Understanding Indonesian Affixes Among Arabic-Speaking BIPA Learners: Semantic Errors and Pedagogical Implications

It is important to discuss affixes in BIPA learning, since affixes can be used to build grammatical and lexical meaning in sentences. But little research has been done on the understanding of affixes in the Arabic language by university students who are not native speakers of Arabic in Indonesia, especially in terms of their phonological and pragmatic understanding. The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) the understanding of Indonesian affixes by beginner-level students of the Arabic language and (2) the pattern of semantic errors in affix usage by the students. This study adopted a mixed-methods approach with an explanatory sequential design. The method used to collect quantitative data was questionnaires and an affixation test applied to 82 students of the Indonesian Language and Literature Program of Al-Azhar University, Egypt. In order to get further details regarding the findings of the quantitative data, 20 selected students were asked to give written interviews. The findings showed that students' level of understanding of affixes was different. The affix ke-an had the lowest error rate (80.5%), while the prefix ber- had the lowest accuracy (82.9%). The results also show that the form-oriented learning strategies, the interference of L1 transfer from Arabic, and the difficulty of understanding the semantic functions of affixes in sentences had the greatest effect on the occurrence of semantic errors. The results indicate that the learning of affixes among beginner BIPA learners needs context-rich teaching approaches that involve both form and meaning with the right scaffolding technique. In addition, the study will add to the understanding of second language (L2) morphological acquisition, especially in the language learning of Arabic speakers by learning the Indonesian language. Memahami Imbuhan Bahasa Indonesia di Kalangan Pembelajar BIPA Berbahasa Arab: Kesalahan Semantik dan Implikasi Pedagogis Penguasaan afiks merupakan aspek penting dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing (BIPA) karena berperan dalam pembentukan makna leksikal dan gramatikal dalam kalimat. Namun, kajian empiris mengenai pemahaman afiks bahasa Indonesia pada pembelajar penutur bahasa Arab, khususnya dalam konteks pendidikan tinggi di luar Indonesia, masih relatif terbatas dan lebih banyak berfokus pada aspek fonologis dan pragmatik. Penelitian ini bertujuan memetakan tingkat pemahaman afiks bahasa Indonesia serta mengidentifikasi pola kesalahan semantis yang muncul pada mahasiswa penutur bahasa Arab tingkat awal. Penelitian menggunakan pendekatan mixed methods dengan desain explanatory sequential. Data kuantitatif diperoleh melalui angket dan tes afiksasi terhadap 82 mahasiswa Program Studi Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia di Universitas Al-Azhar, Mesir, sedangkan data kualitatif dikumpulkan melalui wawancara tertulis terhadap 20 partisipan. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa tingkat ketepatan penggunaan afiks bervariasi, dengan konfiks ke-an memiliki tingkat ketepatan tertinggi (82,9%), sementara prefiks ber- menunjukkan tingkat kesalahan tertinggi (80,5%). Temuan kualitatif menunjukkan bahwa kesalahan terutama dipengaruhi oleh kecenderungan strategi belajar berbasis bentuk, keterbatasan pemetaan fungsi semantik afiks dalam konteks kalimat, serta pengaruh transfer bahasa pertama. Temuan ini menegaskan bahwa pembelajaran afiks bagi pembelajar BIPA pemula perlu dirancang secara kontekstual dengan mengintegrasikan aspek bentuk dan makna serta didukung oleh strategi scaffolding yang memadai.