Arabic Language Learning and Motivation Basma Dajani PhD, University of Jordan;
[email protected] Abstract As Arabic is the language of around 300 million people who live to the south of Europe of many millions within Europe who are part of its fabric, the paper will present examples of good practice of how language can be a bridge between the civilizations and the peoples surrounding the Mediterranean. The paper will highlight the experience gained by the Language Center (LC) at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan; in teaching Arabic to non-native speakers especially during the last 5 years. That has been a period that witnessed a marked increase in the number of international students interested in learning Arabic; a phenomenon which will be discussed in the paper. In this paper the author will also compare seven categories of students: businesspeople, diplomats, military personnel, orientalists, nationals of Arab origin, spouses of Arabs, and others; in terms of their ability, interest as well as motivation behind taking up Arabic as a language to be studied.
The paper will describe a lecturer’s experience of the various language teaching techniques adopted for each group of students, will highlight some of the specific difficulties the students face at each stage of learning, and the difficulties that students from certain nationalities face in learning this ancient language. Arabic, which unlike many other languages has not really changed very much for almost 1500 years. The paper will propagate some ideas on how societies, cultures, and civilizations can better understand each other through understanding the other’s language and will attempt to explain this phenomenon in the light of the events resulting from the caricatures originating from Denmark which profoundly angered Muslims and Arabs worldwide. 1. Arabic: Some facts! Arabic is an easy language to learn! Indeed, it is easier than English! The main reason for that is spelling. Almost Every letter you pronounce, you write! And almost every letter you write you read! 1.1
Is Arabic grammar difficult?
Arabic grammar can also be relatively easy and logical if it is well introduced and taught. Grammar is similar to mathematics. One has to think of the rule in order to reach the right way. Every language has its grammatical rules and almost every single rule has its exceptions!! Arabic Language pays great attention to grammar as does Dutch, Spanish, French and English. But because grammar needs thinking and a good amount of concentration as do mathematical solutions, people try to avoid such big calculations by using the colloquial dialects.
1.2 Modern Standard Arabic Fus-ha is the ancient Qur’anic Arabic that has been spoken in Arabia since the 6th century. In Fus-ha, the speaker has to follow all the grammatical rules in his/her speech with the pronunciation of “Harakaat,” i.e. sound movements of the letters. This is for the most part due to the fact that it is the language of the Qur’an; the Muslims’ holy book, which itself contains numerous versus that encourage people to interact with each other.1,2 Modern Standard Arabic “Faseeha” is the official Arabic language used in the media as well as books and publications nowadays. It is the second category of Arabic which is preceded by the classical Arabic or “Fus-ha”. It is the language that should be taught to non-native speakers. In Modern Standard Arabic, the speaker follows the grammatical rules without the ending sounds of “Harakaat.” Modern Standard Arabic helps the learner understand and interact with the vast majority of the people in 22 countries spanning from Morocco in the west to the United Arab Emirates in the east. Notwithstanding the introduction of many words that describe modern gadgets and amenities of living, Arabic is probably the only language that has virtually remained unchanged for over 15 centuries. Moreover, this fact makes the job of historians and researchers in old manuscripts relatively easier as they can read Arabic as it was written many centuries ago. 1
O you men! Surely we have created you of a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you
may know each other; surely the most honorable of you with Allah is the one among you the most careful (of his duty). (Hujurat:13) 2
And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors; most
surely there are signs in this for the learned. (Rum:22)
2.
