Project description

The very title of this timely collection of articles is a forthright statement about the realities of the Arabic language, but in the pedagogical context within which it seeks to find a place (not least through its subtitle), it can also be seen as the culmination of a lengthy developmental process that traces its origins back some four decades. I was heavily involved in the earliest stages of that process, and I must begin this review by expressing my personal delight that a highly qualified and committed group of Arabic teachers has responded to the invitation of the editor by offering a variety of models whereby the goal stated in the subtitle can be essayed and indeed achieved. I also need to acknowledge here the central and pioneering role that Mahmoud Al-Batal, the editor of this volume, has played in the developments described here throughout those four decades and beyond.

The essays included in this volume are a reflection of the profound changes that have been and still are taking place in Arabic language pedagogy and that saw their beginnings in the 1980s. At that time came the realization—within several spheres both academic and nonacademic—that there was a national need for users of Arabic (and other languages) who could move beyond the purely textual skills of more traditional pedagogical approaches and acquire the communicative skills needed for meaningful contacts and exchanges with native speakers. The issues that immediately [End Page 159] arose, and that have since that time involved discussion and implementation of a variety of pedagogical experiments (many of which are discussed in this volume), were and are focused on the need to develop curricula, methods, and materials that would endeavor to replicate as far as possible the learning sequences of native speakers while still meeting the expectations of academic institutions where the bulk of Arabic teaching and learning occurs. The pedagogical questions involved and a variety of possible solutions to them are well expounded in the four sections of this volume.

Researchers

Keywords

Arabic Language