Learning languages during COVID-19 lockdown

CALL FOR PAPERS: MULTILINGA

Special Issue: Learning, re-learning, and un-learning Language(s) in the home during Covid-19.

Guest Editors: Fatma Said & Kristin Vold Lexander

Zayed University, UAE & Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences 

Fatma.said@zu.ac.ae &  kristin.lexander@inn.no

Epilogue: Dr. Lyn Wright

The University of Memphis, USA

The continuing global COVID-19 pandemic changed the way in which education has traditionally taken place with a ‘shift away from learning and teaching in traditional settings with physical interactions’ (UNESCO, 2020a, p. 7), towards a distance, online or blended approach.  In many cases combining a learning from home model with support from teachers and schools (Said et al, 2021). Formal learning, and with it the education system, has entered the home in a way that it has never done so previously. In this context, ‘the family more than ever constitutes a learning space, in which parents and caregivers act as primary guides to support their children’s learning at home’ (UNESCO, 2020b, p. 1). Unquestionably this ‘learning’ has gone beyond that of school subjects and given the intense space and time sharing that families have experienced, there is no doubt that the learning, re-learning and un-learning of multiple languages has also taken place at home among multilingual families. The family has always been a learning space and recognized as such in anthropology, language socialization studies and most prominently in family language policy studies (Schalley et al, 2020; Lanza & Lexander, 2019; Said & Hua, 2019; Gomes, 2018; Curdt-Christiansen & Lanza, 2018; Piller & Gerber, 2018; Fogle, 2012; 2013; King & Fogle, 2017; Okita, 2002). In the context of lockdowns or hybrid learning, everyday subtle qualities of the home environment, socio-affective factors of language learning and language socialization (Ochs & Schieffelin, 1984) become more pronounced.

This special issue therefore seeks to present a set of empirical papers that describe and chronicle the central role the family unit has played in the learning and use of multiple languages during the super-charged intense tempo-spatial home environment created by the pandemic restrictions. Families spent the most time together and this resulted in increased interaction and more joint activities than before the pandemic. Some excellent research has already taken place with findings emerging in short papers or media reports. These few studies have so far illustrated how the lockdown at home has offered (mostly) favourable conditions for the learning of home or heritage languages (HL) (Li Sheng et al, 2021; Afreen & Norton 2021; Escobar, 2020; Hardach, 2020). There is, however, a lack of research on how the lockdown may interfere with the dynamics of language shift or what the effects of languages of instructions entering the home in unprecedented ways may have had on HL learning. Families that did not speak the language of instruction in their homes for example were forced to speak it with their children in order to facilitate learning (see Chik & Benson, 2021 for a commentary). The volume seeks to explore the realities of private language planning, learning, and use within the home during this unique period of existence; and from that perspective, we ask the following questions:

1. How have the lockdown (and pandemic) conditions shaped family language policies?
2. How has the influx of English/ any other language into the home as a result of LMI (Language of medium of instruction) shaped the family’s use and learning of their home language(s)/heritage language(s)?
3. How have the pandemic conditions affected the home language learning and literacy learning environments?
4. What is the relationship between families’ (internal) language policies and those of the school’s (external)? How has this relationship affected the internal home language policies?
5. What roles have different family members taken on in the process of learning and re-learning languages during lockdown? In particular, what did we learn about the nature of child agency and language learning during the lockdown?
6. How has fatigue in attending to educational and other needs of children affected heritage or home language(s) learning efforts?
7. For families with access to technology, how has constant and easy access to digital content augmented the learning of language(s) in the home during the lockdown?

Papers are invited to answer one or more of the questions above or those related to the special issue’s theme with regards to the learning, re-learning and un-learning of languages within the home and among family members. We are interested in mixed methods approaches to data collection as well as descriptions of digital ethnography, other virtual methodologies, and creative data collection methods are particularly welcome. We are also eager to receive papers from different (and usually underreported) geographical and socio-economic contexts as well as varied and diverse family constellations.

Submission guidelines

Interested researchers should submit a 500-word proposal (with references) and a short 100-word author biography by 31^st January 2022. Submission of contributions should be written in English. Email submission is preferred and should be directed to the special issue editors at this email address: Fatma.Said@zu.ac.ae . Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by the 1^st March 2022.

Once accepted, full papers of no more than of 7,000 words, including all elements (title page, abstract, notes, references, tables, biographical statement, etc.) are due on 1^st June 2022. The style guideline of Multilingua should be followed: https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/MULT/html.

References

Afreen, A., & Norton, B. (2021). COVID-19 and heritage language learning. https://rscsrc.ca/sites/default/files/Publication%20%2367%20-%20EN%20-COVID19%20and%20Heritage%20Language%20Learning_0.pdf

Chik, A &., Benson, P. (2021). Commentary: Digital language and learning in the time of coronavirus. Linguistics and Education, Volume 62.

Curdt-Christiansen, X.L. &., E. Lanza. (2018). Language management in multilingual families: Efforts, measures and challenges. Multilingua 37 (2): 123-130.

Escobar, A. (2020).  From Tagalog to Korean, these Asian American families are using quarantine to learn their families’ languages. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asianamerica/tagalog-korean-these              asian-americans-are-using-quarantine-learn-theirn1239013

Hardach, S. (2020). In Quarantine children pick up parents’ mother tongues.              https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/parenting/family-second-language-coronavirus.html

Fogle, L.W. (2012). Second language socialization and learner agency: Adoptive family talk. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Fogle, L. W. (2013). Parental ethnotheories and family language policy in transnational adoptive families. Lang Policy 12: 83–102

Gomes, R. L. (2018). Family Language Policy Ten Years on: A Critical Approach to

Family Multilingualism. Multilingual Margins 5(2): 50–71.

King. K. A. &., L.W. Fogle. (2017). Family Language Policy. In Language Policy and Political Issues in   Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education edited by Teresa McCarty and Stephen May, 315      327. New York: Springer.

