ARAB 210: Intermediate Arabic II
Prerequisites: ARAB 200 or 2 years of high school Arabic
Credit Hours: (4)
Review of fundamentals and continued practice in listening, speaking, reading, and culture with expanded use of literary and cultural materials. This course has been approved for Core Curriculum credit in College Core B in Foreign Languages.
Detailed Description of Course
Besides a comprehensive grammar review, the following communicative tasks are covered: making suggestions, describing future actions and events, describing a person's appearance, asking and expressing an opinion, suggesting going somewhere, asking and giving directions, congratulating people on special occasions, and ordering and talking about food. Other cultural topics include travel, health, different dialects, and current events.
Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
Class instruction focuses on communication practice utilizing the situations, communication tasks, vocabulary, culture, and grammar introduced in a given chapter. Other activities include: simulation of culturally relevant activities, grammar and vocabulary explanations, pronunciation practice, listening comprehension exercises, and grammatical drills. Class is conducted substantially in the target language.
Student Goals and Objectives of the Course
As regards morphology and syntax, students will be able to analyze basic grammar in most Arabic sentences. Intermediate II students will be able to analyze similarities and differences between their own and the target cultures and to explain contemporary international issues from the perspectives of their own and the target cultures. Students will demonstrate language skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing that are appropriate to the level of study and that are necessary for everyday life in an Arabic speaking country.
Speaking and listening goals (standardized ACTFL proficiency criteria):
Students will be able to handle successfully a limited but increasing number of interactive, task oriented and social situations. They can ask and answer questions, initiate and respond to simple statements, and maintain face to face conversation, although in a restricted manner. The students will be able to be understood by sympathetic interlocutors. They will be able to produce most Arabic sounds and sound sequences correctly with good stress and intonation patterns. Listening goals: students will be able to understand sentence length utterances which consist of re-combinations of learned elements in a limited number of content areas, particularly if strongly supported by the situational context.
Reading and writing goals (standardized ACTFL proficiency criteria):
Students will have sufficient control of the writing system to interpret written language in areas of practical need. Students will be able to derive meaning from material at a higher level where context, vocabulary aids, and/or extra-linguistic background knowledge are supportive. As regards writing, students will be able to write simple fixed expressions, limited memorized material and re-combinations thereof. They can write about personal interests and familiar cultural topics in letters or in a diary format.
Assessment Measures
Speaking progress will be evaluated in oral presentations. Written homework assignments and test exercises provide a basis for the evaluation of writing progress. Listening and reading comprehension, grammatical accuracy, and familiarity with the new culture are tested in quizzes, chapter tests, and on the final exam.
Other Course Information
Arabic 210 targets intermediate language learners with the equivalent of one year of college Arabic and completes the B.A. degree requirement for students who began their college level study of Arabic with the first semester.
Review and Approval
June 28, 2012