The Leeds Language Scholar 2020: Issue 6 Special issue on Arabic language teaching

Editorial This special issue of the Language Scholar is dedicated to Arabic language learning and teaching in Higher Education. The idea of this issue stemmed out of a growing interest in researching Arabic language pedagogy and an increasing number of scholarship projects that investigate Arabic learning and teaching from different perspectives. Such work was witnessed in two international conferences that took place in March 2017 at the University of Leeds, then in April 2019 in Kings College, University of London. The conferences aimed to bring together researchers, scholars and teachers who share the interests and expertise in Arabic language pedagogy and who indeed presented an impressive range of contemporary topics that are being researched in order to advance the field of Teaching Arabic as a Second Language (TASL). In 2019 conference, the call for papers for this issue was announced and it has been a delight for us to receive a number of very interesting topics from colleagues in the UK and abroad who all strive to tackle issues faced by Arabic teachers and learners and suggest ways to overcome challenges, to develop and to promote the learning of Arabic in Higher Education. This issue has six papers starting with Al-Hamad and Mohamed’s paper which builds on current research on error analysis with a focus on Arabic phonology and orthography. The paper presents interesting examples of phonological and orthographical errors made by 60 participants who are all English speakers studying Arabic in the UK and it showed an inclination to revert to the closest sounds to those in English language. The paper gives good insights to Arabic teachers when planning their teaching activities to support their students getting used to new phonological and orthographical systems. The second paper by Al Tubuly looks at the extent and range of cultural knowledge found in four common Arabic textbooks and shows that although these books dedicate some sections to present Arabic culture, they lack the focus on the deep culture that is needed for proper understanding of the Arabic speaking communities, their beliefs and lifestyles. The paper helps teachers to consider the missing elements of culture that they may need to supplement into their curriculums. The third paper by Durkawi and Mouazen is a timely topic that looks at the application of the Integrated Approach (IA) in teaching and gives a practical guide to Arabic teachers who plan to use the IA in their programmes. The authors in this paper share examples of good practice and the challenges that they faced in applying the IA at different proficiency levels as well as a number of positive outcomes that they observed. Our fourth paper by El Essawi also provides analysis of Arabic textbooks on how much they focus on communication strategies. This is a topic that received very little attention in the field of TASL as communication strategies are limitedly found and even non-existent in some textbooks as revealed in this paper. El Essawi’s paper concludes with pedagogical suggestions on how to incorporate communication strategies in classroom activities and teaching materials for the objectives of orientation, exposure and practice. The fifth paper here by Golfetto shifts the readers’ attention to the students as it investigates the learning experience of Arabic heritage learners. The study, which focused on heritage learners in Italian universities, presents an argument that supports the merging of heritage and non-heritage learning classes. It lists the benefits of merging them including the creation of a more homogenous and authentic learning environment that supports linguistic variation in the class and bridges learning gaps. Finally, the issue concludes with the sixth paper by Khalil providing a comparative linguistic description of Modern Standard Arabic and the Cairene dialect at phonological, lexical and grammatical levels with many examples from the two Arabic varieties. The paper is a useful reference to learners and teachers who incorporate linguistic variation in their programmes. It also provides a framework that can easily be followed by other researchers and scholars who wish to analyse other Arabic varieties. We are grateful to all our authors who shared here their scholarship and research work and made it available to a wide range of readers. We are also deeply thankful to our reviewers, in alphabetical order, Yolanda Cerda, James Dickins, Hanem El-Farahaty, Giorgia Ferrari, Kassem Wahba and Shahira Yacout, who dedicated their time, efforts and knowledge to review these papers and provide invaluable advice. Huge thanks go to the Language Scholar managers Irene Addison-Child and Milada Walkova who put a lot of efforts on checking papers, communication with authors and reviewers and putting all of this work together. We hope that this special issue will provide a good reference for many Arabic teachers and researchers who strive to advance the field of Arabic language pedagogy. Rasha Soliman (on behalf of the Language Scholar editorial team)

The Language Scholar 2020: Issue 6 Special issue on Arabic language teaching Edited by Rasha Soliman The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Editorial Board Editorial team: The University of Leeds, UK Chief Editors: Bee Bond and Kazuki Morimoto Commissioning Editor: Rasha Soliman Journal Managers: Irene Addison-Child and Milada Walkova Web Editor: Philippa Dearns Editorial Advisory Board Alexander Ding, Centre for Excellence in Language Teaching, University of Leeds, UK Bettina Hermoso-Gomez, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Leeds, UK Bev Back, Classics, University of Leeds, UK Chiara LaSala, Italian, University of Leeds, UK Hanem El-Farahaty, Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Leeds, UK Haynes Collins, Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, UK Martin Thomas, Director of Student Education, School of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, UK Emma Cayley, Head of School, Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of Leeds, UK Sofia Martinho, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Leeds, UK Melinda Whong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Cynthia White, Massey University, New Zealand Ian Bruce, University of Waikato, New Zealand 1 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 The Leeds Language Scholar Journal The Language Scholar is an open access and peer-reviewed journal. Its main objective is to provide a platform to promote the scholarship of learning and teaching languages. Contributions are welcome from practitioners, researchers and students who are involved in language education. Areas of particular interest to this Journal are theories and practices for language teaching and education, including language teaching approaches and methodologies, intercultural communication, the psychology of language learning, research-led teaching, student-led practices, communicative strategies and experimental teaching. The Language Scholar is hosted by the Centre for Excellence in Language Teaching within the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds. It considers international contributions in multimedia formats, in and about any language (including ancient languages). It aims to provide a space for the development of scholarship in language education, and to provide a platform for pieces which highlight the potential of multimodality to enhance communication, including a supportive and developmental approach to peer review. Alongside the annual printed issue, the Language Scholar’s digital space hosts and showcases contributions, facilitating the sharing and exchange of ideas. Submissions can be sent to the journal at any time, although there will be deadlines announced for specific printed issues. If you would like to get in touch or submit a piece, you can contact us on the journal’s email: languagescholar@leeds.ac.uk or Tweet us at @LangScholar 2 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Contents Editorial 4 Papers Muntasir Al-Hamad and Yehia A. Mohamed: An orthographic phonological-based error analysis of English-speaking learners of Arabic. 8 Sara Al Tubuly: Evaluation of the cultural content in Arabic textbooks. 25 Ayah Durkawi and Marwa Mouazen: A practical guide to the use of the integrated 53 approach in the Arabic undergraduate programme at Edinburgh University. Raghda El Essawi: Strategic competence in AFL textbooks: problems and suggestions 67 for addressing them. Marco Aurelio Golfetto: Arabic heritage students and their language-learning 93 experiences: limits and highlights. Saussan Khalil: A delineation of variation in Arabic between fuṣḥá and Egyptian ’āmmīyah. 112 3 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Editorial Rasha Soliman This special issue of the Language Scholar is dedicated to Arabic language learning and teaching in Higher Education. The idea of this issue stemmed out of a growing interest in researching Arabic language pedagogy and an increasing number of scholarship projects that investigate Arabic learning and teaching from different perspectives. Such work was witnessed in two international conferences that took place in March 2017 at the University of Leeds, then in April 2019 in King’s College, University of London. The conferences aimed to bring together researchers, scholars and teachers who share the interests and expertise in Arabic language pedagogy and who indeed presented an impressive range of contemporary topics that are being researched in order to advance the field of Teaching Arabic as a Second Language (TASL). In 2019 conference, the call for papers for this issue was announced and it has been a delight for us to receive a number of very interesting topics from colleagues in the UK and abroad who all strive to tackle issues faced by Arabic teachers and learners and suggest ways to overcome challenges, to develop and to promote the learning of Arabic in Higher Education. This issue has six papers starting with Muntasir Al-Hamad and Yehia A. Mohamed’s paper which builds on current research on error analysis with a focus on Arabic phonology and orthography. The paper presents interesting examples of phonological and orthographical errors made by 60 participants who are all English speakers studying Arabic in the UK and it showed an inclination to revert to the closest sounds to those in English language. The paper gives good insights to Arabic teachers when planning their teaching activities to support their students getting used to new phonological and orthographical systems. The second paper by Sara Al Tubuly looks at the extent and range of cultural knowledge found in four common Arabic textbooks and shows that although these books dedicate some sections to present Arabic culture, they lack the focus on the deep culture that is needed for proper understanding of the Arabic speaking communities, their beliefs and lifestyles. The paper helps 4 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 teachers to consider the missing elements of culture that they may need to supplement into their curriculums. The third paper by Ayah Durkawi and Marwa Mouazen is a timely topic that looks at the application of the Integrated Approach (IA) in teaching and gives a practical guide to Arabic teachers who plan to use the IA in their programmes. The authors in this paper share examples of good practice and the challenges that they faced in applying the IA at different proficiency levels as well as a number of positive outcomes that they observed. Our fourth paper by Raghda El Essawi also provides analysis of Arabic textbooks on how much they focus on communication strategies. This is a topic that received very little attention in the field of TASL as communication strategies are limitedly found and even non-existent in some textbooks as revealed in this paper. El Essawi’s paper concludes with pedagogical suggestions on how to incorporate communication strategies in classroom activities and teaching materials for the objectives of orientation, exposure and practice. The fifth paper here by Marco Aurelio Golfetto shifts the readers’ attention to the students as it investigates the learning experience of Arabic heritage learners. The study, which focused on heritage learners in Italian universities, presents an argument that supports the merging of heritage and non-heritage learning classes. It lists the benefits of merging them including the creation of a more homogenous and authentic learning environment that supports linguistic variation in the class and bridges learning gaps. Finally, the issue concludes with the sixth paper by Saussan Khalil providing a comparative linguistic description of Modern Standard Arabic and the Cairene dialect at phonological, lexical and grammatical levels with many examples from the two Arabic varieties. The paper is a useful reference to learners and teachers who incorporate linguistic variation in their programmes. It also provides a framework that can easily be followed by other researchers and scholars who wish to analyse other Arabic varieties. We are grateful to all our authors who shared here their scholarship and research work and made it available to a wide range of readers. We are also deeply thankful to our reviewers, in alphabetical 5 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 order, Yolanda Cerda, James Dickins, Hanem El-Farahaty, Giorgia Ferrari, Kassem Wahba and Shahira Yacout, who dedicated their time, efforts and knowledge to review these papers and provide invaluable advice. Huge thanks go to the Language Scholar managers Irene Addison-Child and Milada Walkova who put a lot of efforts on checking papers, communication with authors and reviewers and putting all of this work together. We hope that this special issue will provide a good reference for many Arabic teachers and researchers who strive to advance the field of Arabic language pedagogy. 6 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Papers 7 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 An Orthographic Phonological-Based Error Analysis of the Arabic of English-speaking Learners Dr. Muntasir Al-Hamad Arabic for Non-Native Speakers Center, Qatar University Dr. Yehia A. Mohamed Arabic Program, Georgetown University Qatar ABSTRACT The complex interrelation between orthographic and phonological aspects in L2 learning pose different linguistic and pedagogical challenges. However, this paper focuses on the orthographic phonological-based errors resulting of this relationship and tries to explain these errors committed by learners, since Arabic and English have different phonological systems. For this purpose, a study was conducted on a corpus of about 250 pages generated by the written production of sixty-one English-speaking A1 learners of Arabic as a second language (acc. CEFR) at the Manchester Metropolitan University to examine how the phonological competence at the early stages of learning Arabic reflects on their orthographic production. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide answers for linguist researchers and educationists alike. KEYWORDS: Arabic for non-native speakers, error analysis, orthography, phonology INTRODUCTION Since the 1950s, the collection, classification, and analysis of errors in the written and spoken performances of second language learners have played a significant role in language pedagogy. However, in the late 60s and early 70s, the study of errors in non-native language performance, or 8 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Error Analysis (EA), came to the forefront in applied linguistics, and in particular within the field of second language acquisition research (Richards, 1980, p.91). According to Corder (1981, p.10), ‘error analysis is a method used to document the errors that appear in learner language, determine whether those errors are systematic, and (if possible) explain what caused them.’ Such errors can occur in all aspects of a language, including phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics, as well as across the language skills spectrum, so their exploration and analysis assists in the second language acquisition process by developing students’ second language proficiency and at the same time informing pedagogy and materials’ development. Interlingual transfer is a significant source for language learners. The Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics argues that interlingual errors are the result of language transfer, which is caused by the learner’s first language via various psycholinguistic phenomena, including: fossilization, overgeneralization, oversimplification, underuse, and lack of knowledge of the rules (Jabeen et al, 2015, p.55). Interlingual errors may occur at different levels involving transfer of phonological, morphological, grammatical, and lexical-semantic and other elements of the native language into the target language (Selinker, 1972 and Vacide, 2005, p.265). However, studies of second language acquisition have tended to imply that Interlingual transfer may be most predictive at the level of phonology (Richards, 1971, p.2). With the beginning of the 1960s, a large body of research has been conducted on Arabic learners’ errors. Khoury (1961) focused on the writing errors of American students at the high school level. Hanna (1964) conducted a study on Arabic learners’ errors at the college level and concluded that these could be attributed to the nature of the Arabic language and interlingual factors. However, the study had a significant weakness, as there were only 12 subjects used for the analysis. Kara (1971) argued that it was specifically the lack of morphological awareness, both of teachers and in textbooks, that was responsible for common errors in writing. Rammuny (1978) conducted a statistical study of errors made by American students when writing Arabic, highlighting four types of errors: i. orthographical and phonological, ii. semantic, iii. structural, and iv. stylistic. Raslan (1984) used contrastive analysis to study phonological and morphological errors made by Malay college students learning Arabic. 9 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 While all of these studies have added to the knowledge base in the field, certain methodological shortcomings, such as the limited number of participants and broad scope of the studies, leave some doubt about the generalisability of their findings. To overcome these issues, the present study involves a large pool of participants. It also adopts a narrow scope aiming to explore and analyze the phonological errors in writing made by 60 English speaking learners of Arabic, studying at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in the UK during the time period 2009-2012. This paper focuses on the complex relationship between phonology and orthography, with a focus on the errors resulting of this relationship. Written Arabic is an alphabetic system based on 28 letters, with 25 consonants and three long vowels. A further three short vowels and other phonological features, such as gemination are not represented as letters, but as diacritical marks (Abu-Rabia and Taha, 2006, p.321). Arabic uses diacritical marks, such as short vowels and gemination, mainly for educational and religious purposes. The Arabic language thus uses an alphabetic orthography, more technically, what is sometimes termed as an ‘impure abjad.’ This is not a true alphabet, as some of the vowels are written with the letters, while others are written optionally as diacritic marks above or below the letters (Wiley and Rapp, 2019, p.975). Just as languages differ from one another, orthographic systems represent phonology, or aspects of phonology, differently (Frost, 1989, p.162). The Arabic phonemic inventory consists of 28 phonemes, a quarter of which do not have any plausible approximate correspondent in English, such as the emphatic consonants /tˤ/, /dˤ/, /sˤ/, and /ðˤ/; the pharyngeal consonants /ħ/, and /ʕ/; and the glottal stop /ʔ/. In respect to vowels, Arabic has three short vowels, and three corresponding long vowels. Gemination of consonants is another feature of phonological segments. However, it is important to note that although certain Arabic phonemes such as /r/ and /l/ do not have exact equivalent phonetic realizations in English, this does not appear to create a significant problem in the written form. For example, learners mostly do not get confused in writing the letter <‫ >ر‬regardless if they recognize it as a flap or a trill sound. METHODOLOGY The present study focuses on specific phonological errors in the Arabic writing of English nativespeaker learners of Arabic at a university level. This research was conducted by using a mixed 10 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 methods approach which involved the creation of student-generated written and audio corpuses in addition to long-term class observation notes. Participants The researchers recruited 63 learners, aged 18-23, who were studying different majors but had selected Arabic as an elective module under University-wide Languages at the Department of Languages at MMU. In 2016, another paper analyzed the syntactical, morphological and lexical language transfer of the same group’s work (Al-Hamad and Alaoui, 2016). None of this group had studied Arabic before. They were approximately equally divided in terms of gender (35 females and 28 males), and background (29 of European background, 32 British of Asian background, and two heritage learners). The research eliminated three participants, because two participants were heritage students and one British Asian spoke Urdu as her first language, which could have risked her acquaintance with the Arabic script. Data collection and procedure The participants were selected out of a larger population of students who underwent a personal interview to assess and determine their level. They were enrolled on the University-wide Languages - Arabic Beginner’s Level classes, which is equivalent to A1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR 2018). The students had had 40 contact hours of learning Arabic taught for two hours per week over two terms (September - April), in addition to similar amount of time with assistants in the Language Centre located in the department. They were taught using the Mastering Arabic 1 course book in addition to the teacher’s handouts and resources. Prior to the corpus stage, the researchers used planned observations of classroom activities and drills to generate their hypothesis regarding orthographic phonological-based errors. Hopkins (1996) describes classroom observation as a ‘pivotal activity’, one which plays a crucial role in classroom research. In respect of our study, used together with the generated corpus, it allowed us to view the topic from multiple perspectives. 11 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 The participants were informed about the aim of the study and were assured that their identity would remain confidential. They were also informed that the data collected from them would only be used for research purposes. Furthermore, they were given the option of dropping out at any stage. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Before discussing the different types of errors committed by participants of this study, it is necessary to briefly review the phonemes of English in comparison with those of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Tables one and two contrast the phonemes of Arabic and English. Labial Nasal Dental Alveolar m Postalveolar Palatal Velar ŋ n Stop p b Affricate f v t θ Fricative ð Approximant l d s Glottal z tʃ dʒ ʃ ʒ r ɡ k h j w Table 1: English phoneme inventory based on Underhill (2005) Labial Nasal m Stop Emphatic Approximant f Dentalalveolar Palata l Velar Uvular k q Pharyn geal Glottal n b Emphatic Fricative Dental t d tˤ dˤ θ s ð z sˤ ðˤ l (ɡ) ʃ ʒ r χ j ʔ ɣ ħ w Table 2: Arabic phonemes inventory based on Holes (2004) and Watson (2002) 12 ʕ h The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 The error types which are categorised in the remainder of this paper result from differences in their respective phonological systems. Glottal consonants Arabic has two glottal consonants, /h/ and /ʔ/, represented in Arabic orthography by <‫ >ه‬and <‫>ء‬ respectively. It is important to note that <‫ >ء‬is not a fixed letter in Arabic, but rather a diacritic symbol, a phenome, that has complex and specific rules and realizations governing when and where it is placed. This includes zero Ø realization, this is particularly true at the beginning of words, and more significantly, when Arabic words are borrowed into the English language, and are used in an Arabic-based script, as the hamza is typically dropped. This makes it unclear if such errors are phonological or orthographic. Both sounds /h/ and /ʔ/ occur in English, although the latter occurs not as an individual phoneme but rather as an allophone of /t/ in specific environments. The sound /h/ is described as a voiceless glottal fricative. It occurs in English as a phoneme, although it is more limited than the Arabic /h/ in phonotactics, since /h/ can appear in the syllable head or coda in Arabic while in English it can only appear at the syllable head. Many English dialects exhibit a phenomenon called h-dropping in which /h/ is dropped in some, or all, phonetic environments. Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /ħ/ instead of /h/ 16 12 20% /Ø/ instead of /h/ 3 3 5% /x/ instead of /h/ 2 1 1.6% /ʔ/ instead of /h/ 1 1 1.6% /ʕ/ instead of /h/ 1 1 1.6% Table 3: Glottal consonants errors I The most common sound substituted for /ħ/ is /h/. The errors in which /h/ was deleted altogether can be explained as an application of h-dropping to Arabic. 13 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /h/ instead of /ħ/ 5 5 8.3% /h/ instead of /ʕ/ 2 2 3.3% /h/ instead of /a/ 1 1 1.6% /ħh/ instead of /ħ/ 1 1 1.6% Table 4: Glottal consonants errors II The sound /h/ was most commonly used instead of /ħ/ as a closer sound for English speakers. The case of the two errors made by one of the students, where they employed /h/ instead of /ʕ/ was somewhat unexpected, since /h/ and /ʕ/ differ in both place of articulation and voicing. That being said, it is possible for English speakers to confuse /ʕ/ with /ħ/ as it is the unvoiced counterpart of /ʕ/. Pharyngeal consonants Arabic has two pharyngeal consonants, a voiced pharyngeal fricative and its unvoiced counterpart, transcribed in the IPA as /ʕ/ and /ħ/ and represented in the Arabic alphabet by <‫ >ع‬and <‫>ح‬ respectively. As English lacks pharyngeal phonemes, it is expected for native English speakers to have difficulty distinguishing /ʕ/ and /ħ/ from non-pharyngeal sounds, in both perception and production. Previous studies have indicated that English-speaking learners of Arabic tend to produce non-pharyngeal sounds (such as /a/ or /h/) instead of pharyngeal ones in speech, though very rarely the converse. We expect this to be reflected in learners’ writing, but with a significant rate of hypercorrection that would not be found in speech; i.e. learners could be expected to use <‫ >ع‬and <‫ >ح‬in place of non-pharyngeal consonants as they automatically assign these letters different phonetic values than they actually have in Arabic. The sound /ʕ/ is usually described as a voiced pharyngeal fricative, although some sources classify it as an approximant instead. It is found in most modern varieties of Arabic, in some cases it has merged with the glottal stop, and in others the glottal stop is in free variation (Heselwood, 2007, p.1). There is no corresponding phoneme in English, and while in Arabic it is represented by the letter <‫>ع‬, in many scholarly transliterations of Arabic it is represented by a right-facing apostrophe. However, in looser ‘popular’ transliterations in English, it is commonly represented by a plain apostrophe, or by nothing at all. Therefore, it is often confused with vowels and glide sounds, as they share a similar phonetic nature. There were a total of 59 errors distributed across 47 tests 14 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 where learners used a non-pharyngeal letter instead of <‫>ع‬. The following table demonstrates each particular form of error with the number of instances as well as the number and percentage of tests that it appeared in. Number of instances Number of Tests Percentage of Tests zero Ø or /a/ instead of /ʕ/ 18 13 23.6% /j/ instead of /ʕ/ 15 12 20% /ʔ/ instead of /ʕ/ 10 8 13.3% /ħ/ instead of /ʕ/ 7 5 8.3% /w/ instead of /ʕ/ 3 3 5% /h/ instead of /ʕ/ 2 2 3.3% /ɣ/ instead of /ʕ/ 2 2 3.3% /i/ instead of /ʕ/ 1 1 1.6% /n/ instead of /ʕ/ 1 1 1.6% Table 5: The pharyngeal /ʕ/ errors I Due to the fact that the data is based on written samples, these variables do not indicate whether learners actually perceived or produced these sounds instead of /ʕ/, but their writing suggests they might have. For example, one learner wrote <‫ > اشر‬instead of <‫> عشر‬, suggesting that he/she perceives zero Ø instead of /ʕ/. As expected there are a number of vowel and glide sounds (/a/, /j/, and /w/) that are used in place of /ʕ/. This is due to their sounds’ similar nature, and because the sound is frequently transliterated in English either with an apostrophe, or with nothing at all. In addition to these two reasons, this sound in MSA is not a stop or affricate, i.e. the vocal tract is not closed off at any point during its articulation with the necessity of tongue retraction; this explains why /a/ is the most common sound used in place of /ʕ/. The second most common error is using /j/ in place of /ʕ/. This happens only in environments where the /ʕ/ is perceived as breaking up a hiatus between /i/ and a vowel of a different quality, for example ‫ جامية‬instead of ‫جامعة‬. English typically uses /j/ to break up a hiatus of this sort, and thus the Arabic letter <‫ >ع‬was given the same function amongst the learners. A similar explanation can be given for the three instances as /w/ was used instead of /ʕ/ where this consonant was found between /u/ and some other vowel. 15 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 The third most common type of error is using /ʔ/ instead of /ʕ/. This can be explained by the fact that the place of articulation of glottal consonants is relatively close to that of pharyngeal consonants. A further confusing factor may be that both /ʔ/ and /ʕ/ are commonly transliterated in English -if transliterated at all- by a simple apostrophe. The fourth most common type of error noticed in this group is the use of /ħ/ instead of /ʕ/. This may have two possible explanations, one is phonological and the other is orthographic. Phonologically, the main phonetic difference between /ħ/ and /ʕ/ is that the former is voiceless while the latter is voiced. The orthographic explanation on the other hand is not as clear; this cannot be explained as a lack of motor skills or simply confusing the shapes of the letters <‫ >ح‬and <‫>ع‬, because we attested in four out of five test a clear demonstration of writing the closed form of <‫ >ـع‬and <‫>ـغـ‬. Another assumption is that <‫ >ح‬and <‫ >ع‬might appear as mirror images of one another for a beginner user who usually uses the open form of <‫>ع‬. Thus, there is a bit of uncertainty as to the validity of these errors having a purely phonological basis. There was a noticeable number of errors that can be described as hypercorrections, wherein the letter <‫ >ع‬was used instead of other letters. The number of hypercorrections was still lower than the number of errors of other types, such as with <‫ >ع‬and >‫<غ‬, but was still significant. It is important to note that this type of error is very rare amongst learners’ speech, as /ʕ/ tends to be eliminated altogether. Number of instances Number of Tests Percentage of Tests /ʕ/ instead of zero Ø or /a/ 10 8 13.3% /ʕ/ instead of /ʔ/ 6 4 6.6% /ʕ/ instead of /j/ 1 1 1.6% /ʕ/ instead of /h/ 1 1 1.6% /ʕ/ instead of /i/ 1 1 1.6% Table 6: The pharyngeal /ʕ/ errors II As reflected in the previous group of errors, the most commonly confused sounds with /ʕ/ were zero Ø and /a/. In this group there were 10 instances across eight tests (13.3% of the corpus) of a learner using <‫ >ع‬to represent zero Ø or /a/. We do not believe that these learners are mentally replacing zero Ø or /a/ with /ʕ/ as their writing suggests, but rather that they have automatically assigned <‫>ع‬ 16 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 to represent the phonetic value zero Ø or /a/. The same applies to learners who used <‫ >ع‬in places where /ʔ/ is needed. The sound /ħ/ is typically described as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative. As with /ʕ/ it may actually be epiglottal rather than pharyngeal, at least in some Arabic dialects (Khattab, Al-Tamimi and Alsiraih, 2018, p.311). There is no corresponding phoneme in English, and scholarly transliterations often use <ḥ>, while more ‘popular’ transliteration schemes use a simple <h>, thus not differentiating between <‫ >ح‬and <‫>ه‬. It is therefore expected that /h/ and /ħ/ would be frequently confused during learners’ tests. Number of instances Number of tests Percentage of tests /Ø/ instead of /ħ/ 6 5 8.3% /h/ instead of /ħ/ 5 5 8.3% /χ/ instead of /ħ/ 3 2 3.3% /k/ instead of /ħ/ 1 1 1.6% /ħh/ instead of /ħ/ 1 1 1.6% Table 7: The pharyngeal /ħ/ errors I As evident in this table, /h/ is used instead of /ħ/ five times in five different tests, accounting for 8.3% of the corpus. What is interesting, however, is that there are six errors across five tests where learners replaced /ħ/ with nothing at all. This is most likely a result of h-dropping which occurs in many English dialects, especially in England itself. Learners assign <‫ >ح‬to represent the /h/ phoneme, and some of them, especially, it is to be suspected, those whose accents exhibit h-dropping, have applied this rule to their Arabic writing and omitted the letter <‫ >ح‬altogether. The use of /χ/ instead of /ħ/ may have a phonological explanation—both sounds are voiceless fricatives pronounced near the back of the vocal tract, albeit at two different points of articulation—although it may also be explained orthographically as <‫ >خ‬and <‫ >ح‬are only differentiated by the fact that the former has a single dot above the main letter form. Number of instances Number of tests Percentage of Tests /ħ/ instead of /h/ 16 12 20% /ħ/ instead of /ʕ/ 7 5 8.3% /ħ/ instead of /k/ 1 1 1.6% Table 8: The pharyngeal /ħ/ errors II 17 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 As with the errors related to /ʕ/, it is expected that learners would exhibit hyper-corrective errors related to /ħ/, particularly using <‫ >ح‬in places where the Arabic has /h/. In fact, this is exactly what was found. What is interesting is that the number of hypercorrections is greater than the number of errors where other letters were used instead of <‫>ح‬, in contrast with those errors related to /ʕ/ where the hypercorrections were fewer. There may be several reasons for this, both phonological and orthographic. For example, there may be some hesitance in using <‫ >ه‬for /h/ due to the fact that it is frequently confused with <‫ >ة‬and may thus be perceived to have vocalic qualities. Emphatic consonants Arabic has a series of so-called emphatic consonants. The emphatic or pharyngealized class, including /sˁ dˁ tˁ ðˁ/ < ‫>ظ ط ض ص‬, stands in phonemic contrast to the plain class /s d t ð/ <‫>س د ت ذ‬. Examples of the plain/emphatic contrast include the following minimal pairs: /nasaba/ ‘imputed’ vs. /nasˁaba/ ‘erected’; /tin/ ‘fig’ vs. /tˁin/ ‘clay’; and /darb/ ‘path’ vs. /dˁarb/ ‘hitting’ (Ryan, Maojing, and Hermes 2018, p. 48). The following table demonstrates the number of errors in which a learner replaced an emphatic letter with a non-emphatic letter. In the vast majority of cases emphatic letters were replaced by their non-emphatic equivalents, e.g. <‫ >ط‬being replaced by <‫>ت‬, although there were a handful of examples of other types, e.g.