Lanza, E., & Lexander, K. V. (2019). Family Language Practices in Multilingual Transcultural Families.      In Montanari, S., & Quay, S. (eds.) Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Multilingualism (pp. 229-252). De          Gruyter Mouton.

Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. (1984). Language acquisition and socialization. Culture theory: Essays on mind, self, and emotion, 276-320.

Okita, T. (2002). “Invisible work: Bilingualism, language choice and childrearing in international families.” Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Piller, I. &., L. Gerber. (2018). Bilingual advantage and the monolingual mindset. International Journal of Bilingualism and bilingual education 25 (4), 424-438.  

Rubino, A. (2014). “Trilingual talk in Sicilian-Australian migrant families: Playing out identities through language alternation”. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Said, F.; Jaafarawi, N., & Dillon, A. (2021). Mothers’ accounts of attending to educational and everyday needs of their children at home during COVID-19: The case of the UAE. Social Sciences special Issue on Family,  Work and Welfare: A gender lens on COVID-19. Soc.Sci. 2021, 10, 141              https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10040141

Said, F., & Zhu, H. (2019). “No, no Maama! Say ‘Shaatir ya Ouledee Shaatir’!” Children’s agency in language use   and socialisation. International Journal of Bilingualism, 23(3), 771-785.

Schalley, Andrea C; Eisenchlas, Susana A. (2020). Handbook of Home Language Maintenance and  Development, De Gruyter Mouton

Sheng, L., Wang, D., Walsh, C., Heisler, L., Li, X., & Su, P. L. (2021). The bilingual home language boost through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 3012.

UNESCO (2020a). Education in a post-COVID world: Nine ideas for public action.              https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373717.

UNESCO (2020b). UNESCO COVID-19 Education Response – Education Sector issue notes no.23 April      2020 https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373512.

مشروع الثنائية اللغة في الخليج العربي

Gulf Arabic-English Bilingualism (GAEB)

الهدف من المشروع البحثي: التعرف على كيفية اكتساب الأطفال السعوديين والإماراتيين الصغار ثنائيي اللغة (العربية – الإنجليزية) للغتين خلال سن 3 إلى 4 سنوات.

نبحث عن: طفل سعودي (يعيش في مدينة جدة) أو إماراتي (يعيش في مدينة أبو ظبي أو العين) عمره 3 إلى 4 سنوات ويتعرض للغتين العربية والإنجليزية (مثال: التعرض للغتين معاً في المنزل، التعرض للغة في المنزل ولغة أخرى في المدرسة)

ماذا سيطلب مني؟

تعبئة استبانة قصيرة للتأكد من انطباق شروط العينة المستهدفة عليك  

في حال انطباق الشروط سيطلب منك التوقيع على نموذج موافقة على المشاركة (ويمكنك الانسحاب في أي وقت)

تعبئة استبانة تتضمن معلومات عن الطفل وبيئته 

تسجيل صوتي للغة طفلك باستخدام جهاز تسجيل خفيف الوزن يحمله الطفل في سترة خاصة (آمن للأطفال)، يتم التسجيل يوم واحد كل شهر لمدة 10 أشهر (الإجمالي 10 تسجيلات)

قياس المهارات اللغوية للطفل 3 مرات خلال مدة المشروع (في البداية، وفي المنتصف، وفي النهاية)

اللقاء عبر زووم مرة واحدة في نهاية المشروع للنقاش حول اكتساب طفلك للغة.

ماذا أستفيد من المشاركة؟

مشاركتك معنا ستساعدنا في الوصول لنتائج نرجو أن تسهم في زيادة فهم الوالدين والمربين والمعلمين وأطباء الأطفال وأخصائي النطق والتخاطب في منطقة الخليج العربي لطبيعة الاكتساب اللغوي في هذه المرحلة وبالتالي تحسين بيئة التنشئة اللغوية لثنائي اللغة وخدمات الرعاية المقدمة لهم.

ستمكنك من متابعة تطور طفلك اللغوي خلال فترة الدراسة 

وللتعبير عن امتنانا لمشاركتك وتقديراً لوقتك وجهدك سيحصل جميع المشاركين على جوائز تقدر قيمتها بـ 250 درهم لكل طفل من ضمنها اشتراكات في تطبيقات أطفال تعليمية عالية الجودة وكذلك سيحصل جميع الأطفال على مجموعة قصصية مجانية باللغتين العربية والإنجليزية، كما سيدخل جميع المشاركين في السحب على جائزتين كبرى (ايباد برو)، وسيتم تسليم الجوائز في نهاية المشروع بعد جمع البيانات.

انضم لنا الآن عبر التسجيل من خلال هذا الرابط:

GAEBproject@gmail.com:إذا كان لديك أي استفسار يرجى التواصل على 

الفريق البحثي: د. فاطمة سعيد – جامعة زايد   د. هيفاء الروقي – جامعة الملك عبدالعزيز    د. آلاء المحمدي – جامعة الملك عبدالعزيز   د. أريج بليلة – جامعة الملك عبدالعزيز، د. نادين جعفراوي – جامعة زايد

Don’t blame the child who doesn’t know “owl” in Arabic!

Recently I was sent a video clip by more than one person depicting a television host randomly asking young children (I would guess the eldest must have been 7 or 8) to name animals in Arabic. So he asks in Arabic, “what’s this?” and the children answer in English “crocodile”, “ladybug”, “owl” and so on. He then goes on to ask them, how do you “say it in Arabic?” and this is why the video has been shared so many times- the children don’t know a single one of those (nouns) words in Arabic, not one.