Colloquial or slang Arabic
Every language has many colloquial dialects or slang. It usually differs in the same country from the north to the south, i.e.; Spanish in Madrid compared to Cordoba, British English compared to Irish or Scottish or to American English! American English in Texas compared to the famous New York dialect! If colloquial Arabic, which is the third category of the Arabic language, is to be taught at the language centre at the University of Jordan for example, it will be in the form of the local Ammani (of Amman the capital of Jordan) dialect, which is rather different to say the Egyptian dialect or the Tunisian dialect for example, thus making communication between the speakers of the various dialects rather difficult. Interestingly enough, we faced a slightly similar situation at the LC recently, in a class that had five British students and five Americans. It was quite amusing following the differences in pronunciation and usage of some English words and the reactions of members of both groups towards each other during the breaks regarding word expressions. Needless to say that when a learner or a non-native speaker speaks Faseeha, s/he can communicate with any native Arabic speaker. This is not the case when colloquial is used. Thus, Faseeha may be considered as an element of commonality for the Arab people; Bedouins, villagers, city citizens, educated and uneducated; and their Arabspeaking guests and associates. Arabic does not have this serious problem which many try to focus upon; the difference between Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial dialects. As some tries to emphasis
that spoken Arabic is greatly different from modern standard Arabic. It is not that big an issue as the colloquial is taken from the Modern Standard. 2.1 Writing Arabic made easy Mastering any language well enough requires developing the capacity to write it. Colloquial Arabic is almost impossible to write. Writing colloquial Arabic dialects destroys the real language, and is actually almost impossible to master. In actual fact, written colloquial Arabic is almost impossible to read. If one looks at what has happened to the English language recently as a result of the advent of modern communications; e-mail and mobile telephone sms, and the rather strange style of writing that has developed that simplifies words; i.e.; You became u, For became 4, To became 2, At became @ etc. Table 1 shows an intelligent joke that was sent to me by a friend who knows my interest in teaching/learning languages. It demonstrates how a language changes identity completely if left to the whims of the general public. The European Union has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as “Euro-English.” In the first year, “s” will replace the soft “C”. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump the joy.
The hard “C” will be dropped in favour of “K”. This should Klear up confusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing public enthusiasm in the second year when the troublesome “ph” will be replaced with “f”. This will make words like fotograf shorter by 20%. In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will encourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent “e” in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away. By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replacing “th” with “z” and “w” with “v”. During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary “o” kan be dropd from vords containing “ou” and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. If zis mad you smil pleas pas on to oza pepl. Table 1. Developing a new European language Globalized or young people’s Arabic has also developed a spelling of its own. The hamza became the (2); the ‘ain became the (3); the ha became the (7)… Every Language is taught with some logic and has to be accepted by the learner even with some illogic within it. This example was given by an English teacher3 ; How do we write “fish”? One possible way of writing it is “ghoti.” If we take the “gh” from the word “tough” and the “o” 3
Taken from Bernard Show.
from the word “women” and “ti” from the word “nation,” then we end up with “fish” spelt out as “ghoti!” 2.2 The Arabic script It is fair to say that the difference between a literate and an illiterate person is the ability to read as well as write. If one lives in Jordan for a short time, s/he may become a little bit familiar with the Arabic Language from hearing some common words in the street and repeating them all the time, but still that does not mean that s/he has learned the language, especially if s/he does not know how to write it. The Arabic script is admittedly difficult to learn or at least difficult to learn at the start however once the learner becomes accustomed to writing from right to left and starts to appreciate the beauty and the ‘geometry’ of the script, it becomes relatively easy to write the Arabic script. It is true that there are forms of Arabic calligraphy that are almost impossible to read, even for the experienced Arab or Arab speaker; but such scripts have in most instances been written for aesthetic effects in old mosques or palaces; all over the Arab and Islamic worlds. 3. The Language Center (LC) The Language Center (LC) at the University of Jordan in Amman was established in 19794. That is some 27 years after the University of Jordan5 was founded in 1962. One of its missions is to provide high quality intensive programs in teaching modern standard Arabic for speakers 4
http://www.ju.edu.jo
5
http://www.ju.edu.jo
of other languages. The program offered by the center is divided into seven levels of classes: beginner stage (two levels), pre-intermediate stage, intermediate stage (two levels), upper intermediate and advanced stages. The LC offers, upon request, courses in ‘Arabic for Special Purposes’ for individuals or small groups in which instruction is based on individualized tutoring and the syllabus is tailored to suit the individual learner’s interests. The LC has, over the years, received students from over 100 nationalities and a wide variety of age groups. 3.1 Motivation for learning Arabic Arabic is the language of around 300 people in over 22 countries spanning from the United Arab Emirates to Morocco. It is the language of religion for 1.4 billion Muslims who in their prayers use it to recite versus from the Qur’an. It is an ancient language that probably excelled for over 5 centuries from the 8th to the 12th centuries A.D. when the Islamic state was at its heyday. Seven years ago, the average number of students registering for learning Arabic at the LC was around 70 per year, mostly from Europe and the Far East; China and Malaysia in particular. While this year, 2006; the average exceeded 250 with the majority of students coming from the United States of America, Korea, Turkey and other parts of Europe. There can be no doubt that there has been increased interest in learning Arabic after the events of 11 September 2001 (9/11) especially from Western countries and Europe. Since the Arab World is part of the Islamic World and it has been in focus as a consequence of the events of 9/11 and the new US-led occupation of Iraq, many new factors came into play that generated huge interest in learning this language.
