Arabic-L:PEDA:Colloquial First

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Fri 01 June 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Colloquial First

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1)
Date: 01 June 2007
From:Mustafa Mughazy <mustafa.mughazy at wmich.edu>
Subject:Colloquial First

The Arabic program at Western Michigan University is undergoing a  
comprehensive overhaul of its language curriculum.

Starting fall 07, the first semester will exclusively teach a  
colloquial dialect in the Arabic script. The second semester will  
continue the dialect and introduce MSA as a written language. Second  
and third year courses will focus mainly on MSA. Study abroad  
programs will focus mainly on the dialects. The objective is for  
students to develop a level of dual proficiency where they can  
interact with native speakers in a “natural” way (a dialect) and use  
MSA as a language for reading and writing.

This change is based on students’ responses to a questionnaire  
comparing their experience learning Arabic to other languages, such  
as Spanish and Chinese. Many students expressed their frustration  
that the Arabic they learn in first year courses is “not very  
useful”, as they cannot use it with native speakers and it is very  
different from authentic MSA including children’s books. For one  
thing, native speakers’ responses to students’ attempts at MSA  
include uncomfortable laughter, English discourse, and super fusha.  
Also, most authentic materials in MSA do not include language about  
one’s family, self introductions, or small talk. Students expressed  
their frustration that MSA is “disconnected” from Arab culture, as it  
does not help with popular culture (songs, movies, TV shows, etc.).  
Compared to Spanish and Chinese first year courses, Arabic was “as  
dry as a dead language pretending to be cool”.

We expect language transfer from the colloquial to MSA in writing and  
mixing MSA and the colloquial in speech. Isn’t that what native  
speakers of Arabic do? Even college students do that with English and  
their regional/ethnic dialects.

On the positive side, we feel that more students will continue  
studying Arabic beyond their college language requirement because of  
the self-rewarding nature of learning a dialect.

Feedback from similar experiments, ideas, and comments are most  
welcome and highly appreciated!

Thank you

Mustafa Mughazy

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End of Arabic-L:  01 June 2007