Upon the completion of this module, participants will master the basic theory of Arabic and have fair communication and comprehension skills, as well as solid abilities of translation. Additionally, students will be introduced to some elements of Levantine Arabic, enabling them to engage in simple conversations in spoken Lebanese.

• Assimilated verbs and derivations
• Defective verbs and derivations
• Doubly weak verbs
• Defective nouns
• Quadriliteral verbs and derivations
• Kana and its sisters
• Passive and passive-type expressions
• Conditional and optative expressions
• Absolute negation
• Adverbs and adverbial expressions
• Hal
• Ism al-marra
• The basics of Levantine dialect

This course is designed for students who have had the equivalent of 60 hours instruction.

Those who enroll in this course are expected to know the Arabic writing, the basics of inflectional morphology and simple structures (such as construct phrase, nominal sentence, verbal sentence, relative clause, comparative and superlative expressions). Limited writing and reading skills with non-vocalized texts are also required.

Knowledge and understanding: Students will be able to grasp the essential information in literary texts or newspaper articles written in Modern Standard Arabic.

Applying knowledge and understanding: students will be able to use the vocabulary they acquired in the appropriate context, and to engage in simple conversations on a variety of topics.

Making judgements: Upon completing this module, students will be fully acquainted with the use of root oriented dictionaries and will be able to translate any given text and make autonomous choices in the translation process.

Communication: students will be able to provide a short description of events and situations in Modern Standard Arabic and to engage in short familiar conversations in Levantine dialect.

Learning skills: Mastering the knowledge acquired and a full acquaintance with the use of root-oriented dictionary will provide students with the necessary tools to structure and conduct autonomously a translation or a research project.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Arabic training classes (6 hours per week).

Teaching

The duration of the course is 30 hours roughly distributed on 10 weeks time, 2 lessons per week.

Theoretical explanations on weak verbs morphology and complex structures will be provided together with practical exercises to verify and validate the acquired knowledge. Literary texts will be analysed and translated. A special focus will be given to practicing receptive and productive skills, enabling students to engage in oral production. Further translation tasks will help underpin the grammatical structures addressed in the class. Synopsis and handouts will be distributed along the course.

Attendance

Arabic training classes attendance is highly recommended (6 hours per week).

Course books

Veccia Vaglieri L., Avino M., “Grammatica teorico-pratica della lingua araba, Istituto per l’Oriente, Roma.

Foreign students who are unacquainted with Italian may also use:

Ryding C. K., “A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic”, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Assessment

The final examination is divided into two parts:

Translation task

Students are asked to translate and vocalize an excerpt from a literary text.

Oral exam

Students will first be asked to review their translation to seize on possible mistakes or inaccuracies. Then, they will be called on to prove their ability to apply knowledge and comprehension, by reading, translating and analysing an excerpt from one of the texts handed out during the module. Lastly they will hold a brief conversation in Levantine dialect.

Individual marks will be assigned for each written module (Written production / Reading and comprehension / Written test) added together and averaged out. Likewise all marks assigned for oral abilities (Dictation / Conversation / Oral exam) will be added together and averaged out.

Written and oral marks are finally added together and averaged to give the final mark.

Students attendance and their overall performance during classes shall be taken into account in the assessment.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

/

Attendance

Students unable to attend classes are strongly recommended to get in touch with the professor prior to the beginning of the course.

Course books

As listed above for attending students.

Assessment

As illustrated above for attending students.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

The exam can be taken in any of the scheduled sessions and may also be split in two different sessions (eg: written test in July and oral test in September).

Extra study material, synopsis and exercises will be available on moodle.