الملخص الإنجليزي
The problem of this study was stated in the following questions : 1- What are the most frequent scientific items in the seventh
grade students' written Arabic ? 2- What are the most frequent scientific errors in the seventh grade students' written Arabic ? 3- What are the most frequent scientific topics in the seventh grade students' spoken Arabic ? 4- What are the common scientific topics in reading materials that the seventh grade students are entrusted in ? 5. On the basis of specialists' opinions, what are the scientific and morphological topics required for seventh grade students ? 6- Are the functional grammar topics included in the seventh graders, grammar textbooks? 7- What are the functional grammar topics which are necessary for the seventh grade students ? To answer these questions, the researcher designed and validated instruments which she administered to the subjects. The sample of the study was made up of female seventh grade students (n=140) en listed in the schools of the Muscat region for the 1993-94 academic year, and faculty members specialized in syntax and morphology (n=15) from Sultan Qaboos University and Intermediate Teacher Training Colleges. The following instruments were used to answer the research ques tions of the study:
1- A free composition writing test . the purpose of using this test was to obtain a sample of the students' written Arabic . 2- A visual stimulus card and some stories with pictures were used to obtain a sample of the students' spoken Arabic. 3- A questionnaire was used to identify the students reading interests. 4- An open-ended questionnaire was used to identify the opinions of the specialists in syntax and morphology concerning the minimum required topics of grammar for the seventh grade students .
The researcher used the content analysis technique to analyze the students' use of grammar . The statistical techniques used in this study were the frequencies and percentages . The results of the study revealed the following findings : 1- Thirty six (36) functional grammar topics were derived from the students, written and spoken Arabic, the reading materials they were entrusted in, and the opinions of grammarians and morphologists. Some of these topics were : the sentence, the verb, the subject, the adjective, pronouns, common nouns, the demonstratives, relative pronouns and the plural forms. ` 2- There were some differences between the topics on the functional grammar list and those included in the grammar textbook. Some of the topics were on the list but not in the textbook and vice-versa. The researcher proposed a functional grammar syllabus for the seventh grade students. The researcher also recommended that the functional grammar topics which resulted from their study should guide preparing reading and instructional materials for this age group.
