The Current Trends in Arabic Language Teaching Materials: Description and Analysis (<Special Feature> Teaching and Learning Arabic)

Abstract

As the past decade has witnessed a sharp increase in the Arabic learning materials (ALM), many of the recent works began to adopt modern pedagogical approaches and to be influenced by frameworks developed by ACTFL and CEFR, not only in terms of learning goals and intended outcomes, but also by their lessons and activities as well. Among those recent materials, many claim to offer a wide range of activities that represent the language in the four skills as well as in their components: grammar and vocabulary. Others claim to focus more on the reading and writing skills, and less on the listening and speaking. The aim in this paper is to shed light on the current trends of Arabic language teaching materials in terms of their aims, approaches, and methodologies, and to explore how these materials (lessons and activities) support those trends. The present study attempts to analyze three Arabic language textbooks at the intermediate level. Each book was examined, with special attention paid to the following: a) external features, (e.g. publisher’s claims) and b) internal features (e.g. syllabus, the language skills emphasized, and activities). The claims of the authors of the selected textbooks were examined to see if their aims were realized as indicated. The activities used in the language materials of the three textbooks were analyzed in order to explore how the language activities were distributed across the four language skills and its language components. We found out that there is a main emphasis on grammar and vocabulary rather than on the language skills for two of the textbooks. And within the four language skills, there is more emphasis on the reading and writing skills than on listening and speaking. Inspection of the sequence of activities in the three textbooks revealed that a relatively similar pattern of presentation was followed in regard to reading texts, vocabulary, and grammar. However, presentations of the listening, speaking, and writing skills varied from one book to another. In conclusion, the present study suggests that in order to establish an effective model of Arabic language learning and to reflect on classroom practice, there is a need to have more description and analysis of Arabic language materials in terms of the following: task analysis, the assumed role of teacher and learner, and the target of the language materials in terms of the language skills and aims (e.g. whether the materials aim at what the native speaker actually does in real life situations or target what the ACTFL prescribes the foreign language teachers to teach).