the competencies of using computer

Table 5
Bani-Doomi (2012)18-21; 23-24; 28-29, and 35)got high scores which indicate the influence of experience since these competencies are mostly used in daily life of the teacher and needed frequently.The rest of items obtained media scores due to less use.The highest score was for item 19 with an arithmetic mean of 3.052 and standard deviation of 0.61.It is the basic and primary competency in the work during job time and out the school.The least score was for item 23 with an arithmetic mean of 2.10 and standard deviation of 0.86.Such competency is the least used by the teacher due to practice and experience.This result agreed withQazaq (2014)andBani-Doomi (2012).

Table 6 .
Arithmetic mean and standard deviation for the competencies of driving networks and Internet

Table 7 .
Arithmetic means and standard deviations for the competencies of designing software and teaching aids

Table 8 .
Arithmetic means and standard deviations for the availability level of e-teaching competencies by Arabic language teachers at Al Hisa according to the gender

Table 9 .
Results of MANOVA for the impact of gender on the availability of competencies of Arabic language teachers in Al Hisa

Table 10 .
Arithmetic means and standard deviation for the e-teaching competencies owned by the Arabic language teachers in the schools of Al Hisa Table10indicates apparent differences in the values of arithmetic means for e-teaching competencies owned by Arabic language teachers in Al Hisa.To determine whether these difference are statically significant or not the researchers conducted MANOVA test as shown in Table11.

Table 11 .
Results of MANOVA for Competencies for designing software and multimedia

Table 12 .
The arithmetic means and standard deviation for the e-teaching competencies owned by the Arabic language teachers in the schools of Al Hisa District

Table 13 .
Results of MANOVA Test for the impact of experience or competencies availability

Table 14 .
Results of Chavee Posteriori Test for the impact of experience on the degree of e-teaching availability by the teachers of Arabic language in Al Hisa