Of course the reactions to such a video are, “you see, oh my God! Arabic is dying”, or “Goodbye the Arabic language”, or “you see and they tell us it is not dying”, or “we’ve lost that’s it” and “look at these kids, they even speak with an American accent but can’t name anything in Arabic” on and on. For this reason I have not supplied the video here because in these situations people feel that it’s okay to criticise the children, well it is not! It is not their fault they were recorded, how do we know if they gave their permission, how do we know their parents know this video is being shared online? (I don’t want to get into the ethics of sharing things without permission, that will need to be another post). But if they do not know these words in Arabic then we cannot demonise them for that, it’s not their fault.

Also to those people who criticise the children and base their lamentations on the fact that the children could not name the animals are forgetting one thing. They are forgetting that the children understood everything the host said to them and they were able to communicate back in Arabic and say “I don’t know”, ” no, that one, I don’t know it in Arabic, only in English”. As a multilingual myself I can tell you that it is no easy feat to be able to construct a correct and meaningful sentence like that- and at their age. At no point did the host ask them to repeat themselves or say “huh? I don’t understand what you just said”. I don’t think children who have no Arabic or very weak Arabic would be able to say these things.

By no means am I playing down the seriousness of the fact that as children of their ages they should really know these common nouns. But what I am saying is that it is not as gloomy as we might think it is on the surface. In other words, if these children get a good grounding in Arabic over the next few years they will master it by the time they are teenagers. They will of course need the same level of good language teaching in English too since some countries (mainly outside Europe save the Far East) are introducing English earlier and earlier into the curriculum. The children therefore need to, and I have said this here on this blog before, master two languages- and do so well. It is not impossible and as long as both school and home provide the correct input the child will develop at the same pace as a monolingual child. But where the input is not correct (not being prescriptivist here but a certain standard of language is needed) the child will fail to master language and in some cases both languages. Countries such as Denmark and others prefer to introduce English to their children at the age of 9 (there is variation with some starting at 8 whilst others wait until 11). So there are a number of models when it comes to providing children access to more than one language at the state level (National Language Planning). Each is valid and each has a methodology which supports it to make it work for the children because they are after all the future of the country. So each country, community or education system must find a way that suits their students (and please none of that copy & paste business!) and enact it well offering support where needed.

The parents must make a choice in how they wish, among the other millions of things they have to think about, their children to learn language. In the work I do we refer to this as family language policy (see also the post before this one), where parents or a parent decide on the languages used within the home, outside the home and how they wish to support those. A great number of research is showing that the family is the centre of the well-being of the child and this also includes the child’s linguistic development. Parents (if they want their children to master Arabic) should be prepared to practically work towards it. It is not enough to buy DVDs or books, they must read to the child, listen to the CDs/DVDs (and explain to the child) and importantly talk to the child in Arabic (any form of Arabic).

I came across a very interesting article in the New York Times this week, that explores the fight to save Catalan in Alghero (a beautiful city north of Sardinia). What struck me when reading the article was what Sara Alivesi (a journalist for the only online newspaper in Catalan) said that, “You can organize conferences, publish books and do many other things, but speaking is the only thing that really keeps a language alive”. It makes sense. Of course it does. Speaking is the only way to transmit the language (any language) to the next generation as we know from the language maintenance literature. So if we expect young children to know nouns for everything, we must ensure that we teach them well and use these words when speaking to them. These things need time and consciousness at a certain level and in the situation where the language is in competition with another stronger one, well the parents have to work harder.

Parents reading with their children is a great way of helping them learn words and reinforce meanings, both direct and indirect. Yes, Arabic is in a uniquely difficult situation but with careful planning and a conscious drive and motivation from parents it cannot only survive but thrive alongside English.

————

References 

What role does the family play in the transmission of Arabic?

Or do we just continue to criticise Arabic teaching materials, the lack of context in those materials, their out-datedness, their difficulty and the fact that Arabic is a diglossic language? Do we blame the internet, the satellite TV for spreading the spoken varieties or the younger generation for preferring English? But did we ever consider that the family, the home and environment in which the child is raised and socialised in, may play an important part in the child’s acquisition and development of their Arabic? By constantly criticising every part of the child’s society outside the home, are we taking responsibility away from parents and family members? 

The learning of language and its subsequent development in children, as I am learning through my research, does not actually depend on the outside world. It depends first and foremost on the parents, the choices they make, what they think about the languages they speak, and what type of home environment they create for their children. This environment will either support or hinder the children’s ability to learn language and to use it well (see my paper here on the functions of multiple languages in an Arabic multilingual family) and in the case of multilingual families- it is a space for the children to explore more than one language. To learn expressions in that language and to understand the differences between their languages.

If we are to think really seriously about how young children of Arab heritage are going to master and speak Arabic in a globalised world (the issues Arab parents face in English majority speaking countries are similar to those parents face in some Arabic speaking countries) then the role the family plays must really be considered. It is true that children spend so many hours in school in any given day, but I always ask, well what happened in the 5-7 years before they entered school? What type of Arabic were they exposed to? And because parents know their child will then need to now learn Standard Arabic once they start school, well what kind of preparations were made to ensure the child was ready for this?

The discussion must shift away from blaming the system, the books (or lack thereof), the media and so on. Parents need to examine how they are deciding to help their children learn and develop the Arabic language in such a fashion that they will become proficient in it, be able to adjust throughout their education system until they are comfortable to use it. There is nothing wrong with using English, with Arabic and maybe even some French and Spanish. But in order to arrive at such a situation individual families need to take responsibility, find support systems/networks and decide what they need to do in order for their children to speak Arabic.

While researching this idea of how beliefs (or what we refer to in sociolinguistics as language ideologies) I was stunned that every time I interview (many) parents they declare their devotion to the Arabic language and how they want their children to learn Arabic not just for religion or culture but for important things like emotion and expressions that don’t have English substitutes. But then when I go along and observe these families in real-time interaction I see none of their ideas implemented. It is not a strange occurrence, often speakers are not aware that their (linguistic) actions contradict their declared beliefs. Simply, there must be an awareness of ideology about language and actual language practice taking place at home if parents want to make a difference.