<‫ >ط‬replaced by <‫>د‬. The replacement of <‫>ط‬ by < ‫ > د‬may be due to the fact that the two letters are both unaspirated, while <‫ >ت‬is aspirated. Removing emphasis The fact that /tˤ/ and /sˤ/ are the most commonly confused emphatic letters may be simply due to the fact that they appear more frequently in Arabic than /dˤ/ or /ðˤ/. Notice that /ðˤ/, one of the rarest phonemes in Arabic, has no examples of errors at all. Number of errors Number of tests Percentage /t/ instead of /tˤ/ 20 17 28.3% /s/ instead of /sˤ/ 19 14 23.3% /d/ instead of /dˤ/ 6 6 10% /d/ instead of /tˤ/ 1 1 1.6% /s/ instead of /dˤ/ 1 1 1.6% Table 9: Emphatic consonants errors I 18 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /sˤ/ instead of /s/ 7 6 10% /dˤ/ instead of /d/ 3 3 5% /sˤ/ instead of /z/ 1 1 1.6% /tˤ/ instead of /θ/ 1 1 1.6% /ðˤ/ instead of /t/ 1 1 1.6% Table 10: Emphatic consonants errors II One immediately notices that there are fewer instances in which emphatic consonants were used in place of non-emphatic ones than the other way around. This may be because of their unfamiliarity due to the fact that all the emphatic consonants are placed, in most Arabic textbooks, in the order of the alphabet after their non-emphatic counterparts. This means that the non-emphatic letters are usually introduced to learners first. We can also notice some patterns in errors related to the emphatic (i.e. pharyngealized, etc.) consonants. Emphaticizing De-Emphaticizing Total 10 errors 45 errors /s/ ~ /sˤ/ 7 errors 19 errors /d/ ~ /dˤ/ 0 errors 6 errors /t/ ~ /tˤ/ 3 errors 20 errors /ð/ - /ðˤ/ 0 errors 0 errors Table 11: Emphatic consonants error III Notice that the tendency is to write non-emphatic letters in place of emphatic ones, rather than the other way around. This is undoubtedly because English lacks pharyngealized consonants altogether, and thus they are largely unfamiliar to English-speaking learners of Arabic. Post-Velar consonants Also known as uvular consonants, Arabic has three post-velar consonants: /q/, /χ/, and /ɣ/, represented in the Arabic alphabet by <‫ <خ‬,>‫ >ق‬and <‫>غ‬. The latter two may be velar in some Arabic dialects (Dickins, 2007, pp. 38-43). For this reason, we have chosen to use the broader term postvelar rather than uvular. /q/ is a voiceless post-velar or uvular stop, and has no equivalent in English. Since /k/ is the closest English consonant, it is expected that confusion between /q/ and /k/ will be 19 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 common. Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /k/ instead of /q/ 13 11 18.3% /ɣ/ instead of /q/ 2 2 3.3% /χ/ instead of /q/ 2 1 1.6% Table 12: Post-velar consonants errors I As expected, /k/ is the most frequently used sound instead of /q/. The same is reflected in hypercorrective errors. Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /q/ instead of /k/ 9 6 10% /q/ instead of /χ/ 3 1 1.6% Table 13: Post-velar consonants errors II /χ/ is a voiceless post-velar or uvular fricative, and in most English dialects there is no equivalent. However, the sound is somewhat more familiar to English speakers due to its existence in Scots English, e.g. ‘loch’, and other European languages, e.g. German and Castilian Spanish. Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /k/ instead of /χ/ 9 7 11.6% /kħ/ instead of /χ/ 2 2 3.3% /q/ instead of /χ/ 3 1 1.6% /xħ/ instead of /χ/ 2 1 1.6% /kh/ instead of /χ/ 1 1 1.6% Table 14: Post-velar consonants errors III As expected, the most common sound used instead of /χ/ is /k/. Interestingly there are a few errors that appear to be based on orthography. Several students used letter combinations such as <‫ >كح‬or <‫ >خح‬to represent /χ/. This appears to be based on the fact that the most common transliteration for <‫ >خ‬in English is the digraph <kh>. In such cases it is unclear if there is also an underlying phonological reason for such errors. 20 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /χ/ instead of /k/ 5 5 8.3% /χ/ instead of /ħ/ 3 2 3.3% /χ/ instead of /h/ 2 2 3.3% /χ/ instead of /q/ 2 1 1.6% /χ/ instead of /ɣ/ 1 1 1.6% Table 15: Post-velar consonants errors IV /ɣ/ is a voiced post-velar or uvular fricative, the voiced equivalent of /χ/. There is virtually no dialect of English in which it has an equivalent, although it may be familiar to those with knowledge of languages, such French or German, where it occurs as the rhotic. Number of errors Number of tests Percentage of tests /k/ instead of /ɣ/ 1 1 1.6% /χ/ instead of /ɣ/ 1 1 1.6% /ɣ/ instead of /q/ 2 2 3.3% Table 16: Post-velar consonants errors V The scarcity of clear examples makes it difficult to analyze the errors related to /ɣ/. It is clear, however, that all of the sounds it is confused with are velar or post-velar. It is important to keep into mind that the number of errors where the learner uses /χ/ instead of /ɣ/ or vice versa may be higher than our tables suggest, due to our interpretation of some errors being orthographic in nature rather than phonological. Vowels length Errors related to vowel length are much more frequent with the vowel /a/, rather than the vowels /i/ and /u/. Consider the following table: Lengthening Vowel Shortening Vowel /a/ ~ /aː/ 75 errors 105 errors /i/ ~ /iː/ 9 errors 31 errors /u/ ~ /uː/ 14 errors 10 errors Table 17: Vowels errors I 21 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 This may be explained by the fact that /a/ is the most common vowel in Arabic. Nonetheless, we believe there is a phonological explanation for this—English has tense and lax vowels that approximate the quality of long and short vowels respectively for /i/ and /u/, but it lacks a tense/lax distinction for /a/ (Duncan, 2016), therefore making it more challenging for a native English speaker to consistently distinguish /a/ from /aː/. /aː/ /iː/ /aː/ X 3,3 /iː/ 1,1 X /uː/ 4,4 /a/ 7,7 /u/ 2,2 /ai/ 2,2 /Ø/ 7,6 /a/ /i/ /u/ /ai/ /Ø/ 2,2 X 2,2 /i/ /uː/ 2,2 X X 1,1 X x 2,2 x Table 18: Vowels errors II CONCLUSION This study was conducted with the purpose of determining the most significant phonological-based errors made by English-native learners of Arabic in writing Arabic. Based on the findings and the above discussion, it can be concluded that typical learner errors emanate from the fact that certain Arabic phonemes do not have any equivalent in English. This results in learners having a tendency to revert to the closest sounds to those in their mother tongue, which is subsequently reflected in their writing performance. Address for correspondence: yam3@georgetown.edu and m.hamad@qu.edu.qa Acknowledgment The researchers are cordially thankful to the Arabic for Non-Native Speakers Centre’s students Mr. Bernard Scott O’Connor and Mr Gideon Moorhead who classified and analyzed the data. Their contribution was part of a Student Research Grant from the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University. 22 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 REFERENCES Abboud, P. ed. 1968. Introduction to Modern Standard Arabic Pronunciation and Writing. Michigan: UMP. Abu-Rabia, S. 2019. The Role of Short Vowels in Reading Arabic: A Critical Literature Review. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 48(4), pp. 785-795. Anon. 1971. A non-contrastive approach to error analysis. English Language Teaching Journal. 25(3), pp. 204-219. Brown, G. 1977. 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Code Switching as a Countenance of Language Interference. The Internet TESL Journal. 3(10), no pagination. Thelwall, R. and Sa’Adeddin, M.A. 1990. Arabic. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. 20 (2), pp. 37-39 [Accessed 15 October 2018]. Available from: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1799152 Underhill, A. 2007. Sound Foundations: learning and teaching pronunciation. UK: Macmillan. Wagner, E. 2014. Using IBM® SPSS® Statistics for Research Methods and Social Science Statistics. Fifth edition. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. Watson, J.C. 2002. The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic. New York: Oxford University Press. Wells, J.C. 1997. Whatever happened to received pronunciation? [Online]. [Accessed 19 November 2018]. Available from: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/rphappened.html Wells, J.C. 1982. Accents of English 2: the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wells, J.C. 1970. Local Accents in England and Wales. Journal of Linguistics. 6(2), pp. 231- 252. Wiley, R.W., Rapp, B. 2019. From complexity to distinctiveness: The effect of expertise on letter perception. Psychon Bull. 26, pp. 974–984. 25 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Evaluation of the cultural content in Arabic textbooks Sara Al Tubuly Arabic Language and Islamic Studies Department, Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education ABSTRACT Textbooks are one of the most important tools used by teachers and educators in teaching foreign languages. Therefore, considerable attention should be paid to how cultural elements can be integrated into textbooks that are used in classrooms (Lewicka and Waszau, 2017). The criteria used by researchers are varied, but there is agreement on some of them. This study evaluates the cultural content and its depth in some Arabic textbooks using a unified set of criteria. It aims to determine to what extent the content of these textbooks reflect Arab culture, and what patterns (such as pictures, maps, music, literature, adverts, TV programmes, games, videos, biographies, literature, jokes, etc.) are included to represent the culture element (Abbaspour et al., 2012). This study compares and examines four Arabic textbooks by two publishing markets, both within and outside of the Arab world. The finding of the evaluation shows that the textbooks have a cultural and regional impact on the learning process, but the textbooks lack the elements of deep culture that can support students in obtaining intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997; Wagner and Byram, 2015). Moreover, non-verbal communication elements which play a role in teaching cultures and their interconnection with the language learning process are not fully covered. Moreover, the textbooks do not tackle issues such as stereotypes and do not reflect perceived positive and negative aspects of the culture. KEYWORDS: Arabic, textbooks, surface culture, deep culture, cultural competence INTRODUCTION Textbooks are widely used by language teachers as one of the most essential means to develop learners’ competence in acquiring languages. Some language textbooks focus on the four core skills 26 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 (speaking, writing, reading and listening) alongside vocabulary and grammar, while other textbooks are skill specific, where the focus is on certain skills only. Combining two skills together or advancing one skill through the rest are also pedagogically acceptable methods. Nowadays, teaching foreign languages goes beyond teaching the four skills with vocabulary and grammatical structure. Along with these skills, cultural aspects related to the language taught should be integrated in a sophisticated way within the textbooks to raise learners’ awareness and increase their knowledge (Tseng, 2002; Lewicka and Waszau, 2017). Cultural aspects can be reflected in how people deal, interact and behave overtly and covertly, including their preferences, attitudes, manners, values, traditions and beliefs. Verbal and non-verbal communication is affected by cultural aspects such as social status, religion, time concept, social group and principles. Cultural aspects can also be represented in the food eaten by certain groups, clothing styles and to what extent the body is covered, sports and activities preferred and various forms of arts. Learning and communicating sufficiently in a foreign language cannot be accomplished without obtaining cultural competence, which requires an awareness of and an ability to understand the ways a certain society or group feels and acts and to respect and accept the cultural and linguistic diversity, which includes being able to use the language in a situated context. In fact, this argument extends to include not only the surface culture of the target language but also the deep culture and its dimensions in the development of cultural competence (Henkil, 2001). Arabic culture, like other cultures, is diverse, and these cultural deviations are varied, depending on geographical, linguistic and individual factors, which is further complicated by the fact that each Arabic-speaking country has a varying dialect, and each dialect tends to be correlated with a cultural structure that is common among Arabs but distinctive to its particular regions. This means we cannot generalise that all Arabs share exactly the same culture or follow the exact same sociocultural customs. In fact, this diversity is not limited to a region or dialect. Within the region, culture can also be diverse among communities that share similar values, expectations, assumptions and ways of communication due to social class, professions, education, etc. Moreover, Arab culture, like other cultures, has been exposed to changes over time, generational differences and other economic and political factors. In this respect, textbooks should also reflect the deep and complex aspects of culture. 27 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Since the 1980s, Al-Batal (1988) urged that culture must be at the heart of the curriculum by understanding the ways in which one can mix culture with other skills in teaching and learning Arabic (Suleiman, 1993; Ryding, 2013). This stresses that culture is an essential component of learning languages and that it is considered as a “fifth skill” alongside reading, writing, speaking and listening. The connection between language and culture is important and strong, as it supports language learners in being proficient in communicating in the target language (Nault, 2006). Brown (2007) also supports that language and culture are highly connected, and this should be brought to light not just by teaching the “values, customs and way of thinking” and not solely the language. The view is that the teaching of the language itself must be accompanied by the culture of the language learned; otherwise, communicating effectively in the target language risks the speaker misperceiving conversations with native speakers (Tseng, 2002; Kramsch, 1993; 2003; Saluveer, 2004). LITERATURE REVIEW The significance of integrating culture in language classes and textbooks has gradually become known to teachers and educators. However, integrating culture systematically into language textbooks is challenging. Brown (2000), among others, discussed the relationship between culture and language as though they are two faces of the same coin. Culture and language are shared aspects of communication that are both needed to interact sufficiently with individuals and groups. Language carries linguistic features, while culture carries sociological and behavioural features. This relationship necessitates the idea that learning a foreign language requires learning the culture driving it. The whole process requires careful consideration of how teaching a foreign culture can be embedded in foreign language pedagogy. Culture within foreign language pedagogy is defined as “patterns of behaviours” by Lado (1957), but Robinson (1988) explains culture in language teaching as “interpretation of the behaviours”. According to Brown (2007), culture entails the tools, ideas, values, behaviours, attitudes and beliefs that distinguish a group of people at a certain time. There are various ways of looking at culture in language teaching. Brooke (1964) was the first to introduce the concept of “capital C” culture, or tangible culture, which is represented in art, literature, music, food, holidays, tourist sites, flags, traditional clothing, etc. On the other hand, “small c” culture is represented in forms of behaviours, attitudes, personal space, concepts of time, approaches to marriage, attitude towards age, etc., and it focusses on interactions in everyday life and in real social settings. It underlines the complex 28 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 sociocultural interactions in society. This concept of culture develops to mirror that of surface culture versus deep culture (Kramsch, 2013). In an attempt to map small c and capital C culture with surface and deep culture, it is revealed that capital C culture resembles surface culture while small c culture resembles deep culture. The surface culture is easily recognised and distinguished, as it includes physical appearance, tangible characteristics and simple social norms, while deep culture may not be easily recognised unless the individual is exposed to the culture by living in the target culture or by learning about their expectations, attitudes, values, etc. The learners cannot acquire a complete cultural competence of the target language without a true understanding of both levels of culture, including a sensitivity to and awareness of certain situations. A lack of knowledge of deep culture can lead to misunderstandings and misperceptions during communication (Hinkel, 2001; Rodríguez, 2015; Tomalin and Stempleski, 2003; Tudor, 2001). Hardly (2001) urges us to consider that culture in foreign language pedagogy should not only be limited to observing culture and its aspects but should enable learners to perceive and analyse culture, and this denotes a shift among researchers toward focusing on deep culture as well as surface culture. Risager (2007) promotes incorporating culture into foreign language teaching and including cultural aspects into the curriculum. However, language educators face a challenge in both what and how language-culture curriculum and material should be designed and developed and how the target language and native culture are integrated, especially if the native culture is not limited to one region or language variety and the learners are from different backgrounds. It is argued that intercultural competence is essential in this case for communication purposes. Byram (1997) proposed a model for intercultural competence in language learning and teaching. It contains four dimensions: language learning, language awareness, cultural awareness and cultural experience. The model starts with learning the language skills in context, then understanding the relationship between language and culture to raise the learners’ awareness of using the language properly in situated contexts. Cultural awareness is a core dimension in the model, as it focuses on how learners develop the ability to understand the target language and its relation to the native culture. This leads to intercultural competence in language learning, and the cultural experience dimension implies that learners obtain intercultural awareness through direct contact with the culture. These dimensions are connected, and the objective of learning and integrating a foreign culture into language teaching materials is to develop the learners’ cultural knowledge and 29 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 competence rather than just to encourage the learners to copy native speakers’ socialisation patterns (Byram, 1997; Risager, 2007). Byram etal. (2001), Sercu (2002) and Corbett (2007) argue that the process of learning should not be just passing foreign culture on to learners. The process should involve understanding and acknowledging the difference between knowing and obtaining information about cultures and the ability to compare differences and similarities across cultures with tolerance and appreciation. The latter involves a positive attitude towards learning about other cultures and developing the ability to interact effectively and communicate confidently across cultures. Therefore, curriculums and textbooks should guide students through the process and enable the learners to distinguish between cultural and personal behaviours. Therefore, the goal is to move from communicative competence to an intercultural communicative competence approach. According to Byram etal. (2001), the main components of intercultural communicative competence are represented in the general knowledge about target culture, skills of how to compare, understand and interpret cultures and obtaining a positive attitude towards foreign cultures. Some researchers agreed on certain criteria to evaluate the cultural content in textbooks, materials and curriculum, but they varied on others. For example, Kilickaya (2004), Reimann (2009) and Byram etal. (2001) agreed on critically handling serotypes and supporting students to reach their own interpretations. Kilickaya (2004) and Reimann (2009) argued that textbooks should engage learners’ own culture with the target language, which implies a variety of cultures, and emphasised that the textbook should include instructions about how cultural elements will be introduced, providing that the reality of the culture will be included and any authors’ views will be avoided by using stimulating materials rather than a holistic approach, where cultural content will be transferred as a source of information only. Whereas, Sercu (2002) emphasised that negative and problematic aspects should be incorporated and that cultural content should be included in the textbook rather than presented in separate sections or attached at the end. Textbooks should ensure that their content deal with deep culture, which reflects values, ideas, attitudes, mentalities and beliefs, including any aspects related to gender prominence and positions in society (Sercu, 2002). Among all of the criteria for evaluating the cultural content in textbooks (Reimann, 2009; Kilickaya, 2004; Sercu, 1998), Byram’s criteria of cultural content in textbooks and model of intercultural communicative competence (1997; 2001; Wagner and Byram, 2015) emphasised the fact that 30 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 culture should have more impact on language teaching and learning by not being limited to the four Fs—food, folklore, fair and facts—and include other cultural elements, such as (1) social groups, (2) social interaction, (3) behaviours and beliefs, (4) political situations, (5) life cycles, (6) historical and geographical aspects, (7) cultural heritage and (8) identity and stereotypes. These criteria are comprehensive, although non-verbal communication and conversational patterns in different social situations are not included. However, one can argue that non-verbal communication can be listed under social interaction. Rababah and Al-Rababah (2013) developed criteria for evaluating textbooks used for teaching Arabic to non-Arabic speakers, based on a survey conducted among a spectrum of teachers, tutors and lecturers of Arabic worldwide. One of the criteria was that the culture of the learners and of the language taught must be considered throughout the textbook. Arifin (2012) looked at the cultural content of an Arabic textbook and found references to social interaction, social identity, behaviours and beliefs, cultural heritage and stereotypes, among others. The textbook adopted writing and pictures approach to embed the cultural element into the textbook. Lewicka and Waszau (2017) examined and compared the cultural content in Arabic textbooks that are taught in Polish, French and American universities and found that the textbook used in American universities developed these aspects in more comprehensive ways, allowing for the development of surface cultural competence along with language competence. Based on the abovementioned findings, the criteria of cultural evaluation of textbooks vary, and this makes the task complex. However, the researchers agreed on the main elements that can be considered as global trends in cultural evaluation which is summarised in Table 1: language textbooks must have a clear provision in what the cultural goal of the textbook is, the depth of the cultural content is and how culture can be presented in textbooks. However, this does not eliminate the challenges that occur with integrating culture into textbooks and the way in which the materials may be exploited in the class. 31 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 • • • Criteria The cultural goal of the textbook (Byram etal., 2001; Sercu, 2002; Corbett, 2007; Kilickaya, 2004; Reimann 2009) The cultural depth in the textbook (Byram etal., 2001; Sercu, 2002; Corbett, 2007; Kilickaya, 2004; Reimann, 2009) Presentation (Kilickaya, 2004; Reimann, 2009) ISSN 2398-8509 • • • • • • • • • • • • Challenges • • • • Aspects Knowledge of the target culture Developing communication skills Awareness and openness to interculturality Source culture (learners’ own culture) and target culture (the culture of the target language) Surface (Capital C) and deep culture (small c) Positive and negative aspects of the culture Reflecting authentic, real aspects rather personal views Cultural content integrated within the materials or added as a section at the end of the topic Images and pictures, including maps Media such as recording, advertisements, videos, etc. Written forms such as texts, biographies, literature, etc. Diversity of the target culture due to geographical, linguistic and other factors Variations in learners’ own culture due to diversity in their background Time and space limitation to reflect the depth of the culture in textbook Lack of educators’ training about culture in language pedagogy. Table 1: Summary of cultural criteria RATIONALE OF THE STUDY Despite the growth of Arabic language teaching and learning worldwide, an insufficient number of studies on the evaluation of the cultural content in Arabic textbooks have been conducted. Therefore, there is a particular requirement for an objective evaluation to find the extent to which the content of these textbooks reflect Arab culture and society, the tools and patterns included to represent the cultural elements or aspects (Abbaspour et al., 2012) and whether the content of the textbooks match the global trends mentioned previously in teaching foreign languages. The study also examines how these textbooks support or represent intercultural elements (Risager, 1998) during the learning process and whether the cultural aspects of non-verbal communications are being covered. 32 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 PROCEDURES The analysis of the four Arabic language textbooks selected for this study will provide an overview of the depth of the cultural content and patterns used to represent culture. These four books are produced by international publishing houses. Book 1: first level and Book 1: second level are used widely by universities in the UK and the USA. Book 2: first level and Book 2: second level are used in Arabic countries. Following Rodríguez’s (2015) method, the names of the books will not be included in this article, as the aim is to provide an evaluation of the cultural content without affecting the status of the books; these books provide excellent Arabic language materials. Each page and each chapter of the books were thoroughly examined to identify where and how culture is integrated into the content. Any cultural element found in the books was classified under two main categories, reflecting either surface or deep culture. However, it was not a straightforward task. Following Hall (1976) and other researchers, such as Reimann (2009), Kilickaya (2004), Sercu (1998), Byram (1989; 1993) and Wagner and Byram (2015) and to ensure the reliability of the criteria used, classification of what can be considered deep culture and what can be considered surface culture is listed below in Table 2. Within each level, the tools and patterns adopted by the textbooks to incorporate and represent culture were also identified. In order to determine statistically the cultural elements found in the books and what was classified under surface or deep culture, a score was created for each potential pattern or method of representation. For example; one was given for maps, two for images and pictures, three for music, four for literature, etc. For each pattern, another column was created in the data view to determine if it reflects surface or deep culture. So, following the classifications in Table 2, one was given if the pattern reflects surface culture, and two was given if the pattern reflects deep culture. All instances were transformed into scores and entered into the SPSS software (Larson-Hall, 2010; Scholfield, 2011). Descriptive data such as frequencies and percentages were collected. SPSS data were used to make graphs and pie charts to show concrete results and information. 33 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Cultural Depth Surface culture (Capital C) Deep culture (Small C) • Art • Behaviour • Music • Attitude towards work, pets, death, marriage, • Literature children, authority, • Food and drink gender, health, etc. • Dance • Expectation • Clothing • Believes • Craft • Manners • Architecture • Body language: facial • Race expression, eye and hand • Colour movement • Age • Assumption • Holiday • Relationships • Festivals and celebration • Concept of time, family, • Language age, etc. • Flags • Problem solving and • Games decision making • Cities and locations • Personal space • Feelings • Values • Myths Table 2: Classification of surface and deep culture Presentation of Culture • • • • • • • • • • Pictures and images Maps Audio Clips Adverts TV programmes and films Written texts Biographies Literature Jokes FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Book 1: first level Linguistically, Book 1: first level is well structured and comprehensive. It covers the core skills, including grammar and vocabulary, with an authentic approach, and it is accompanied by two CDs and a wide range of online resources. The book covers a variety of themes such as greetings, family relations, jobs, polite requests, describing things and places, countries and people, shopping, food, weather, trips, daily routines, likes and dislikes, education and business. The alphabet is introduced at the beginning in a sophisticated way, by arranging the letters into six groups within the first six chapters. Along with these letters, vocabulary and simple phrases and sentences are introduced. An examination of the introduction of the book reveals that there is no clear goal or guide on how to use the cultural information or on how to deploy the cultural aspects to raise learners’ deep cultural awareness. On a positive note, cultural elements are embedded in the textbook, and they are not separated or split into sections. Moreover, the book heavily depends on the use of photos that put 34 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 the Arabic language into its cultural context from the beginning. However, the photos mainly reveal aspects of surface culture. Some photos show that Arabs are famous for their hospitality. Other photos include old Arabic cities and streets, traditional clothing, houses and food and maps of some of the Arabic countries from the Middle East, as well as museums, royal palaces, nature, traditional markets and restaurants. Some cultural content is also reflected in the written form. Various Arabic proper nouns, names of countries, nationalities and names of traditional dishes are included in the textbook. Furthermore, videos of Arab speakers are incorporated into the content of the textbook where the background, context and features of the speakers reflect Arabic culture and nature. Furthermore, there is a slight reference to intercultural elements in a limited number of pictures, depicting some of the wonders of the world through the use of proper nouns and mentioning Western features. Table 3 below shows the cultural aspects found in Book 1: first level and their classification in terms of deep or surface culture. It seems that none of the aspects mentioned above could reach or reflect deep culture. This can be attributed to the beginner level of the book. However, the book touched on cultural aspects such as hospitality and greetings but only at the surface level that includes ً ً ‫ ر‬،‫أهال و سهال‬ language expressions which are used in greetings, such as ،‫ مساء النور‬،‫الخي‬ ، ‫مرحبا‬ ‫ مساء ر‬،‫تشفنا‬ ،‫ كيف حالك‬،‫ صباح النور‬،‫الخي‬ ‫ صباح ر‬،‫ إىل اللقاء‬،‫مع السالمة‬. Hospitality was represented in some vocabulary ‫ ر‬،‫ مهلبية‬،‫ فالفل‬،‫ كسكس‬،‫ تفضل‬،‫تفضل‬. and various traditional dishes, such as ‫ مائدة‬،‫ هللا يسلمك‬،‫ كباب‬،‫كشي‬ ‫ي‬ ‫ي‬ Additionally, a tip is added to the text in English emphasising that Arab culture is known for hospitality and generosity. These two cultural aspects are directly connected to the language as a means of communication at the surface level because there was no reference to the concepts of friendships, attitudes and manners towards guests or social interaction based on gender-related issues. 