Social, cultural as well as career-related factors are also important elements behind the increase in the numbers of Europeans and Americans that wanted to learn Arabic and more about Arabs and study their culture in order to understand and find out some of the reasons behind what is going on and the serious and dangerous events that beckon the Arab world. Globalization has had and still has a tremendous impact of people’s interest in other cultures and languages, as it opens up new horizons for people to travel and explore other cultures and civilizations other than their own. Moreover, the advent of information and communication technologies and its main manifestation; the Internet, together what specialists have called cultural technology as manifested in the advent of satellite and global television have really generated in people’s interest in learning languages other than their own. Young generations looking for better job opportunities for work and exciting careers in exotic places discovered what a marvelous thing it is to master the language of the people in the country or area they wished to visit. 2004/2005-1998/1999 اعداد الطلبة االجانب من العام
484 500 431 450 389 400
350
306 285
278
300 241 2004/2005-1998/1999 اعداد الطلبة االجانب من العام
250
200
150
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50
0 1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005
Figure 1. Number of foreign students at the LC; 19982005.
3.2 Learning languages Learning opens many doors. When one learns a foreign language, s/he expands the limits of his/her own world. It is a pleasure to understand others and discover new spheres with positive attitudes. People learn Arabic for a variety of reasons: for work, for travel, for religious purposes, because of marriage or friendship with an Arab, or simply as a hobby. The motivation to some extent determines the most appropriate learning method. Moreover, as learning Arabic – or any other language for that matter – means devising a new mode of communication, thus the learner has develop the appropriate serious open-mindedness required, as well some respect for the language s/he is attempting to learn. When I want to learn Korean Language for example, I have to put in mind that it is a completely new language for me but still it is a well established language for the Korean people and I am learning it to get the benefit of it in all ways. The same is of course true for learning Arabic. One has to start with the wish of discovering a new world different than the one with the Latin roots for example, and not to take a sarcastic attitude towards this difference. Also, there should be respect towards the multiple teaching methods as there can not be one similar way of teaching a foreign language, but it mostly differs from a language to another. For example, when an Italian learns French it is not the same as when s/he learns Arabic or Chinese! So the new learned language determines its own methods under the umbrella of learning/ teaching foreign languages.
4. Innovative methods at the LC How do we teach Arabic for non native speakers at the LC? LC’s motto is: “Every minute of your stay counts.” “You have come a long way in order to study Arabic. We will do our best to make your time worthwhile, in a friendly, welcoming, but also educationally serious atmosphere.” The LC’s first objective is to make its program unique in its diverse components: class hours, lab sessions, tutorials, trips and social activities. Students' count
58
34
17 11 7
6 1
1
3
10 7
6 1
3
1
1
2
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1
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A m er A ica us n tra Co u l B ian nt ra zi Co lia un n t C am Bri Co t u er ish nt oo C n o C ian un an t ad Co ia un n t D an Co is un h t D Co ut ch un Fr C t en o u G ch nt er C H ma oun un n t g C In ari ou do an nt ne C si ou an n t Ita Co Ja lia un pa n C t Jo nes ou rd e nt an C ia ou n nt K or Co ea u N n nt ig C er o u P ian nt er uv Co ia un n t P C o R lis oun om h t C an o u i R an n S us C t ou s o th ian un t A fri Co c u S an nt pa C n ou S ish nt w ed Co is u Ta h n t iw Co an un Tu C t rk o U is u U kr h C nt zb ai ak nia ou is n nt ta C ni ou an n t C ou nt
3
Figure 2. Number of foreign students at the LC by nationality; 2005/2006. The LC offers a language partner system from day one of each semester where the learner has the choice to get a native student speaker who will assist him/her free of charge with the new learned language while the learner teaches the native speaker his/her native language. This is one effective way of introducing the learner to the Arabic mentality through this association with somebody local from the same age group. This system has proved its success among LC students as it builds useful contacts and friendships. It is an intellectual, cultural and most importantly a humane exercise that quickly bridges whatever divides are there between the
non-local student and his/her new and exciting environment. These hours that this local language partner spends with the guest student are counted as part of the Community Service Requirement that all local students have to fulfill, and it is realized through a long-term understanding that the LC had developed with the Community Service Office at the University of Jordan. 4.1 Teaching The main program at the LC which consists of 6 to 7 levels of Arabic classes runs for 4 hours a day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 5 days a week. Special tailored programs/classes meet according to the individual learner’s schedule. For All levels as well as total beginners we work on the four skills; Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. By starting directly with the classical way of introducing the alphabet, we generally satisfy the wish of students; who prefer this technique to the more modern one of having them memorize vocabulary before recognizing the letters. Given five to seven letters a day, the student soon becomes able to combine these letters and write some words. Within a few days, s/he starts writing every single word that they hear and are able to read any word as well. After that ‘daily life’ vocabulary is introduced through pictures. The learner has to memorize as much as s/he can as it helps them in the next step which is forming sentences. A new student of Arabic needs to memorize a fair limit of words to use it in sentences and gradually combine it with grammatical rules. The greetings sentences and practical interaction vocabulary is also introduced at the very beginning to help the learner easily feel adjusted in the host city, where s/he is learning Arabic. Most of LC students find it more exciting to learn Arabic in its native environment as it
