The Effectiveness of a Training Program for Developing Soft Skills and Its Impact on Improving the Performance of Newly Appointed Arabic Language Teachers

Abstract

The significance of this study lies in identifying the effectiveness of a training program and determining the extent to which newly appointed Arabic language teachers possess soft skills and the impact of these skills on improving their performance. To achieve this objective, the researcher adopted the descriptive approach in designing the training program and employed a quasi-experimental approach to investigate the effectiveness of the training program in developing soft skills and enhancing the performance of newly appointed Arabic language teachers. The researcher selected a partially controlled experimental design involving an experimental group and a control group with both pre-test and post-test measures.The study population consisted of newly appointed Arabic language teachers in THI QAR Governorate. The research sample included all newly appointed Arabic language teachers in the Al-Rifai and Al-Nasr Education Departments. The researcher ensured equivalence between the experimental and control groups to control for extraneous variables that might affect the experiment, so that the effect could be attributed solely to the independent variable (the training program). This control was considered partial.As for the research instrument, the researcher developed a test to measure soft skills. The test consisted of 21 items, including both objective and essay-type questions distributed across the identified soft skills. The validity and reliability of the test were established before it was administered as both a pre-test and a post-test to the research sample. The collected data were analyzed statistically, and the findings revealed the following:1- There was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups on the post-test of soft skills in favor of the experimental group at the significance level of (0.05).2- There was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the experimental group on the pre-test and post-test in favor of the post-test at the significance level of (0.05). Based on these findings, the researcher presented a set of conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions.