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The Individualization of Arabic Language Acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Roger Allen*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania

Extract

During recent decades and, more specifically, since the time of the NDEA Act, significant progress has been made in the sphere of language instruction in Arabic. The old anecdote concerning Cambridge University, where beginning students were instructed to purchase Wright’s Grammar and study it for a week before commencing a reading of the Kamil of al-Mubarrad, may be apochryphal or at least have suffered some of the embellishments characteristic of folk tales, but the situation described came reasonably close to the reality for British undergraduates not too long ago. More attention is now being paid to the preparation of teaching grammars, readers and a whole variety of textbooks which will enable students with a wide variety of ages and language aptitudes to acquire proficiency in Arabic. Another area in which a great deal of research is now in progress is that of testing and test validity; in the case of Arabic, instructors in the U.S.A. now have access to a revised and improved version of a standardized test which will assess the proficiency of students at three different levels. In all this the American Association of Teachers of Arabic (AATA)— an international organization in spite of its title— has played an important role, in that it affords a forum for discussion and publication in which problems can be identified and potential solutions suggested. In what follows I will discuss some recent developments in Arabic language instruction implemented by members of AATA on their campuses, all of which can be subsumed under the general heading of “individualization.”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America 1980

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References

Footnotes

1 I have investigated these questions in previous articles and therefore will not elaborate here. See “The Individualization of a First-Year Arabic Course: A Preliminary Report,” Al-Nashra, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring 1974), 32; “Arabic Teaching in the United States,” BRISMES Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1976), 92; “A Self-Paced Proficiency-Based Arabic Course,” Al-cArabiyya, Vol. 10, Nos. 1, 2 (Spring, Autumn, 1977), 14.

2 Beeston, A. F. L., Written Arabic: An Approach to the Basic Structures (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968); and Arabic Historical Phraseology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969).Google Scholar

3 The descriptions which follow are based on two documents kindly sent to me by Professor Abboud: “The Computer as an Instructional Device for the Arabic Writing System,” Computers and the Humanities (Flushing, N.Y.: Queens College Press [n.d.]), 195 ff.; and “A Brief Overview of the Arabic Vocabulary Program Currently Being Developed at the University of Texas at Austin,” unpublished report. I would like to thank her for sharing this information with me.

4 Abboud, Victorine, “The Computer as an Instructional Device,” p. 197.Google Scholar

5 lbid., p. 207.

6 Professor Cadora and I have discussed our respective programs with each other at length. I was fortunate enough to participate in the national conference at Columbus in May 1979, during which the participants were able to survey the program in detail. I take this opportunity to thank Professor Cadora for his kindness in demonstrating the program to me.