enables them to practice their newly acquired language skills and experience first-hand the rich cultural context for which Arabic is used. Sometimes teachers at LC face some difficulties with students at the first level as members of this group are often quite excited about learning and ask for too much information at the very starting level. That is why one of the most important qualifications for teachers of Arabic is patience. The teacher has to have the capacity to control the flow of information while at the same time encouraging the students, and not discouraging them by ignoring their endless enquiries. New students are always eager and in such a hurry to be able to express themselves in this new language. However, sometimes the problem comes up when they think that Arabic is a difficult language. This is an added burden that the teacher has to overcome. 4.2 Grammar Working according to the constructive method (i.e. through sentence building rather than rules of grammar), grammar is introduced in all levels through comprehension and the four skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening). Over the years, it has been proven that to teach grammar within the skills is much more effective and better than teaching it as a subject by its own. Most students nowadays do not study their native language’s grammar neither in primary schools nor in higher education. But when the learner is introduced to the grammatical rule through sentence building, better results are obtained. With practice, s/he starts to appreciate the subtlety of grammar. Needless to say that practicing the use of a language is very important. As it is well known, practice is needed for
the fluency of a new learned language. If one does not use this new language for long periods, it is not easy to keep it alive in the memory, and may require a great deal of effort on the part of the learner to easily use it again. That is why the best advice for all language learners is to keep on using daily the new learned vocabulary either by writing sentences with all the studied formats or talking with native speakers regardless of the mistakes made or the limited subjects addressed. A total beginner of Arabic who studies intensively in the first level and does his/her written homework daily can relatively easily express him/her self in about one full page or two correctly by the end of a four-month semester at the LC. 5. Emphasis on culture by the LC At the LC, Arabic is taught not only through linguistic frames but also through literature, culture, history, media, and common daily life materials. Teaching a language requires introducing it within all contexts and subjects. Everyone who studies at the LC gets to know the Arabic culture well enough through studying its main themes and joining some cultural events and activities within a family atmosphere that we try to cultivate at the LC. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the local culture is quite a suitable environment for such extracurricular activities. Teachers at the LC often interact with the students of the Arabic program and act as tourist guides and general hosts for them. Thus, the students are often invited to visit the families of the teaching staff and to attend typical wedding parties or condolences rituals and other occasions which are considered great chances to
experience the close interaction between Arab culture and the Arabic language. Moreover, Jordan provides a very suitable backdrop for introducing the different aspects of Arab traditions and customs. It is considered a moderate country where even the local colloquial dialects are relatively close to the modern standard Arabic especially if compared to the dialects spoken in Egypt, Algeria, Kuwait and Lebanon. For a westerner or an easterner to live in a city like Amman is generally quite a pleasant experience. The weather, the friendliness of the locals and access to all international print and other media as well as the food are often cited as reasons for why Amman is such a comfortable place for one to learn Arabic. The daily life needs are easily accomplished in Amman. As a modern city, Amman to a great extent is up to the level of most European cities. The learner has the freedom to move around, go to cinemas, cafes, restaurants, shopping malls and deal with an understanding people who like so much to interact with outsiders and to welcome them by (unfortunately) speaking not Arabic to them but English. There are ancient historical places in the east, west, north and south of Jordan where the students of the Arabic program at the LC have the chance to visit and sightsee during their study period. The LC organizes weekly field trips as extra curricular activities with teachers acting as guides. Such visits in going down from Amman to the Ancient Nabatean city; Petra; camping in the magnificent desert and among the colorful mountains of Wadi Rum where the student has a chance to get closer to Bedouin life and enjoy their famous hospitality, walking around in the ancient Roman city of Jerash, going up to the citadel of Ajloun, swimming in the Red Sea of Aqaba and experience swimming in the Dead Sea; which is the lowest point on Earth.
