Arabic Debate Competition in Jordan as a Transnational Educational Arena: Enhancing Student Potential, Intercultural Competence, and ASEAN Learner Solidarity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68299/07cy0y35Keywords:
Arabic Debate, Transnational Education, Intercultural Competence, Student Potential, ASEAN Learner SolidarityAbstract
Previous studies on debate pedagogy have largely emphasized cognitive outcomes such as critical thinking, argumentation skills, and classroom participation, while limited attention has been given to how Arabic debate competitions operate as transnational educational spaces that foster intercultural competence and learner solidarity among ASEAN students. This study aims to examine the Arabic Debate Competition in Jordan as a transnational educational arena for enhancing student potential, intercultural competence, and ASEAN learner solidarity. Employing a qualitative case study design, the research collected data through semi-structured interviews, observation, and document analysis involving twelve ASEAN student debaters from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. The findings indicate that the competition strengthened students' Arabic communicative confidence, public speaking ability, critical reasoning, argumentative competence, emotional resilience, and learner agency. It also created meaningful intercultural encounters through which students engaged with diverse accents, debate styles, educational backgrounds, and cultural expressions, including the encounter between fusha competence and Jordanian colloquial Arabic. Furthermore, the competition fostered ASEAN learner solidarity by generating peer support, friendship, shared academic struggle, and educational silaturahmi across national boundaries. Theoretically, this study contributes to social science and education by integrating debate pedagogy, intercultural competence, and regional learner solidarity into a single analytical framework. It reframes Arabic debate not merely as a linguistic competition, but as a social-pedagogical practice that connects language learning, intercultural formation, and transnational student engagement.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Sultan Abdus Syakur, Fadhel Mubarak, Iqmal Wahyudi (Author)
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