In all, the family has a role to play in the language learning of their children especially if they live in a setting where their language is not necessarily supported by all parts of their (social) life (e.g. education, work and media). I am not saying that the school, media, poor language books and teaching do not influence or fail to improve the child’s Arabic abilities; all I am saying is- what about the role the family can play in all this?

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If you have a few moments and you are a bilingual Arabic speaker please kindly fill out my questionnaire, more info here. Thank you!

“Scorching hot like the heat of the sun on stone!” The etymology of the word ‘Ramadan’

And so it’s that time of year again! Enjoy……

Arabizi- اللغة العربية

It is that time of the year again. It is Ramadan, the month of fasting. And once again I re-blog here the post in which I discussed the meaning of the word previously.  I asked “what does the actual word ‘Ramadan’ mean?” Looking through Lisaan al Arab (by Ibn Mandhuur) I was able to appreciate the intricacy of the word, how it relates to other words and more importantly how it relates to fasting and that left me amazed.

The word Ramadan, like many other Arabic words based on a three-letter-root template, is derived from ‘Ra-Ma-Da’ which means ” to be scorching hot” (notice that I have made all root letters bold, so we can see the root even in different derivations). How hot? Well Ibn Mandhuur was specific and made sure to describe it, as hot “as the scorching heat on stone under…

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Please take part in my survey for Arabic-speaking bilinguals

Are you an Arabic speaker who also speaks other languages? If so, I would be very grateful if you took part in my survey for Arabic-speaking bilinguals. It is an in-depth survey that aims to understand how you as a bilingual learned your languages, what you think about those languages and how you use them in your everyday life (see more  details here).

This questionnaire is very important because it is the first of its kind to ask for such detail specifically to speakers of the Arabic language. I piloted the questionnaire last month and it is now ready to be completed. I made changes based on the suggestions offered to me by some wonderful volunteers who agreed to pilot it and spent a lot of time completing the questionnaire and filling out a detailed form with constructive feedback.

I have been given permission by the University of York to conduct this survey and I have all the ethical clearance required for this. If you would like to take part in this questionnaire please do so through this link (this can only be used once per person it has been programmed that way):

https://york.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5ckZHrOL1PUARIV

Note: Once you start the survey you have 48 hours to complete it before it permanently deletes itself. 

 

thank you,

Fatma Said

 

“The learner is able to “breathe” the culture in almost every page”: The need for effective Arabic teaching materials

The importance of good teaching material in Arabic cannot be overstated if future generations are going to (proficiently) learn and use the Arabic language well. It is without doubt an imperative that we have good materials (and of course teachers) such that can support the excellent teachers out there working hard to find resources in order to creatively teach the language. What do I mean by good materials? I mean books, textbooks, worksheets and online provisions that support student learning of this (ancient majestic) language who live and have grown up in a modern fast-paced era that we live in today. I do not need to lament (again) over the sorry state of some current Arabic curricula, especially for native Arabic speakers, that fills the classrooms around the world. There is a clear consensus by teachers, educators and policy makers that something needs to be done about these materials and I have written about these previously here on the blog.

In this post, I put up the text of an interview I conducted with Laila Familiar at New York University at Abu Dhabi who specialises in the design and development of instructional materials for Arabic as a Foreign Language. She is project manager of Khallina, a website dedicated to the teaching and learning of Arab culture(s) through open source audiovisuals. She is also the editor of Sayyidi wa Habibi (2013) and Saaq al-Bambuu (forthcoming 2016) for learners of Arabic, and the translator of La Tía Safeyya y el Monasterio (2000), a novel by Egyptian author Bahaa Taher.

I was initially attracted to the website, not just because of the playful title, but the bringing together of culture and language learning at the same time. I was intrigued because of the resources available online and the variety of material available on the website. Scholars in the field of anthropology, child development and linguistics acknowledge that when children acquire language they also simultaneously acquire the cultural rules (culture) of that/those language(s). This is known as language socialisation and is one the main frameworks I use for my research when investigating how parents and families teach and transmit Arabic to the next generation (see work by Elinor Ochs and Bambi Schieffelin (1984) an excellent introduction).   So to combine the learning of culture and that of language, even at this late or rather superficial level, I think may make a difference so that students better understand the relationship between Arab culture and the language. If conducted well this can be seen as second or secondary socialisation, whereby these cultural and linguistic norms are learned after one’s first language socialisation. Why is this a good thing? The process of acquiring the language is easier if the student can have access to the culture and cultural significance(s) behind words and expressions. With access to culture and cultural keywords, phrases or concepts sometimes the vocabulary is remembered (retained) better, as are sentence structures, and the ability for the student to at least attempt speaking in the target language (the language they are learning). Below is the interview in which I ask Laila general questions, some background information about Khallina and then we talk about the actual teaching of Arabic

1. Tell me a bit about Khallina, and why it was set up?

Khallina was born from realizing that mainstream Arabic textbooks do not address current Arab cultural trends in a way that can keep learners engaged. Nowadays, students constantly use the Internet and watch videos online. So I wanted to create a learning tool that could be attractive to students and that could be easily updated and adapted. One of the things I most like about Khallina is that it showcases authentic Arab cultural manifestations, and that videos and worksheets are constantly updated.

2. Tell me about yourself and your work in Arabic language/culture please.

I have been teaching Arabic as a foreign language for 15 years, and before that I taught Spanish for some years too. One of the things that surprised me when I did my transition into the Arabic classroom, is the type of teaching materials available to the instructor and the learner. When you compare the Arabic resources to those available in European languages, you find an important gap at many levels. Their textbooks are usually loaded with cultural input, the learner is able to “breathe” the culture in almost every page. When I say culture I refer to what is known as the big C Culture and the small c culture. In Arabic textbooks the focus is usually on the classical side of the big C; we like to highlight important figures and works from the Middle Ages. On the contrary, modern and contemporary fine arts, literature, or music are not usually addressed. With regards to the small c, Arabic textbooks offer some “formal” aspects like basic greetings and social expressions. But most concepts related to the realm of the small c (body language, humour, hobbies, behaviour, dialect, etc), is left to the teacher because this has more to do with teaching the colloquial register of the language. The small c is a concept in constant change, so it makes it harder for printed textbooks to keep up with up-to-date cultural input.