35 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Cultural Aspects Geographical aspects Surface Culture • Name of countries • Flags • Cities • Maps • Weather • Tourist attraction Customs and traditions • Hospitality (variety of food & language skills) Social interaction • Greeting (language skills) Historical aspects • Old cities • Traditional markets Food • Traditional dishes • How to order food Clothing and appearance • Middle eastern features • Traditional clothing Interviews • Personal information Table 3: Cultural aspects in Book 1: first level Deep Culture No No No No No No No The cultural content in the textbook shed light on positive aspects without trying to impose the authors’ opinions and views in an attempt to only transfer cultural information to learners. However, the content of the book does not develop the learners’ deep awareness of the target language’s cultural aspects. There are four patterns used in Book 1: first level to integrate culture. This textbook mainly relies on pictures and photos, as mentioned previously, to reveal some aspects of culture, followed by written texts that contain cultural references about various topics and themes. The number of instances in which cultural elements are referenced in the video and audio is higher than those in the maps or flags, as shown in Figure 1 below. Table 4 reflects the frequency at which these cultural instances occurred. 36 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Book 1: first level Cumulative Valid Frequency Percent Pictures 23 34.8 34.8 34.8 Written forms 20 30.3 30.3 65.2 Videos and audios 16 24.2 24.2 89.4 7 10.6 10.6 100.0 66 100.0 100.0 Maps and Flags Total Valid Percent Percent Table 4: Frequency of cultural instances Figure 1: Book 1: first level Book 1: second level With regard to Book 1: second Level, it is no different from the first level in terms of language structure. It includes core skills as well as grammar and vocabulary in an authentic, engaging and attractive style, and it is accompanied by CDs and a wide range of online resources. The book covers a range of themes such as speaking about oneself and others by describing personalities and talking about childhoods. Book 1: second level moves from personal information to professional issues. This 37 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 includes information about home and housework, how to rent a house, daily routines, searching for jobs and writing CVs. The book has celebratory themes, starting with sports and leisure, hobbies, free time, preferences, travel and tourism, festivals and transportation and ending with food and cooking, booking tables in restaurants, wedding parties, colours, fashion shows and buying clothes. The themes become more abstract in the final part of the book and introduce issues such as media and broadcasting, news and speech, advice and complaints, environment and weather, happiness and health and arts and cinema. Similar to its first level, the cultural content in Book 1: second level is introduced through pictures showing different aspects and features of Arab culture such as traditional buildings, old and modern cities and famous dishes. The cultural content is also incorporated in both written text and audio. In contrast to Book 1: first level, this textbook contains Arabic proverbs and poetry, biographies about famous writers and famous singers and several adverts for products, jobs and houses for rent, reflecting some cultural aspects. There is no strong presence of literature at this level, but it is not absent. One of the strong cultural presences in this textbook is a section at the end of each chapter that includes information about an Arabic country. These sections are accompanied by maps, and each map includes the names of the capital and the many other cities, seas, rivers, etc. They include audio samples of authentic regional dialects. Furthermore, the two main festivals, Ramadan and AlHajj, are included in the textbook with a text explaining some details about the traditions and customs involved. Music, dance and celebrity make limited appearances in the textbook. Unlike Book 1: first level, there is no clear reference to intercultural elements that reflects the source culture, but greeting terms are developed with regard to the book’s level to include intermediate expressions such as ‫ كل عام و أنتم‬،‫ السالم عليكم و رحمة هللا و بركاته‬،‫ميوك‬ ‫ ر‬/‫ عيد مبارك‬،‫خي‬ ‫أسعد هللا صباحك بكل ر‬ ‫ الحمدهلل عل السالمة‬،‫بخي‬. ‫ ر‬In Book 1: second level, two exercises introduce learners to deep culture, as shown in Table 5 below. One of the exercises involves reading a piece of news about the Tamazight Language and how it was introduced in schools for the first time in Algeria, “ ‫ تعليم‬،‫للمرة األوىل‬ ‫”األمازيغيةبالمدارس الجزائرية‬. The learners thus have the opportunity to obtain knowledge about multiculturalism within Arabic culture, linguistic plurality and populations and ethnic pluralism with the increased awareness that there is another language spoken in parts of North Africa alongside the Arabic language. One more reading of the text shows that women should wear modest clothes in the ً Arab world due to religious and cultural reasons and as a sign of respect, “ ‫مالبس النساء أيضا محتشمة و‬ ‫تغط كل الجسم‬ ‫”فضفاضة و‬. However, these two cultural aspects mentioned above can have some ‫ي‬ 38 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 implications. Therefore, there should be a reference to the diversity of Arabic culture with regard to outfits and costumes, and there should be more discussion about the conception of including Tamazight language in the curriculum, taking into consideration the various views of different social groups. Apart from these two points, the rest of the cultural content represent surface culture and refers to mono-cultural aspects. Despite the inclusion of various written texts such as biographies, poetry and proverbs, the content of these texts do not go beyond surface culture and language terminology (as shown in Table 5). For example, the content of the biographies do not reflect the status or value of individuals in the society or the attitude of the public to them. The texts include information about their life, their ‫ ر‬،‫ حصل عل‬،‫أمض‬ place and date of birth, death, etc. using vocabulary such as ‫ ولد يف‬،‫ درس‬،‫ انتقل‬،‫ بدأ‬، ‫نش‬ ،‫ حض‬،‫مات‬. There was a mention that the singer “Omm Kalthoum” is also called the “star of the east” ‫)كوكب ر‬, but no further explanation is given of how Arabs feel about her songs or her music (‫الشق‬ style. Moreover, the book has transferred information to the learners about the month of Ramadan (‫ )شهر رمضان‬and the Hajj (‫)الحج‬, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, as main festivals in the Arab world, but there was no attempt to reach deep culture by explaining that not all Arabs practice or celebrate the Eids. Also, the content does not contain discussion about the manners and expectations related to the Eids. With respect to Arabic dialects that are included at the end of the chapters, according to the surface and deep culture classification proposed in Table 2, the inclusion of Arabic dialects does not reflect deep cultural aspects. However, one can argue that introducing learners to different dialects with different accents can raise learners’ intercultural awareness of the Arabic diglossia (i.e. sociolinguistic variation in the Arab world) and its implications, enabling them to recognise the different registries of the language, and it is also a preparation to avoid the chance of facing a future culture shock that may be experienced by learners during their travel abroad in the Arab world. 39 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 Cultural Aspects Geographical and regional aspects Sociolinguistic aspects Clothes and costume ISSN 2398-8509 • • • • • • • Surface Culture Name of countries Cities Maps Weather Tourist attraction Different dialects Traditional clothes Deep Culture The status of Tamazight language No/Yes Modest clothes worn by women No No No No • Festivals • Old cities and buildings • Arabic dishes • Wedding • Dance • Adverts • Celebrity Literature • Poetry • Proverb Biography • Writers • Singers Table 5: Cultural aspects in Book 1: second level Customs and traditions Historical aspects Food Celebration and entertainment No No Book 1: second level Cumulative Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Percent Pictures 29 33.7 33.7 33.7 Maps 19 22.1 22.1 55.8 Recordings 18 20.9 20.9 76.7 written forms 11 12.8 12.8 89.5 Adverts 5 5.8 5.8 95.3 Biographies 2 2.3 2.3 97.7 Literature 2 2.3 2.3 100.0 86 100.0 100.0 Total Table 6: Frequency of cultural instances 40 the The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 More patterns are adapted in Book 1: second level in order to further integrate surface culture. The most frequent methods used at this level are pictures, maps and recordings, while the least frequent means are literature and biographies. There are limited instances of adverts with cultural content, as shown in Figure 2 below. Figure 2: Book 1: second level Book 2: first level The content of Book 2: first level is mainly in Arabic at the beginner level with no use of English. The book also opens from the right side. The letters are divided into five groups, according to the alphabetical order but not in terms of their common features, along with some vocabulary and basic phrases. It is composed of 10 chapters, and it covers the core skills, including grammar and vocabulary, with sections to introduce students to the use of language in naturalistic settings. The linguistic content of the book is enriched with recordings found in CDs and online resources. Similar to other language books, this book starts with themes such as greetings, introducing oneself and getting to know others, their nationalities and personal information. It also includes some courtesy, apology, politeness and thanking phrases along with titles to address people, such as ،‫ ال مشكلة‬،‫آسف‬ 41 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 ً ً ‫ يا سيد‬،‫ يا أستاذ‬،‫ يا آنسة‬،‫ بكل رسور‬،‫شكرا جزيال‬. However, the book does not present assumptions, expectations or behaviours associated with using titles and addressing colleagues, lecturers, strangers within the workplace, etc. These phrases and titles are not highlighted in light of the variations between societies in the West and the Arab world. Through the examination of the cultural content in the book, it seems that the focus on cultural content is highly limited. The book does not include guidance or clear objectives on how cultural elements should be handled, and it does not target the learners’ own culture, except in rare occasions when some foreign names are given to some characters in the book. The book also focusses on numbers in Arabic by introducing themes such as dates, phone numbers, time and prices. Book 2: first level familiarises students with description skills by introducing topics such as clothes, colours, places and directions. It ends with teaching students how to talk about daily routines, family members, weather conditions and temperature. Patterns such as pictures, music, recordings and some adverts are embedded in the textbook. The pictures used in this book reveal cultural aspects related to clothes and costumes, traditional houses and historical architecture. Some pictures illustrate the deserts found in some Arabic regions showing camels and palm trees in several locations. Eastern musical instruments, such as the oud, are also found in the pictures. Similar to other language books at this level, flags, nationalities and geographical aspects have a strong presence. Contrary to previous books, cultural aspects such as food, famous figures or festival have no presence at this level. However, the book includes some themes typical of surface culture, but they are informed by deeper cultural assumptions, expectations and behaviours. For example, the book embraces some deep meanings related to social interaction solely through pictures. It shows ways to discipline children that may be acceptable in a particular society, and it refers to some non-verbal communications when greeting people such as taps on shoulders or taps on the chest. Thus, the body language accompanying verbal expressions seems to be present in some pictures and images. It can be considered as one of the merits of this book, as non-verbal communication is significant in light of the potential cultural dissimilarities between societies. Interestingly, all pictures used to show greetings are limited to greetings within the same gender. This might be accidental, as there are no clearly written texts explaining these behaviours, assumptions or sociocultural norms. It can also be noticed that various and different Arabic names are used for characters or people mentioned in each lesson and dialogue, which has a positive 42 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 impact on the learners’ cultural knowledge with regard to the distinction between feminine and masculine Arabic proper nouns, but this aspect does not feed into deep culture. In other cases, intercultural content is introduced in the form of exercises. For example, in an exercise about “Nisba ّ ّ the task refers to rugs as “Iranian”, fashion items adjectives” and nationalities such as ‫إيطاىل‬ ،‫بريطان‬, ‫ي‬ ‫ي‬ as “French” and electronic equipment as “Chinese” or “Korean”, symbolising the reputation of each country for exporting such items to the world market. However, apart from the three deep cultural aspects mentioned above, all other cultural aspects do not go beyond the surface culture, as shown in Table 7 below. Cultural Aspects Geographical aspects Social interaction • • • • • • • Surface Culture Nationalities Cities, towns and areas Weather Desert & palm trees Parenting Greeting Names Deep Culture No • • • • Traditional clothes • Music (within the CD) • Musical instrument • Adverts Historical aspects • Pyramids • Traditional houses Table 7: Cultural aspects in Book 2: first level Clothes and costumes Entertainment Ways to discipline children Greeting within gender-related issues Body language: shoulder tapping or hand on chest No No No Once again, it seems that pictures are the primary source in Arabic textbooks to show and reveal cultural elements, evident from it being the highest column in Figure 3 below. No large differences between the recordings and the written texts were noticed. However, it seems that a few written texts have been deployed to reveal cultural aspects, as shown below. These appear in terms of area names, street names, addresses, shops names, etc. This can be attributed to the level of the book itself. The pattern least adopted to reveal culture is adverts, which scarcely appear in the book. 43 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Book 2: first Level Cumulative Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Percent Pictures 16 39.0 42.1 42.1 Recordings 10 24.4 26.3 68.4 Written Forms 8 19.5 21.1 89.5 Adverts 4 9.8 10.5 100.0 38 92.7 100.0 3 7.3 41 100.0 Total System Total Table 8: Frequency of cultural instances Figure 3: Book 2: first level Book 2: second level Book 2: second level is a higher level textbook with broad topics that develop linguistic and communicative skills. The book is composed of eight chapters. It teaches students how to describe 44 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 people, objects, occasions and places. It also teaches them how to talk about daily routines and future plans. It develops their skills to read and understand short stories, articles about prominent figures, job advertisements and news through themes such as successful relations, abilities and orders, events from the past, trips and activities. Similar to previous books, this book covers the four core skills, including vocabulary and grammar, and it puts the language into function by using it in real-life situations. In Book 2: second level, the cultural content is mainly found in pictures and biographies. A range of famous figures and prominent celebrities from the Arab world and further abroad are included in the book, which reflects an intercultural approach because it relies on the idea that culture can be best learned by comparing, engaging and including the target culture and the learners’ own culture, which might enable learners to function as facilitators between the two cultures (Risager, 1998). In addition, folklore stories, which are part of Arabic literature, are found such as “Juha” (‫)جحا‬, introducing learners to the genre of these stories and the sense of humour these types of stories have. The argument behind this point is that deep culture can be informed by surface culture in this case. To achieve this goal, there should be clear guidance and instruction for teachers who will be using the book to expand on the task in order to reach the deep culture and avoid the risk of misusing the text in the class. Also, the reading texts are embedded with names of famous Arabic streets, cities, areas, rivers and buildings. The book also includes the most famous Arabic tourist attractions and holiday resorts. News and job adverts are included in the book, and they reflect some sociocultural norms. Likewise, the inclusion of celebrations such as birthdays and New Year introduces students to lifestyles and cultural customs. Infrequently, maps and flags are used in the book to incorporate cultures. There is a strong presence in Book 2: second level of biographies of famous and prominent figures and celebrities with a richness in vocabulary such as ،‫ مطرب‬،‫ تتلمذ‬،‫ ألفت‬،‫ شاركت‬،‫ أسست‬،‫ تخصصت‬،‫نالت‬ ‫ المركز‬،‫لقب‬. Dissimilar to Book 1: second level, some biographies do not only show who the individuals are and what they do but also include their social status, the perception of Arab society towards them and their value in the community. Occasionally, there are footnotes regarding the figures that encourage the learners to carry out research to learn more about them and any cultural matters connected to them. There was no focus on historical aspects in this book, but some geographical and political aspects are noted in the texts and pictures. The text explains the concept of military duty in the Arab world and how it is a compulsory responsibility to certain groups of that 45 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 society. It also makes learners aware of the cultural dissimilarity between the Arab world and the West towards this duty and of the attitude and feeling of the Arab world towards this national service. Table 9 below shows more details. Cultural Aspects Geographical aspects Surface Culture • Cities • Maps • Flags • Rivers Entertainments and • Tourist attractions celebrations • New year • birthdays • Adverts Biographies and celebrity • Writers • Poets • Singers Literature • Folklore stories • News Political and governance • Military duties systems Table 9: Cultural aspects in Book 2: second level Deep Culture No No The status of some figures in society, including the society’s expectations of them No Explaining military duties, who is eligible and other concepts Unlike previous books, biographies in Book 2: second level are the second most frequently occurring pattern, following pictures. There are more instances of cultural references in written texts and maps than in adverts and literature. Book 2: second level Cumulative Frequency Valid Percent Valid Percent Percent Pictures 20 39.2 39.2 39.2 Biographies 11 21.6 21.6 60.8 Written Forms 9 17.6 17.6 78.4 Maps 6 11.8 11.8 90.2 Adverts 3 5.9 5.9 96.1 Literature 2 3.9 3.9 100.0 51 100.0 100.0 Total Table 10: Frequency of cultural instances 46 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Figure 4: Book 2: second level The four books that were examined display elements and aspects of surface culture as shown in the findings. However, they lack the elements of deep culture which can support students in obtaining intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997; Wagner and Byram, 2015). Book 1: second level, Book 2: first level and Book 2: second level have limited elements of deep culture. Book 1: first level totally lacks deep culture, as seen in Figure 5 below. 47 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Figure 5: Surface and deep culture SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The textbooks examined include comprehensive coverage of linguistic and communicative skills. They also contain information on various surface cultures. However, some deep culture content has been introduced in the books through the rear door, but it was not clearly acknowledged. Therefore, this evaluation should encourage teachers to introduce cultural elements openly in the class and encourage the authors of textbooks to state their cultural goals and objectives freely in the guidance and preface sections of the textbooks. Moreover, textbooks can benefit from cultural tips to raise students’ cultural competence without fearing that these tips may lead to stereotyping some 48 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 cultural elements. Culture should not be fed to learners but rather introduced to them with its perceived positive and negative sides, and learners should be encouraged to compare, understand and interpret cultures to develop their own attitude towards such foreign cultures (Byram etal., 2001). Therefore, teachers and textbook authors should critically handle serotypes and support learners in reaching their own interpretation (Kilickaya, 2004; Reimann, 2009) as mentioned previously. Some of what is presented as surface culture can lead to or feed deep culture. For example, within the greetings sections, there are non-verbal communications features that should be incorporated into greeting terms in the textbooks in a more comprehensive way, such as taps on shoulders, hands on chest, rubbing noses by Bedouins, exchanging hugs and kisses on cheeks within members of the same gender. Dealing with gender in greeting can be complex and may cause misunderstandings if learners are not aware of the depth of this cultural element. Another example of deep culture that is informed by surface culture is related to food. Three of the books display different traditional dishes that reflect Arabs’ surface culture, but none of the books explain that there are types of dishes eaten by hand and require sitting on the ground in certain regions of the Arab world. There are also other issues that are not incorporated into these books. For example, it is preferable to eat with the right hand, and splitting bills in restaurants among friends, family members or colleagues is not the norm in the Middle East. Moreover, within shopping themes, it is ideal to raise learners’ cultural awareness of bargaining in traditional markets, as it is common in the Middle East. One of the gaps that should be filled is the introduction of non-verbal communications, including body and facial expressions. Common stereotypes are totally absent, such as Arabs always being late, Arab women being oppressed or all Arabs being Muslim. However, these topics develop debate skills to prove whether they are true or false. Other concepts related to cultural dimensions, such as time flexibility, attitudes towards family, elderly people, age and marriage, approaches to religion, decision making, raising children and relations with animals and pets should be paid more attention in textbooks, and discussion should be held in the classroom at an intercultural level, where the source culture (learners’ own culture) and target culture (the culture of the target language) are both engaged. It is essential to design cultural materials that are based on real-life resources, such as movies, dramas, programmes, documentaries and native speakers’ inputs, reflecting authentic, real aspects rather than the authors’ personal views. This will help students to not only develop a cultural 49 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 competence but also critical skills that go beyond the culture of the country whose language is being studied to include the culture of the learners as well. Some major issues with the textbooks analysed are that only a few instances are recorded of deep culture. This means that learners are not fully prepared to live and communicate in the country of the language taught, and they may miss vital tips that allow them to interact successfully without experiencing miscommunications or culture shock. Learners would not be able to communicate confidently without acquiring the cultural aspect along with other skills (Garza, 2016). Deep cultural awareness assists in understanding the differences and similarities between people. This will prepare them to accept differences and consider them as a way to learn about others. When students’ deep culture knowledge and awareness are embedded with a positive attitude, they will value and respect cultural diversity and become more open and willing to accept others. Eventually, critical skills such as evaluating and understanding the customs and traditions of other peoples will develop (Barrett, 2011). Teaching Arabic as a foreign language needs systematic, in-depth and up-to-date curricula that deploy high standards of teaching and learning to achieve linguistic development as well as cultural competence. Language teachers are also responsible for and have a major role in promoting cultures. They should avoid using textbooks as their only source in the curriculum and aim to fulfill potential gaps left by textbooks. To be able to achieve this goal, factors such as the context in which the language is taught and whether or not the students are in real contact with the culture being studied must be also considered. It is also worth mentioning that challenges and implications facing practitioners due to the diversity of culture within the Arab world, the diversity of the learners’ own cultures in the classroom (particularly if they come from different backgrounds) and the time constraints and space limitations in textbooks and classes can be barriers to reflecting the cultural depth required. Therefore, more training and workshops about how to integrate culture and how to classify deep and surface culture in textbooks are very much needed in Arabic language pedagogy, because learning Arabic, as with any other language, not only requires learning linguistic communication but also requires learning about the cultural wealth associated with the language, whether visible or hidden, negative or positive. 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The Language Educator. 10(3), pp.28-30. 53 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 A practical guide to the use of the integrated approach in the Arabic undergraduate programme at Edinburgh University Ayah Durkawi Department of Arabic and Persian, the University of St Andrews Marwa Mouazen Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, the University of Edinburgh ABSTRACT The shift which the field of the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language (TAFL) has been witnessing over the past few years in terms of the best teaching approaches and solutions to the challenges posed by diglossia has been gradual yet steady. The use of the Integrated Approach (IA) as defined by Munther Younes (1990) has been at the centre of this shift. As a pioneer in the teaching of Arabic in the UK, the University of Edinburgh has kept abreast of these changing attitudes towards TAFL, becoming one of the earliest British universities to embrace the use of the IA on the undergraduate level. This paper discusses how this use came about, the challenges it faced, and the steps taken by the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies (IMES) to facilitate it. It also outlines the different techniques employed by staff members teaching on both the sub-honours and honours levels of the Arabic BA programme to implement the IA. KEYWORDS: IA, Arabic, Edinburgh, UG, TAFL INTRODUCTION The shift in attitude toward Arabic learning and teaching has been the focus of several recent publications. In his latest book, Arabic as One Language, Professor Mahmoud Al-Batal contends that Arabic has, in fact, been long misunderstood by native speakers and non-native speakers alike as 54 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 being made up of one formal, highly respected variety which learners of Arabic should learn exclusively, and various informal colloquial varieties which are often looked down upon as less pure, and, therefore, not worthy of the same regard which Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) deserves. It has been traditionally agreed that leaners of Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) should not learn colloquial Arabic, a practice which has been in place as far back as interest in learning Arabic started. Recently, this attitude started to shift as more and more Arabic teachers began to offer training in colloquial to facilitate authentic oral communication. The IA has been similarly used in the UG programme at IMES in a manner which mirrors the reality of Arabic as neatly summed up by AlBatal: one rich language boasting infinitely diverse varieties which enhance, and are enhanced by, their formal counterpart, MSA. This article draws primarily on the understanding, shared by Arabic teachers on the UG programme at IMES, that viewing Arabic as one rich whole is key to creating a programme which would equip students with the authentic skills required to function within this language. It is only when teachers start to believe that the Arabic they know is not two-fold, but is rather one and the same entity, that they can begin to impart this knowledge to their students. Only then can real teaching and learning of Arabic occur. For many years, the Arabic UG programme at Edinburgh University has focused on teaching MSA with occasional insertions of a few commonly used colloquial terms and expressions by some teachers, such as ‘lā bāʾs?’ (alright?) and ‘kyfāk?’ (how are you?). The UG programme offers a total of five contact hours every week in the first and second years, four of which are conducted in the form of lectures while the fifth is an oral tutorial in which students are typically divided into small groups of up to seven students each to have oral practice. In 2016, the department decided to move on from that model and gradually adopted the IA to answer students’ continuous and growing demand to properly and systematically learn one of the colloquial varieties spoken in the Arab world together with MSA. The decision was taken after the department realised the importance of adapting its practices to provide students with a more satisfactory learning experience which reflects both evolving learner expectations and the latest developments in the field of TAFL, especially in North America. Integrating colloquial Arabic into the TAFL curricula seems to represent the most ample answer to learner needs: “in a survey of students studying Arabic in the United States, Kirk Belnap (2006) reports that the following are the top three reasons why students study Arabic: (1) interacting with people who speak Arabic, (2) travelling to the Arab world, and (3) developing better understanding of Arab culture” (Al-Batal, 2018). While it is true that this study was not carried out in the UK, there has not been enough evidence to suggest that the profiles of Arabic learners in the 55 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 two countries are different enough for the results of the study to be inapplicable to learners of Arabic at British universities. Adopting the IA meant the need to look at the challenges teachers of Arabic at IMES has faced hitherto and the shortcomings which could, to some extent, hinder the implementation of the IA. The following section discusses the challenges that the department and its language teaching staff had to deal with in order to have a successful implementation of the IA. It is worth noting here that the obstacles discussed below are similar to those several Arabic departments around the UK are also faced with based on the very similar learner profiles across the few departments offering UG Arabic degrees in the country. CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS IN THE UG ARABIC PROGRAMME AT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY IN THE UK IMES has identified three challenges which need to be overcome in order to better implement the IA; these are class size, course structure and contact hours. This section outlines two models, the old model which was used at IMES prior to adapting the IA, and the modified model adopted by the department in order to improve students’ learning experience and facilitate the implementation of the IA. However, prior to that, it is worth providing a brief overview as to the definitions of the Arabic modules in IMES. Arabic 1 is an elementary course in MSA. It also introduces students to the fundamentals of colloquial Arabic. No Previous knowledge of Arabic is required for entry to this course. Arabic 2 is designed to lead on from Arabic 1. It consolidates students’ knowledge of MSA and provides a further development of linguistic skills. Grammatical structures and oral skills are further developed and authentic materials are introduced. There is no Arabic 3 as students of Arabic in IMES embark on a year-long journey to the Arab World studying Arabic with affiliated institutes and integrating with the culture. Arabic 4 is a comprehensive, progressive course expanding students' knowledge of Arabic grammar, style, and vocabulary and focusing on speaking, arguing, discussing, debating, and presenting at an advanced level. 