Modern Arabic (advanced level) [ LARAB2500 ]

The LARAB1301 course : Modern Arabic (intermediate level), or a different programme recognized as an equivalent. In this course, students repeat, extend and apply the structures learned at the elementary and intermediate levels, so as to qualify for the advanced level certificate in Arabic at the ILV. For this certificate, further conditions are:

(1) having previously obtained the ILV Arabic intermediate level certificate, and
(2) combination with a course in colloquial Arabic other than the one attended for the intermediate level.

This other course may be LARAB1301, LARAB1302 or a course offered at another university, to be approved by the ILV. The learning outcomes of the present course LARAB2500 are crucial for successfully attending a variety of first and second cycle courses in Arabic language, linguistics and philology. The course provides a degree of familiarity with Standard and colloquial Arabic and diglossia which is needed for a meaningful study of Middle Arabic (in the courses LGLOR2721- LGLOR2722).

This is an advanced course in Standard Arabic in its modern variety, which is the language of the media and all official communication all over the Arab world today. In an aim to address linguistic reality in the Arab world, the course also includes Arabic dialects (specially Egyptian and Moroccan) and the phenomenon of diglossia (code-switching and code-mixing between the various language levels).
It aims at reading, understanding, grammatical analysis and (occasionally) translation of texts on a variety of various topics (cultural, literary, political, religious, pertaining to daily life), in Standard Arabic as well in one of the Arabic dialects (Egyptian or Moroccan, depending on the student's previous training).
The course includes pronunciation and conversation drills, exercises in vocalisation, substitution and reading and writing, in Standard and colloquial Arabic.

The course covers the following aspects of learning the Arabic language:

• advanced pronunciation drills aiming at maximum authenticity, in Standard and colloquial Arabic, and at correct vocalisation and interpretation of unvocalized script;
• rapid and cursory reading of relatively complex texts;
• familiarity with the main widely used styles of  calligraphy (naskhî, ruq'a, kufic, dîwânî, ta'lîq), with a focus on active and passive use of cursive writing (ruq'a);
• consolidation and expansion of vocabulary that is characteristic of modern daily life in its multiple aspects, with increased awareness of the semantic developments and subtleties between the Classical, Modern Standard and colloquial varieties of the Arabic language.

By the end of the course, the student should have acquired:

• strong familiarity with the Arabic grammar
• an enlarged vocabulary in Standard and colloquial Arabic
• the skill to find any given Standard or Standard Arabic word in an Arabic-French (or Arabic-English) dictionary
• the cognitive strategies needed to independently understand complex written texts and oral expressions in Modern Standard as well as in colloquial Arabic
• The skill to construct and apply a large number of complex current expression in Modern Standard and colloquial Arabic, with or without the help of a French-Arabic dictionary

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

1. Continuous assessment of quality of participation in class and on assignments presented in iCampus.
2. Three combined exams (oral and written), divided over the academic year (January examination session, last week before Easter, June examination session).

This course is organized according to the method of blended learning, i.e. a combination of classroom instruction and distant learning, via the iCampus virtual teaching environment. It requires active involvement, with text preparation for each class, as well as oral and written exercises to be carried out in class.

This is an advanced course of Standard Arabic in its modern variety, which is the language of the media and all official communication all over the Arab world today. It also concerns Arabic dialects (specially Egyptian and Moroccan).
It emphasizes advanced acquisition of immediately applicable vocabulary, as well as the main mechanisms of the language, through the study of morphology and syntax.
This entire process should result in a proficiency level that compares to levels B1 (for the active aspects) and B2 (for passive aspects) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Note: the Arabic language has a range of characteristics that make its acquisition notoriously hard for French-speaking beginners. It has a set of consonants unknown to us, a distinct right-to-left script, and a complex grammar with declensions, with stronger gender marking than in French, and with a system of number distinction that goes beyond our mere distinction between singular and plural. Additionally, Arabic vocabulary shares few elements with French or other languages usually known to students. Thus, it is difficult, at least with respect to the first year, to apply the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to the Arabic language acquisition.
 

Printed texts, photocopies, documents presented in digital format, sound recordings. The course provides E-learning activities, with compulsory registration on the iCampus platform.

Textbooks:

• Luc-Willy Deheuvels, Manuel d'arabe moderne, Paris : Langues et mondes/ L'Asiathèque, 2008 (ISBN 978-90-441-2185-8) ;
• Luc-Willy Deheuvels, Manuel d'arabe moderne, Volume 2, 7e  édition, Paris : Langues et mondes/ L'Asiathèque, 2008 (ISBN 978-2-915255-80-5) ;
• Herman Talloen & Abied Alsulaiman, 'Ayyuhâ t-tâlib' ! Manuel d'arabe standard moderne, Anvers ' Apeldoorn : Garant, 2007 (ISBN 978-90-441-2185-8) ;
• (for Egyptian Arabic) Manfred Woidich & Rabha Heinen-Nasr, Kullu Tamam ! An Introduction to Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, Cairo : The American University in Cairo Press, 2004 (ISBN 978-977-424-842-9).

While French is the language of instruction, Arabic will be used to a certain extent, particularly for conversation drills.