Trapped between MSA and Everyday Tasks – Learning Arabic at HEIs in the UK - Melissa Towler - University of Winchester (presented by Saussan Khalil)

Communicative Language Teaching has been changing the way foreign languages are taught since the 1970s. Despite this, and the surge in students opting for Arabic at universities in the West over the past 15 years, many Arabic language departments are not preparing students for communication. In the majority of UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), students are taught to speak, listen, read and write in MSA and are expected to pick up a dialect during their year abroad. This study has revealed that some HEIs have introduced regional varieties into the curriculum. However, participants are still dissatisfied with the lack of focus on them and speaking in general. To date, no comprehensive study has investigated the reasons UK students are opting for Arabic or how regional varieties are dealt with in undergraduate degree courses. This study addresses this gap through mixed methods research, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative methods, including questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations. Research on curriculum development suggests that including the student voice in discussions on course content is crucial if students are to be engaged in learning. Findings from this study reveal that students are learning Arabic to converse with L1 speakers and to use their language when travelling to the Arabic-speaking world. Due to the diglossic nature of the Arabic language, students need to draw on two varieties when choosing the appropriate variety in any given situation. Therefore, in this study, it is proposed that regional varieties are incorporated into Arabic undergraduate degree courses.

University of Leeds

3/28/2017 7:36:14 AM