56 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 Course Arabic 1 ISSN 2398-8509 Old Model Modified Model Number of students is 75 with a cap on No cap on student numbers. admission. The course is open to students Students are divided into six groups from all over the university. with a maximum of 20 students per It consists of four lectures and one oral group. tutorial per week. No scope for increasing the number of For the oral tutorials, students are divided contact hours. into smaller groups of no more than ten Students have a total of five contact each. hours per week with the oral practice Number of weeks is 22 weeks. being integrated into the fifth hours. Assessment comprises of two mid-term The assessment regime remains the tests, two oral exams and two end of term same. three-hour written exams. Arabic 2 Number of students is 50. Joining the Students progressing from Arabic 1 can course is conditional on progressing from join the course. Arabic 1. Dividing students into two groups, 25 The course consisted of four lectures and students per group one oral tutorial every week. Oral tutorials are kept. Students are divided into smaller groups for the oral. The new model maintained the same Assessment comprised of two mid-term assessment regime. tests, two oral exams and two end of term three-hour written exams. Arabic 4 Students of Arabic in year 4. Students of Arabic in year 4. The course consisted of two lectures and Four hours of grammar, comprehension, one oral tutorial. translation and media Arabic. Assessment comprised of a final three- One hour of Aural. hour written exam and a 20-minute oral One hour of Oral. exam. Assessment: two mid- term translation tests, end of term exam, one aural exam, one oral exam. Table 1: The old and new structure of the core Arabic language modules at the University of Edinburgh 57 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Teachers’ and students’ attitudes Amongst the other challenges faced by the department was the fact that some teachers who had a limited knowledge of a certain colloquial variety also tended to be reluctant to teach Arabic using the IA for fear of not being able to answer student questions. Here at IMES as everywhere else too, some teachers believed that teaching colloquial Arabic is secondary and subordinate in importance to teaching MSA, which is superior and sublime in nature and highly regarded in the academic world. But even those teachers who were willing to use the IA lacked of teacher training in how to effectively use of the IA in the classroom, use resources, or design materials with that purpose in mind. To respond to this challenge, some teachers at IMES attended a five-day Arabic-Specific teacher-training course which was developed within the University of Edinburgh by the Centre of the Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW). Amongst the Arabic-teaching staff who did not attend the above teacher training course there have been two trends in terms of how they dealt with their lack of teacher training. The first is that the teachers themselves developed their own skills and materials, which demanded resilience, creativity, constant collaboration and cooperation with other colleagues in the department, the ability to admit failure, and a long series of trial and error in the classroom. The second approach was that course organisers with adequate training prepared all materials and provided comprehensive instructions on how they are to be used and how the IA is to be deployed in general. This was then shared with the other teachers involved in the teaching process who had no prior training. This process functioned as some sort of exclusive mini teacher-training. The challenges faced by the IA are not restricted to teachers’ attitude but rather extends to deciding on the choice of colloquial variety to be taught with a view to staff availability. It is found that some teachers have preferences for one colloquial variety over others due to the fact that they either come from the country where that variety is spoken or that they have studied it before. IMES decided on adopting the IA employing the colloquial Arabic variety which is spoken by the largest number of IMES teachers, i.e. Levantine Arabic. In order to facilitate students’ transition into living in the Arab world in their third year, two more classes of Egyptian and Moroccan dialects were offered to students in the second term of their second year of study in order to prepare those amongst them wishing to study in either Egypt or Morocco for their year in the Arab world. 58 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Despite the fact that the majority of students demand to be taught Arabic using the IA, some Arabic learners get frustrated due to the pre-conceived idea that they are learning two languages through the IA and are therefore expected to learn twice as much. In order to overcome this hurdle, the author of this section worked on organising what is known as the mentoring scheme which is an integral part of the undergraduate Arabic programmes at IMES. Senior students are paired with more junior ones to assist both in language learning and the academic study of IMES subjects. While mentoring is voluntary within this scheme, it has been consistently popular and successful, with take-up rates of over 90% among both mentors and mentees. A mentor within this scheme is understood not to be a teacher but rather someone with more linguistic knowledge and learning experience than the mentee. The mentors themselves will gain experience in supporting their mentee’s learning as well as an opportunity to revise their own knowledge of Arabic and to think through academic problems with another student. Both sides of the mentoring relationship require, and develop, commitment and relationship skills as well as proper recognition of what the mentormentee relationship does and does not involve. Due to the exchange of viewpoints and experiences when learning Arabic using the IA and living in the Arab World for a whole academic year, a change in the attitude of students who were initially reluctant to adopt the IA is immediately noticed, and progress in their attainment levels is achieved. Textbook Limitations There are only a handful of textbooks which use the IA, some of which do not follow a systematic order in terms of their coverage of linguistic skills and basic knowledge which students need. Moreover, some book series seem to have a gap in the level between their different instalments. Perhaps the most important challenge posed by the available textbooks which adopt the IA is the lack of instructions on how to implement the IA effectively using the materials contained in them. Jonathan Featherstone (2018) correctly points out that ‘Arabic textbooks are trying to be compatible with the IA, they are insufficient to support teachers with the tools required to deliver effective teaching […] While these textbooks expose learners to either the Levantine or Egyptian colloquial Arabic varieties or both, they do not have sufficient instructions or notes to help teachers to “integrate” both aspects in the classroom.’ The department’s response to this challenge was to gradually move away from the use of textbooks in the three years of the UG programme that students study at IMES (years one, two, and four). Teachers of Arabic in the department have worked together over the years to restructure the content of the three years and to benchmark the courses outcomes with those of the Common European Framework of Reference. The plan has been that, by the end of the first year, students of Arabic will have achieved level A1 of CEFR; by the end 59 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 of the second year, level A2/B1; and by the end of the fourth year, level C1. Materials used in teaching/instruction are mainly designed in-house specifically in order to fulfil the learning outcomes. These are supplemented by materials photocopied and adapted from different sources, including TAFL textbooks. Materials used for years two and four come from authentic, up-to-date resources such as newspapers, magazines, various websites and blogs, interviews, etc. APPLYING THE IA After solving the technicalities of class size, courses structure, teachers’ & students’ attitudes and textbook limitations, the most important next step is discussing the techniques used for applying the IA at IMES, particularly in years one and two of the UG programme. The following sections will outline these techniques, the first three of which are referred to using the term, ‘Three Rs’: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Finally, the all-important step of creating a suitable learning/teaching environment to foster the IA will also be discussed below. Reduce Munther Younes (2018) points out that it is important to focus on what is common in the two Arabic varieties taught in order to form one system of communication in which the overwhelming majority of linguistic elements are identical. One of the most important steps for successfully implementing the IA is to reduce and minimise, as much as possible, the differences between the two chosen varieties of Arabic, at least in the initial stages of introducing colloquial. The aims of this step are to reduce the amount of vocabulary students have to learn in both varieties, to make it easier to apply the IA and to reassure anxious, demotivated students that they are not learning two languages but rather a combination of both. One way of doing so is to consciously look, and opt, for similar features/forms in both varieties and to ignore the element that is found in MSA only. For example, when introducing the adverb of time ‘lāmmā’, which means ‘when’, teachers point out that both MSA and Levantine Arabic use the same adverb interchangeably, in addition to ‘ʿindamā’. Another example is the verb ‘ṣārā’, which means ‘to become’. Teachers should point out to students that there are two words in MSA with almost the same meaning: ‘āṣbāḥā’ and ‘ṣārā’. Teachers consciously use the latter form, which is found in both MSA and colloquial Arabic. Students highly appreciate the ‘reduce’ aspect of the IA as it makes them feel that they are not learning two forms/words for the same meaning. It is essential to give students a sense of reassurance and 60 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 stability during the learning process, particularly in the initial stages of applying the IA, to guarantee the continuation of learner progress and the success in the process of applying the IA. It is worth noting that the ‘reduce’ technique is used extensively in the first stages of introducing and implementing the IA. Once students reach their fourth year, different varieties of the same term are then introduced to enrich their vocabulary repertoire. Reuse The second key element in the successful implementation of the IA is repeating the same terms and expressions throughout the term. To ensure this, the IA should not be limited to oral sessions as is sometimes the case. Teachers wishing to implement this teaching approach properly should present all elements of the course using it. For example, a reading text introduced under the IA should be read in MSA, while the themes contained in it are discussed using both language varieties. Explanation of grammatical concepts is done in both varieties too, while the accompanying writing task is carried out in MSA. Terms introduced to students on a weekly basis should be consciously repeated and reused in different contexts. This process does not stop around classroom boundaries, it goes beyond it. Teachers, for example, could assign songs whose lyrics contain words which the students have learned in class as a listening task in their own time. This will reinforce the learning process and take it out of the classroom, thus making it part of their daily life as opposed to classroom experience. For example, the author of this section will introduce the song ‘mšwār rāyḥyn mšwār’ (we are going in an outing) by Wahid Jalal and Ronza through which the learning of the directions, ‘šārʾ w ġārb’ (east & west) and ‘šmāl w ǧnwb’ (North and South) is reinforced. At the same time, listening to the song will help students replace the term ‘yāwm’ (day) with ‘nhār’ (meaning also “day”) which is used in both MSA and colloquial. Recycle In his article ‘To Separate or to Integrate that is the Question’ Younes (2018) stresses the importance of the thematic organisation of the materials to build on the shared elements of the two Arabic language varieties introduced in class. In order to create a unified learning experience for students, teachers design materials revolving around themes/topics which allow for the same set of terms, expressions and vocabulary to be used over a specific period of time. For example, a weekly theme in the second year curriculum could be ‘Special Occasions and Festivities in the Arab World’. Throughout the whole week, teachers will make sure that the same terms are being recycled and used repeatedly. Terms related to the theme will be introduced to students through selected 61 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 reading texts. Students discuss the similarities and differences between special occasions in the West and their equivalent in the Middle East using a combination of both MSA and colloquial. Later, students choose an occasion that is relevant to the Muslim world, i.e. Ramadan or Eid, to research and present to class about using as many of the terms learned, both MSA and colloquial, as possible. In addition to that, students are introduced to the song ‘lylẗ ʿyd’ (Christmas Eve) by Fayroz. In short, every week has to offer a comprehensive coverage of several aspects of that week’s topic. The teaching/learning environment Al Batal (2018) states that in order to have an effective integration of MSA and colloquial, both teachers and students need to feel comfortable in their teaching/learning environment, and the classroom environment needs to be stress free. Although the IA takes place in a classroom setting with a board, desks, PCs, etc, the environment in the classroom needs to be far from formal. The teacher should aim to create a relaxed environment where students feel comfortable making mistakes and learning from them, where an atmosphere of improvisation as well as fun takes place, and where students are constantly participating and moving around. In order to achieve this environment, the teacher needs to consciously change her/his attitude from that of the all-mighty, all-knowing instructor and dominant figure in the classroom to that of a facilitator, an organiser, a provider of guidance and feedback, and, most importantly, a constantly reliable companion. Students will then start feeling comfortable moving around in the classroom, playing roles, singing songs in Arabic, reciting poems, and performing dances, all in a mixture of MSA and a colloquial. Many activities for breaking the ice and getting students to personally know each other are given to students in the first month of their academic year, examples of which include, but are not limited to, discussing their daily routine, describing their favourite person in family, talking about their best and worst holidays, etc. Through these activities, students discover a world of things in common with their colleagues, which create closer ties and fosters a sense of belonging and solidarity in the classroom. THE IA AT HONOURS LEVEL Implementing the IA at honours level poses a slightly different, if interrelated, set of challenges to those faced by teachers and students of Arabic in their first two years of study. Students learning Arabic at IMES usually spend their third year in an Arabic speaking country. During their year abroad, students would normally continue learning MSA while also taking colloquial classes. By the time they come back to start their fourth year, they will typically be able to communicate in colloquial Arabic 62 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 with ease, and will have developed a strong sense of the various contexts within which either MSA or colloquial can be used. Teaching an advanced Arabic class is no easy task. This is because students will have already learned most of what they need to learn by that stage, leaving the teacher with the difficult task of selecting appropriate materials and coming up with creative activities that draw on, reinforce, practise, and expand on, this existing knowledge. Teachers at this level are also faced with the challenge of having to deal with a group of students speaking different colloquial varieties, some of which are not easily mutually intelligible. In the authors’ experience, the main challenges faced by Arabic teachers at honours level on the UG programme at IMES are: The existence of three or four different colloquial varieties in class One of the most challenging aspects of teaching advanced students at IMES – and perhaps elsewhere – is that, by the time year four starts, learners will have been living in an Arabic speaking country for up to one year where they learned and practised the local colloquial variety (or varieties) both inside and outside the classroom. This makes it especially difficult for the teacher to create engaging materials involving all the students which both draw on their experience during their year abroad and help them practise, revise, and expand what they learned. Teachers’ inevitable limited knowledge of, and ability to offer support or guidance in a colloquial variety other than their own might lead to frustration on the part of both learner and teacher. It seems that overcoming this challenging aspect of teaching advanced Arabic would not be easy unless the department has a staff member for each colloquial variety. Each teacher can then be assigned a group of students who had spent their year abroad in a country where that teacher’s colloquial variety is spoken. Given that departments would rarely have the resources to hire more than one teacher per level of competency, this solution seems far-fetched. So how can we help students practise their newly acquired colloquial variety? Some classroom activities which group students together by colloquial variety might provide a reasonably good solution. One such activity calls for dividing students up in this manner before giving each group a funny picture showing an absurd or vague situation which they are asked to analyse and discuss in colloquial before coming up with an interpretation. Once this is done, the group is then asked to write a short description of the picture in colloquial before reading it to the class. This activity works on more than one level: students – especially those who have studied in a country whose colloquial variety is considered to be less readily understood by other Arabic speakers – usually find it satisfying to communicate in Arabic with speakers of the same variety. When the description of a certain photo is read out loud, members of the other groups would sometimes ask questions both about the description and any words they could not understand in the colloquial variety of that group. This usually creates a realistic environment where 63 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Arabic speakers from different countries are able to communicate by helping each other figure out the terms and expressions which are not mutually intelligible. Students’ Fears Having spent two years learning mostly MSA at IMES before heading to the Arabic speaking world in the third year of their BA, many students feel on resuming their studies in Edinburgh that the MSA skills they had worked hard to acquire in years one and two would likely be lost if focus is not given primarily to them in class. The seeds of this fear are usually sawn during the year abroad, when some students start feeling that the time and effort spent learning colloquial is taking away from their chance to focus on MSA, the variety advertised -- and perceived -- by many as the more important one, as noted earlier. What perhaps adds to this perception of colloquial Arabic as less important and necessary than MSA is the method of instruction used during oral classes, most of which present spoken Arabic as not only inferior and overly less helpful than MSA, but also separate from it. If teachers approach the teaching of colloquial as a strenuous effort to teach a separate language which students can only use in one country, it is no wonder that the learners themselves would resent any time spent in class on teaching spoken Arabic. When teachers approach colloquial as just one manifestation of that vast entity called Arabic, focussing on the similarities rather than the differences and using spoken Arabic as a tool to reinforce MSA, and vice versa, with the help of some of the methods suggested above, students’ attitude towards the learning of colloquial would start to shift gradually but surely. To make things more complicated for teachers of advanced Arabic, there often appear in the fourth year classroom students who are worried that their fluency in spoken Arabic acquired during their stay in the Arabic speaking world might die away now that they are no longer living there. This group of students typically understands the importance of continuing MSA training but wishes to be given the opportunity and tools necessary to practice spoken Arabic whenever possible. Members of this group are usually more interested in the communicative and socio-pragmatic functions of Arabic as opposed to members of the other group whose priority in learning Arabic may not be communication but rather acquiring an in-depth understanding of, and training in, the more formal linguistic forms which might serve them well not only when it comes to academic tasks such as writing and translation but would also form a strong basis for learning colloquial when the right time comes. This reality of the advanced Arabic classroom poses a challenge for teachers who need to think carefully about the proportion of MSA-colloquial training they want to offer their students in 64 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 order to accommodate their different objectives for learning Arabic while also fulfilling the learning outcomes of their course and the overall departmental goals. As discussed in the previous section, training a mixed group of students in spoken Arabic is a daunting task. Careful planning is therefore needed to implement colloquial into the course in ways which allow students to practice their preferred colloquial variety. A great tool to encourage speaking is debate whereby teachers select a current topic related to the students’ interests and experiences, preferably as students of Arabic. Students are divided into groups, but not necessarily by colloquial variety learned. Brainstorming is then carried out in a mixture of spoken Arabic and MSA: students discuss their ideas in colloquial and write them down in MSA. When the debate begins students are asked to present their arguments in MSA and answer follow-up questions in colloquial. This activity allows for both spontaneous and planned discussion and gives students the opportunity to practice both formal and spoken Arabic. Another activity which is specifically designed to help practice colloquial Arabic is to task students with creating a sketch portraying certain aspects and scenes from their year abroad experience. This exercise usually gets the students’ creative juices running, resulting in some deeply informative and entertaining reflections on Arab culture and society. Students may also take this task a step further, creating scenarios where both MSA and colloquial are used. One of my classes came up with the ingenious idea for their sketch of portraying a group of travellers in the Arabic speaking world who need to resort to speaking in MSA every so often when they happened to travel to a country where their colloquial variety was not easily understood. This was especially significant as it mirrored what sometimes happens in reality. It also demonstrated that this group of students has understood Arabic as being one unified whole at the centre of which is MSA and around it revolve all the spoken varieties in a mutually dependent and very close-knit relationship. Another possible difficulty faced by teaches of Arabic at honours level is the choice of Arabic variety for them to use in the classroom: if teachers choose their own colloquial variety, some students may not be able to understand properly because they had learned a different colloquial during their year abroad, and, even if they are able to understand the teacher to a certain extent, some may resent the fact that constant exposure to this particular colloquial variety may cause them to forget part of their learned colloquial Arabic variety. If, however, teachers chose to speak in MSA to solve this issue, they may feel unnatural and/or uncomfortable speaking a language variety which she/he does not normally use to communicate verbally in her/his own life, thus also defeating the purpose of 65 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 giving the students an authentic experience learning the language within its own context. A possible – but not ideal – way out of this would be to use Educated Arabic in classes where such difficulties as the ones outlined above are to be expected. Since Educated Arabic involves using colloquial at a higher, more formal register than the one characteristic of everyday speech, it may allow learners to view Arabic varieties as forming a unity, the navigation through which is possible and helpful for effective communication in certain circumstances. Ultimately, it seems that teachers’ own attitude towards the perceived divide between MSA and spoken Arabic is essential in how their students would also regard this divide and how this may influence their experience as Arabic learners. In conclusion, the IA has been used in the UG programme at IMES, the University of Edinburgh, in a manner which mirrors the realities of Arabic: one rich language boasting infinitely diverse varieties which enhance, and are enhanced by, their formal parent variety, MSA. Teachers on the UG programme at IMES have realised that the burden of bridging the perceived mental gap between MSA and dialect lies primarily with them, and that, should they be able to gear their programme toward drawing on similarities and using some simple strategies which reduce affect and facilitate learning Arabic, written and spoken, in an integrated manner, they can achieve very satisfactory result and allow their students to learn and use Arabic the way it is meant to be used. Address for correspondence: aad6@st-andrews.ac.uk, mmouazen@exseed.ed.ac.uk REFERENCES Al-Batal, M. ed. 2017. Arabic as one language: Integrating dialect in the Arabic language curriculum. Washington: George Town University Press. Hadley, A. O. 2001. Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle. Kramsch, C. 1995. The cultural component of language teaching. Language, Culture, and Curriculum. 8(2), pp. 83-92. Redden, E. 2008. Shifting Winds in Arabic Teaching. Inside Higher Education. [Online]. [Accessed 17 March 2017]. Available from: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/01/shifting-windsarabic-teaching 66 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Ryding, K. 2011. Educated Arabic. Encyclopedia of Arabic language and linguistics. [Online]. [Accessed 07 February 2020]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15706699_eall_EALL_COM_0095 Ryding, K. 2013. Teaching and learning Arabic as a foreign language: A guide for teachers. Washington: Georgetown University Press. Wahba, K. M., Taha, Z. A. Taha, and England, L. eds. 2013. Handbook for Arabic language teaching professionals in the 21st century. Oxon: Routledge. 67 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Strategic competence in AFL textbooks: Problems and suggestions for addressing them Raghda El Essawi TAFL program, Applied Linguistics department, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, American University in Cairo ABSTRACT Several decades ago researchers like Celce-Murcia and Dornyei (1995) have highlighted the value of including communication strategies (CSs) in foreign language syllabi to help learners avoid communication problems. However, despite research indicating the positive effect of training students to use CSs, analysis of English language textbooks indicate inconsistent attention to them (Faucette, 2001; Vettorel, 2018). In the field of AFL teaching no effort has been done to look into this issue. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the current study analyzes three AFL Novice textbooks teaching Spoken Arabic dialects, to detect extent and level of focus on CS. Judging by the fact that such books dealt with a mainly oral language variety (Egyptian dialect), it was expected that they would display attention (even if limited) to CSs. The study looks into the following questions: Are CSs addressed in AFL textbooks analyzed? And at which level are they addressed: orientation (i.e. increasing learners’ awareness of importance of CSs), exposure (i.e. exposing learners to targeted strategy and language tools needed for its execution), or practice (i.e. creating opportunities that would help learners practice using CS)? Results of study indicate absence of focus on CSs at orientation and practice levels, while at exposure level limited focus appears. The paper suggests possible reasons for these results and then presents pedagogical suggestions for incorporation of CSs in AFL classes and teaching material at the three previously mentioned levels (orientation, exposure, and practice) as indicated by research on strategy instruction, studies about the topic, and foreign language teaching resources. KEYWORDS: language learning, textbook evaluation, learning strategies, strategic competence, speaking 68 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 INTRODUCTION What is communicative competence? With the spread of the communicative approach a shift in foreign language teaching became necessary. Teachers’ and material developers’ focus on grammatical (or linguistic) competence or the ability to produce accurate sentences, was replaced by a more general focus on learners’ communicative competence as a whole. The latter, according to the Celce-Muricia & Dornyei (1995) popular pedagogical model, includes a complex web of language competences that mesh together leading to successful communication. Beside linguistic competence, communicative competence includes: Discourse competence or ‘the selection, sequencing, and arrangement of words, structures, sentences, and utterances to achieve a unified spoken or written text’ (p.13); Actional competence or ‘knowledge of an inventory of verbal schemata that carry illocutionary force’ (p.17); sociocultural competence ‘how to express messages appropriately within the overall social and cultural context of communication’ (p.23); and strategic competence or ‘knowledge of communication strategies and how to use them’ to avoid communication breakdowns (p. 26). This multi-faceted competence is what teachers and material developers should address when planning communicative language teaching. What are communication strategies (CSs)? As mentioned in the previous section communication strategies (CSs) forming strategic competence are tactics used by language users to bridge communication gaps Celce-Muricia & Dornyei (1995). According to Nakatani (2010), the term is used to ‘highlight interlocutors’ negotiation behavior for coping with communication breakdowns and their use of communication enhancers’ (p. 118.) In other words, communication strategies are attempts on part of participants in a conversation to resolve difficulties in communication. Celce-Muricia & Dornyei (1995) add that CS are an important means of enhancing effectiveness of communication (p.27). One of the most important features of CSs, as reflected by Faerch and Kasper’s (1983) widely accepted definition, is consciousness and intentionality: ‘Communication strategies are potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular goal (p.36).’ Thus, resorting to CSs is neither haphazard nor accidental, but it is a conscious effort on 69 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 the part of its users. Another important feature highlighted by Canale and Swain (1980), is that CSs include both verbal and non-verbal strategies (p. 30). Celce-Muricia & Dornyei (1995) make clear that CSs include the following types: 1. Avoidance or reduction strategies: these are strategies for adapting or modifying message to one’s available linguistic resources through changing or replacing it to avoid difficult topics and/or abandoning message. 2. Achievement or compensatory strategies: These enable learner to compensate for linguistic deficiencies. They include: - Circumlocution which means defining a word that learner does not know (The big car for many people :bus – ‫ السباك‬:‫)الشخص اللي بيصلح الحنفية‬ - approximation, (using the word boat instead of the word ship) - all-purpose words (things, the thing that.. ‫الشيء الذي‬/‫ الحاجة اللي‬/‫)البتاع اللي‬, - non-linguistic or non-verbal means (mime, gesturing, drawing etc), - restructuring (restructuring the message to avoid a language difficulty e.g. a difficult word), - Word-coinage (developing a new word that is linguistically possible but may not be used by native speakers e.g. vegetarianist ), - literal translation from L1 - froeignizing (L1 word with L2 pronunciation), - codeswitching to another foreign language, - retrieval (e.g. bro.., bron.. , bronze). 4. Stalling or time-gaining strategies: These are devices used to buy time for thinking like: - Fillers and hesitation devices (well, where was I .., actually, ‫وللا‬, ‫) في الحقيقة‬ - self & other repetition. 2. Self-monitoring strategies: These include strategies used for: - Self-initiated repair which means to correct or change produced message. - self-rephrasing to avoid unknown word. 3. Interactional strategies: These are strategies used during interaction to: - appeal for help whether directly ( what do you call .., how do we say ,, ‫قول‬. ‫إزاي بنقول‬ ‫ )معايا‬or indirectly (I don’t know the word in English.., ‫;)مش عارف الكلمة بالعربي‬ - negotiate meaning by indicating not or misunderstanding through using: ➢ repetition of what has been said in a rising tone, ➢ clarification requests (what do you mean by,‫تقصد إيه‬/‫)ممكن توضح لي عايز إيه‬ 70 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 ➢ confirmation requests (Did you say, ‫)قلت لي أن‬ - using expressions indicating lack of understanding like: ➢ Verbal expressions (Sorry, I am not sure I understand, ‫ آسف‬, ‫مش فاهم بالظبط‬ ‫)تقصد إيه؟‬ ➢ Non-verbal expressions like: facial expressions, or gestures indicating lack of understanding; ➢ Interpretive summary through re-stating what has been said or learner’s interpretation of it (you mean to say, what you are trying to say is, ‫)تقصد إن‬ to check comprehension; - responses that include repetition, rephrasing, expansion, reduction, confirmation, rejection and/or repair. 4. Comprehension checks like checks to: - detect whether listener is following what is being said (Am I making sense? ‫;)فاهم قصدي إيه‬ - detect whether what is being said is linguistically accurate (Can I say that? ‫ممكن نقول كدا‬ ‫;)بالعربي؟‬ - Checking whether the other party is listening (are you still there?‫;) معايا ؟‬ - Checking whether the other party can hear ( ‫) حضرتك سامعني‬. Importance of CSs Being a means of addressing deficiency in linguistic competence, CSs are especially important at lower levels of proficiency. Though advanced learners (even native speakers) have a need for them, they are more essential to novice and intermediate level learners whose success in communicating meaning has a drastic effect on their learning process as a whole. According to Faucette (2001) Successful communication at such levels is expected to lead to: - Increase in students’ general motivation to use and learn the language. - Provide learners with further input in L2 which leads to further language learning. - Provide feedback to learners about hypothesis they have formed about how L2 operates. - Provide learners with opportunities of pushed output leading to deeper level of language processing necessary for further language learning. - Increase in learner autonomy. 71 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 The above is verified by researchers like Larsen-Freeman and Long (1991) who assert the importance of maintaining communication to increase benefit from modified input received. Interactionally modified input through strategies like appeal for help, asking for repetition, clarification request, confirmation request, and guessing is expected to present learners with needed opportunities for enhanced comprehensible input necessary for language acquisition (Larsen-Freeman and Long 1991; Ellis 1994). Pushed output that results from learners’ attempt to ‘to use alternative means to get across ... the message ...precisely, coherently, and appropriately’ leads to second language development by increasing language accuracy, intelligibility, and appropriacy (Swain, 1985, p.248– 249 in Rababah , 2016, p.627- 629) Similarly Zheng (2004) stressed the importance of CSs for learners of foreign languages, arguing that they ‘keep speakers flexible, and confident, they also make communication more effective’ (in Moattarian, 2012 , p.2349). The complexity of oral communication and gaps that could exist in knowledge needed, creates a need for CSs to help learners meet their communicative goals (Puffer, 2006, p. 2350). Teaching of CSs One of the important issues causing considerable controversy is the teachability of CSs. Maleki (2007) points out that Bialystok (1990) and Kellerman (1991) regarded teaching CSs as being of little or no value. The former considered that students should be taught language not strategies. While the latter considered that we should let strategies look after themselves. The reason for such a stance is similarities between L1 and L2 learning making CSs transferable from L1 to L2 (p.585). However Willems (1987) and Dörnyei (1995) have highlighted the importance of training learners to use CSs since […] classroom learners cannot simply learn by ‘doing’ given that the foreign language classroom is not by its very nature the ideal scenario for learners to engage ‘naturally’ in a variety of communicative situations that would allow the implicit development of their strategic competence ( in Rababah , 2007, p.85). Faucette (2001) justifiably argues that even if learners successfully use strategies in their L1 this does not necessarily mean they will be able to do so in L2. Therefore, ‘there is the need for training to bring learners’ attention […] to these strategies and help them become more aware of a repertoire of strategies available to them, including those they may already make use of in their L1’ (p.6). 72 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Arguments against teaching CSs also included that their over usage could come at the expense of learners’ linguistic competence (Schmidt,1983; Skehan, 1996,1998 in Ataollah, 2007, p.586). Such arguments however ignore what has been mentioned earlier about the benefit of CSs as a form of negotiating meaning and a source of L2 input. Researchers who advocate teaching CSs include as indicated by Maleki (2007): Do r̈ nyei (1995), Do ̈rnyei and Thurrell (1991, 1994), Faerch and Kasper (1983, 1986), Tarone and Yule (1989) and Willems (1987) . Also, Galagher Bret, 2001; Rositer, 2003; Nakatani, 2005; Lam, 2006; Ya-ni, 2007; Tiwaporn, 2009; and Maleki, 2007, 2010 assert the same, according to Sukirlan (2014). Work done by all the above mentioned researchers suggest that communication strategy training deserves a place in language syllabi (p. 2034). One of studies about CSs’ teachablity that is relevant to the current one, is Sukirlan (2014). In this study researcher looked at the effect of teaching 12 CSs. The researcher worked with 23 subjects using a three-step pedagogical approach for teaching CSs: Orientation, exposure, and practice. During orientation learners are provided with information about CSs and how to use them to deal with communication problems. Exposure stage followed where subjects are exposed to dialogues that include CSs and asked to identify them. Subjects are also exposed to language resources (vocabulary, expressions, and grammar structures) needed for using targeted strategies. This is followed by practice where subjects describe photos of unknown objects then received an evaluation from their colleagues. Results indicated a clear increase in learners’ level of speech comprehensibility leading to conclusion that teaching CSs promotes students’ communication. Another study that specifically deals with CSs in learning AFL is Rabab’ah & Bulut (2007) who concluded their study by emphasizing that targeted communication strategies should be integrated into Arabic as a second language curriculum. All the above research has resulted in a trend, adopted by this study, advocating the use of direct instruction of CSs through using pedagogical tools, syllabi, and teaching material that allow direct focus on them. According to Muricia & Dornyei (1995) procedures that could be used for fulfilling this goal are as follows: 1. Raising awareness of CSs through regular orientation to their nature and benefit in dealing with communication break downs. 73 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 2. Orienting students to the benefit of taking risks during communication while using CSs to avoid possible communication break downs. 3. Exposing learners to Models of use of CSs during communication. 4. Making clear cross-cultural differences that may affect usage of certain CSs. 5. Exposing learners to language resources (like vocab, expressions, and grammatical structures) necessary for the execution of targeted CSs. 6. Providing opportunities for practicing the use of CSs during communication. Focus on CS in foreign language textbooks One of the most important pedagogical tools that act as a guide for process of teaching and learning is textbooks. However, for this tool to play its role successfully, it is necessary that it fulfills learners’ needs as suggested by foreign language research. Among those is the need to use CS successfully to bridge communication breakdowns. In the following section the current study will explore studies that inspect extent to which foreign language textbooks were successful in fulfilling the above. An example of such studies is one conducted by Faucette (2001) who inspected nine English language textbooks to detect CS introduced in selected material, and types of activities used to introduce them. Results of this study indicated that the most common CSs introduced by inspected textbooks are circumlocution (appeared in seven books), appeal for assistance (six books), timestalling devices (four books), and abandonment (two books), and only one introduced strategies of approximation, foreignizing, and word coinage. Faucette (2001) considers those results as both ‘encouraging and disappointing’ (p.15). They are encouraging when it comes to strategies that appear in most books analyzed like circumlocution and appeal for assistance. However, they are disappointing in case of strategies like approximation that only appear once. Another example is the study of Rababah (2016) which examined 5 EFL books. Researcher in this study concludes that ‘CSs, especially the interactional ones are lacking, and circumlocution is sparingly used.’ Circumlocution activities include definitions of words based on reading comprehension texts, not as represented in spontaneous speech. ‘Thus, teachers and students do not perceive them as CS exercises. Besides, there is no mention of CSs to make them conscious of such strategies.’ (p.629). 74 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Another study that looks into whether textbooks take into account CS is conducted by Vettorel (2018). Researcher analyzes 20 textbooks published by well-known Italian and international publishers from 1991 - 2015. Results indicate that only 3 books did not include any references or forms of practice that focus specifically on targeted CSs. Though a reasonable number of activities appeared to concentrate on CSs inspected in textbooks reviewed, Vettorel points out that CSs do not appear to be treated in a systematic way in the material under examination. In the majority of cases few or no contextualized examples are provided, and sections dealing with CSs are not frequently accompanied by opportunities to actively ‘try them out’ in practice. (p.62). Vettorel further points out that CS are not highlighted as such but are ‘named ‘study strategies/help/skills’, or ‘learning strategies’.’(62) In books published after 2000, CSs are presented as a form of exam preparation (especially international certifications), not as a means for addressing communication problems. Researcher also noted that, although books published after the year 2000 have mentioned that their point of reference is the Common European Framework (Council of Europe, 2001), they fail to consistently address CS referred to in it. One of the few studies that inspects AFL textbooks’ focus on strategies supporting communication (even if indirectly) is El Essawi (2013). Study inspected teacher perceptions of extent to which textbooks they use encourage manipulation of the mentioned strategies. Results revealed that the mentioned strategies are perceived by AFL teachers as minimally supported by textbooks they use. To the researcher’s best knowledge there has been little or no research other than the mentioned study that touch on the extent to which CS are focused on in AFL teaching material. This study comes to bridge the above mentioned gap by looking at the frequency with which CSs are addressed in a sample of AFL textbooks and the level/stage at which they are addressed: orientation (awareness of CSs and their role), exposure (modeling usage of CSs and providing necessary language resources), and/or practice (practicing usage of CSs to avoid communication breakdowns). In order to fulfill the mentioned goals the study looks into the following research questions. 75 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. Are CSs addressed in AFL textbooks analyzed? 2. At which level are CSs addressed most frequently in targeted textbooks: orientation, exposure, and/or practice? STUDY PROCEDURES Selection of Textbooks Since study was mainly concerned with strategies needed during oral interaction, researcher decided to work with textbooks for teaching colloquial Arabic (in this case Egyptian) to novice level. These being mainly concerned with enhancing an oral variety, should – according to research discussed in previous section – include a clear focus on communication strategies especially for novice learners . In other words, these books should show clear attempts at training novice learners to address communication breakdowns resulting from language deficiency. Choice of books was mainly based on results of a question posted on Facebook inquiring about ‘good’ books for teaching colloquial. Final decision was based on books’ availability to researcher and the fact that researcher realizes that those books are commonly used in and out of Egypt for learning and teaching of colloquial Cairene Arabic. Chosen books are (for more information about these books pls refer to appendix 1): 1. Kallamni Arabi bishwash 2. Kallam Gamiil 3. Dardasha Process of analysis This study mainly focuses on strategies that involve L2 production and therefore require L2 input to be provided by textbook. The reason is that such strategies are more likely to be focused upon by textbooks whose main goal is usually providing input and opportunities for practicing it. This means that strategies like avoidance or reduction strategies (which include message replacement, topic avoidance, and message abandonment) are not targeted during process of analysis. The study did 76 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 not also focus on self-monitoring strategies (which includes self-initiated repair and self-rephrasing) since they are more likely to be student rather than textbook initiated effort. The study does not also trace facial expressions or body language. On the other hand, the following strategies which involve L2 production – however simple – were focused upon in the process of analysis. For examples of how such strategies are used to deal with communication breakdowns please refer to appendix 2) 1. Compensatory strategies: - circumlocution, - approximation, and - all-purpose words. 2. Time-gaining strategies: - fillers, hesitation devices, and gambits. - Self and other repetition. 3. Interactional strategies: - Appeals for help (direct & indirect) - Meaning negotiation strategies i) Requests like repetition, clarification, and confirmation requests. ii) Expressions of non-understanding (verbal) iii) Interpretative summary 4. Comprehension checks: - Whether interlocutor can follow. - Whether what students said is correct or grammatical. - Whether interlocutor is listening or paying attention. - Whether interlocutor can hear. In defining the above strategies the study relies on Celce-Muricia & Dornyei (1995) model as mentioned in the study introduction. The reason is that model presents the pedagogical ground work for enhancing CLT, making it appropriate for a study like the current one. In detecting CSs, researcher relied on language resources (like vocab., expressions, and language structures) that flag focus on targeted strategies, as well as the context in which they appear. The need for considering context was created by the fact that some language resources could be used to fulfill more than one CS. For example the word ‫( تقصد‬you mean to say) could be used as a comprehension check, or an attempt at summing up and rephrasing or both. In such cases researcher refers to context in which expression appears to decide the strategy/strategies highlighted. Another important note is that despite the fact that some of the mentioned strategies only required limited possibly memorized language chunks (like comprehension checks- ‫)فاهمني؟‬, they were also considered due to the learning 77 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 they involved (for example learning of set expressions, grammatical structures, and/or appropriate usage in relation to communicative context). Since previous research inspecting foreign language textbooks has revealed that lack of systematicity in dealing with CS is a major problem, this study will not only inspect the apparent focus on such strategies as sperate incidents but also the extent to which textbooks deal with such strategies as part of a pedagogical framework that that covers all levels with which CSs could/should be dealt with. In order to fulfill this goal the study used a framework adapted from Sukirlan’s (2014) study that breaks down the process of handling CSs into three stages: orientation, exposure, and practice. The framework also help show extent to which textbook addresses Muricia & Dornyei (1995) suggested procedures for teaching CSs, whereby: orientation covers raising learners’ awareness of CSs and orienting them to their benefits ; exposure addresses presenting CS models and their cultural connotations as well as language resources needed for their execution; practice allows for rehearsing CSs’ usage to avoid communication breakdowns. Process of analysis involves inspecting the dialogues, notes (this includes cultural notes or useful words or words in focus), grammar notes, vocab lists, accuracy oriented activities and fluency oriented activities to detect whether any include language resources that flag focus on CS and level to which such focus belongs (orientation or awareness, exposure to language structures needed, and/or practice). RESULTS Results generally reveal very limited effort at highlighting CSs especially at levels of orientation and practice as will be detailed in the following section. At the level of orientation Analysis of all three books (38 lessons) reveal that two did not attempt orienting students to the value of CS in avoiding communication breakdowns. Only one book – namely Dardasha - showed very limited attempts at orientation to two examples of fillers used during hesitation. The book presented the filler (‫ )يعني‬as one used in conversations “when people hesitate or when they are 78 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 thinking what to say next” (Mughazy, 2004: 134). Another filler is ‫“ وهللا‬sometimes used as a speech filler similar to meaning of ‘well’, as in ‘well .. I don’t know” (Mughazy, 2004: 244). In both cases the author presents in English an explanation of the meaning of the term, and its various functions in the language (for example beside being a filler, ‫ وهللا‬is used for assertion or emphasis). In addition, he presents very short dialogues in Arabic (a couple of sentences each) where the term appears in context. Both expressions are introduced in a section entitled “expressions under focus” which serves in the rest of the book to provide cultural and/or pragmatic notes on certain expressions. Hence it would seem that orientation to the function of these expressions in dealing with communication breakdowns is not intentional. Though all three books were mainly geared towards enhancing Novice level students speaking skill (which in the case of Arabic means working with a primarily non-written/oral variety namely the Egyptian dialect), there was no attempt at highlighting to users (whether students or teachers) the value of targeted CS in enhancing learners’ spoken fluency. At the level of exposure In contrast to results of orientation level, there seem to be some positive results at the level of exposure. The reason is that the researcher considered the appearance of any of the language resources needed for using the targeted strategies in any part of the lesson as a form of exposure (even if unintentional).The argument here – as mentioned earlier – is that exposing learners to such language resources if used to avoid possible communication problem, may help learners note CSs’ role. This however might not be true of all learners, who usually are overwhelmed with trying to get the linguistic feature itself and so fail to note the function for which it is being used if not clearly pointed out to them through orientation. In the first book Kallmni Arabi Bishwash, analysis revealed five examples of fillers or rather one filler repeated five times, namely the filler ‘ammmm’. These were used to indicate hesitation or thought thus buying time before a decision (example: choosing food and drink in a restaurant). There are 8 cases of self and other repetition. These are used in contexts that show repeating for verification. For example repeating food order or phone number (Louis, 2008: 46,78) or road directions (p.124). Cases of other repetition appear where speaker repeats part of the question directed to him/her while responding or to show surprise. Contexts in which latter examples appears however do not 79 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 suggest buying time to address possible communication breakdown therefore they are not considered as CSs. The book also contains three examples of polite repetition requests ‫ممكن مرة تانية لو‬ ‫( سمحت؟‬can you repeat another time please)(Louis, 2008: 46) that are used in contexts suggesting the need for verification of information received. In addition, there are four examples of confirmation requests: ‫( تمام ؟‬correct?), ‫ماش؟‬ (O.K.?), ‫( مظبوط؟‬is that accurate?), and ‫( صح؟‬correct?) (Louis, 2008: ‫ي‬ 46, 49, 129, 170). These requests represent the clearest example of usage of a CS to bridge a communication gap. In the second book Kallam Gamiil, analysis at exposure level indicates that there are 5 examples of fillers ) ‫ ممم‬،‫ )طيب‬used in contexts revealing buying time before making a decision (like when considering which item to buy) (p. 31; 33; 76;102; 208). There are also two repetition requests. One using a useful expression that students can clearly use in everyday life situations ( p. 300 ‫ممكن مرة‬ ‫)تانية‬. The other is when speaker uses a regular question word (p.288 ‫ )كام‬so interlocutor would repeat price in a context suggesting subject did not hear what was said (using regular question words to request repetition). One further example is introduction of the term ‫( تقصد‬Do you mean) in lesson’s main dialogue (lesson 10 p.333) used for paraphrasing or interpretive summary which falls under meaning negotiation strategies. Dialogue uses term for re-stating what interlocutor said to check speaker’s comprehension of message heard ‫( تقصد الشارع اللي قبل الكبري؟‬Do you mean/intend the street before the bridge?). The dialogue therefore presents the term in a context that demonstrates targeted CS. Sentences for presenting new vocab in the lesson, however, use term for a different purpose: ‫( قصده يضحك عليها‬his intention is to trick her P.234) which could be confusing to learner. In grammar notes ‫ تقصد‬is grouped with terms followed by unmarked imperfect verbs like ‫( ممكن‬it is possible), ‫( مفروض‬should), ‫( نفسي‬I wish) ( P.258). Only a couple of translated examples indicate that it is used for re-stating ‫( قصدي أقول – قصدنا نقول‬we mean to say) (P.258). The same grouping takes place in grammar notes about negation of modals (P. 259) and placing them in the past tense (p.259) for ‫( كان يقصد‬he meant). Though considered as a form of exposure, grouping term with others that do not serve the same communicative function may make it difficult for learner to relate term to targeted CS, thus reducing benefit. The third book ‘Dardasha’, also shows limited exposure to CSs. The most significant attempt at exposing learners to vocab needed to use CSs was in lesson one under ‘Expressions for classroom’ (p.17). Under this title the author presents words needed to check comprehension ( ‫ ) فاهم؟‬together with responses indicating full (‫ )أيوة فاهم‬, partial (‫)نص نص‬, or lack of understanding (‫)مش فاهم‬.Though 80 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 the question falls under comprehension checks, its responses fall under interaction strategies . Examples of indirect and direct appeal for help (‫ بالعربي‬.... ‫ إزاي أقول‬- ... ‫ ) يعني إيه‬are also introduced in lesson one under the same title. Additionally, expressions needed to request repetition ( ‫تاني لو‬ ‫)سمحت‬, are introduced. In other parts of the book, limited attempts at exposure to CS are apparent. For example, three expressions used for repetition requests appear in lesson eight mini dialogue (p.151) in a context that suggests an attempt to address break in communication. These are: ‫نعم؟‬ (excuse me?), ‫( أنت بتقول إيه؟‬what are you saying?), ‫تان لو سمحت؟‬ ‫( ي‬again please?). The term ‫قصدك‬ used in a mini dialogue for interpretive summary or paraphrase is also introduced to avoid a communication breakdown (namely not knowing which library the speaker is inquiring about p.141).. Exposure to the hesitation filler‫( يعني‬to which students are oriented under the section ‘words under focus’) is evident in a mini dialogue where the expression is used in a meaningful context ( P. 187 ‫ سمعت أنها مدرسة ممتازة‬.. ‫)يعني‬. This does not seem like an intentional move however since exposure to the other filler ‫ وللا‬is not attempted except in very limited contexts (two mini dialogues each is a couple of lines long for demonstration during process of orientation p.244). All three books reviewed did not introduce one of the most frequently used all-purpose words that native speakers resort to bridge communication gap when unable to find the correct word namely ‫( البتاع اللي‬the thing which). Books have exposed learners to ‫ اللي‬and two of them exposed them to ‫بتاع‬. However, these two terms, are introduced separately as grammar structures that are usable as relative pronoun in case of the former and to mean ownership in case of the latter. Hence books lose a golden opportunity for showing novice learners how native speakers use this structure to avoid communication breakdowns resulting from not knowing a word. An attempt to demonstrate how CSs could be embedded in a lesson is introduced in appendix 2. A copy of the lesson with and without CSs is introduced to help reader note how these strategies work in context, and to demonstrate how lesson dialogues could be used to expose learners to such strategies. At the level of practice In all three books analyzed in this study very limited practice is used to focus on CSs. In case of accuracy-oriented activities, limited effort was exerted to structure activities to relate language resources practiced to CSs student needs. In fact, there are instances where no practice opportunities are created to activate language resources needed for CSs even though covered at level of exposure. For example, in book one (kallamni Arabi Bishwash) expressions used for 81 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 repetition requests (‫ )ممكن مرة تانية لو سمحت؟‬as well as those used for confirmation requests (‫مظبوط؟‬ ‫ )صح؟‬are not included in accuracy oriented activities geared towards practicing new vocab, expressions, and/or language structures. The same is also true of fillers showing hesitation in all three books. While this is understandable in fillers that are sounds indicating thinking )‫(ممم‬, it is not understandable in case of words like ‫ طب‬in book two (Kallam Gamiil) or ‫( وهللا‬Dardasha). There are cases where expressions needed for manipulating a CS are highlighted in an accuracyoriented activity like expression ‫( تقصد‬you mean) in book two (Kallam Gamiil). However, the expression which facilitates interpretive summary appears only in sentence level mechanical contexts for practicing unmarked imperfect after modals. This means that activities do not help practicing its usage to execute interpretive summary strategy. One activity that could be used to practice CS (circumlocution), and one which appears frequently in book 2 (Kallam Gamiil), is where students are asked to define a word without saying it. This type of activity is only used however to review vocabulary. Although this game is repeated in almost all chapters of book two, it is not related to bridging communication gaps resulting from not knowing targeted word. A review of fluency-oriented interactive activities (whether controlled, semi-controlled, or openended) reveal that none of them require addressing a communication gap (rephrasing, verifying info, checking comprehension or even show hesitation). This is despite the fact that students are exposed to the mentioned strategies. For example In book one (Kallemni Arabi Bishwash) , the only chance for students to practice confirmation requests using provided vocab ( ‫تمام – مضبوط – صح – ماشي – مرة‬ ‫ )تانية‬is in a mechanical activity when students listen and repeat with colleagues the mini dialogues in which such expressions appear (p.48). Open-ended interaction activities do not encourage students to incorporate CSs even if dialogue in lesson demonstrates how an expression is used to do that . In Kallam Gamiil students create dialogues replicating situation (giving directions) same as lesson (activity 5 p.247). However, the way the activity is structured (use unmarked imperfect for road description) does not encourage learners to embed any communication problems in created situations. Thus, students are not encouraged to practice using CSs they were exposed to in lesson. Similarly in book three Dardasha – which includes interesting communication activities – there is no attempt at creating contexts which encourage embedding CSs. For example situations are not created to elicit fillers (‫ وللا‬- ‫ ) يعني‬whose usage would both help make activity represent a truer 82 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 simulation of reality and practice buying time. Thus, despite presence of some orientation and/or exposure, there are very limited practice opportunities that focus on CSs. The above examples suggest that textbooks analyzed did not include a plan for practicing CSs even when the ground work has been laid through orientation or exposure, since none create situations that encourage practicing CSs. Thus we can sum up the results of all three levels by saying that AFL textbooks display limited focus on CS, since focus - when it appears - is displayed on one level namely exposure. Examples that do appear seem unintentional as indicated by two important facts. First textbooks’ introduction, where all three fail to address strategic competence or relate lessons to the more general vison of communicative competence introduced by researchers like CelceMuricia & Dornyei (1995). Secondly, the sporadic nature of examples detected and lack of consistency in the way they are treated at different levels. The above results are in line with the study of El Essawi (2014) which indicated that CSs are minimally encouraged in AFL textbooks according to AFL teachers. Compared to research about EFL textbooks, results of current study reveal that despite complaints that English as foreign language textbooks (EFL) do not systematically cover CSs, AFL textbooks’ focus on CS is even more limited. This is especially clear at level of orientation where various ways of increasing students’ awareness of CSs are used in EFL books. Some highlight the positive effect of using CSs during exams for international certificates (i.e. presenting them under learning or study strategies) or during real world communication. Others, use headings like speaking strategies and oral interaction or ‘speaking bits’ to orient learners to role of CSs. In all mentioned cases CSs were introduced as useful techniques used to keep a conversation going which is not the case in AFL sample. Form of exposure attempts in AFL textbooks are not different from those that appear in EFL. Both depend on dialogues, mini dialogues, and cultural or grammar notes that model CSs and exemplify how they operate. However, the process in EFL textbooks seem much more intentional. This is indicated by the fact that attempts at exposure are mostly preceded by or are part of a process of orientation to the targeted strategies and the role they play in addressing communication breakdowns. (Faucette, 2001; Vettorel, 2018). More forms of practice also appear in English language textbooks even if sporadic or limited as indicated by Faucette (2001) and Vettorel (2018). Examples of such forms of practice will be introduced under pedagogical suggestions. 