- Department: Language and Linguistic Science
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
Learning a language can be a transformative and enriching experience. Both the process and the outcomes are beneficial at various levels, from increased neuroplasticity to improving your overall academic performance, fostering empathy and intercultural awareness, and enhancing your career opportunities. This course is aimed at students who already have some knowledge of Arabic. Over the course of a semester, it will steadily build the knowledge, skills, and strategies necessary for students to engage in everyday conversations and with short texts. It will focus on developing a communicative competence at intermediate level.
Arabic Language and Cultures: Lower Intermediate or equivalent.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
B | Semester 2 2024-25 |
The module aims are for students to:
further develop the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking), while learning Arabic within the framework of diglossia (learning how to distinguish between the written and the spoken, formal and informal);
learn about dialects (regional dialects, such as Egyptian and Jordanian);
acquire advanced writing skills in modern standard Arabic;
gain further knowledge of cultural aspects of the Arab world and an understanding of additional structural patterns appropriate to this level;
gain more confidence in using the language in daily communication.
Students will engage, individually and in groups, in activities and tasks emphasising three core communicative skills:
reception activities (oral, audio-video and reading comprehension);
production activities (oral and written production);
interaction activities (oral, written and online interaction).
The mediums of instruction are English and Arabic.
By the end of this module students should be able to:
Understand straightforward factual texts with a satisfactory level of comprehension.
Produce short, complex texts on topics of interest and give and justify their opinion.
Summarise, report and give their opinion about accumulated factual information and produce very brief reports in a standard conventionalised format.
Express personal opinions and exchange information on topics that are familiar, of personal interest or pertinent to everyday life (e.g. family, hobbies, work, travel and current events).
Generally respond appropriately to the most commonly used cultural cues to discuss in simple terms different perceptions of culturally determined actions.
Reflect upon language use and explain the differences between the studied language and other languages in their linguistic repertoire.
Reflect upon language use and justify linguistic choices.
Self-monitor and self-regulate their own learning and resources.
Identify and apply adequate strategies to prevent or overcome breakdowns in interaction and production activities.
Topics may include:
Reading comprehension skills (topics may include short stories, general paragraphs, news reports, poems and literary topics).
Writing skills development mainly focuses on further training via exercises in class and at home.
Situational dialogues, a selection of passages in a variety of topics, such as political, cultural, media, history, and literature.
The tenses (past, present and future), more about the plural, more about making questions, the passive voice.
Work and ambition.
Talking about preferences.
The comparative and superlative.
The diminutive.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 60 |
Oral presentation/seminar/exam | 40 |
None
The written exam will include one or two questions aimed at assessing students’ ability to reflect on language use and justify their responses and choices when using the language (in English) and a task related to students’ ability to monitor their own learning.
The oral exam will include strategic competence in the target language among the assessment criteria in production and interaction activities.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 60 |
Oral presentation/seminar/exam | 40 |
Feedback on exams and essays as per University regulations.
Course materials and guided readings will be provided by the module convenors via the VLE at the start of the semester.