3. Why do you think it is important for learners of Arabic to also learn about the Arab culture?

I think culture is a great tool to keep learners hooked to Arabic, it brings them closer to the people and it humanises everything surrounding the Arab culture. A student cannot only interact with Arabs to only talk about politics and current events, they need to be able to perform other social tasks and engage in various daily life situations, like watching a soccer game or eating together, talking about the Arts, singing, etc.

4. So how would Khallina benefit me, if I were a teacher or student?

If you are a teacher, Khallina offers you ready-made teaching materials to take into the classroom. You just need to select the proficiency level that best represents your students, and select a cultural topic that interests them. Each module comes with a detailed Lesson Plan (placed under the Teacher Portal) that explains the cultural objectives and how to use the videos and materials posted under each module. What I like about Khallina is that, by offering several topics at the same level, decisions can be taken collaboratively with students.

If you are an independent learner, Khallina is a window into the Arab culture(s), even if you don’t know much Arabic; and it can contribute to having richer and more fulfilling interactions with Arabs.

5. How did you choose which materials to include and why that specific material?

In the year 2011 we conducted a survey among Arabic students in several US universities. We received over 200 responses from learners at different proficiency levels to know what aspects of the Arab culture they are interested in. The results were fascinating and the themes you currently see on Khallina reflect real students’ interests. Currently we are developing new content based on the same principle. We have for example two Modules coming out soon, one about Egyptian humourist Bassem Youssef (Advanced level) and another one on Empowering Women (Intermediate level).

6. Do you think students learning Arabic should also be familiar with Arabic dialects?

Absolutely. Not only to interact effectively with Arabs, but to understand their culture. As we know, language and culture go hand in hand. In fact, many cultural manifestations and practices require a linguistic engagement that most of the time happens in dialect. Depriving students of Arabic of learning a dialect is like teaching a person to swim using only one arm.

7. Do you advocate the writing of dialect? If so why?

Instructors should not be advocates for dialects over Modern Standard Arabic, or vice versa. Our job is to show students how language is being used, not how we WANT it to be used. Arabs write sometimes in dialect, so we must expose our students to that from the beginning. The best one can do is to teach descriptively, not prescriptively.

8. Is it correct to assume that the website acts to provide some kind of cultural experience and language use especially for those students not able to travel to the Middle East?

It certainly helps bringing the Arab world closer to the learner. Unfortunately, most Arabic students drop out after their first semester or year of Arabic; and many others don’t have the opportunity to travel to an Arab country until years later. Culture is one of those things that stays inside you for a long time; maybe forever. You may not remember how to say “I miss you” in the foreign language you studied, but you will always remember a song or a social tradition you saw, even if it was once.

9. How do you see the future of Arabic teaching and learning?

On one hand, the teaching and learning of foreign languages is moving fast towards incorporating technology and online tools, and Arabic is no exception. Apps are being developed, online platforms to connect learners with instructors or native speakers around the globe, websites with fresh learning material; this is already happening in Arabic. Of course, the existence of these apps and tools does not always guarantee quality, but it reflects the need and necessity of developing resources tailored to the needs of different types of learners. The challenge for developers is how to update and adapt themselves to the market’s demands, especially if you are going to charge for the service.

On the other hand, new textbooks and approaches are being developed and published every year although, unfortunately, some are poorly designed and produced. Most Arabic practitioners see the need to explore new paths and move in a new direction that can teach authentic language while providing a well-rounded knowledge of Arab culture, but the real issue is that we still haven’t connected research-based language acquisition theory to the development of teaching materials. There is a clear mismatch between applied linguistics research and textbooks, but some efforts are starting to surface. Corpus Linguistics, for example, is emerging as an essential tool in providing authentic linguistic input especially when it comes to learning vocabulary, and it is essential that we apply these tools if we want to produce quality teaching materials that can help produce learners who are capable of communicating effectively. One final aspect that is worth mentioning is the visuals; most books available today in the market lack the necessary appeal to attract students of Arabic (the consumers). The future lies, then, in purposeful collaborations between material designers, researchers and publishers.

—-end

This interview raised a number of issues for me, most notably, the obvious weakness in current Arabic teaching materials: the failure to apply theories of language acquisition to the teaching of Arabic. It doesn’t mean all theories should be adopted because knowledge is ever-evolving and one theory that may be seen as acceptable today may change tomorrow. But the point is: adapt some theory and try it out on students and keep tailoring it until it works. I would of course be ignorant if I said that (proper) learning of Arabic falls solely on the teacher, schools and textbooks. It does not; the home and society also play a huge role especially in attitudes towards language. However the school does occupy an important role in the formal learning of language.

I personally think that because the Arabic language is closely connected to the Qur’an and the great canon of Arabic literature it has created speakers and learners who are constantly in awe of the language. Instead of turning this “awe” into something effective when it comes to teaching and transmitting the language, people seem stuck. This makes teaching Arabic even harder for teachers especially in modern times where the Arabic language is no longer the language of power that it used to be. There is a battle between preserving what is beautiful and unique about the Arabic language and actually effectively teaching the Arabic language. Currently the state of curricula, including by the way some of the technological material, is not up to standard and fails both the native speaker and the non-native speaker student. We need more materials and platforms like Khallina and as Laila said more collaborations between interested parties. This is very important for the future of the Arabic language. Not wanting to make this post any longer, it is also important that parents, families and society check their language attitudes towards the Arabic language because that may have a foundational role to play in all this.

