Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Arab 405 aims at developing students proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic from
high intermediate to low-advanced level in accordance with ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
Refer to the website of the 2012 ACTFL proficiency guidelines for more information.
I.
Objectives:
At the end of the semester, students should be able to perform the following tasks:
Read non-technical texts and understand conventional narratives and
descriptive texts of any length as well as more complex factual material,
Initiate and sustain conversations with substantial flow
Successfully handle linguistic challenges presented by a complication or
unexpected turns of events
Understand lectures on non-technical familiar topics,
Writing to narrate and describe with detail in all time frames.
Provide information, spoken and written, about different figures and ideas in
the Arabic culture.
Recognize and provide the main grammatical structures of Modern Standard
Arabic.
II.
Textbooks:
The following textbooks will be used in this class:
Brustad et al. (2006). Al-Kitaab fii Taallum al-Arabiyya: A Textbook for
Arabic, Part II. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Second
Edition.
An Arabic-English, English-Arabic dictionary (e.g. Al-Mawrid, by Munir
Baalbaki).
III.
Course Requirements:
Quizzes: There will be at least a test and a quiz every week. Expect a test at the
end of every lesson as well as vocabulary quizzes. Any missed quizzes will not
be made up unless legitimate documentation has been provided to justify the
absence, and the instructor has approved that the missed quiz be made up.
Portfolio: Students are expected to keep and maintain a webpage that will
contain all the homework assigned to be done and submitted electronically. Like
video skits, audio recordings, article summaries, writing assignments (blog
posts), article discussions and commentaries..etc. Instructions on how to set up
the webpage and add content to it will be explained in class. This webpage will
show your abilities and skills in speaking, listening, writing as well as reading.
Midterm and Final Exams: Both the midterm and the final exams are
cumulative, that is, they cover all material in the textbook (and related material)
up to the time when the test is taken. Therefore, students are advised to study
from the beginning of the course and not to procrastinate. Valid university excuse
is required for make-up. We have one Midterm exam and one Final Exam for
Arabic 405. The dates for these exams are indicated below.
IV.
V. Grade Breakdown:
The students final grade will be the culmination of their grades on all class
requirements (see above). The students final grade will be calculated as follows:
15%
20%
15%
5%
10%
15%
20%
Total 100%
V.
Grading Scale:
This course will be graded based on the following scale:
A+= 97-100%
A= 93-96%
A-= 90-92%
B+= 87-89%
B= 83-86%
B-= 80-82%
C+= 77-79%
C= 73-76%
C-= 70-72%
D+= 67-69%
D= 63-66%
D-= 60-62%
F= below 60
VI.
Syllabus: Note that the exact readings and assignments in the syllabus are not
stated due to the inherent flexibility of the language classroom.
Week 1
Lesson 1-Lesson 2
Week 2
Week3
Week 4
Lesson 5
X.
Disability Services:
Students needing accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact
the instructor to arrange an appointment as soon as possible to discuss course
format, special needs, and potential accommodations. The Office of Disability
Services will assist in versifying needs and advise on accommodation strategies.