OVERVIEW

This course offers students who have completed the Arabic language modules in their undergraduate programs an initial exploration of the diachronic and diatopic variations of the language. In the theoretical and practical lessons, students will have the opportunity to refine their skills in receiving and producing written texts while approaching audio-visual content that exposes them to diverse communicative contexts and linguistic varieties, including both Standard Arabic and spoken varieties. By the end of the course, students will have enhanced their receptive skills and developed essential communicative competencies for linguistic and cultural mediation. Furthermore, they will have acquired a basic understanding of Arabic dialects distinctive features, enabling them to use Arabic in real contexts and interaction with native speakers.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to consolidate the linguistic skills acquired in Modern Standard Arabic and to provide students with the necessary knowledge to analyze, understand, and produce texts of medium to high difficulty, with a specific focus on the specialized registers used in professional contexts. Additionally, it seeks to develop translation skills, with particular attention to intercultural aspects and the context of use. The course also offers a general overview of comparative Arabic dialectology, facilitating the understanding and use of media content through various supports and formats. Special emphasis will be placed on the social and cultural context of spoken Arabic, with the goal of enhancing interaction capabilities with Arabic speakers from diverse backgrounds.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, participants will have acquired and refined the vocabulary related to the topics covered during the course. They will be able to understand and discuss the subject of complex texts and translate them in a style and terminology appropriate to the context. Furthermore, they will be capable of extracting essential information from short media content and engaging in elementary-level dialogues in Egyptian dialect. The expected exit level should correspond to B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

PREREQUISITES

The course is designed for students who have achieved a reasonable knowledge of the Arabic language, having already completed and successfully passed the exams required in their undergraduate language courses. A full understanding of Arabic writing, the principles of verbal and nominal inflectional morphology, as well as simple and complex syntactic structures, is required. Additionally, sufficient reading skills for non-vocalized texts and a minimum level of oral communication competence are necessary.

TEACHING METHODS

The module lasts approximately 10 weeks, totaling 30 hours, structured into 3 hours per week. The course is organized into theoretical and practical lessons during which the necessary theoretical concepts for reading, translation, listening, and production activities (both oral and written) will be gradually introduced. In-class translations of specialized texts and listening to authentic audio-visual material will be conducted. The content presented will cover various aspects related to social, political, professional, and cultural life in the Arab world. During the parallel Arabic language exercises, activities will deepen the themes discussed in the theoretical module and include conversation practice, which will feature a brief introductory course on Egyptian dialect.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The theoretical module will cover the following points:

• Verbal morphology: verbs with multiple irregularities
• Sentence organization: coordination and subordination
• Sentence modulation: determining tenses
• Phraseology: idiomatic expressions, metaphors, and proverbs
• General classification of Arabic dialects
• Main distinctive features of Arabic dialects
• Specialized languages (to be specified during the course)
• Polysemy

Lectureships will essentially focus on: verification of theoretical learning, vocabulary building in specific contexts and development of written and oral skills.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Texts and media content that form part of the programme shall be uploaded to the AulaWeb platform.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MARCO AMMAR (President)

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The final exam consists of a written and an oral test. Admittance to the oral test shall be granted on the condition of scoring a grade of 18/30 or higher in the written test. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The learning outcomes are verified and evaluated through a written and an oral exam. Students may be asked questions on any content covered during the course and included in the syllabus. Students attendance and their overall performance during classes shall be taken into account in the assessment.

FURTHER INFORMATION

While class attendance is not compulsory, it is strongly recommended. The examination programme also applies to non-attending students, who are advised to get in touch with the lecturers in order to plan out suitable study strategies for achieving the learning objectives.