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Integrating Dialects Into the Modern Standard Arabic INTEGRATING DIALECTS INTO THE MODERN STANDARD ARABIC HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM BY BRIDGET J. HIRSCH B.A., The George Washington University, 2003 THESIS Presented to the Faculty of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION IN WORLD LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION CONCORDIA COLLEGE MAY 2009 This thesis submitted by Bridget J. Hirsch in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education: World Language Instruction from Concordia College has been read by the Examining Committee under whom the work has been done and is hereby approved. As the Committee Chairperson, I hereby certify that this thesis is complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made. This thesis meets the standards for appearance, conforms to the style and format requirements of the Office of Graduate Programs and Continuing Studies of Concordia College, and is hereby approved. COPYRIGHT PAGE It is the policy of Concordia College to allow students to retain ownership of the copyright to the thesis after deposit. However, as a condition of accepting the degree, the student grants the College the non-exclusive right to retain, use and distribute a limited number of copies of the thesis, together with the right to require its publication for archival use. Signature Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, thank you to all high school Arabic teachers that filled out my survey. You have an incredible task at hand, and your time and feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you to those that assisted in the development and distribution of the survey, specifically Donna Clementi, Karin Ryding, Salah Ayari, the American Association of Teachers of Arabic, the National Capitol Language Research Center, Brigham Young’s Arabic Listserv, and Dora Johnson at the Center for Advanced Linguistics. Thank you to those that have offered unending support and patience during the past two years: my family for encouraging the pursuit of education; my professors and colleagues in the first cohort who continue to offer inspiration in the field of teaching world languages; my thesis advisor, Jonathan Clark, for the wonderful guidance along the way; my thesis committee, Jonathan Clark, Salah Ayari, and Michael Wohlfeil; and last but not least my husband, habiibii, who is the reason I truly feel the luckiest. iv ABSTRACT This research explores ways in which spoken Arabic, or dialect, can be integrated into high school classrooms alongside the literary form, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Both forms are vital for authentic communicative capabilities and play an integral role to specific language functions and tasks. Yet students acquire oral skills predominantly in MSA rather than in dialects, which this paper argues is an incomplete curriculum. Several Arabic instructors have proven that despite the pedagogical challenges and complexities associated with spoken Arabic, a target dialect can successfully be taught in the classroom alongside MSA. This paper will use their efforts as a springboard to explore the current state of Arabic language teaching in today’s high school classrooms and conclude by presenting ways in which dialects can be integrated specifically into high school curricula. This paper also calls for further studies that will benefit the language teaching and learning community. It is anticipated that this research will benefit the Arabic teaching and learning community by offering ways to provide students with optimal modes of communication and teachers with support and guidance to move forward in integrating dialect instruction into their curriculum. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES: ........................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION: ..............................................................................................................1 Goal of this Research...............................................................................................1 Defining Key Terms ...............................................................................................2 Review of Historic Influences on Arabic.................................................................7 Acknowledgment of Previous Work........................................................................9 Scope of this Research...........................................................................................10 Organization of this Paper ....................................................................................12 CHAPTER 1: MAKING THE CASE FOR DIALECTS...................................................13 1.1 The Omission of Dialects from the Arabic Classroom Today ...................13 1.2 The Uncertain Role of Dialects in Standards and Guidelines ...................19 1.3 Striving for Communicative Language Teaching ......................................22 1.4 A New Direction ........................................................................................23 1.5 Critics of Dialect Integration .....................................................................31 1.6 Students’ Needs and Objectives Point to Spoken Arabic ..........................35 1.7 Determining the Gaps ................................................................................41 1.8 Summary ....................................................................................................42 CHAPTER 2: METHODS.................................................................................................44 2.1 Developing the Survey................................................................................44 2.2 Survey Difficulties .....................................................................................46 2.3 Distributing the Survey ..............................................................................47 2.4 Summary ....................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 3: SURVEY RESULTS..................................................................................52 3.1 Section One - The High Schools ................................................................53 3.2 Section Two - Teachers’ Background ........................................................57 3.3 Section Three - Language Usage in the Classroom ...................................65 3.4 Section Four - Language Teaching Resources ...........................................72 CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..............81 4.1 School Information and what it means to Dialect Integration ...................81 4.2 Teacher Background and what it means to Dialect Integration .................84 4.3 Language Usage and what it means to Dialect Integration ........................88 4.4 Resources and what it means to Dialect Integration ..................................95 4.5 Other Concerns ........................................................................................103 4.6 Recommendations for Integrating Dialects .............................................104 4.7 Case Study I: Professor Younes ...............................................................107 4.8 Case Study II: Professor Ouali .................................................................109 vi 4.9 Examples of Authentic Language Integration .........................................111 4.10 Future Studies ...........................................................................................115 4.11 Conclusion ...............................................................................................117 APPENDIX A: ACTFL GUIDELINES FOR SPEAKING AND LISTENING .............119 APPENDIX B: THE SURVEY .......................................................................................120 APPENDIX C: THE CONSENT FORM ........................................................................124 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................126 AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................131 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Younes’ curriculum for first-year Arabic. .......................................................25 Table 1.2: Vocabulary from Younes’ Textbook................................................................28 Table 1.3: Language Representation in Interviews............................................................40 Table 3.1: Number of Surveys Distributed and Returned..................................................52 Table 3.2: Teachers per School..........................................................................................57 Table 3.3: Non-native speakers Proficiency and Language Training................................61 Table 3.4: Years of Teaching High School Arabic............................................................62 Table 3.5: The Typical Amount of Contact Time per Week .............................................65 Table 3.6: Dialects used in Classes that utilize both MSA and Dialects ...........................67 Table 3.7: Expected Language for Specific Tasks.............................................................71 Table 3.8: Textbooks in Use by High School Arabic Teachers.........................................73
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