Strategies, New Directions and Resources for Teaching Colloquial Arabic as a Foreign Language

Strategies, New Directions and Resources for Teaching Colloquial Arabic as a Foreign Language

Kuntz, Blair

The spoken and written language known as Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the idiom that links almost three hundred million Arabic speakers from Iraq in the East to Morocco in the West, and it is this form of Arabic that is used in broadcast media and newspapers, and also for speeches and addresses on formal occasions. For obvious reasons, it is Modern Standard Arabic which is for the most part taught to students of Arabic as a foreign language in universities and private institutes. However, for someone to claim that they really ―know‖ Arabic, it is also necessary to master one or more of the many colloquial Arabic languages spoken throughout the Arab world. In contrast to MSA, Arabic colloquial languages are relegated to an inferior position in the classroom where they are most often added as an afterthought to the MSA course (although some separate colloquial language courses are taught in university continuing education courses and private institutes). At least part of the difficulty in teaching colloquial Arabic is because these languages are, for the most part, not written or standardized and thus are only mastered through listening or speaking. Arabic colloquial languages were strengthened by Georgetown University‘s important series of colloquial language text-books and grammars first published in the nineteen sixties; however, today, with the advent of the Internet and other electronic resources, this series can be supplemented or superseded using Web 2.0 technologies such as YouTube and podcasting as well as popular songs and cinema. In addition, many Arabic literary authors have also written text in colloquial dialects. This paper highlights strategies and assesses resources for teaching colloquial Arabic as a foreign language.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2011-05

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