5.1 Other activities Weekly lectures on selected subjects in Arabic are given to all students at the LC by specialists. The topics are mostly chosen by the students. It is a chance for open discussion on topics such as Islam, Arab Women, government, political system and social relations. Sometimes lectures are given in English especially to satisfy the demands of low academic level students and beginners of Arabic. International food festivals are nice social activities where almost each nationality in the LC offers a traditional plate and all the students enjoy tasting new dishes by their friends. The Korean day, the Turkish day, the Polish day and the American day are examples of the sort of interaction that takes place at the LC. Mostly in these ceremonies, the students from these countries present nice shows in Arabic, along with their native languages. “Arabic for All” is a Students’ Magazine which is a product of the literary Arabic output of students. It is published at the end of every semester by the University of Jordan press and edited by teachers of LC. This magazine encourages new students to express themselves freely in anyway they like. 6. Diplomat Students The LC has become very popular in the last seven years for diplomats to study Arabic for special purposes. It started with a successful agreement between the British Foreign Affairs Linguistics Department and the Language Center followed by another successful agreement with the Australian Foreign Affairs and Military Departments.
This experience proved the effectiveness of the one to one teaching programs, especially when the learner is very serious and eager to get the best of every class hour. Diplomat students mostly start learning the foreign language at their base and it is really remarkable the offered feedback from their supervisors and teachers to the LC from the beginning of their program and throughout their progress. The diplomat studies Arabic in an intensive program for about nine months, three or four hours a day for five days a week in a special tailored program different in context from the seven levels taught in the LC. They study Arabic language concentrating on political, economic and media materials. Usually the diplomat asks for the materials related to his/ her next station. i.e.; if s/he is going to Jerusalem, s/he studies more the materials on the Palestinian conflict. Or if s/he is going to Iraq, studies more the materials covering the Iraqi war. Still the language has to be covered from various daily life aspects as the diplomat needs to learn Arabic for dealing with the people in the street, the market and socially to facilitate living in the new city with the new language. Field trips to the Diplomatic Institute, Houses of Parliament, Newspaper Houses are organized where discussions take place in Arabic to encourage the diplomat learner to practice his/her Arabic. 6.1 Students of Arab roots Students in this group come from all over Europe and the United States. They form a phenomenon by their own in the LC especially in summer semesters. Usually they are students with a limited background of Arabic colloquial dialects without writing and reading knowledge. Most of them are anxious to learn Arabic and to know more about
their country of origin and the Middle East. They feel the need to being exposed to the Arab mentality. As most have double nationalities, they feel the urge to master Arabic as that may help them build careers in the Middle East. Teaching this group the clarity of modern standard Arabic and the use of grammar through comparing Arabic to other languages is one of the ways to help them become convinced of the right linguistic format. 6.2 Businesspeople Lately, Arabic became a desired language for Korean, Chinese, and Japanese businessmen more than others. It is clear that the Arab countries have an open economic door to Far Eastern products, especially Iraq. At the LC, we have witnessed a marked increase in learners coming especially to learn Arabic for trade relations within the area. The average learner is young, enthusiastic and serious in terms of trying to grasp modern standard Arabic. Not surprisingly, learners in this group tend to pick up a variety of Arabic trading terms rather quickly. 6.3 Journalists With the Globalization we live, media has become one of the main fields that connects our small world. So, there was a tremendous draw from international journalists to learn as many languages as they could. As the Arab World has been fully engaged in a number of critical political events lately, journalists have found it a necessity to learn Arabic to be able to communicate with opinion leaders and the general public in the Arab world. 6.4 Marriage relations Another group of interesting learners is the wives or spouses of Arabic people. Many have been in the Arab