I would like to thank Laila again for taking time out of her busy schedule to do this interview with me. I am sure Khallina will grow from strength to strength and offer the much-needed culturally-rich Arabic teaching material which most of the Arabic curricula currently lack.

 

 

 

(Note: Once again I have not been paid to promote this website by Khallina)

Efforts to ensure proper transmission of Arabic continue

The efforts to save, preserve, promote, transmit, and teach Arabic in the Gulf countries continues into 2016. In January the WORAL (World Organisation for Renaissance of Arabic Language) met in Qatar to discuss how Arabic speaking countries and scholars can work harder to ensure that younger generations of Arabic speakers get the best opportunity to properly learn their language.

In her keynote speech Sheikha Moza, the chairperson of the Qatar Foundation outlined a number of ways in which she believes that the Arabic language can be better transmitted to the next generation and hence firmly preserved:

1. The “proper” use of technology: I like this one very much actually because instead of criticising technology, she advocates that it be embraced but used to its full potential and in this case to support the Arabic language. This is similar to other efforts across the region to use technology as one effective way of teaching Arabic to children without making it feel as if it is a burden (I will be writing a separate post about technology and language learning).
2. The simplification of the Arabic curriculum as it currently stands: Yes please, a simplification is needed, I have said before that much of the curriculum on Arabic depends on rote teaching methods or the learning of texts that can never truly benefit a child of today. I am not against the learning and mastering of old important canonical texts, poetry and writings I just think these things can be better planned and distributed across the Arabic language education of a child (spanning over their years of education). We need those old texts because they add a rich context to language learning and in some cases they assist the student to remember grammar rules or certain complex syntactic structures. With much research on language acquisition (both first language, second language, and now increasingly heritage language acquisition) there is no excuse not to implement some of those findings into the education curriculum (especially) because of our globalised world today. By compartmentalising different aspects of the Arabic language and teaching those aspects at different stages (and ages) whilst taking into account the fact that children are constantly exposed to other languages and dialects, perhaps there will be a better chance for them to master Arabic- just not the way their parents did!
3. The absolute use of Standard Arabic by experts and academics on television: Actually the suggestion was to “force” television programmes to use Standard Arabic, which can be a very hard goal to attain especially if television producers and writers should have a choice of what language(s) their programmes air in. If this rule is imposed and adhered to, it means that anybody appearing on television interviews or the like will have to speak in formal Arabic. A form they do not use in their everyday communication, for some people it may be hard and for others it may be inauthentic. To implement these laws is always so difficult because some speakers will interpret that as a way of controlling how they speak and perhaps even what they (should) mean. Some have suggested that different genres of TV should be required to use different types of Arabic (as I think they do so now), so news, documentaries and the like should use FuSHa (Standard Arabic. Whereas, other shows could be free to use a form of Standard Arabic but mix it with Spoken Arabic.
4. The coming together of scholars, intellectuals, and other important figures to promote the use of the Arabic language: Anyone who works in language revitalisation, language planning or language curriculum planning would agree with this. It isn’t just the coming together, there has to be some unification and uniformity in the decisions that are made. Difference of opinion in grammar is not a bad thing and anyone who has studied Arabic enough knows that there have always been opinions and camps when it comes to Arabic grammar. But in all that difference of opinion there was a uniformity which is perhaps missing today. The other factor to think about is that globalisation and technology have definitely played a huge role in changing the way native speakers learn Arabic today. Arabic was once the language of enlightenment and technology of the day and so native speakers of Arabic, like native speakers of English today, did not have to work hard to learn the language. It was everywhere, it was the language everyone learned in order to access knowledge. Today the language of education and technology is English, and so speakers of Arabic have to learn English in order to access that knowledge. The challenge therefore is to strike a balance between learning English for advancement and contribution to the world and mastering their mother tongue the Arabic language. The Arabic language which carries the rich, complex and fascinating culture and world view of their forefathers. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.

The WORAL also held workshops and talks covering the following topics: Realities of the Arab Child’s Linguistic Upbringing’; ‘The Effects of Children’s Exposure to Current Arabic Media Content’; and ‘Alternatives to Develop the Arab Child’s Linguistic Future’.  Through four interactive workshops — ‘The Development of Arabic Language Skills for Children’; ‘Creative Writing for Children’; ‘Children’s Programmes on Radio and Television’; and ‘Modern Techniques to Enhance Children’s Use of the Arabic Language’. The even organisers confirm that 300 leading language experts met to discuss these issues and find a way forward. I am in the process of trying to get hold of the report or any written notes from the conference.

Qatar has also implemented some of what it has been saying for the last few years. That Arabic needs to become a language of academia if it is to be preserved, but importantly if it is to make important contributions to knowledge and learning. They did this in two ways: first by improving the Arabic language program at Qatar University and raising the points (grades) which a student needs in order to study an Arabic language degree. Their argument is that if the bar is raised for Arabic language, that will push high schools and colleges to better prepare their students for the degree. In turn this will create a shift in how Arabic is taught in schools in the pre-university stage. They aim to change the way Arabic language is socially viewed because in many Arabic speaking countries students’ university studies are determined by their final high school/college marks. The very brilliant students can go into the sciences, engineering and medicine, and those who do not do well have no choice but to go into Arabic language or Islamic studies! And very few end up in humanities (that’s a topic for another post). This then creates a social ideology about the Arabic language- mastering it is only for those who can’t do sciences, those who cannot think deeply or process complex ideas.

The second thing Qatar has done to combat this ideology and the way Arabic language is viewed is through the opening of the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. A state-of-the-art university that primarily teaches in Arabic the following subjects: history, Arabic language and linguistics, media and cultural studies, philosophy and others soon to be added. They emphasise that students need to have a high proficiency of Arabic as well as English. They intend to publish papers, books and journals in Arabic and to make it a research-itensive university on an international level. This way they hope the Arabic language can not only be present in academia but that through the use of Arabic for technical subjects new ‘Arabised’ words can be created. This will put an end to transliterating words from English or French, and instead it will allow for agreed upon Arabic terminology (of course it will still be based on the original English or French). Thus making the Arabic language very relevant in academia and knowledge therefore cementing its future in the lives of native Arabic speakers (I will write more about the institute as I learn about it). It is ambitious but at least they are putting their talk to the test by walking it!