83 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 PEDAGOGICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR INCORPORATION OF CS IN AFL TEACHING MATERIAL The ideal foreign/second language textbook should display show serious attempts at orienting learners to CSs, providing necessary linguistic resources, and including practice activities that would push learners to use CSs (Dornyei & Thurrell, 1994; Farech & Kasper, 1983; Faucette, 2001). This is not the case in books reviewed in this study. The same problem is likely to be demonstrated by other books as indicated by AFL teachers’ negative perceptions about books they are using when it comes to highlighting communication strategies (El Essawi, 2014). Though books reviewed did cover some of the other aspects of communicative competence very successfully (especially linguistic competence), this gap in highlighting CSs needed for developing strategic competence remains an important problem. In an attempt to suggest means of addressing this gap in AFL textbooks, the following section presents examples of activities used for enhancing CSs which appeared in sources about EFL teaching. Orientation activities Some of the activities about increasing learners’ awareness of targeted strategies are suggested by Brown (2007) under ‘Strategy-based Instruction’. These include brainstorming activities which target increasing learners’ awareness of expressions they already know that could be used to address communication breakdowns. Discussions of how such expressions or language structures could help bridge breakdowns would follow. Other activities suggested by Brown (2007) for strategy enhancement include listing types of targeted behavior to avoid break downs, forming ‘The 10 commandments of successful communication’. For example books and/or classrooms could include colorful charts that reads as follows ‘If you do not know how to say it: - Say it differently (for circumlocution), - Ask for assistance (for appeals for help), - Use an all purpose word like ‫ الشيء اللي‬- ‫اسمها إيه اللي‬/‫ البتاع اللي – اسمه‬etc.. 84 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Textbook/teacher could then focus in each lesson on means of putting such commandments to practice. Brown (2007) also suggests that books should include in each chapter sections that address targeted strategies using anecdotes, info, or titles like: ‘tips’, ‘strategies for success’, or (as we will see later) ‘study strategies’ and/or ‘exam preparation’. In such sections, students are ‘oriented’ to the targeted strategy and how it could serve (or save) learner during communication. This suggestion is put to practice by a number of EFL/ESL textbooks. For example in a textbook entitled Nice Talking With You Faucette (2001) notes the following ‘hint’: “Ask to hear it again: Sometimes it is difficult to hear what your partner says. You can say: ‘Pardon me?’ to ask to hear it again” (p.5 in Faucette 2001:18) or ‘Sometimes your partner uses a word you do not know. Use this phrase when you want to understand. ‘what does that mean?’ (p.68 in Faucette 2001:18). It is notable that each of the above ‘hints’ fulfills a dual purpose since it introduces the benefit of the strategy (orientation) and suggests lexical items/expressions that could be used to carry it out (exposure). It is interesting to note here that orientation is often related to exposure, &/or practice. For example, author presents an explicit explanation of circumlocution followed by an activity that requires students to describe objects (p. 49 in Faucette, 2001, p.17). CS are also introduced in EFL textbooks under titles like ‘study strategies/help/skills’ or ‘learning strategies’ or under ‘exam preparations’ with ‘specific references to international certification’ (Vettorel, 2018, p.49). For example, in presenting useful exam techniques, the following is noted in a speaking strategies’ box ‘In a conversation, don’t worry much if you don’t know or can’t remember a word. Don’t stop talking and just try to explain what you mean by using different words. Also don’t worry too much about making mistakes’ or ‘while you are speaking to the examiner, at times you will not be able to find the appropriate words to express yourself. In order not to remain silent in a conversation, use the following expressions while you are looking for the right word’ (Vettorel, 2018, p. 49). Using titles like the ones mentioned above would be useful in attracting students’ attention to the CSs introduced. This could be followed by explanations about their usage to avoid communication breakdowns. Exposure activities One of the most obvious ways to expose learners to targeted CSs is through modeling those strategies in mini dialogues where strategy is being used to address communication breakdowns. 85 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 This should be supported by highlighting expressions and linguistic structures needed when using strategy. Faucette (2001) presents a good example of how to successfully fulfill the above while benefiting from elicitation and discussion activities. Activity, geared towards dealing with communication breakdowns that result from not knowing a word, suggests that students start by brainstorming to elicit means of dealing with this problem. This is followed by a listening activity where students are asked to trace CS used in a conversation. By focusing on targeted CS, students are expected to detect language features for carrying it out. They are also trained to focus on and analyze native speaker dialogues in real life to detect strategies they use to deal with communication breakdowns. A class discussion is then initiated to highlight other effective strategies for fulfilling the targeted goals (Faucette, 2001, p.20). In Dornyei and Thurrell’s book Conversation and Dialogues in Action (1992) teachers are advised to work on exposure in three stages. Stage one is demonstration of a communication problem for which using a CS is needed. For example, teacher starts by asking difficult or unexpected questions or speak unintelligibly which would normally force interlocutor/students to buy time or request repetition (requesting assistance); and so on. This form of demonstration acts as an exposure to the problem (not CS). Stage two is elicitation of needed CS & examples of linguistic structures lexical and/or grammatical needed to execute it. Lists of other language structures could also presented. Practice activities This stage generally aims at entrenching forms of learning that students were exposed to through repeated usage in controlled, semi-controlled, and free contexts. Activities traced for training learners to fulfill this purpose could be divided into two groups: all purpose activities that could be used to practice any CS and specific purpose activities geared towards practicing a specific strategy. i) General activities: Brown (2007) presents an interesting practice activity adapted from Chamot, O’Malley & Kupper (1992). This is the diary activity. The activity could read as follows “For next week, keep a notebook about how you dealt with communication breakdowns that you faced during the week. Did you use any CSs? What strategies did you use?” The activity then would use a table that includes under the title “What I do to address communication breakdowns” a list of favorable strategies (for example: used the all-purpose word ‘thing’, or said the statement …. when I did not know the word ….) followed by days of the week. Learner is supposed to specify strategy and mark the day in which s/he used it. This is 86 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 expected to increase awareness of CSs, encourage learner to use them, and increase focus on their benefit. Another activity could be to video-tape an interaction with a student/native speaker, then discuss breakdowns, means of addressing them, and give each other feedback about their success in usage of CSs. Students could also attempt to talk without stopping about a topic they do not know much about, then discuss breakdowns and how to avoid them. Dornyei and Thurrell (1992) suggest reflection on issues like cultural differences that might make using certain CSs problematic. Forexample reflection on whether using expressions/questions they are trained to use are acceptable in their culture. If not, how do they indicate that they do not understand something? Which phrases do they find useful” (p. 54). Other issues for reflection are levels of formality related to language resources presented by activities, whether language resources are useful, ease of using language resources, other ways for practicing the same strategy, etc. Another type of activities in the same book is extending of role paly dialogues. Students are expected to extend an already existing dialogue and/or creating dialogues that involve a simulation of a conversation where the targeted CS is used to address breakdowns. For example: Extending an already existing dialogue and/or creating dialogues that require calling for assistance (targeted CS) to pre-empt a breakdown of communication caused by misunderstanding of certain words that were intentionally inserted by teacher in conversation. Though Dornyei and Thurrell (1992) suggestions were addressed to teachers in a resource book, it is obvious that suggested process of reflection would also be useful in increasing learners’ awareness of use of CSs. ii) Activities for eliciting a specific strategy: Examples from EFL/ESL as introduced by studies that analyzed teaching material like Faucette (2001) and Vettorel (2018) include: - Paraphrasing : Students reword sentences while competing as teams or one student would read a problem, rephrase it, while the second student attempts to address it. - Comprehension checks: Giving directions while checking to ensure clarity to listener. - Appeal for help: Students make statements in which part is replaced by ‘blah,blah, interlocutor is supposed to request repetition and/ or ask questions about missing info to detect it. Students could be encouraged to pretend forgetting or intentionally misuse the right word. This is expected to lead to requesting help plus attempting to describe (circumlocution) 87 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 - ISSN 2398-8509 Circumlocution: Students attempt to guess an object by asking questions about its features and uses. A very similar and very widely used game in Arab communities as well as AFL classes (though not in textbooks analyzed) is ‫ عروستي‬where learners describe to a colleague an object without mentioning it while asking him/her to guess what object is. Though this game does invoke usage of circumlocution, unless the benefit of circumlocution in bridging communication breakdowns is highlighted, many students could only regard such activities as interesting game or forms of practice. - Interpretive summary and/or requests (repetition requests, clarification requests, and confirmation requests.): Speaker provides information (for example directions) while interlocutor asks questions to fully understand directions using appropriate language resources (vocab., expressions, and/or language structures). CONCLUSION This paper has attempted to look at how a sample of AFL textbooks deal with an important component of communicative competence, namely strategic competence through studying the extent to which such books focus on CSs and the level at which such focus happens. It has to be mentioned here that the sample used was limited and therefore results are not generalizable. Despite the above, results do flag the need for a more structured focus on Strategic competence. I have to add here that the books analyzed had clear strong points and interesting activities that deal with other dimensions of communicative competence (linguistic, sociocultural, and discourse). This is in and by itself encouraging since it means that if/when CSs are addressed benefit of such books would increase tremendously. Hence the need to highlight the problem and to present pedagogical suggestions that could help teachers to deal with it. Address for correspondence: ressawi@aucegypt.edu REFERENCES Canale, M. and Swain, M. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics. 1(1), pp. 1–47. Celce-Murcia, M. and Dornyei, Z. 1995. Communicative competence: a pedagogically motivated model with content specifications. Issues in Applied Linguistics. 6 (2), pp.5-35. 88 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Dornyei, Z. and Thurrell, S. 1992. Conversation and dialogues in action. New York: Prentice Hall. Ellis, R. 1994. The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Faerch, C. and Kasper, G. 1983. Plans and strategies in foreign language communication. In: Faerch, C. and Kasper, G. eds. Strategies in Interlanguage Communication. London: Longman, pp. 20–60. Faucette, P. 2001. A Pedagogical Perspective on Communication Strategies: benefits of training and an analysis of English language teaching materials. Second Language Studies. 19 (2), pp. 1-40. Larsen-Freeman, D., & Long, M. H. 1991. An introduction to second language acquisition research. London: Longman. Maleki, A. 2007. Teachability of communication strategies: an Iranian experience. System. 35 (4), pp. 583–594. Moattarian, Asa. 2012. Iranian EFL learners’ perception and performance of communication strategies in different mediums of communication. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. 2 (11), pp. 2349-2356. Nakatani, Y. 2010. Identifying strategies that facilitate EFL learners’ oral communication: a classroom study using multiple data collection procedures. The Modern Language Journal. 94 (1), pp. 116–136. Nakatani, Y. and Goh, C. 2007. A review of oral communication strategies: focus on interactionist and psycholinguistic perspectives. In: Cohen, A. D. & Macaro, E. eds. Language learner strategies: thirty years of research and practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 207–227. Puffer, Ch. D. 2006. Questions as strategies to encourage speaking in content and language integrated classrooms. In: Uso-Juan,E. and Martinez- Flor, A. eds. Current trends in the Development and Teaching of the Four Language Skills. Berlin, New York: Mount de Gruyter, pp. 187-214. Rabab’ah, G., & Bulut, D. 2007. Compensatory strategies in Arabic as a second language. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics. 43(2), pp. 83–106. Rabab’ah, G. 2016. The effect of communication strategy training on the development of EFL learners’ strategic competence and oral communicative ability. Psycholinguistic Research. 45 (3), pp. 625-651. Sukirlan, M. 2014. Teaching communication strategies in an EFL class of tertiary level. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. 4 (10), pp. 2033-2041. Swain, M. 1985. Communicative competence: some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In: Gass, S. M. and Madden, C. G. eds. Input in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, pp. 235–253. 89 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Rabab’ah, Ghaleb. 2016. The effect of communication strategy training on the development of EFL Learners’ strategic competence and oral communicative ability. Psycholinguistic Research. 45, pp. 625-651. Vettorel, P. 2018. ELF and communication strategies: are they taken into account in ELT materials? RELC Journal. 49 (1), pp. 58-73. Zheng, Z. 2004. Communicative competence and strategic competence. Sino-US English Teaching. 1 (10), pp.70-75. APPENDIX 1 1. Kallamni Arabi bishwash: Author: Samia Louis. Publisher: American University in Cairo Press. Year of publication: 2008 Number of modules: 10 units Book structure and learning outcomes: The book introduction reveals that it is for elementary students. It also asserts that it is aligned with ACTFL guidelines. It focuses on all 4 skills as well as grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Introduction also makes clear that the book targets helping students to communicate in a set survival situations, build students’ structural knowledge, and using a ‘reasonable range of both spoken and written Arabic. Table of contents also reveals that each module focuses on a specific language function. At this level functions are related to everyday life needs like greetings; asking for objects, asking about: people, place of objects, time, prices, etc. Each lesson includes a main dialogue followed by other shorter dialogues for practicing listening comprehension and for practicing targeted function (listen and repeat). There are a variety of basically accuracy-oriented activities and limited communication activities. 2. Kallam Gamiil: Author: Abbas Al-Tonsi; Laila Al-Sawi; Suzanne Massoud Publisher: American University in Cairo Press. Year of publication: 2010 Number of lessons: 12 Book structure and learning outcomes: The book has a very short introduction that attempts to encourage teachers’ creativity through adding their own touch and material (additional activities, more pictures, in and out of class tasks etc). The contents list however is mainly 90 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 geared towards stating language structures that each lesson will cover. There is no attempt to highlight functions or situations that each lesson covers. 3. Dardasha Author: Moustafa Mughazy Publisher: NALRC Press. Madison, Wisconsin Year of publication: 2004 Number of modules: 11 units Book structure and learning outcomes: The book introduction makes clear that its goal is to help novice learners communicate in real life situations using the appropriate variety in various contexts using educated colloquial speech. Dialogues are used to present new information, functions, language structures and cultural themes. The book distinguishes itself by the effort to introduce cultural notes and explain culturally loaded expressions. It also includes activities that are both accuracy oriented and fluency oriented. APPENDIX 2 Kallam Gamiil: Lesson ten ‫ حضرتك عارف هي فين؟‬،‫لو سمحت أنا عايزة أروح سفارة اإلمارات‬ - .‫ تلفي من أول فاتحة‬،‫ ماتقدريش تلفي من الميدان‬.‫ وبعدين تدخلي شمال‬،‫ تمشي لحد إشارة المرور‬... ‫ بصي حضرتك‬+ .‫ تدخلي شمال بعده على طول‬،‫ تعدي الشارع لما توصلي لحد فندق شيراتون‬،‫تفضلي ماشية في شارع التحرير‬ ‫تقصد الشارع اللي قبل الكوبري؟‬ - .‫ بالظبط‬+ .‫بس دا إتجاه واحد‬ - .‫ تقدري تركني العربية في أي شارع جانبي وتمشي لحد السفارة‬،‫ أل إتجاهين لحد قبل السفارة بخطوتين‬+ .‫ألف شكر‬ - Kallam Gamiil: Lesson ten adjusted to include communication breakdowns and CSs that deal with them: ‫ حضرتك عارف هي فين؟‬،‫لو سمحت أنا عايزة أروح سفارة اإلمارات‬ - )indicating lack of understanding( ‫ بتقولي إيه حضرتك؟‬.. ‫ إيه ؟ مش واخد بالي‬+ )circumlocution( .‫المكان اللي بناخد منه الفيزا لدبي‬ - )interpretive summary( ‫تقصدي سفارة اإلمارات؟‬... ‫ آه‬+ 91 ‫‪The Language Scholar (6) 2020‬‬ ‫‪ISSN 2398-8509‬‬ ‫بصي حضرتك ‪ ...‬تمشي لحد إشارة المرور‪ ،‬وبعدين تدخلي شمال‪ .‬ماتقدريش تلفي من الميدان‪ ،‬تلفي من أول فاتحة‪ .‬تفضلي‬ ‫ماشية في شارع التحرير‪ ،‬تعدي الشارع لما توصلي لحد فندق شيراتون‪ ،‬تدخلي شمال بعده على طول‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫معلش ممكن مرة تانية بس براحة شوية لو سمحت (‪)repetition request‬‬ ‫‪ +‬بقول لحضرتك تمشي لحد إشارة المرور‪ ،‬وبعدين تدخلي شمال‪ .‬تلفي من أول فاتحة‪ .‬تفضلي ماشية في شارع التحرير ‪..‬‬ ‫واخدة بالك معايا؟ (‪)comprehension check‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫أيوة تمام‪.‬‬ ‫‪ +‬تعدي الشارع لما توصلي لحد فندق شيراتون‪ ،‬تدخلي شمال بعده على طول‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫يعني أنت بتقول لما أوصل فندق شيراتون أدخل شمال؟ (‪) confirmation request/interpretive summary‬‬ ‫‪ +‬أيوه مظبوط كدا‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫بس الشارع دا إتجاه واحد‪.‬‬ ‫‪ +‬أل إتجاهين لحد قبل السفارة بخطوتين‪ ،‬تقدري تركني العربية في أي شارع جانبي وتمشي لحد السفارة‪.‬‬ ‫‪-‬‬ ‫ألف شكر‪.‬‬ ‫‪92‬‬ The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Arabic heritage students and their language-learning experiences: Limits and highlights Marco Aurelio Golfetto, Ph.D. Department of Language and Cultural Mediation, Università degli Studi, Milan (Italy) ABSTRACT The presence of Arabic heritage students in classroom poses challenges especially in those languageteaching contexts where mainly traditional approaches are in use. This study deals with heritage learners’ (HLs) language education, the methods of teaching/assessing the students are faced with in their career and their success rate. In the first part of the article I focus on the definition of HLs across language and cultural issues based on literature. In the findings session, I analyse the specific situation of a group of HLs who study Arabic in Milan (Italy), by exploring aspects of their secondary and university language instruction. I collect statistic information through quantitative research by using a structured questionnaire. I later compare the data gathered about the HLs’ instruction with that of their non-heritage colleagues by using inferential statistics. For this purpose, I employ parametrical and non-parametrical tests. In the subsequent discussion session, I delve into the surveyed HLs’ language learning experience also in the light of socio-economic conditions and teaching/assessing methods, and by focussing on the importance of early literacy in Arabic for their linguistic success. I finally draw conclusions on possible convergent needs of heritage and nonheritage learners (NHLs) and the potential of the formers’ presence in mixed classes rather than the advantages of “forking out” the courses. KEYWORDS: teaching of Arabic, heritage learners, language learning tracks, formalistic approach, class organisation 93 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 INTRODUCTION: PERSPECTIVES ON HERITAGE After the initial reflection started in the 1970s when a rage of different labels was still in use, scholars have opted for two different perspectives in the definition of heritage learners (HLs), involving either linguistic or cultural/identity features. A classical definition of the first kind is provided by Valdés (2001, p.38), who focuses on the - at least relative - bilingual nature of the HL: he/she is someone who is raised in a home where a language other than English (meaning the local majority language) is spoken and can speak, or at least understand, this other language in addition to English. Although Valdés already shows interest for these learners’ sensitive orientation toward their heritage community, their sense of membership rather than their actual proficiency is more central in other studies, such as Van Deusen-Scholl’s (2003, p.221): HLs are a heterogeneous group that perceives having a cultural connection to a specific language, regardless of their being fluent native speakers or non-speakers of that language. In line with this perspective, heritage students can differ from one to another from various points of view, such as their “degree of affiliation with ethnic, cultural, and/or religious identity; level of proficiency; experience in country or with culture” (Lee, 2005, p.561). A continuum ranging from non-heritage learners (NHLs), who have neither proficiency nor ethnic affiliation, to HLs, who have both linguistic knowledge and ethnic, religious or cultural identity related to the heritage language, can thus be found in any setting of foreign language (FL) teaching. The group of ethnic, cultural, or religious HLs with no language proficiency stands between the two other groups, and their collocation in the proximity of each of these ends can greatly vary according to their learning, affective, social and identity motivations, needs and goals, in a number of different scholars’ disciplinary perspectives or with respect to some peculiarities of the target language. For example, in her early study about Japanese HLs, Kondo-Brown (2005) argues that students in whose family Japanese is spoken only by distant members can be better combined with NHLs and must be tracked separately from students with a Japanese-speaking parent, who were already somewhat proficient in the language because they had lived in Japan or studied it at school. On the contrary, Husseinali (2006) gathers in the same group all the religious HLs of Arabic, i.e. those who study Arabic because of their Islamic belief, independently from their actual descent and initial proficiency. Accordingly, provided their sense of belonging and their motivational orientations, they can be safely collected in the same class. 94 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 A fully comprehensive model for HLs in its wide meaning is Carreira’s (2004), whose study offers a dual approach to these learners’ identity and needs. Moving from Fishman’s (2001) initial observation that the term “heritage language” in the US is used to refer to immigrant, indigenous and colonial languages, and that the corresponding human environments are characterized by different historical, social, linguistic and demographic realities, Carreira (2004, p.1) points out that the various definitions given can be valid for specific communities and linguistic tasks, but they are not able to embrace all and only such individuals that fall under the label of HLs. A four-fold model is thus proposed that takes into account different possibilities: 1. personal participation to the ethnic community, desire of full or deeper connection with it and transmission of its values from inside; 2. family or ethnic, although not personal or direct, background and desire to learn about the ways of the community from outside and in search of identity; 3. possession of language proficiency whose degree is variable according to the situations and hardly defined in previous studies; 4. family connection to and self-perception of heritage identity despite insufficient fluency, that brings external (formal educational or societal) negation of the status of such an identity. This wide range of considerations seeks for an explanatory adequacy: heritage students are not a homogeneous cluster of learners, but a collection of different types of learners who share the characteristic of having identity and linguistic needs that relate to their family background. These needs arise from having had insufficient exposure to their HL [heritage language] and HC [heritage culture] during their formative years. Satisfying these needs provides a primary impetus for pursuing language learning. (Carreira, 2004, p.21) Research on the HLs further blossomed through the first decade of 2000s, with a number of essays on their nature, identity, motivations and literacy (see in particular Peyton, Ranard and McGinnis, 2001). Experimental and survey-based research has also tried to cast further lights on their proficiency, language levels, linguistic abilities, and degree of acquisition, confronting HLs with L2L and NHLs (see for example Montrul 2010, 2011 and 2013). Pedagogical theories have been developed that focus on the HLs’ characteristics in order to plan specific frameworks and curricula for different language areas (see Valdés, 2014; Valdés and Parra, 2018). Ground research in different teaching contexts has also widely confirmed its meaningfulness in highlighting HLs’ learning preferences and suggesting possible directions for teaching tracks. 95 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 METHODS: THE RESERACH SETTING This article aims at analysing the language learning experience of a group of heritage students majoring in Arabic at the Univeristà degli Studi of Milan (Italy).1 The surveyed group consisted in 40 students enrolled at MA and BA degree courses in Language and Cultural Mediation who accounted for 18.8% of the total subjects attending Arabic classes. Heritage learners are presently meant as students of Arabic who declared that they spoke only Arabic or both Italian and Arabic in their family. 50% of these students were born in Arab countries (Morocco (8), Egypt (7), Tunisia (2), Kuwait (2), Lebanon (1)). One student was born in Chad, whereas the others were all born in Italy. Their ages ranged from 19 to 44. The questionnaire was administered to HLs and NHLs in the first semester of Academic Year 2018-19 in repeated sessions during regular classes. This study is based on the final array of questions investigating the participants’ learning history: attended high school, curricular study of other FLs, second FL studied at university, attained FL certifications, estimated or objective achieved levels of proficiency in Arabic and so forth, in order to out sketch their language learning pathways.2 After the data were encoded, descriptive statistics were used to collect quantitative information about the group, whereas inferential statistics were used to compare information gathered about the HLs with that of their non-heritage peers. Parametrical and non-parametrical tests (such as Mann Whitney tests and Fisher’s exact tests) were used for this purpose. RESULTS: HLS’ EDUCATION AND PERFORMANCE High school instruction can have a deep impact on the academic attainments and professional career of subject students in Italy. It can be relevant for their education and profile from different points of view, and mainly in three ways: the cultural stimuli supplied, the degree to which they are 1 All the attending students were required to major in two languages (beside Arabic, another European or non-European language) and the related cultures, and to study a range of professionally oriented subjects, in order to achieve graduation. 2 The items of the final section of the administered questionnaire are given in the Appendix. 96 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 used to the study load, and their language education record (as regards both the native language and the foreign one/s). Secondary education HLs were surveyed as regards their secondary education. Their attendance of high schools could be rated as of a medium level. In most cases, they were enrolled at secondary schools that would allow them to enter the job market even without pursuing a university degree. Only 7.5% of them had access to high schools that are best evaluated, such as Liberal Arts, Sciences, or Social Sciences high schools. These schools are appraised in the Italian education system because they offer classical humanistic education, train students by means of an intense intellectual workload and help them develop critical awareness. They mostly use a formalistic approach to teach, by intensively insisting on the importance of linguistic analysis and literary studies, but they are not the best option for modern foreign language education, as students are taught only one language (usually English), in addition to classical ones such as Latin and more rarely ancient Greek. As for the bulk of surveyed HLs, 42.5% attended a Foreign Languages high school or a Tourism high school. These schools differ from one to another in the humanistic or vocational imprint they offer. However, they are similar from other perspectives. For instance, they can directly lead to employment if students decide to end their education after 5 years of attendance, but they also allow students who decide to pursue university studies afterwards to adequately study a large span of subjects. A major common ground for these schools is obviously language education, which is mainly taught with the communicative approach. Attending students are expected to learn 3 FLs, with the addition of Latin in the case of Foreign Languages high school. Learners are also often encouraged to enhance their language skills by achieving international FL certifications. A relevant percentage of HLs (27.5%, the highest in absolute terms) attended schools with basic technical or vocational curricula. These schools guide students to quickly attain a job right after achieving their high school diploma and are less focused on both intellectual and language stimulation. In particular, students are taught one (or rarely two) FLs, but the achievement of international certification is often the result of personal commitment rather than a standard requirement or practice. 