CEFR and TAFL

Hi, Nadim.

In my opinion, there is no way to teach Arabic according to CEFR without teaching a dialect, then MSA, from the very beginning, so that a basic user (A1) "can understand everyday expressions aimed at the satisfaction of simple needs" as well as "write a short simple postcard"; and no better way to do this than following the integrated approach, which Al-Kitaab, as far as I know, does not do, however much spoken varieties it may include. Actually, at least in its first editions, students are taught to talk about the same subjects first in MSA, then in Egyptian Arabic, as if they were interchangeable, when they are supposed to complement, not duplicate, each other, as Munther Younes has pointed out (The Integrated Approach to Arabic Instruction, 2015, p. 55).

So yes, I couldn't agree more: it is not CEFR what is at issue, but whether we are willing and able to get over "the MSA fiction", as a colleague of mine has called it, in order to conform to the framework and, what is more, to better serve our students.

Ahlan ya Nadim, تشرفنا

I think it will be very good to try the integrated Approach in teaching in the new academic year, reflect on its use and share with us your thoughts.

One of the things that I really admire about the IA is its courage in exposing the learners to the reality of variation in Arabic from the beginning. This is a reality that the traditional approaches have not been honest about or neglected for various reasons. The limitation that I see in the IA - and I could be wrong in this - is its limitation to one spoken dialect.

Nadim, I still teach mostly MSA only (but that's not my decision though). I used to feel that same sense of guiltiness that you mentioned, but i don't feel it as much now since I started incorporating elements of cross-dialectal exposure into my teaching of level 1 (A1 and part of A2). Meaning that I frequently tell and expose the students to the dialectal variation that exists in the urban regions of the Arab world. E.g. when we do the basic question and answer of "How are you?" "I'm fine". I introduce different ways of saying it including the artificial formal MSA "Kayfa Haaluka" and also refer to the phonological differences across varieties in diphthongs of "ay" in "kayfa" that becomes "ai" or "ee" some spoken varieties. I also ask them to research and find out themselves how certain linguistic elements differ across the varieties and come back to class to feedback and share their findings with everyone. I'm trying to use a variationist approach and get the learners of Arabic used to this aspect of variation from the very beginning. By doing this - yet with caution not to overload their learning - we can really achieve some of the skills that Antonio mentioned such as "the ability to understand everyday expressions aimed at the satisfaction of simple needs". Whatever they say themselves, especially at the A1/2 levels, whether in MSA or in any spoken varieties, will be understood by the "sympathetic interlocutor" that is referred to in the CEFR framework. A good student who has been exposed to variations would also make the effort to amend his speaking according to the setting.

In order to develop a variationist approach, there should be a strand in the CEFR scale that lists the elements of variations that the students should be aware of by the end of each level. This could start with the simplest elements of phonological and lexical variations and progress to the more complex syntactic and morphological differences. This is when I feel that it's not enough to apply the CEFR to Arabic but to add/amend the current CEFR scale for European languages to suit the nature of Arabic and its use.

Another factor that makes me feel that the current scale needs amendments to suit Arabic is the cultural differences between European languages speaking communities and the Arabic speaking communities. For instance, the example that Antonio mentions of the "ability to write a postcard" is not a common task in the Arabic culture and even if it existed in the past, it's probably disappearing totally now with the new tech methods of communications. Therefore, I think such a cultural differences must be taken account of when designing a scale for Arabic teaching.

By the way, I'm really enjoying this conversation :)

Hi Antonio

Al-Kitaab incorporated Egyptian in its 2004 edition then incorporated both Agyptian and Shāmī in its 2011 edition. The way it is structured says it is using the IA. Mamoud Albatal has written a book on the subject to be published in December.

تشرفنا بحضرتك يا رشا

شكرا على الإضافة والتعليق.

أظن أنه لا توجد مشكلة فيما تصيفينه بمحدودية المنهجية المندمجة لأنها تدمج لهجة واحدة. يمكن دمج وتعليم أكثر من لهجة والكتاب مثلا يقوم بذلك. المسألت تتوقف على أهداف الدروس وما يلبي رغبات المتعلم الحياتية أو الأكاديمية .