The deterioration in the proficiency of the Arabic language among native speaking children has been a topic of concern among Arabic teachers, educators and policy makers for a while, but the last 5 years has seen an increase in that concern. The steps that Qatar is taking now are based on those concerns, the only question is- will these steps be effective?

Sources:

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/qatar/366681/renaissance-of-arabic-language-forum-from-wednesday/

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/qatar/qatar-to-host-arabic-language-renaissance-forum-1.1656068/

http://www.gulf-times.com/story/475962/Call-to-protect-and-preserve-the-Arabic-language/

http://www.qna.org.qa/en-us/News/16012015090048/The-Second-Renaissance-of-Arabic-Language-Forum-Kicks-Off/

Doha Institute for Graduate Studies prepares to open this fall

A review of Arabic in 2015

A belated Happy New Year to everyone, hoping that 2016 will be a great year for everyone around the world. I would also like to welcome new readers and thank you to a number of readers for all the wonderful comments sent via email, I appreciate those- they encourage me to keep sharing my ideas here.

So what was 2015 like for the Arabic language especially in ‘Arabic-speaking’ countries?

1. Sesame Street in Arabic was re-launched after a 25 year absence.  This was met with much excitement and anticipation for those who used to watch it and for parents who wish for their children to be exposed to Standard Arabic in a fun and modern way.  Standard Arabic is used consistently throughout the show, which runs for 30 minutes, broken into different segments.  The different characters encourage learning, discovery, they share their love and enjoyment for reading (in each episode a story (using a picture book) is read to the audience) among other things. I have also watched one or two episodes for the first time which seem great, but I may perhaps be able to give a better overview once I have seen more episodes (which I hope to do). It’s a good way of teaching Arabic indirectly and informally which may perhaps assist schools to help children better their Arabic. The biggest benefit I saw right away was the vocabulary size in each episode and the emphasis of case endings of each of the words (it might also be a good resource for Arabic language students). Watch an episode here. 
2. 2016 was announced to be the year of reading in the UAE: An interesting initiative that aims to tackle poor reading in the Middle East/UAE and to improve Arabic (reading) comprehension was launched. The idea is to encourage children to explore knowledge (and the world) outside the classroom through reading for fun and out of choice. The hope is that the launching of this idea will foster a love of reading in children and encourage them to do so more frequently. The second intention is to encourage children to read in Arabic (this is much harder to achieve given the current levels of Arabic proficiency in the UAE and in some other Arabic speaking countries) and further improve their reading proficiency in general (reading is a learned skill after all!). I think this might work if there is support in place for children to do this, and I am sure this will also allow Arabic publishing houses to publish more books in Arabic. More demand will force a bigger supply and hopefully this will allow Arabic publishing houses to be creative, innovative and operate in their own unique way. Without doubt Arabic publishing houses can only develop and become reliable producers of books if readers read, it’s that simple. 
3. Fears over the future of Arabic were raised again: This is in the context of the UAE or other Gulf countries, of course these fears are present at different levels in different Arabic speaking countries. For example an article written in The National back in March, titled: Arabic at risk of becoming foreign language in the UAE. This worry was prompted by the fact that many teachers (over the years) have reported that their students are not fluent in Arabic, and that eventually that may lead to a shift or loss of Arabic. The article also raises an important issue, which I sometimes discuss here, and that is the need to make Arabic language classes more creative, fun, up to date and functionally effective in teaching students a language. A second article More must be done to preserve Arabic (Nov, 2015) calls for not only the teaching of Standard Arabic but also that of Emarati Spoken Arabic. I like the idea that people living in the UAE (or any other Arabic speaking country) should be able to learn the local dialect in a formal setting, like learning any other language. It is effective, useful and it allows non-Arabic speakers to interact with native speakers as well as other non-Arabic speakers. The result? Well, aside from creative language use Emarati Arabic will be actively spoken in public. A note on the use of the word ‘preservation’, it is more ideological than real (I think) because we usually speak of preserving a dying language, it is hard for me to say Arabic is a dying language. But the panic and anxiety is real and Arabic can only become effective or seem more alive (in some countries) if people converse and communicate in Arabic, an Arabic they feel expresses them, not a form of Arabic imposed by laws.
4. Talking of laws, in Qatar (Jan 2015) there is a law in the making that intends to make it an offence to speak Arabic incorrectly-I quote from the article: “The draft law would discourage mixing of Arabic with any other language and its use in public — in educational institutions, business establishments and offices, service institutions and the media. Shops and business establishments would need to pay special attention since signboards and letterheads used by them would have to use impeccable Arabic. The organisation feels that the Arabic spoken by many in Qatar is not proper, so there is a need to take corrective measures, and hence the draft law.The prestige of the Arabic language is to be maintained at any cost so that people feel proud of it, and the draft legislation aims at that”. Can you control how people speak? My sociolinguist self is telling me no, especially not multilingual (those who speak more than one language) speakers. Socially it would be almost impossible to police this, but maybe in institutions and the media it may be easier (as is the case in some other countries). The idea that signboards and letterheads should also be correct is a good idea and that can also be monitored. But to monitor speakers is not realistic and will only push people with poor Arabic proficiency not to improve their reading and writing skills. I don’t know what data they are using to say that people in Qatar have bad Arabic, it is also unclear how they will ensure the law is implemented and what sanctions will be handed out to those who defy the laws.
5. In September the Qatar Foundation published a list of English-Arabic biological terms, in an effort to realise their intention of making Arabic a language of learning. Their vision is that one day Arabic speakers should be able to go to university and not only be taught in Arabic (in some classes alongside English of course) but also write (competently) in Arabic. They identified a need for the formulation, standardisation and recognition of ‘Academic Arabic’ a form of academic writing that should not need to use English words for expert terms (but should have good Arabic equivalents that go beyond transliterations). This coincides with the opening of a university in Doha that offers courses in Arabic and asks students to supply not only their TEFL (English) scores but also Arabic ones in an effort to raise standards of the Arabic language. It would be very interesting to see the outcome of this initiative and see its effectiveness, I think the fact that they are not against English is refreshing. Most Arabic bodies or revival committees always blame English or dream of an English-free world, but that is unrealistic and it usually results in unattainable initiatives and ideas. Let’s see how this initiative pans out, I’ll be watching carefully and if I am lucky enough I can interview someone about it. 