97 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Finally, another 10% of the HLs attended other schools - usually less appraised - that were not focused on FLs, whereas 12.5% of the respondents came to Italy after attending a high school in their country of birth.3 Table 1 and Figure 1 show the secondary schools that the respondents attended, comparing the percentages of HLs and NHLs. Without considering the subjects whose high school education took place abroad, the distribution of the two groups revealed a statistically significant difference (p .0005, using the Fisher’s exact test), with a higher number of NHLs attending better appraised schools. HLs Liberal Arts, Science, or Social Sciences high school NHLs 3 (7.5%) 48 (29.1%) Foreign Language high school 10 (25%) 75 (45.5%) Tourism (or Business) high school 7 (17.5%) 15 (9.1%) High school with technical or vocational curricula 11 (27.5%) 12 (7.3%) Other high school 4 (10%) 12 (7.3%) High school in the country of origin 5 (12.5%) 3 (1.8%) 40 (100%) 165 (100%) Total Table 1: High schools attended by HLs and NHLs (frequency) 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% H. S. with Foreign Tourism (or Liberal Arts, H. S. in the tech. or voc. Language H. Business) H. Science, or country of curricula S. S. Social Science origin H. S. HLs NHLs Other Figure 1: High schools attended by HLs and NHLs (percentage) 3 It is debated whether immigrant students who graduated at a high school in the country of origin where the target language is officially in use can be considered HLs. The subjects of the present survey were considered as such, but the specificity of this subgroup could have been taken into consideration separately if the number of students had been more quantitatively relevant. 98 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Language Education Most of the surveyed HLs (67.5%) claimed that they had learned 2 or 3 FLs at their high school. Extreme situations, i.e. HLs who studied only one FL and those who studied 4 or more FLs4, were less frequent and approximately correspondent in number (17.5% for the former case and 15% for the latter). Since they were currently attending a university degree in which language was central to the curriculum, this result can be again classified as of an average level. Students were exposed to a good amount of FL input, which, in most cases, can be estimated in at least 5 to 11 contact hours per week during their secondary career. Given the little range of FLs that are usually taught in class at high school, the HLs’ choice was limited to the most common European languages: English, French, Spanish, and - more rarely - German. No or a negligible - choice was made in favour of FLs using non-Latin alphabets (unless the students had attended high schools abroad). Only a small minority of the HLs studied ancient Greek and they rarely learned languages with noun inflection. See Table 2 for the FLs studied at high schools. As for the languages studied at university, these were in line with what one may expect from the previous figure. Indeed, in most cases the other required language that was chosen, along with Arabic, was English (55%), whereas the second studied foreign language was French (25%). Beside their relevance on the international scene, these were also the two languages that traditionally played a major political role in the Middle East and North Africa. The “cultural”, rather than professional, nature of this choice is highlighted by the fact that a language such as German, which is usually perceived in Italy as very promising in occupational terms, was studied by only 2.5% of the students, i.e. even less frequently than Chinese (7.5%), Spanish and Japanese (both 5%). An area in which the HLs provided surprising results was that of international foreign language certifications. Although 37.5% of the respondents admitted that they had never taken the opportunity to sit for this kind of testing, 55% claimed that they had achieved 1 or 2 certifications in any of the languages they had studied, whereas 7.5% obtained 3 or more. However disproportionate the results might appear at first sight (see Table 3), inferential statistics revealed that the difference between the two groups of HLs and NHLs was not significant in this regard (p .0625). On the 4 Not all of these languages were studied to the same extent and depth: up to 3 FLs can be required for high school curriculum, but students can study optional languages in afternoon classes. This is usually the case in LCTLs. 99 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 contrary, the Fisher’s exact test highlighted a statistically significant difference (p .0005) among the number of FL certifications that had been achieved according to different high schools, with a disadvantage for those schools that were most often attended by the HLs. This is to say that HLs were as effective in achieving international certifications as their NH colleagues, and, noticeably, they did so partially despite the secondary education they received, which tended to put them at a disadvantage in this respect. This apparent disproportion between poorly supporting schooling and the students’ success rate in achieving FL certifications is even more indicative of the HLs’ awareness of the importance of the international dimension of their professional profile. Frequency % English 38 95 French 19 47.5 Spanish 13 32.5 German 8 20 Arabic 8 20 Latin/Greek 5 12.5 Russian 1 2.5 Chinese 0 0 Hebrew 0 0 Japanese 0 0 Table 2: Languages studied at high school (frequency and percentage out of the total number of 40 HLs) Achievement in language education was also surveyed. In general terms, the HLs’ language proficiency referred to the other requirement language was comparable to that of the NHLs. In response to the question about the language level they achieved in the second target language studied at university according to the CEFR descriptors, the HLs mainly located themselves in the B1B2 range. Despite an apparent discrepancy at the highest level, the bell-shaped curve resulted comparable, and inferential statistics did not highlight significant differences in this respect (p .1774). See Figure 2. 100 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 HLs NHLs No certification 15 (37.5%) 48 (29%) 1 or 2 certif. 22 (55%) 73 (44.5%) 3 or more certif. 3 (7.5%) 42 (25.5%) No response 0 (0%) Total 40 (100%) 2 (1%) 165 (100%) Table 3: FL certifications achieved by HLs and NHLs Figure 2: Proficiency level achieved by HLs and NHLs in the other requirement language (frequency) A very different situation was that concerning the HLs’ proficiency level in Arabic, at least according to the students’ self-evaluation. HLs and NHLs were requested to try and grade their level in Arabic according to the CEFR guidelines. Although the implementation of the CEFR for Arabic is still on its way,5 the question was proposed in order to try and survey the students’ self-perception as native speakers of Arabic. The distribution of the responses was quite telling: 41% of the HLs stated to be at a mother tongue level in year 1 (the questionnaire was handed out at the very beginning of their academic career), but this percentage dramatically dropped in the following years, eventually becoming naught at MA level. Somehow, during their academic career, the students had to go 5 For two recent issues on the Common European Framework of Reference as applied to Arabic see Giolfo and Salvaggio (2017) and Soliman (2017). 101 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 through a kind of negative iktishāf about their linguistic identity.6 On the other side, some rather regular proficiency enhancement was also perceived, that offset the previous disappointing figure. See the arithmetic values in Table 4. The limited number of surveyed subjects and the actual subjectivity of their perception however should lead to prudence in the interpretation of these results. BA1 BA2 BA3 MA1 MA2 Total A0 1 0 0 0 0 1 A1 2 1 0 0 0 3 A2 1 2 0 0 0 3 B1 1 3 2 0 0 6 B2 1 2 3 0 4 10 C1 1 0 0 0 3 4 C2 0 1 1 0 0 2 Native 5 5 1 0 0 11 Total 12 14 7 0 7 40 Table 4: HLs’ self-estimated proficiency level of Arabic per academic standing (frequency) Alongside that of the HLs, also the NHLs’ self-perception of proficiency in Arabic was surveyed. According to inferential statistical tests, the difference of self-perceived proficiency between the two groups was significant (p .0005): as was obvious, HLs perceived themselves as more proficient in “Arabic”, whatever the interpretation of this word might have been. Going further into this, a gap appeared when the difference in the self-evaluation of the two groups was contrasted with the difference in the grades the HLs and NHLs got in their exams. The average scores achieved by the HLs were slightly higher than those achieved by NHLs, but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (p .6977). See Table 5 and Figure 3 for details. In a way, the HLs’ higher expectations about their proficiency were not supported by their university scores. 6 The drop may well occur because students already perceiving themselves as native speakers did not attend classes. But it is also possible that a newly acquired perception of distance between the native variant and Standard Arabic played a relevant role in this perception. 102 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Grades HLs NHLs 18-22 1 (4.5%) 11 (11%) 23-26 7 (32%) 40 (39%) 27-30 14 (63.5%) 52 (50%) TOT 22 (100%) 103 (100%) Table 5: Annual assessments of proficiency levels for Arabic (means and percentage) Figure 3: Annual assessments of proficiency levels for Arabic (frequency)7 DISCUSSION: CRITICAL ISSUES OF THE HLS’ EDUCATION A set of motives different in nature led the HLs to study Arabic. Their fascination for the heritage language and familiarity with the culture were just two prompting factors, and the initial motivation was further implemented by identity motives and professional orientations. Foreknowledge, previous acquaintance with the language, and a high rate of motivation should foretell these students’ success in learning Arabic. However, the survey pointed to lights and shadows of their linguistic education. HLs proved to be able to overcome predictable initial disadvantage in education aligning themselves to NHLs in most situations: exemplar is the case of FL certifications. Nevertheless, despite being recognized as at least bilingual subjects, they reached a moderate degree of proficiency (mainly B1-B2) in their second required language and achieved average results 7 BA1 was 0, as the students had not sat any exams yet. 103 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 in MSA that were not statistically different from those of their NH peers. 8 In short, their performance appeared somehow more modest than it could potentially be, especially at entry and lower levels. Concurrent causes might be at the base of this. The first and most basic one can be connected to the limits of the present survey: as attendance of classes is not compulsory, the total population of students of Arabic might possibly be slightly more extended than that surveyed. HLs who already had high levels of proficiency in Arabic simply might have been overlooked, because they did not attend any of their classes. This anyway is a quite remote possibility. A second and more feasible reason can consist in the learners’ socio-economic environment, which has far and long been considered a relevant factor affecting schooling and educational achievement (see for example Wagner, 1993, p.107; Sehlaoui, 2008, p.284). As opposed to the most recent wave of immigration from Arabic countries surveyed in the US (see Bale, 2010, pp.133-134), immigrants in Italy usually live in more modest conditions. The good scored percentage of respondents selecting “both Arabic and Italian” as family languages might be indicative of a good rate of integration into the local society, especially if it is in the form of mixed marriages. Nevertheless, the medians of their age were found higher than those of their NH peers for all years at BA level: higher average age in relation to the academic standing is an indicator of the additional difficulties they had to face in their instruction. Far from being only a theoretical issue, the HLs’ uneasy conditions and poorer secondary schooling resulted in a number of potential limits: - weaker education, less focused on foreign languages and basically oriented to immediate job training with more modest vocational and professional expectations. - greater difficulty to access information about the local education opportunities: 25% of the surveyed HLs admitted that one of the three most important reasons for which they chose the present degree course was being the only one offering classes of Arabic in their knowledge. 8 Specifically, in the surveyed setting the exam scores resulted from an average evaluation of the assessment of grammar and translation skills from/to MSA (where HLs traditionally find themselves in greater difficulty) and that of their dialogical skills, which was mostly shaped by teaching and assessing models aiming at proficiency (and thus should be more in line with the expected skills of native speakers). This latter part of the exams was again focussed mainly on MSA, but it also partially assessed other varieties (Egyptian or Moroccan dialects). 104 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 - less acquaintance with attentive language analysis: HLs were less sensitized to deep reflection on morph-syntactic structures and critical analysis of the language, either L2 or FLs. In a word, they were less exposed to the formalistic language teaching approach and thus potentially less effective when they were faced with it at university. - no previous formal contact with languages using non-Latin alphabets and with other linguistic features that are recurrent in formal Arabic, such as for example the noun/adjective inflection. These features, although not attested in oral Arabic and dialects, are typically introduced at an early stage of the teaching of formal Arabic when the target students are non-natives. This confronts the HLs with an initial amount of difficulties that they are often not willing to cope with in the very beginning, thus quickly losing motivation in class activities. A third and more relevant reason for the lower-than-expected language results was undoubtedly connected to previous insufficient literacy in Arabic: this is considered a usual feature for Arabic HLs and it involves not only the written domain of the language, but also its oral dimension. As pointed out by Zabarah (2016), HLs’ knowledge of their native dialect is often incomplete and their skills are still developing, being usually limited to family and daily context usage. Most frequently HLs lack written literacy in native tongue and, if this is present, it can be limited to the religious sphere. The specific surveyed situation confirmed that when previous literacy in Arabic took place, it was mainly provided by the close social environment. Arabic classes, in both their curricular and non-curricular form, are indeed extremely rare in Italian high schools at present, whereas Arabic weekend programs or masjid schools are quite exceptional and not infrequently contrasted due to political reasons. As a consequence, the surveyed HLs hardly had previous formal alphabetization in their mother tongue. Effects of this incomplete literacy in Arabic also exceed the proficiency in the sole target language. It was highlighted that bilingual learners academically outperform their monolingual peers when they are “literate in their native tongue”. As suggested, literacy - meaning “more than just the ability to read and write. It includes reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing, and representing visually. It also includes computer literacy” (Sehlaoui, 2008, p.283) in a heritage language is in fact a crucial matter for acquiring L2, as it is for acquiring any FL in general. If literacy is incomplete in the heritage language, this will affect consequently the entire process of language acquisition. Thus, HLs should become adequately proficient in their actual native variety in order to acquire literacy in MSA in a more natural way. 105 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Another issue that might be accounted as a further reason for the divergence between general expectations and HLs’ performance was possibly the focus of the teaching and testing methods used in class, that were not specifically modeled on both the HLs’ previous learning experience and their actual entry level of literacy. Given the secondary instruction received, HLs are less inclined than their peers to traditional and formalistic approaches in class. On the contrary, they are more suitable for a communicative approach, i.e. an approach that emphasises interaction as both the means and the goal of the study, and more firmly oriented to gaining quick, effective competence in the target language by focusing on oral and textual functional competence. As a matter of fact, although the teaching approach at university is increasingly evolving towards communicative patters, it is still oriented to literacy more than to oral proficiency, and the focus of the classes relies on MSA from the very beginning. Assessment is also consequently focused on the written and literary variety, and the attention paid to dialects is an exception rather than a standard. This makes the learning a less natural process for HLs, especially in the initial phase, and revolutionizes their linguistic identity in the long term. Finally, it should be noticed that there is at least another reason that justifies the gap between expectations and linguistic performance at the assessment. Unsatisfactory results have been related to HLs’ misconceptions regarding their own language abilities (Zabarah, 2016). In this regard, HLs’ difficulties have been highlighted even in oral assessment (Albirini et al., 2011), where the students usually judge themselves more naturally and easily inclined to higher levels of proficiency. Literature and assessing results confirmed that incomplete proficiency in oral skills is also an eventuality for this kind of students. When attending courses of Arabic, HLs may overlook the existing language gap between the variety they already know and MSA. They are obviously not unaware of the existence of diglossia and variation, but they partially lack awareness of the demanding task and real workload they are going to face. This explains faster demotivation when they see their expectations frustrated, despite their initial motivation is as intense as – if not more intense than - that of NHLs. An educational agreement (that clarifies the students’ expected learning duties and rights) and educational curricula and settings more precisely designed around the target students’ needs could effectively help contain the attrition rate. 106 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 CONCLUSIONS: CLASS ORGANISATION OPPORTUNITIES The findings of the present study have shown that HLs’ language achievements and performance can be affected, to a good extent, by the high school education they received. These effects persist at university level so that HLs developed peculiar methodological needs and expectations about the teaching of Arabic, especially because their literacy and previous exposition to the target language were limited. They need (and have right to) comparable - although not necessarily the same conditions of leaning as NHLs, in terms of same potential of tools, stimulation and follow-up, as regards quality and appropriateness. An ultimate verdict on whether a separate track is recommended for HLs of Arabic or not falls beyond the aim of this paper. In fact, this study has highlighted elements that may support both positions and, in any case, the eventual decision of an independent track for Arabic HLs would depend on the number of HLs that request it and the availability of the necessary funding in the specific educational institution. In the case of Italy, this would be hardly possible at present. As a whole, the idea of a separate academic track, at least in the initial stage of the career, is a wellestablished reality for many other languages, and “forking out” courses for HLs and NHLs is at times referred to also in the literature about Arabic (Huseinali, 2006, p.407; Temples, 2010, pp.124-125) as it expects to allow classes with more homogeneous profiles and learning needs, faster acquisition, and higher motivation and retention rates. Evidence from the education experiences presently surveyed confirmed that HLs can best learn when faced with approaches aimed at communicative models. In particular, oral skills should be mostly focused on in the initial phase of teaching. Traditional approaches, such as those centered on grammar and translation, might be more appraised for NHLs, due to their previous acquaintance with them in secondary education. Nevertheless, these approaches seem less convincing for HLs, as they make it more difficult to recall linguistic foreknowledge and fill the gap between mastered (or partially mastered) dialect and MSA. On the other hand, the idea of possibly homogeneous HLs’ classes can be easily challenged for many reasons, such as their different initial degree of proficiency, native dialect, objectives, religious orientation, and so forth. Furthermore, as was previously expounded, HLs and NHLs may have partially communal learning difficulties in the very beginning of the track. Although HLs are clearly advantaged in the lexical and phonological domains, if they lack previous written literacy, some language features, such as the novelty of a non-Latin alphabet and declensions of nouns/adjectives, 107 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 confront them and NHLs with the same problems. Not infrequently, also morphology and basic syntax remain a sensitive issue for most HLs, with difficulties that are actually shared by both groups. To conclude, a number of advantages can instead be highlighted for mixed HLs-NHLs classes. In a mood for a growing appreciation for local variants of Arabic, HLs can become a useful resource in class for the teacher. The presence of heritage students allow teaching Arabic variation live, providing all the learners with the same authentic language experience they will soon find in real world. It allows the teacher to present the variation device in learners’ syllabuses from the very beginning, basing the linguistic acquisition on a more natural language, as recommended by the CEFR guidelines. If they are properly instructed in and aware of the strategies to use with their reservoir of knowledge (Carreira, 2004, p.16), HLs can also actively support the NHLs through peer tutoring, in simple dialogical and communicative settings or more complex language tasks. Curricular and methodological flexibility will be in any case essential. Address for correspondence: marco.golfetto@unimi.it REFERENCES Albirini, A., Benmamoun, E., and Saadah, E. 2011. Grammatical features of Egyptian and Palestinian Arabic heritage speakers’ oral production. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, pp.273-303. Badawi, al-S. M. Al-Thunā’iyya al-tarbawiyya wa-qaḍiyyiat al-ḥāfiz fī ta‘līm al-‘arabiyya li-abnā’ almahjar. Baḥth muqaddam ilà liqā’ Brūksil ḥawla ta‘līm al-‘arabiyya li-abnā’ al-muhājirīn al-‘arab yūnīū 1985. In: Badawi, al-S. M., and ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, M. Ḥ, ed. Buḥūth lughawiyya wa-tarbawiyya fī qaḍāyā al-‘arabiyya al-mu‘āṣira wa-mushkilātihā. 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APPENDIX Section 3: Personal information and education Q38: Your genre: M F Q39: Your age: ___ Q40: Your Academic Standing: BA1 BA2 BA3 Q41: What language/s is/are spoken in your family: MA1 MA2 Italian Arabic Both (Italian and Arabic) Other (please, specify _____________) Q42: What High school did you attend: Liberal Arts high school or Science high school Foreign Language high school Tourism or Business high school Social Science high school vocational curricula High school with technical or High school in the country of origin _____________) Q43: How many FLs did you study at High school: ___ 110 Other (please, specify The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Q44: What FLs did you study at High school: French Russian English German Arabic Latin and/or Ancient Greek Spanish Other (please, specify ___________) Q45: What is your other requirement FL at university, beside Arabic: German Spanish Russian Chinese English French Japanese Other Native A1 A2 (please, specify ___________) Q46: What level did you achieve in this other requirement language: B2 C1 B1 C2 Q47: How many FL certifications did you achieve: 0 Q48: What is your average annual assessment for Arabic: 1-2 3 or more No exams yet 18-22 23-26 27-30 Q49: What proficiency level do you expect to have achieved in Arabic (according to the CEFR framework)? Native A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 Q50: […] Q51: Why did you choose a degree course in Mediation: professions It offers a curriculum oriented to In order to study a European and a non-European language at the same time In order to study Law and Economics, beside FLs In order to study Arabic linguistics and Arabic literature In order to study the Arabic culture only place I knew for studying Arabic 111 It was the The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 A delineation of variation in Arabic between fuṣḥá and Egyptian ’āmmīyah Saussan Khalil University of Cambridge, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies ABSTRACT Since the description of Arabic as a diglossic language by Ferguson (1959a), much attention has been paid to refining this description of the Arabic language situation, and outlining the features of its distinct Standard and dialectal forms. Underlying this view, however, is that Arabic is a single, unified language with a large number of shared items between its Standard and dialectal forms. What has been missing from the equation is a comprehensive study of the exact differences between the Standard and dialectal forms, and the level of variation that exists between them. It is the purpose of this study, therefore, to begin to outline these differences, by comparing the features of Standard and Egyptian (Cairene) Arabic. The study identifies three levels of difference between the two forms: phonological, lexical and grammatical, illustrating each with a number of examples. The study is a starting point for comparing between Standard Arabic and other dialects, as well as between the dialects themselves. A note on transliteration scheme This paper employs the Library of Congress romanisation scheme. For the full transliteration scheme, please see Appendix 1. KEYWORDS: Arabic, diglossia, variation, sociolinguistics, Egyptian 112 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 INTRODUCTION It is widely accepted in our field that variation in Arabic exists between its Standard and dialectal forms. The question of how they vary however, is an area ripe for research and one that this study aims to address. While studies of the phonology, grammar, lexicon and syntax of some dialectal forms are available, such as Willmore (1927), Harrell (1957), Khalafallah (1969), Abdel-Malek (1972a), Wise (1975), Mitchell (1978), Abdel-Massih et al. (1979), Abdel-Jawad (1981), Elgibali (1985), Norlin (1987), Holes (1990), Mitchell and El-Hassan (1994) and Cowell (2005), what seem to be lacking are more direct comparisons between Standard Arabic (fuṣḥá) and the dialectal forms (‘āmmīyah). This study therefore, aims to begin to bridge this gap by offering a delineation of the variation between fuṣḥá and Egyptian ‘āmmīyah on three levels: phonological, lexical and grammatical (morphological and syntactic). After completing this study, the author came across Gadalla (2000), a comparative study of the morphology of Standard and Egyptian (Cairene) Arabic. Another, smaller study compares the phonological features of the Tunisian Arabic dialect with Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian (Cairene) Arabic (Zribi et al., 2014). While there is some overlap between Gadalla (2000) and this study, the former is more concerned with the morphological aspects of the verb forms of Arabic, with a comparative analysis of the phonology of the Standard (fuṣḥá) and dialectal (‘āmmīyah) forms in the introduction to the study, whereas this study is concerned with conceptualising the overall variation between the two forms, and offers a hierarchical view and summary of the main differences between the two forms. The hierarchical view is presented visually as a pyramid with three levels, to represent the phonological, lexical and grammatical (including morphological and syntactic) differences. Furthermore, this study is part of a wider study that proposes a theoretical framework for Arabic writing, including fuṣḥá, ‘āmmīyah and mixed varieties. So the purpose here is to understand the underlying similarities and differences between the two forms, in order to develop a wider framework for analysing the various forms of Arabic writing. The underlying assumption of this study is that the Arabic language is one, unified language and that its fuṣḥá and dialectal ‘āmmīyah forms share many common features, while at the same time having variations, or rather degrees of variation between them. Each form serves its own sociolinguistic functions, and mixing between the two can in turn serve specific sociolinguistic functions. Variation 113 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīya can subsequently be treated as a subset of the language, and the degree to which they vary can be assessed more objectively. In understanding not only the exact differences but the level of variation that exists between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, we are able to more accurately study instances of mixed-language use (both in speaking and writing), or code-mixing and code-switching. In fact, leading studies of these, such as Eid (1982, 1988) and Bassiouney (2006, 2013), have highlighted the problem of dealing with socalled ambiguous or shared forms that are neither exclusively fuṣḥá nor ‘āmmīyah, but exist in both, and in some cases are ignored or excluded altogether from critical analysis of code-switching patterns. This leads us to the need for a comprehensive framework outlining the variations between the two forms, including a hierarchical structure of the degree of variation that exists between them. This study therefore, offers a starting point for the delineation of the variation between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, using Cairene Egyptian Arabic as a starting point to provide a model that can be used with other dialects, since it is one of the most well studied and documented varieties of Arabic, as shown in the studies mentioned above. The model provides a visual breakdown of the degree of difference between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīya, categorised as phonological, lexical and grammatical (morphological and syntactic). Examples and sometimes extensive examples of each category are included to show what is meant by, as well as to document, each language feature, highlighting the nuance in variation, in order to determine the overall degree of variation between the language features. Given the aim of viewing the Arabic language as a unified whole with regular and predictable variations between its fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah forms, the levels of variation identified as part of this study are outlined in Figure 1 below: 114 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Phonological letter, short vowel, morpho-phonological, syllabic, and unclassified Lexical morpho-lexical, preferential/stylistic, foreign/loan words, and unclassified Grammatical (morphological and syntactic) pronouns, dual forms, SV-VS order preference, verb conjugations, noun and verb negation, verb forms, case and mood inflections, number-noun agreement and interrogatives Figure 1: Summary variations between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah. To begin with, Phonological variations are those which describe predictable variations in the pronunciation of particular sounds between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, in otherwise identical shared words. Next, Lexical variations are those where a different lexical item is used in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah to describe the same thing. Finally, grammatical variations are those which exist in the grammatical system, including morphological and syntactic differences. A detailed outline of all three aspects is presented below. PHONOLOGICAL VARIATION This first category covers the large group of words that are the same in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, except for their being pronounced slightly differently in each, with these differences conforming to general rules. This group of words is easily ‘disguised’ in mixed writing where the writer makes use of as much shared vocabulary as possible in order for the text to sound as close to spoken speech as possible. Thus, in terms of spelling and orthography the words appear identical, although they are in fact pronounced differently between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah. This style of writing has been described as ‘strategic bivalency’ (Woolard, 1999; Woolard, K. and Genovese, E., 2007; Mejdell, 2014). This 115 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 group can be further divided into: expected letter variation, short vowel variation, morphological variation and unclassified variation. Expected letter variation If we look at the Arabic alphabet, we expect and indeed do find it is the same in fuṣḥá and Egyptian ‘āmmīyah, i.e. there are no characters that are exclusive to either form. However, we find in Egyptian ‘āmmīyah that the pronunciation of a specific group of letters varies from that of fuṣḥá, whether in some cases or all. These are: ‫ي ء ث ذ ظ ج ض‬/‫ ق و‬as described below: • Interdentals: 1‫ث ذ ظ‬ Egyptian Arabic and most other sedentary dialects lost the interdentals ‫( ث‬th), ‫( ذ‬dh) and ‫( ظ‬ẓ), which have shifted to different sounds in basic and higher-level (more formal, technical or scientific) words as follows: - th has generally shifted to t in basic contexts and to s in higher-level contexts; - dh has shifted to d in basic contexts and to z in higher-level contexts; - ẓ has shifted to ḍ in basic contexts and to ẓ in higher-level contexts. • The letter ‫ ج‬in Egypt is normally pronounced as a plosive /g/ )IPA) rather than the voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ (ibid.) in both fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah except in recitations of the Qur’an. /g/ is, in fact, the older pronunciation of ‫ ;ج‬i.e. Egyptian Arabic has preserved something which is older than the pronunciation ‘j’ (Woidich and Zack, 2009). • The letter ‫ ض‬is pronounced ḍ as it is in fuṣḥá, except in some cases where it is pronounced as z in ‘āmmīyah e.g. the pronunciation of ‫( ضابط‬ḍābit, ‘officer’) as ‫( زابط‬zābit). 