RRI.CO.ID, Bangi, Malaysia - Indonesian and Malaysian academics collaborated on an International Community Service Program to improve Arabic language education through the application of research-based innovations and exchanges in learning design and textbook evaluation methodologies.

The event, hosted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) on 13 July, was organized by the Arabic Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Languages and Literature, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), in collaboration with the Language and Linguistics Research Center, UKM.

This initiative aims to sshare research findings, improve academic skills, and promote international partnerships for the development of Arabic language education. This initiative is a collaboration between five educators from UPI and researchers from the UKM Language and Linguistics Research Center and the Faculty of Islamic Studies.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Thursday, 23 July 2026, the workshop was led by Associate Professor Dr. Ashinida Aladdin and officially opened by Associate Professor Dr. Mohamed Zain bin Sulaiman. Unlike typical academic seminars, this community service project emphasized knowledge transfer so that participants could learn practical techniques for assessing and improving Arabic language teaching materials through the application of the latest educational research.

In his presentation, titled "Researching Didactic Design by Applying Didactic Anthropology Theory (DDR)," Prof. Dr. Didi Suryadi, M.Ed., introduced participants to Didactic Design Research (DDR) and its integration with Didactic Anthropology Theory (DDR).

"This approach allows teachers to assess not only what students learn, but also how they apply their knowledge to create meaningful classroom experiences," he said.

Participants were encouraged to view textbooks as educational tools subject to institutional standards, learning objectives, and pedagogical approaches, rather than simply as collections of texts and exercises.

Based on this theoretical framework, Dr. Asep Sopian, S.Pd., M.Ag., who is in charge of the Undergraduate and Master's Programs in Arabic Language Education at UPI, conducted a practical workshop on implementing praxeological analysis within the DDR framework to evaluate Arabic textbooks. In this practical workshop, participants examined four interrelated dimensions of textbook design: tasks, techniques, technologies, and theories.

Classroom activities were supported by a rigorous pedagogical approach and a strong conceptual framework, as participants analyzed real-life examples of Indonesian Arabic textbooks.

The seminar encouraged active participation and sparked in-depth discussion among Malaysian academics. The possibility of adapting this approach to Arabic textbooks in Malaysian educational institutions, where Arabic is often taught as a foreign or additional language, was also discussed.

The discussion explored the similarities and differences between the Arabic language education systems in Indonesia and Malaysia, including curriculum design, student characteristics, and the educational environment.

These conversations provided important lessons for improving educational resources to meet the

specific needs of students in each country. The International Community Service Project served primarily as a means of disseminating research findings to the broader academic community.

This initiative reflected UPI's commitment to the Third Mission of Higher Education, extending evidence-based teaching practices beyond the university through community engagement and international knowledge exchange.

Participants agreed that research findings should not be confined to academic journals but should be translated into practical innovations that will benefit educators, curriculum developers, and organizations responsible for teaching Arabic.

This program has paved the way for future collaborations between UPI and UKM, including comparative studies of Arabic textbooks, joint writing of academic articles in leading journals, joint curriculum development, and potential community service activities.

The UPI- UKM partnership demonstrates how global community service projects can be integrated into teaching strategies alongside the university's expanding international partnerships.

The project will enhance Arabic language teaching by translating research findings into

instructional materials for teachers. At the same time, it will foster academic collaboration

among Southeast Asian countries.