أنا مع تعليم اللهجة المصرية (القاهرية) والشامية (أو اختيار واحدة من فروعها: الدمشقية مثلا). فيما يتقلق بالمواقف اليومية ولأنها لجهات واسعة النتشار نسبيا. أما إذا كان الفصل أو الطالب يحتاج إلى "الخليجية" أو النغربية فهذا أمر ثان.

المهم الآن هو القيام بمحاولات تدريس العربية المعاصرة مع لهجة أو لهجتين واستخلاص النتائج من ذلك.

Yes, I know. Al-Batal is the editor of Arabic as One Language. Integrating Dialect in the Arabic Language Curriculum and in the 3rd (2011) edition of Al-Kitaab he and his colleagues acknowledge that "following the highly successful testing of a new approach", they "have decided to introduce the story in dialect before working with it in formal Arabic". Those of us who are familiar with the 2nd edition, the authors say, "will notice the order of presentation of the formal and spoken versions of the story within each lesson has changed" (p. xv). But you still have versions of the same story, القصة بالعامية and القصة بالفصحى, and changing the order of the operands does not change the result, as the commutative property tells us, does it?

The question remains whether this parallel presentation leads to complementation or duplication. Should students write a short biography for Maha in "formal Arabic" very soon after they have listened to her speaking about herself in Egyptian, as required in lesson 1? Furthermore, should they listen to her telling her story in both Egyptian and MSA, everything in the space of a few pages?

This said, I wouldn't like to get off the subject. We might agree that Al-Kitaab last edition can be somehow exploited in an integrative setting, but we might still have to discuss whether it would suit a CEFR-based curriculum or not.

وما الهدف يا ترى من تعليم الطلاب أكثر من لهجة؟ كنا في الماضي القريب وحتى الآن لا نعلمهم أي واحدة وأصبحنا نعلمهم لهجتين بين ليلة وضحاها؟!‏

هل جميع أبناء اللغة يتكلمون لهجتين؟

أما رجوعاً إلى الكتاب فهو لا يقوم ولا ينصح بذلك على الاطلاق:‏

"Al-Kitaab Part One introduces two varieties of spoken Arabic in addition to a formal register. The goal here, however, is not for all three varieties to be learned. Rather, the goal is for the class to choose one variety of spoken Arabic and learn it along with the formal Arabic" (2011, p. xvi).

Personally, I have not suggested a particular book. I merely pointed out to what it exists. After all, Alkitaab is designed for the academic courses. Thus it doesn't contain enough functional Arabic. I would say it contains little of it.

I was referring to the IA in Alkitaab.

As an example, I think initially speaking about the family, friends, etc should be in a major dialect. Writing a biography should be in both. Why? Stuents learns the grammar which can use later to write a biograpgy about Ibn Khadun, for example. I think it depends on how you as a teacher prepare and construct your mateial and course.

لا، لم أقصد فرض تعليم اللهجتين حين استعملت الواو في جملتي. . ما أقصده هو أن تكون اللهجتان في البرنامج الدراسي

صحيح! فكرة تعليم الطالب أن يتحدث بلهجتين هدف غير واقعي وغير مطلوب ولكن المطلوب هو أن يكون الطالب على دراية بالاختلافات اللغوية بين اللهجات تماماً كدراية متحدثي العربية بالاختلافات بين لهجاتهم. فأنا أتكلم المصرية ولا أتكلم أي لهجة أخرى بطلاقة ولكن مقدرتي على فهم اللهجات الأخرى تفوق قدرتي على تكلمها بمراحل

المعذرة! لقد أسأت فهمك. مع ذلك فإن تعليم لهجتين قد يتطلب كذلك وضع برنامجين دراسيين مختلفين خصوصاً إذا كانت هاتان اللهجتان بعيدتين عن بعضهما.‏

هذا ولا أعتقد أن ما يقوم به الكتاب، مثلاً، من عرض المفردات المصرية والشامية جنباً إلى جنب (مما يعرقل تركيز الطالب) هو ناتج عن أي اعتبارات تعليمية.‏