The Impact of Communication Barriers on Arabic Language Acquisition among Non-Native Speakers: The Mediating Roles of Motivation and Communicative Competence

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of communication barriers on Arabic language acquisition among non-native speakers, with particular attention to the parallel mediating roles of motivation and communicative competence. Communication barriers were conceptualized across five dimensions: personal, linguistic, psychological, social, and cultural barriers. A quantitative, explanatory, cross-sectional design was employed, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 233 non-native Arabic learners enrolled in the Arabic Language Teaching Unit at the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia. The proposed model was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The results demonstrated satisfactory measurement reliability and validity and showed that the model explained 60.6% of the variance in Arabic language acquisition. Personal and linguistic barriers had significant negative direct effects on Arabic language acquisition, whereas psychological, social, and cultural barriers had no significant direct effects. Motivation and communicative competence positively influenced Arabic language acquisition, with communicative competence demonstrating the stronger relationship. Mediation analysis further revealed that motivation significantly mediated the effects of personal, psychological, social, and cultural barriers, but not linguistic barriers. Communicative competence significantly mediated the relationships between all five communication barriers and Arabic language acquisition. These findings demonstrate that communication barriers operate through distinct direct and indirect mechanisms rather than affecting language acquisition uniformly. The study contributes to second-language acquisition research by integrating multidimensional communication barriers with psychological and communicative mechanisms within a single explanatory model. Practically, the findings emphasize the importance of reducing communication barriers while simultaneously