1 from Adapted http://sites.middlebury.edu/arabicsociolinguistics/files/2013/02/class5_phonetics_consonants.p df 116 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 Arabic letter ISSN 2398-8509 Sound shift in ‘āmmīyah Examples in ‘āmmīyah talɡ Basic words ‫( ت‬t) ‫ثلج‬ Higher level words ‫( س‬s) ‫ثانوية‬ Basic words ‫( د‬d) ‫ِذراع‬ dirā’ (‘arm’) ُ ‫ذرة‬ Higher level words ‫( ز‬z) ‫مذهب‬ mazhab (‘sect’) ‫أستاذ‬ Basic words ‫( ض‬ḍ) ُ ‫ظهر‬ ḍuhr (‘noon’, ‘early َ ‫ظهر‬ (‘ice, snow’) ‫( ث‬th) sānawīyah (‘secondary’) ‫ثالثة‬ ‫مثال‬ ‫( ذ‬dh) afternoon’) talātah (‘three’) masalan (‘for example’) durah (‘corn’) ustāz (‘Mr, teacher’) ḍahr (‘back’) ‫( ظ‬ẓ) zarf Higher level words ‫( ز‬z) ُ ‫ظلم‬ zulm (‘injustice’) َ ‫ظرف‬ (‘envelope’, ‘circumstance’) Table 1: Interdental sound shifts in Egyptian ‘āmmīyah • The letter ‫ ق‬pronounced often as the glottal stop (hamzah) ‫ ء‬in ‘āmmīyah but not always. Again, the pronunciation with ‘q’ is usually found in words borrowed from Standard Arabic. Some examples of pronunciation of this letter are: - ‫’( قال‬āl, ‘said’) : where the ‫ ق‬is pronounced as the glottal stop (hamzah) ‫;ء‬ - ‫‘( قضية‬issue’, ‘case/lawsuit’): where pronunciation of ‫ ق‬can alter the meaning of the word ‫ قضية المرأة‬pronounced qadīyat al-mar’a, to mean ’women’s issue’ is different to the pronunciation raf‘ ’adīyah, meaning ‘to file a lawsuit’; similarly ‫ قوي‬pronounced qawī to mean ‘strong’, but pronounced ’awī to mean ‘very’ - ‫( قانون‬qānūn, ‘law’): where ‫ ق‬is nowadays normally pronounced • The diphthongs ‫ ــــو‬/ ‫( ـــي‬ay / aw) :where in fuṣḥá the ‫( و‬w) and ‫( ي‬y) consonants are preceded by a fatḥa making aw and ay sounds respectively, they shift to long vowel sounds unique to ‘āmmīyah, 117 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 represented by the IPA sounds /oː/ and /eː/ as in Table 2 below. Several examples are given for each sound shift to illustrate how common it is to find this sound shift in ‘āmmīyah, with some examples containing expected letter variations, as outlined above: Fuṣḥá Sound shift in sound ‘āmmīyah ‫( ـو‬aw) Examples ،‫لوز‬ lo:z, lo:zah ،‫موز‬ mo:z, mo:zah ‫لوزة‬ (‘almonds’, ‘almond’) ‫موزة‬ (‘bananas’, ‘banana’) ‫حوض‬ ḥo:d (‘sink’) ‫لون‬ lo:n (‘colour’) ‫موت‬ mo:t (‘death’) ‫صوت‬ ṣo:t (‘sound, voice’) ‫فوق‬ fo:’ (‘above’) ‫شوق‬ sho:’ (‘longing’) ‫ثور‬ to:r (‘bull’) ‫قوس‬ qo:s (‘bow, arc’) /o:/ bo:s, bo:sah ‫ بوسة‬،‫بوس‬ ‫( ـي‬ay) /e:/ (‘kissing’, ‘kiss’) ‫ شوكة‬،‫شوك‬ sho:k, sho:kah (‘thorns’, ‘fork’) ‫حيل‬ ḥe:l (‘strength’) ‫ليل‬ le:l (‘night’) ‫بيت‬ be:t (‘house’) ‫زيت‬ ze:t (‘oil’) ‫ذيل‬ de:l (‘tail’) ‫صيد‬ ṣe:d (‘hunting’, ‘fishing’) ‫خي‬ khe:r (‘goodness’) ‫غي‬ ghe:r (‘other’) ‫بيض‬ be:ḍ (‘eggs’) ‫غيط‬ ghe:ṭ (‘field’) Table 2: Diphthong sound shifts in Egyptian ‘āmmīyah - The hamzah glottal stop ‫ ء‬: assimilates with the ā or ī vowel ‘chair’ in some cases when: • preceded by a fatḥa and followed by sukūn e.g. ‫( رأس‬ra’s, ‘head’) pronounced as ‫( راس‬rās), similarly ‫( فأس‬fa’s, ‘axe’) pronounced as ‫( فاس‬fās) and ‫( كأس‬kā’s, ‘cup’) pronounced as kās; • medial in the active participle ‫ فاعل‬form e.g. ‫( صائم‬ṣā’im, ‘fasting’) pronounced as ‫صايم‬ ِ (ṣāyim), similarly ‫( طائر‬ṭā’ir, ‘flying’, ‘bird’) pronounced as ‘sleeping’) pronounced as ‫نايم‬ ِ nāyim; 118 ‫(طاير‬ṭāyir) and ‫( نائم‬nā’im, ِ The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 • on or beside final alif (e.g. ‫( سماء‬samā’, ‘sky’) pronounced as ‫( سما‬sama) and ‫( مساء‬masā’, ‘evening’) pronounced as ‫( مسا‬masa or misa). Letter Pronunciation in fuṣḥá Pronunciation in ‘āmmīyah ‫ث‬ th t/s ‫ج‬ j g ‫ذ‬ dh z ‫ض‬ ḍ z ‫ظ‬ ẓ z ‫ق‬ q ’/q ‫ ـي‬/ ‫ـو‬ aw, ay o:, e: (IPA) ‫ء‬ ’ (glottal stop) (can assimilate with vowel) Table 3: Summary of expected letter variation between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah Short vowel variation These are words whose letters are orthographically identical, however the difference in pronunciation between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah is in the (unwritten) short vowels, such as: ‫مه ّمة‬ (mahammah, ‘task’) and ‫( ُم ِه ّمة‬muhimmah). This is also, of course, true of a lot of purely fuṣḥá words. Morpho-phonological variation This includes a slight variation in pronouncing morphological suffixes or prefixes. A purely phonological variation, it has no grammatical implication i.e. the word order and usage remain the same as in fuṣḥá. Examples include: • the nisbah adjective ending ‫( ي‬īy) in fuṣḥá pronounced without the shaddah as ‫( ي‬ī) in ‘āmmīyah • the definite article ‫( الـ‬al) pronounced as il in ‘āmmīyah, as in ‫ البنت‬pronounced ilbint and ‫الولد‬ pronounced ilwalad 119 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 • The feminine marker ‫( اء‬ā’) in fuṣḥá used for colours is pronounced in ‘āmmīyah without the final hamza and with a shortening of the final ā to become simply a short a as in ‫‘ حمراء‬red’ pronounced ḥamrā’ in fuṣḥá but ḥamra in ‘āmmīyah. Syllable variation This refers to the vowel dropping rules in ‘āmmīyah, such as dropping of the kasrah and shortening of the alif in the feminine singular active particle ‫فاعلة‬ ِ (fā‘ilah) form, as in: ‫سامعة‬ ِ (sāmi‘ah, hear/s) which is pronounced sam‘ah in ‘āmmīyah; similarly ‫كاملة‬ ِ (kāmilah, complete) is pronounced kamlah, and ‫( شاملة‬shāmilah, comprehensive) is pronounced shamlah. Unclassified phonological variation Words that do not have an immediately identifiable overarching category for the variation such as the examples in Table 4 below, and have not been identified as part of a wider group or pattern, although they are simple nouns and appear to have no distinct phonological or morphological variation pattern: Pronunciation in ‘āmmīyah Word in fuṣḥá Meaning in English ‫سلحفاة‬ sulaḥfāh ‫سلحفة‬ sulḥifāh turtle ‫عربة‬ ‘arbah ‫عربية‬ ‘arabīyah vehicle ‫أحد‬ aḥad ‫حد‬ ḥad someone ‫رجل‬ rajul ‫راجل‬ rāgil man ‫سكي‬ sikkīn ‫سكينة‬ sikkīnah knife ‫أرز‬ urz ‫رز‬ ruz rice ‫ملعقة‬ mil‘aqah ‫معلقة‬ ma‘la’ah spoon ‫تجديف‬ tajdīf ‫تأديف‬ ta’dīf rowing ‫صباح‬ ṣabāḥ ‫صبح‬ ṣubḥ morning Table 4: Examples of unclassified phonological variation 120 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 LEXICAL VARIATION Whereas the previous category, that of phonological variation, was limited to variation between single sounds, this second group refers to the variation between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah in single lexical items. From experience teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language using the Integrated Approach i.e. teaching fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah side by side from the very beginning, the author has encountered this type of lexical variation that does not seem to have been categorised before, a view shared by Abdel-Malek (1972b, p.138). This category can be subdivided into morphological variations, preferential/stylistic variations, foreign/loan words, and unclassified variations: Morpho-lexical variation Between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah we find shared identical lexical items, such as ‫( تفاح‬tuffāḥ, ‘apples’), ‫( كرسى‬kursī, ‘chair’) and ‫( باب‬bāb, ‘door’). In terms of variation, we have identified above identical lexical items that contain a defined phonological variation such as for example ‫( جامع‬jāmi‘, ‘mosque’) pronounced with the expected letter variation as gāmi‘. This category, however, is concerned with non-identical lexical items that share the same meaning and root. The variation in this group differs from the unclassified phonological variation outlined above, in that the variation extends beyond a phonological variation to the morphology of the word itself, and yet the lexical pairs still share the same meaning and root. So for each lexical pair in this category we find a distinct morphological pattern for the fuṣḥá lexical item and at the same time we find that the corresponding ‘āmmīyah lexical item deviates from the fuṣḥá morphological pattern, while retaining the same meaning and root. Some examples of morpho-lexical variations and their morphological patterns in fuṣḥá are given in Table 5 below: Word in fuṣḥá Morphological pattern Word in ‘āmmīyah Meaning in English ‫مالبس‬ malābis ‫فاعل‬ ِ ‫م‬ mafā‘il ‫لبس‬ libs clothes ‫مقىه‬ maqhá ‫مفعل‬ maf‘al ‫قهوة‬ ’ahwá cafe ‫بجانب‬ bijānib ‫فاعل‬+‫ـ‬ ِ ‫ِب‬ bi+fā‘il ‫جنب‬ ganb beside Table 5: Examples of morpho-lexical variation 121 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Preferential/stylistic variation This describes the ‘shared’ group of words between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah in that they exist in both varieties, but tend to be used in one variety rather than the other, therefore acquiring either a fuṣḥá or ‘āmmīyah ‘flavour’ (Abdel-Malek, 1972b). Examples in Table 6 below: Preferred word in fuṣḥá Preferred word in ‘āmmīyah Meaning in English ‫ذهب‬ dhahaba ‫راح‬ rāḥ go ‫أراد‬ arāda ‫عاز‬ ‘āz want ‫ترك‬ taraka ‫ساب‬ sāb leave ‫قاد‬ qāda ‫ساق‬ sā’ drive Table 6: Examples of preferential/stylistic variation Foreign or loan words These are commonly-used foreign or loan words in ‘āmmīyah which in some cases have been absorbed into fuṣḥáand in other cases the fuṣḥáhas been absorbed into ‘āmmīyah. In most of these cases however, the Arabic form is in fact a neologism designed to replace the foreign borrowing form with a ‘genuine’ Arabic form, as in the examples in Table 7 below, including some examples from Abdel-Malek (1972): Word in fuṣḥá Word in ‘āmmīyah Meaning in English ‫مرصف‬ maṣraf ‫بنك‬ bank bank ‫حاسوب‬ ḥāsūb ‫كمبيوتر‬ kumbīyūtar computer ‫رسوال‬ sirwāl ‫بنطلون‬ bantalūn trousers ‫شطية‬ shatīrah ‫سندوتش‬ sandawitsh sandwich ‫قبعة‬ quba‘ah ‫برنيطة‬ burnīṭah hat ‫حافلة‬ ḥāfilah ‫أوتوبيس‬ utubīs bus Table 7: Examples of foreign words 122 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Unclassified lexical variation This is the case where different lexical items are used in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, but neither form is ّ shared with the other, such as (‫ ست‬- ‫ امرأة؛ عربية‬- ‫ سيارة ؛ جزمة‬- ‫)حذاء‬ Word in fuṣḥá Word in ‘āmmīyah Meaning in English ‫امرأة‬ imra’ah ‫ست‬ sitt woman ‫سيارة‬ sayyārah ‫عربية‬ ‘arabīyah car ‫حذاء‬ ḥidhā’ ‫جزمة‬ gazmah shoe(s) Table 8: Examples of undefined lexical variation GRAMMATICAL (MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC) VARIATION Perhaps the largest subgroup of differences between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, it includes (but is not limited to): personal, demonstrative and relative pronouns; dual forms; SV-VS order preference; verb conjugations; case and mood inflections; noun and verb negation; number-noun agreement; interrogatives; and verb forms. Pronouns • Personal pronouns: the number of distinct personal pronouns in fuṣḥá (12) is larger than the number in ‘āmmīyah (8). The eight personal pronouns of ‘āmmīyah overlap with the personal pronouns in fuṣḥá, and are largely similar, with some phonetic variation as shown in the table below: 123 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Fuṣḥá Personal pronouns ‘āmmīyah ‫أنا‬ anā ‫أنا‬ anā masculine َ ‫أنت‬ anta ‫ِانت‬ inta feminine َ ‫نت‬ ِ ‫أ‬ antī ‫ِانى‬ intī masculine ‫هو‬ huwa ‫هو‬ huwwa feminine ‫ه‬ hiya ‫ه‬ hiyya 2nd person ُ ‫أنتما‬ antumā ُ ‫ إنتم‬/ ‫*انتو‬ ِ intū / intum 3rd person ُ ‫هما‬ humā ُ ‫*ه ّما‬ hummā 1st person ُ ‫ن‬ ‫حن‬ naḥnu ‫ِاحنا‬ iḥnā masculine ُ ‫أنتم‬ antum ُ ‫ إنتم‬/ ‫ِانتو‬ intū / intum feminine ‫أني‬ antunna masculine ُ ‫هم‬ hum ُ ‫ه ّما‬ hummā feminine ُ ‫هن‬ hunna 1st person 2nd person Singular 3rd person Dual 2nd person Plural 3rd person - Table 9: Personal pronouns in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah * There is no dual pronoun in ‘āmmīyah, so the plural pronouns are used. • Demonstrative pronouns: the ten demonstrative pronouns in fuṣḥá are reduced to three in ‘āmmīyah (‫ دول‬- ‫ دي‬- ‫ )دا‬as shown in Table 10 below: • There is no dual demonstrative pronoun in ‘āmmīyah, so the plural demonstrative is used instead. In terms of agreement in ‘āmmīyah, we see the dual noun taking the plural demonstrative, as in ‫( الكتابي دول‬il-kitābe:n do:l, 'these (pl.) [two] books (dual)’). 124 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Fuṣḥá Demonstrative pronouns ‫هذا‬ this Masculine hādhā that ‫ذلك‬ dhālika this ‫هذه‬ hādhihi Singular Feminine that ‫تلك‬ tilka nominative ‫هذان‬ ِ hādhāni ‫هذين‬ hādhayni ‫هاتان‬ ِ hātāni ‫هاتي‬ hātayni these ‫هؤالء‬ ِ hā’ulā’i those )‫أولئك (أوالئك‬ ulā’ika Masculine accusative/ genitive Dual nominative Feminine ‘āmmīyah accusative/ genitive Plural ‫دا‬ dā ‫دي‬ dī ‫*دول‬ do:l ‫دول‬ do:l Table 10: Demonstrative pronouns in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah Additionally, while there is no syntactic difference in the use of the demonstrative pronouns between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah when together with a noun they form a complete equational sentence. However, as a demonstrative-noun phrase their order is reversed. For example: ‘This [is a] book’ hādhā kitāb ‫هذا كتاب‬ ‘This book [is] beautiful’ il-kitāb da gamīl ‫ = الكتاب دا جميل‬hādhā al-kitāb jamīl ‫هذا الكتاب جميل‬ da kitāb ‫= دا كتاب‬ • Relative pronouns: as with demonstrative pronouns, the number of relative pronouns is greatly reduced in ‘āmmīyah. In fact, there is only one relative pronoun in ‘āmmīyah, compared with nine in fuṣḥá. The grammatical use of the relative pronoun is the same as in fuṣḥá, where it is used in a relative clause with a definite noun, and omitted when the noun is indefinite, as in: ‘A man [who] works in a factory’ ‘The man who works in a factory’ ‫راجل بيشتغل* ف مصنع‬ = ‫رجل يعمل ف مصنع‬ ‫الراجل الل بيشتغل* ف مصنع‬ = ‫الرجل الذي يعمل ف مصنع‬ 125 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 * The verb ‫ شغل‬- ‫ عمل‬is an example of preferential/stylistic lexical variation. (For the b+ imperfect verb suffix see case and mood inflections below.) Dual forms As seen above, while the dual form is present in fuṣḥá, it is largely absent in ‘āmmīyah since there are no dual pronouns, demonstrative pronouns or relative pronouns in ‘āmmīyah. The same is true for verbs, since there are no dual pronouns in ‘āmmīyah, there are no dual verb conjugations. The dual is present in ‘āmmīyah in the case of counted nouns only, which take the the ‫ ين‬ending pronounced as /e:n/ (see Table 2 above and Table 11 below), without modification for gender or case. For example, ‘two books’ is ‫( كتابي‬kitābe:n) without the use of the number ‘two’ except for emphasis, as is the case in fuṣḥá, in which case it would be ‫( كتابي اتني‬kitābe:n itne:n). SV-VS order preference and agreement In both fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, both verb-subject or subject-verb order are used. However, in fuṣḥá the preference is V-S order while in ‘āmmīyah the preference is S-V order. Whereas in fuṣḥá the verb in V-S order is singular, in ‘āmmīyah the verb agrees with the subject in number (singular or plural). Verb conjugations • Dual: the absence of dual pronouns and the third person feminine plural pronouns in ‘āmmīyah naturally results in no verb conjugations for these pronouns in ‘āmmīyah (instead the dual is conjugated as a plural). • Imperfect verb conjugation: largely similar, except in ‘āmmīyah we see the dropping of the final ‫ن‬ /n/ in the second person feminine singular conjugation ‫( ين‬īn) in fuṣḥá to ‫( ي‬ī) in ‘āmmīyah, and similarly the second and third plural conjugations ‫( ون‬ūn) in fuṣḥá to ‫( وا‬ū) in ‘āmmīyah. Additionally, the imperfect verb employs the ‫( بـ‬b) prefix in all conjugations, as in ‫( باروح‬bārūḥ, ‘I go/am going’). • Perfect verb conjugation: is largely similar with some minor variations of internal vowels and omission of final vowels except for the second person feminine singular (‫لت‬ ِ ‫)فع‬. • Imperative verb conjugation: is again largely similar, with the minor differences of retaining the ُ long vowel in hollow verbs as in ‫ قل – قول‬and using long ‫ ي‬for defective verbs as in – ‫ادع – اصح‬ ‫صل‬ 126 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Noun and verb negation َ Nouns, adjectives and adverbs in fuṣḥá are negated with the verb ‫ليس‬, (laysa, ‘to ‘not’ be') which is conjugated for the 12 personal pronouns, while in ‘āmmīyah nouns, adjectives and adverbs are simply negated with ‫( مش‬mish, ‘not’). Verbs in fuṣḥá are negated using the negators ‫ لن‬/ ‫ ال‬/ ‫ لم‬+ imperfect verb (with the negators carrying the tense: ‫ لم‬for the past tense, ‫ ال‬for the present tense, and ‫ لن‬for the future or ‫ ما‬+ perfect verb tense). In ‘āmmīyah the imperfect and future tense verbs are negated using ‫ مش‬while the perfect verb is negated by adding the ‫ ما‬prefix and ‫ ش‬suffix, along with a ‘helping vowel’ if this results in a 3-consonant cluster, as in: َ َ (makatabtish, ‘I/you (m.) did not write’) ‫> ماكتب ِتش‬- (katabt, ‘I/you (m.) wrote’) ‫كتبت‬ The imperfect verb can also take this form of negation, as in: >-(baktib, ‘I write/am writing) ‫باكتب‬ (mabaktibsh/mish baktib, ‘I do not write/am not writing’) ‫ مش باكتب‬/ ‫ماباكتبش‬ Future tense marker While both fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah use a future tense marker + imperfect verb to indicate future tense, and both use a single letter prefix, in fuṣḥá this single prefix is the letter ‫ سـ‬/s/ + imperfect verb, while in ‘āmmīyah it is the letter ‫ هـ‬or ‫ حـ‬/h/ + imperfect verb. Additionally, fuṣḥá has another future tense marker, the word ‫ سوف‬+ imperfect verb, which is not used in āmmīyah. Verb forms Although the verb forms are largely similar in form and function in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, Form IV isn’t used in ‘āmmīyah and some minor variation occurs in the vowelling, as shown in the table below: 127 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 ‘āmmīyah Fuṣḥá Form I ‫ ف ُعل‬/ ‫ ف ِعل‬/ ‫فعل‬ ُ ‫ ي‬/ ‫ يفعل‬/ ‫يفعل‬ ‫فعل‬ ِ ‫ ِف ِعل‬/ ‫فعل‬ ُ ‫ ُي‬/ ‫ يفعل‬/ ‫يفعل‬ ‫فعل‬ ِ ِ ِ Form II ‫فعل‬ ‫ُيف ِّعل‬ ‫ف ِّعل‬ ‫ِيف ِّعل‬ Form III ‫فاعل‬ ُ ‫فاعل‬ ِ ‫ي‬ ‫فاعل‬ ِ ‫فاعل‬ ِ ‫ِي‬ Form IV ْ َٔ ‫افعل‬ ْ ‫ُيف ِعل‬ - - Form V ‫تف ّعل‬ ‫يتفعل‬ ‫اتف ِّعل‬ ْ ْ ‫ ِيتف ِّعل‬/ ‫ِيتفعل‬ Form VI ‫تفاعل‬ ‫يتفاعل‬ ‫اتفاعل‬ ِ ‫تفاعل‬ ِ ‫ ِي‬/ ‫تفاعل‬ ِ ‫ِي‬ Form VII ْ ‫انفعل‬ ْ ‫ينف ِعل‬ ‫انفعل‬ ‫ ِيتفعل‬/ ‫ِينفعل‬ Form VIII ْ ‫افتعل‬ ْ ‫يفت ِعل‬ ‫افتعل‬ ْ ‫ِيفتعل‬ Form IX ‫ِافعل‬ ‫يفع ّل‬ ‫افع ّل‬ ‫ِيفع ّل‬ Form X ْ ْ ‫استفعل‬ ْ ‫ي ْستف ِعل‬ ‫فعل‬ ِ ‫است‬ ‫فعل‬ ِ ‫ ِيست‬/ ‫ِيستفعل‬ Table 11: Verb forms in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah Case and mood inflections (indicative, accusative, genitive and jussive) We find these mostly absent in ‘āmmīyah, which can explain to some extent the description of ‘āmmīyah as being a ‘simplified’ form of fuṣḥá. However, we do find the b+ prefix added to ‘āmmīyah imperfect verbs, but not in fuṣḥá. Further, the b+ suffix is dropped in the subjunctive mood in ‘āmmīyah. Some examples of variation between case and mood inflections are given in the table below: 128 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Ending in fuṣḥá Ending in ‘āmmīyah Case/mood accusative / genitive / subjunctive jussive indicative masculine plural ending ‫ون‬ ‫ين‬ ‫ين‬ ‫ين‬ indefinite noun ending ٌ‫ــ‬ ‫ـًا‬ ٌ‫ـ‬ (none) definite noun ending ٌ‫ــ‬ ٌ‫ــ‬ ٌ‫ــ‬ (none) imperfect verb ending (singular) *ٌ‫ــ‬ ٌ‫ــ‬ (subjunctive) subjunctive (jussive)ٌٌ‫ــ‬ dropping of the bi prefix imperfect verb ending (plural) ‫ن‬ in some cases dropping of ‫ن‬ ‫ِــين‬ dual noun ending ‫ان‬ ‫ــين‬ imperfect dual verb ending ‫ان‬ ‫( ا‬dropping of ‫)ن‬ (none) ‫**ين‬ (none) Table 12: Examples of case and mood inflections absent in ‘āmmīyah * Or ‫( ــ‬fatḥa) for 2nd person singular feminine ending (‫)ين‬ ** Pronounced as /e:n/ (see Table 2 above) Number-noun agreement While the numbers themselves remain largely similar between fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, with some phonetic variation in ‘āmmīyah; fuṣḥá has notoriously complicated number-noun agreement rules, which are somewhat simplified in ‘āmmīyah. The table below summarises the agreement rules for each, with differences between them highlighted in bold. 129 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Number-noun agreement Number(s) fuṣḥá ‘āmmīyah 1 Singular noun, optional addition of number for emphasis, number agrees with noun number, gender and case, e.g.: )‫عندي كتاب (واحد‬ (‘indī kitābun (wāḥidun), ‘I have (one) book’); ُ )‫أكلت تفاحة (واحدة‬ )akaltu tuffāḥatan (wāḥidatan), ‘I ate (one) apple’) Singular noun, optional addition of number for emphasis, number agrees with noun gender, e.g.: (‫عندي كتاب )واحد‬ (‘andī kitāb (wāḥid), 'I have (one) book’); )‫أكلت تفاحة (واحدة‬ )akalt tuffāḥah (waḥdah), ‘I ate (one) apple’) 2 Dual noun, optional addition of number for emphasis, number agrees with noun number, gender and case, e.g.: )‫عندي كتابان (اثنان‬ (‘indī kitābān (ithnān), ‘I have (two) books’); ُ )‫أكلت تفاحتي (اثنتي‬ )akaltu tuffāḥatayn (ithnatayn), ‘I ate (two) apples’) 3-10 Dual noun, optional addition of number for emphasis, e.g.: ‫عندي كتابي‬ (‘indī kitābe:n (itne:n), ‘I have (two) books’); ُ )‫أكلت تفاحتي (اثنتي‬ )akalt tuffaḥte:n (itne:n), ‘I ate (two) apples’) Number + plural noun, with Number + plural noun: number in reverse dropping of final ‫ ة‬in the number, gender agreement with noun; noun in genitive e.g.: case, e.g.: ‫عندي أربــع كتب‬ ُ ‫‘( عندي أربعة كتب‬andī arba’ kutub, ‘I have four (‘indī arba’atu kutubin, ‘I have four books’); books’); ُ ُ ‫أكلت أربــع تفاحات‬ ‫أكلت أربــع تفاحات‬ )akaltu arba’a tuffāḥātin), ‘I ate four apples’) )akalt arba’ tuffāḥāt, ‘I ate four apples’) Number + singular noun, e.g.: 11-19 11-12: Number + singular noun: unit and ten in gender agreement with noun; noun and number in accusative case, e.g.: ‫عندي أحد عش كتابا‬ (‘indī aḥada ‘ashara kitāban, ‘I have 11 books’); ُ ‫أكلت اثتى عشة تفاحة‬ )akaltu ithnatay ‘ashrata tuffāḥatan), ‘I ate 12 apples’) 130 ‫ عشين كتاب‬/ ‫ خمستارس‬/ ‫عندي حدارس‬ ('andī ḥidāshar/ khamastāshar/ ‘ishrīn kitāb, ‘I have 11 / 15 / 25 books’) ‫ خمسة وخمسي تفاحة‬/ ‫ ستارس‬/ ‫أكلت اتنارس‬ (akalt itnāshar / sittāshar tuffāḥah, ’I ate 12 / 16 / 55 apples’) The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 13-19: Number + singular noun: unit in reverse gender agreement with noun while ten in gender agreement with noun; number and noun in accusative case, e.g.: ‫عندي خمسة عش كتابا‬ (‘indī khamsata ‘ashara kitāban, ‘I have 15 books’); ُ ‫أكلت ستة عش تفاحة‬ )akaltu sittata ‘ashara tuffāḥatan), ‘I ate 16 apples’) 20-99 Number + singular noun: unit in reverse agreement with noun gender, ten in gender agreement with noun; numbers decline for case while noun in accusative case, e.g.: ‫عندي عشون كتابا‬ (‘indī ‘ishrūna kitāban, ‘I have 20 books’); ُ ‫أكلت خمسة وخمسي تفاحة‬ )akaltu khamsata wa khamsīna tuffāḥatan), ‘I ate 55 apples’) 100 Number + singular noun: number and noun in an iḍāfah (with the noun in the genitive case), e.g.: ُ ‫عندي مائة كتاب‬ (‘indī mi’atu kitābin, ‘I have 100 books’); ُ ‫أكلت مائة تفاحة‬ )akaltu mi’ata tuffāḥatin), ‘I ate 100 apples’) Number + singular noun in an iḍāfah (with the number miyyah pronounced mīt in the iḍāfah), e.g.: ‫عندي ميت كتاب‬ (‘andī mīt kitāb, ‘I have 100 books’); ‫أكلت ميت تفاحة‬ )akaltu mīt tuffāḥah), ‘I ate 100 apples’) Table 13: Summary number-noun agreement rules for numbers 1-100 Interrogatives These are different lexical items in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah, although in many cases it is merely a case of phonological variation, as shown in Table 13 below: 131 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Fuṣḥá ‘āmmīyah Meaning in English ‫( من‬man) ‫( مي‬mīn) Who ‫( إيه‬e:h) What ‫( ِلماذا‬limādhā) ‫( ليه‬le:h) Why ‫( أين‬ayna) ‫( في‬fe:n) Where ‫( ِمن أين‬min ayna) ‫( ِمني‬mine:n) Where from ‫( مت‬matá) ‫( إمت‬imtá) When ‫( كيف‬kayfa) ‫( إزاي‬izzāy) How َ ‫( كم‬kam) ‫( كام‬kām) How many َ ‫( ِبكم‬bi-kam) ‫( ِبكام‬bi-kām) How much (cost) ‫( ما‬mā) + noun ‫( ماذا‬mādha) + verb ‫( هل‬hal) (none, although ‫( هل‬hal) is Do/does/did used for emphasis/elevation) Table 14: Interrogatives in fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah In terms of syntactic variation, interrogatives in fuṣḥá are placed at the beginning of the question, whereas in ‘āmmīyah the syntax is more flexible and the interrogatives may be placed at the beginning of the question or after the noun, as in ‫‘( سام في؟‬Sami [is] where?’) for example. CONCLUDING REMARKS Since the description of Arabic as a diglossic language by Ferguson (1959a), much attention has been paid to investigating the Arabic sociolinguistic situation. In particular, studies have focused on the specific features of Modern Standard Arabic known as fuṣḥá, and the spoken Egyptian (Cairene) dialect known as ‘āmmīyah, albeit treating them as separate entities. Since Badawi’s (1973) identification of Educated Spoken Arabic, several studies have attempted to define this language form and the variation that exists within it, such as (El-Hassan, 1977, 1978; Meiseles, 1980; and 132 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Elgibali, 1985) and some have investigated the use of code-switching within it (Eid, 1988; Bassiouney, 2006; Mejdell, 2011-12). Until recently, there has been an assumption that variation exists in speaking with no mention of variation in writing. This is true of most languages generally and not just for Arabic, as confirmed in Sebba et al. (2012). The advent of the internet and in particular social media, has led to an increase in visible variation in Arabic writing, and in turn an interest from sociolinguistic researchers in this phenomenon (Ibrahim, 2010; Doss and Davies, 2013; Kosoff, 2014; and Hoigilt and Mejdell, 2017). With the increased visibility of variation in Arabic writing, it is imperative perhaps now more than ever, to understand the sociolinguistic situation and frame the discussion around variation in terms of both writing as well as speaking. In fact, Crystal (2006) identifies the internet as a fourth medium for language after spoken, written and sign language, worthy of study in its own right. This paper is part of a wider study that aims to develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of Arabic writing across time, genre and medium. This paper starts from the premise that both fuṣḥá and ‘āmmīyah are part of the same language and that their similarities are greater than their differences. As such, it treats the variation between these two forms as a subset of the language as a whole, worthy of discussion and analysis in order to aid further studies of the variation and mixing that occurs within the wider Arabic language. This study has compared fuṣḥá with Egyptian (Cairene) Arabic, identifying the levels of variation that exists between them and presenting these visually as a pyramid of three levels: Phonological, Lexical and Grammatical (including syntactic and morphological). The aim of presenting the variation in this way is to aid researchers working on variation in identifying the degree to which variation is present and in turn its significance. Moreover, studies of variation in writing such as Mejdell (2014), can use this classification system to determine exactly how variation is achieved by analysing which features from which level/s are employed. It is hoped that the classification tool can be added to, developed and further refined in future studies as well. Another clear area for further study is the application of this paper’s classification of variation to other dialects and varieties of Arabic, in order to build up a clearer, more systematic and comprehensive view of the contemporary Arabic language situation. Previously Ferguson (1959b) has noted that similarities do exist between the various dialects, and understanding the degree of similarity and variation between them can help us rediscover the techniques used by native speakers such as classicising and levelling (Blanc, 1960) and hybridisation (Abu-Melhim, 1992) which raises to a high extent their mutual intelligibility (Ezzat, 1974). This especially since more recent studies of 133 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 cross-dialectal communication have shown that MSA use in cross-dialectal situations has decreased in recent decades, with more participants than previously observed using more of their local dialect to communicate in cross-dialectal situations, with a high level of mutual intelligibility (Soliman (2014). In order to understand the techniques employed by native speakers in cross-dialectal situations, as well as to inform our teaching of Arabic as a foreign language, it is imperative to begin to understand variation in Arabic in a systematic and comprehensive way, which this study offers a tool for achieving. Address for correspondence: smk58@cam.ac.uk REFERENCES Abdel-Jawad, H. 1981. Lexical and phonological variation in spoken Arabic in Amman. Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania. Abdel-Malek, Z. 1972a. The closed-list classes of colloquial Egyptian Arabic. Paris: Mouton. Abdel-Malek, Z. N. 1972b. The Influence of diglossia on the Novels of Yuusif al-Sibaaʿi. Journal of Arabic Literature. 3, pp. 132-141. Abdel-Massih, E. T., Abdel-Malek, Z. N., Badawi, E. M. and McCarus, E. N. 1979. A comprehensive study of Egyptian Arabic. Volume three, a reference grammar of Egyptian Arabic. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan. Abu-Melhim, Abdel-Rahman Husni. 1992. Communication across Arabic dialects: code-switching and linguistic accommodation in informal conversational interactions. Ph.D. thesis, Texas A&M University. Badawi, El-Said. 1973. Mustawayat al-arabiyya l-mu’assira fi misr. Cairo: Dar al-ma’arif. Bassiouney, R. 2013. Arabic sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bassiouney, R. 2006. Functions of code-switching in Egypt: evidence from Monologues. Leiden: Boston. Blanc, H. 1960. Stylistic variations in spoken Arabic: a sample of interdialectal educated conversation. In: Ferguson, C.A. ed. Contributions to Arabic linguistics. Cambridge: Harvard University, pp.81-156. 134 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 Cowell, M. 2005. A reference grammar of Syrian Arabic. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Crystal, D. 2006. Language and the internet. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Doss, M. and Davies, H. 2013. Al-‘ mmīyah al-Miṣrīyah al-Maktūbah: Mukhtārāt min 1401 ilá 2009. Al-Qāhirah: al-Hay’ah al-Miṣrīyah al-‘āmmah lil-Kutub. Eid, M. 1988. Principles for code-switching between Standard and Egyptian Arabic. In Al-‘Arabiyya. 21(1/2), 51-79. Eid, M. 1982. The non-randomness of diglossic variation. Glossa. 16(1), pp.54-84. Elgibali, A. 1985. Towards a sociolinguistic analysis of language variation in Arabic: Cairene and Kuwaiti dialects. PhD thesis, University of Pittsburgh. El-Hassan, S. A. 1978. Variation in the demonstrative system on educated spoken Arabic. Archivum Linguisticum. 9(1), pp.32-57. El-Hassan, S. A. 1977. 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A Conventional Orthography for Tunisian Arabic. The Ninth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC’14), May 2014. [Online]. [Accessed 5 April 2020]. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270568583_A_Conventional_Orthography_for_Tunisian _Arabic 137 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 APPENDIX: Transliteration Scheme The Transliteration scheme used in this study is the Library of Congress Romanisation scheme for Arabic2, copied verbatim in Table A1 below. For writers with Standard English forms, e.g. ‘Yusuf Idris’, these forms are used, rather than strict transliterations. For transliteration of ‘āmmīyah terms, the phoneme /g/ is used for ‫ ج‬and for the pronunciation of the diphthongs /aw/ and /ay/ in ‘āmmīyah the IPA symbols /o:/ and /e:/ are used (see Table A1 below). In transliterations of ‘āmmīyah, some adaptations have been made, such as using wi- for the connective ‫ و‬instead of wa- and il for the definite article ‫ الـ‬rather than al. 2 Letters of the alphabet Romanisation ‫ا‬ omit ‫ب‬ b ‫ت‬ t ‫ث‬ th ‫ج‬ j ‫ح‬ ḥ ‫خ‬ kh ‫د‬ d ‫ذ‬ dh ‫ر‬ r ‫ز‬ z ‫س‬ s ‫ش‬ sh ‫ص‬ ṣ ‫ض‬ ḍ https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/arabic.pdf 138 The Language Scholar (6) 2020 ISSN 2398-8509 ‫ط‬ ṭ ‫ظ‬ ẓ ‫ع‬ ‘ ‫غ‬ gh ‫ف‬ f ‫ق‬ q ‫ك‬ k ‫ل‬ l ‫م‬ m ‫ن‬ n ‫ ة‬، ‫ـه‬ h ‫و‬ w ‫ي‬ y Vowels and Diphthongs Romanisation ‫ــ‬ a ‫ــ‬ u ‫ِــ‬ i ‫ــا‬ ā ‫ــى‬ á ‫ــو‬ ū ‫ِــي‬ ī ٌ‫ــو‬ aw (IPA /o:/ in ‘āmmīyah) ‫ــي‬ ay (IPA /e:/ in ‘āmmīyah) Table A1: Library of Congress Romanisation scheme for Arabic 139

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The Leeds Language Scholar 2020: Issue 6 Special issue on Arabic language teaching

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