Those were the stories that caught my attention as I was going through my file of saved articles in 2015. It seems to me that anxiety over the future of Arabic in Arabic speaking countries will linger for a while until educators, teachers, parents, children, and speakers themselves decide what they wish to do with/or for their language. Parents blame teachers for poor proficiency, teachers blame parents, parents blame children, others blame technology and globalisation and it goes on and on. But essentially it is only the individual Arabic speaker and/or together with their family who can make a difference. Let’s hope 2016 will be as exciting, I already have 2 posts in draft, thanks for reading.

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Sources:

Iftah ya simsim (Sesame Street): http://iftahyasimsim.com/main_activities.html

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/20150301/special-report-arabic-at-risk-of-becoming-foreign-language-in-uae

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/more-must-be-done-to-preserve-arabic-uae-experts-say

Law to prohibit bad Arabic in Qatar: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/qatar/318801/mind-your-bad-arabic

Reading initiative:  http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/government/uae-declares-2016-as-year-of-reading-1.1631695

http://www.uaecabinet.ae/en/details/news/mohammed-bin-rashid-on-presidents-directives-2016-is-uae-reading-year

Publication of Arabic terms: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/qatar/353226/glossary-of-english-arabic-biological-terms-released

It is not enough to modernise Arabic teaching materials- their content matters too

The most common complaint about Arabic teaching materials is that they are out dated and do not reflect the real world in which the student lives in. And the poor quality of materials is often claimed to be the reason why students fail to acquire Arabic to the desired levels (especially native speaking Arabic students). I was sceptical about that for a while because as an Arabic teacher myself I knew, as any teacher would, that the teaching materials are just half of the equation to a successful language teaching lesson, the other half depends on the teachers’ qualities of creativity, enthusiasm and his/her general ability to convince the student to learn. A teacher who is passionate about their subject will almost always attract the attention of the student and over time the student will realise the teacher’s efforts and learn the subject well. I am sure we all had that teacher whose passion for their subject influenced us in one way or another, and that it was those lessons that we not only enjoyed but excelled in.

The teaching of Arabic is no different, and as a secondary school teacher I never used only one book I mixed maybe 4 or 5 separate curricula and made some materials myself. This I found, apart from taking up all of my summer and being a welcome distraction from my then-MA thesis, changed the Arabic class from monotone-like, boring, repetitive, and often predictable lessons of the previous year into lessons that kept the students excited. A new wave of interaction, questions and creativity crept into the Arabic class and I was motivated even more to teach the subject.

But, what I realised (over time and through observing other classes) was that the content of the materials mattered for real language learning to take place, it wasn’t enough to have it on flashcards, or on online specially designed online platforms I had made. Nor was it enough that each week one of my lessons was a “free class” where students came in and taught one another something great they had learned in Arabic from the previous week. It was all great, not to mention the crazy amount of work and preparation I had to do, but I always felt as if it was not enough. I felt that in addition to all of the above the material had to also challenge students to think deeply about the way they used language. Of course I do not mean 5 or 6 year olds but 8, 9, 10 and secondary school students (especially native speakers of Arabic) deserve material that challenges their thinking.

So although it is the teachers’ passion and creativity that plays a big role in the teaching of Arabic, I have come to see that the content of the material is also important (I probably will always think about this). Content that not every teacher will have the time or the knowledge to think up independently in addition to their other teaching or non-teaching duties. Therefore, the Arabic curricula, or book or teaching material designers and printers need to produce high level materials in Arabic. It would be great if they consulted Arabic teachers in the process.

I will give one example, for fear of this post becoming too long, that of comprehension and in particular the question section. Traditionally, most Arabic language books (the ones I have seen) have a very simple method through which to test a students comprehension of a text. So it will be something like (I am making these examples up):

“Why did the man go to the big house?”  The expected/acceptable answer would be: “The man went to the house to get his coat” and this answer would be deemed correct because the student has shown understanding and most probably an ability to conjugate verbs. The questions move on to other aspects of the text with the intention of making sure the student has understood the semantic (meaning) content of the story or lesson. Which is absolutely fine and great- but as a starting point. My quarrel is that the questions are always so simplistic and  never go beyond that starting point. The questions never really fully challenge the student to use all their vocabulary or structures to answer a question. Can you imagine challenging a student so that they go beyond the simple answers, words, structures, synonyms, can you imagine pushing the student to think in Arabic at a higher level? I know there are improvements being made all the time to Arabic materials, but more needs to be done for both native and non-native learners of Arabic. Well, this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently and thought I’d share it with others…thanks for reading and as always any ideas are welcome.

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The following links maybe of useful to anyone who has an interest in Arabic as a medium of instruction at schools, it’s taken from the ever-exciting blog by Lameen Souag:

http://lughat.blogspot.fr/2015/08/algerian-arabic-in-schools-more-smoke.html

http://lughat.blogspot.fr/2015/08/algerian-arabic-in-schools-actions.html

http://lughat.blogspot.fr/2015/08/teaching-in-dardja-before-colonial-rule.html