Arabic-L:PEDA:Colloquial First

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 27 Jun 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Colloquial First
2) Subject:Colloquial First

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1)
Date: 27 Jun 2007
From:Mustafa Mughazy <mustafa.mughazy at wmich.edu>
Subject:Colloquial First

Arabic is a diglossic language. This sentence can be found in at least
two of any three randomly picked papers on Arabic linguistics. Diglossia
is a fact, so we can exclude claims such as "colloquial dialects are not
Arabic" and "colloquial dialects do not have grammars", as simply
uninformed. It is very sad that digossia, which has dominated the field
for 50 years, has not yet found its place in the Arabic curriculum.

If we put ideologies aside, we can spare ourselves debating claims such
as "only pure Classical Arabic is worthy of teaching", "foreigners are
a3aajim who will never learn Arabic", "foreigners learn Arabic to read
the Quran and Classical texts", and "let's keep Orientalist foreigners
in the dark by teaching them something they cannot use". Debating such
unfortunate claims is an exercise in futility.

If we do a bit of research, we can also save ourselves the trouble of
refuting false claims such as "MSA is understood by all Arabs", "only
MSA is used in writing", and "colloquial Arabic is slang". We should not
take pride in claiming Arabic to be one of the most difficult languages
on earth. I once heard a teacher say "Arabic is so difficult even its
native speakers do not speak it well". That simply discourages students
to the point of giving up.

If we take the time to talk to our students, we will realize that they
sign up for Arabic classes for all sorts of reasons. Some take Arabic
because they have a language requirement and all Spanish classes are
full, some think it is cool, many want to connect with their heritage,
and most think it will enhance their career potentials. Our duty is to
provide Arabic the way it is, not the way we wish it was. Let's not
impose our ideologies on our students or judge them for not being little
Sibawayhs.

By the way, I do not know about Sibawayh, but I can assume that Ibn
Jinni spoke and learned a dialect first. Even Amir Al-shu3araa Ahmad
Shawqi who wrote poetry about fusHa (ana al-baHru .) always spoke in
colloquial Egyptian in the parliament. If you do not believe me, you can
see transcripts of his educated formal speeches for yourself.

Here is the logic: Arabic is a diglossic language; therefore, teaching
Arabic is teaching a diglossic language.

There are at least three ways to go about teaching diglossic Arabic: (a)
teach MSA first and then a dialect, (b) teach MSA and a dialect
simultaneously, and (c) teach colloquial first then MSA. The first two
options have been around for quite some time, and many people have
developed their curricula accordingly.

The discussion thus far has been quite productive and some very
important issues were raised:

  "If colloquial is taught first, how can we integrate the skills of
reading, writing, listening, and speaking necessary for effective
language learning?"

Integrating skills is a very attractive idea and it works well for ESL,
but I doubt we should expect that in Arabic. We have to integrate tasks
rather than language, so students can read in MSA and discuss in
Colloquial, listen to the news/documentaries in MSA and talk in the
Colloquial, or watch in the Colloquial and write in MSA. That is what
native speakers of Arabic do.

There are conventions for writing in colloquial; that is why we can read
it. The differences between MSA and Colloquial are minimal (the
pronunciation of five letters in the case of Egyptian). That is not more
complicated than the variations in MSA spelling across Arab countries.

Now the question I have been trying to avoid: which dialect to teach?
Any program can teach any dialect if they have teaching materials and
instructors who speak that dialect. There is no scientific support for
claiming that some dialects are "closer" to FusHa.

This is a very loaded question because it implies that instructors who
speak "popular" dialects will have better chances of employment. This is
a MYTH. We will always teach MSA and any dialect can be taught. We now
see increasing interest in Iraqi, Yemeni and Moroccan Arabic. Questions
like these are not helpful because they invoke nationalist and personal
biases toward or against dialects, or more specifically toward the
speakers of those dialects. Again, let's not allow ideological biases to
determine what our students learn.

Mustafa Mughazy

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2)
Date: 27 Jun 2007
From:Abdulkafi Albirini <aalbirini at yahoo.com>
Subject:Colloquial First

This is an interesting discussion.

I believe there is something missing in the argument
for the colloquial first, which concerns students'
interests. My experience is that most students are not
learning Arabic just to speak it. In fact, many of
them want to have a comprehensive understanding of the
language and be able to use the language to read
different literary and scholarly texts as well as to
read the news. Moreover, the majority of the students
prefer to have a "language" that is understood across
the Arab world before they try to command a particular
dialect.

Thus, if we are to furnish our students with a better
and more comprehensive understanding of the Arabic
language (including the various skills of the
language), then we have to focus on the Standard
dialect first.

I recognize that there are some students who are
interested in commanding one dialect, who are a
minority among our students (or maybe the students
that I have taught thus far). For these students, we
can create courses that focus on these dialects.

Best

Abdulkafi Albirini
Coordinator of the Arabic Language Program at UIUC

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End of Arabic-L:  27 Jun 2007