world for a long time and have managed to pick spoken Arabic and are able to communicate comfortably, and other who have just moved back to the area and are interested in getting a proper academic education to improve their Arabic. The motive for these people lies in their desire to be able to comfortably communicate with their Arab families, children and generally follow the various social activities. Some have developed an interest in Arab culture and history and want to learn more through mastering the language. This group mostly prefers developing their skills of speaking and listening rather than reading and writing. 6.5 Students: What is common and what is not Studying a new language mostly stems from a personal wish. This adds enthusiasm to this new endeavor that the learner is undertaking. The results depend on the learner’s personal efforts together with his/her teachers. When the learner feels acquainted with the new studied language, studies it with a fully open mind, makes an effort in his/her homework and class interaction, quick positive results are achieved in terms of linguistic progress. This is actually one of the main factors that makes teaching languages such an interesting field. The learner’s aptitude for studying and improving in his/her language ability is so encouraging for the teacher. Age differences among language learners are an interesting element that gives a refreshing experience to classes. 7. Studying material In 2001, the University of Jordan published the first level book of Arabic for non native speakers, which contains
basic vocabulary taught through pictures. The book is completely in Arabic without any language translations. The main idea was that the book becomes the introductory reference to all learners from all over the world, coming from different backgrounds and various native languages. The book introduces writing skills by showing how each letter should be written in all its forms and introduces the learner to simple grammar lessons gradually by moving from letter to word to sentence with basic verb tenses. Grammar is introduced through formats and not through rules. It is not easy for a beginner of Arabic to understand and follow the grammatical rules except by following a rhythm and a symbol to get the sense of this special language. By studying this book, the learner will have learnt more than 550 Arabic words which s/he can write, read correctly, may use in simple sentences to express simple ideas, and write a full page with few mistakes. In 2002 the second book was published introducing the learner to texts on daily life terminologies, and texts on Jordan and places to see in the country. By studying this book, the learner will feel relaxed to express him/ herself in clear Arabic, to understand most spoken Arabic and to write with very few mistakes. In 2006, the third book was published. It deals with texts on culture and opens the topic of the media to the learner by introducing texts on journalism. By studying this book, it will be easy for the learner to read Arabic newspapers, discuss social subjects in Arabic and to write correctly on any theme. 8. Conclusion The interaction between Europeans and Arabs goes back hundreds of years and it has always been stimulating.
Although there have been periods of conflict between the civilizations either side of the Mediterranean, there nevertheless have periods of tremendous collaboration. Indeed, numerous European scholars have admitted that had not been for the flow of knowledge and culture into Europe through Andalusia or Muslim Spain, renaissance in Europe may never have started around the 16th century. During the 20th century, many Arabs were enthusiastic about learning English, French and Dutch; especially as Britain and France were the colonial powers that dominated the Middle East region after World War I. Now, learning Arabic by Europeans and Americans has been gaining ground. The LC at the University of Jordan strongly believes in teaching Arabic for non-native speakers as a means to educate such a group about the Arab and Islamic worlds and to bridge the divides that have been appearing between our cultures and peoples.
Bibliography Journal for Distinguished Language Studies (2005): Coalition of Distinguished Language Centers: MSI Press - Volume 3. Wahba, Kassem M. et al. (2006): Handbook for Arabic Language Teaching Professionals in the 21st Century, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Mahwah, New Jersey. Al-Arabiyya, (2002): Journal of the American Association of Teachers of Arabic, Vol. 35. Al Anaty, Walid (2005): Nehad Al Mousa and teaching Arabic Language. Jordan. Ministry of Culture press. Pamphlet of the Language Center. (2005-2006) Amman. University of Jordan. http://www.dilap.com http://www.nclrc.org http://www.worldlanguage.com http://www.al-bab.com
