Philosophy and Description of the Arabic Program

The core Arabic program at Cornell offers a radical departure from other Arabic-as-a-foreign-language programs in its integration of an Arabic colloquial dialect with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in a way that reflects the use of the language by native speakers. Arabs communicate in the colloquial in everyday situations, and use MSA for reading, writing, and formal speaking. For example, when an Arab reads a newspaper, he reads MSA, but when he discusses its contents with his friends, the discussion takes place in the colloquial.

Arabs from different parts of the Arab world speak different dialects, but MSA is virtually the same everywhere. This is why the majority of Arabic programs prefer to teach MSA. However, students who learn to speak only MSA will not be able to use it in conversation; not only will they sound ludicrous, but they will also find it difficult to understand what is being said to them.

We believe that teaching a spoken dialect for everyday conversation and MSA for reading, writing, and formal speaking is the most honest and effective way to prepare students to function in Arabic. We also believe that if a student masters any Arabic dialect well enough, he/she will be able to function in other dialects, just as native speakers from different areas of the Arab world do.

The Arabic spoken dialects share most of their vocabulary and grammatical structures with one another and with MSA; that is why they are considered varieties of the same language rather than different languages. The Cornell Arabic Program builds on these shared features and attempts to bridge the gap among the different language varieties.

The colloquial Arabic dialect used in the Program is Levantine. It is the Arabic spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, and Jordan. It is one of the major Arabic dialect groups that most speakers of other Arabic dialects are familiar with through contact with its speakers and through radio and TV programs.

In all our instruction, a communicative approach is followed, which aims at developing the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Emphasis is on real communication and the use of the language in meaningful contexts rather than on the study of grammar.

A detailed account of the integrated approach and the philosophy on which it is based can be found in the following two articles:

• Younes, Munther. "Integrating the Colloquial with Fusha in the Arabic-as-a-Foreign-Language Classroom," in Handbook for Arabic Language Teaching Professionals in the 21st Century. Edited by Kassem M. Wahba, Zeinab A. Taha, Liz England).Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006.
• Younes, Munther. "An Integrated Approach to Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language." Al-‘Arabiyya 23. 1990.

In addition to the core program, whose goal is to develop proficiency in modern Arabic, a number of courses are offered to develop specialized skills, such as the ability to read and understand the language of the Qur’an or to acquire an in-depth understanding of Arabic grammar and linguistics. While the language of instruction in the core program is Arabic, the language of instruction in these specialized courses is English.