Advanced Arabic I

Course details

In this two-semester sequence, learners will be introduced to authentic, unedited Arabic language materials ranging from short stories and poems to newspaper articles dealing with social, political and cultural issues. Emphasis will be on developing fluency in oral expression through discussions of issues presented in the reading and listening selections. There will be more focus on the development of nativelike pronunciation and accurate use of grammatical structures than in the previous four courses. A primary objective of the course is the development of the writing skill through free composition exercises in topics of interest to individual students.

This course starts where Arabic 2b leaves off and continues the development of the four language skills and grammar foundation using 9 themes, some new and some introduced in previous courses but are presented here at a more challenging level (refer to the table of contents in the textbook).

The student who successfully completes this two-course sequence have mastered over 1400 new words and will be able, within context of the 18 new and recycled themes covered in the first half of the textbook (refer to the table of contents), to: 1) understand and actively participate in conversations, 2) read and understand, with the help of a short list of words, authentic, unedited passages of up to 370 words, and 3) discuss orally in class and write a 300-word paragraph in Arabic with fewer grammatical errors than in Arabic 2b.

The successful student will also have mastered the following grammar topics, in addition to consolidating mastery of the grammar foundation introduced in Arabic 1 and 2: the moods of the imperfect verb, the accusative of the absolute (al-maf'uul al-muTlaq), the use of the passive voice, the passive participle and tamma+the verbal noun, the use of maa & illaa, verb Form IX, the use of iyyaa, circumstantial clauses, the case in dual nouns and adjectives, the use of maa and an after qabl and ba'd, distinguishing of 'inna, 'anna, 'in, and 'an, difference between Shami and FuSHa with respect to the construct, the five nouns, the sisters of kaana, conditional sentences, better mastery of the case system, particularly instances affecting the shape of words ('abuu/'abii, more uses of the accusative case), more practice with equational sentences, adjective-noun phrases, and the construct, nominal and verbal sentences, different types of connectors, verbal nouns derived from weak roots, relative pronouns, deletion of the nuun in iDaafa constructions, the maa of wonder (maa al-ta'ajjub), and exceptional noun derivations.

The two-course sequence aims to take the student from the Advanced Mid to the Advanced High level according to the ACTFL proficiency guidelines.