67054 - Arabic Language 2 B

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Docente: Ilaria Cicola
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: L-OR/12
  • Language: Italian

Learning outcomes

Through the completion of this course the student is supposed to acquire stronger abilities in the intermediate level of Arabic language. He is therefore supposed to able to approach the relevant literature and the problems related to it, by having recourse to the most updated bibliography.

Course contents

The course will be articulated in two interconnected parts, the first being preparatory to the second one: i) language and ii) Literature and History.

A) Arabic Language.

In this part of the course the student will advance in the study of the Arabic Language begun in the first module (Arab 2A). The students will train in translation and production tasks of written texts and will practice speaking skills.

Grammatical topics of this year: 1. Name: numerals, adjectives, elative. 2. Verb: derivative forms of verbs with their conjugation and complete verbal derivation. 3. History of the Language: an overview of the evolution of the Arabic language will be given to the students, together with an introduction to diglossia and variants of the so-called "Arabic".

B) Arabic Literature

Historical desctiption of Arabic literature in the Nahda period and of the changes occurred in the development of the language in this period

During the course, the texts relating to the aforementioned periods will be presented, translated and analyzed in class, so to focus on the evolution of the litterature after the encounter/clash with western culture and colonialism.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending Students:

Arabic Language:

  1. Deheuvels L.-W., Grammatica araba. Manuale di arabo moderno con esercizi e cd audio per l'ascolto. Volumes 1 & 2. Edizione italiana a cura di Antonella Ghersetti. Zanichelli, Bologna, 2010. lessons 12-18
  2. Manca A., Grammatica teorica-pratica di arabo letterario moderno.Roma, Associazione Nazionale di Amicizia e Cooperazione Italo-Araba, 1989. Pp.145-180
  3. Audiovisual material from the online free-access Course "Sabily" ,videos from 21-28.

Playlist Sabily

In addition to the volumes indicated in points 1 and 2, exercise texts and supplementary didactic materials on specific points may be drawn from: Veccia Vaglieri L , Avino M., Grammatica teorico-pratica della lingua araba, Istituto per l’Oriente, Napoli 2011 (voll.I, tomi I e II)

Arabic Literature:
  • Camera D’Afflitto I. Letteratura araba contemporanea. Dalla nahdah a oggi, Carocci, Roma, 2007, pp. 1-51 pp. 65-77 e pp. 155-195.

From Muhammad Ali to Ismail:

  1. Tahtawi, Rafiʿ Rifāʿa, Takhlis al-ibriz fi talkhis Bariz (texts analyzed in the classroom)
  2. Avino, Camera D'Afflitto, Salem, Antologia della letteratura Araba contemporanea, Carocci pp.37-40 e 11-13 (arabic texts)

    Recently published European translations:

    • French: : Tahtawi, Rafiʿ Rifaʿat, L’or de Paris: relation de voyage, 1826-1831, éd. Anouar Louqa, Paris: Sindbad, 1988. (pp. 3-50 and the translation as reference for the texts analized in class)
    • Inglese: : Daniel L. Newman, An Imam in Paris : account of a stay in France by an Egyptian cleric (1826-1831).(pp. 14-23, 55-76 and the translation as reference for the texts analized in class)

      Studies on the topic of the course:

  1. Suleiman, V. The Arabic Language and National Identity: A Study in Ideology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,2003; (pp.169-197)
  2. Newman, D. The Arabic Literary Language : The Nahḍa (and beyond). In J. Owens, The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013
  3. Newman, D. The European influence on Arabic during the Nahḍa lexical borrowing from European languages (ta'rīb) in 19th-Century Literature. Arabic Language and Literature (5), pp. 1-32, 2002.

N.B. In case of lack of understanding one of the two foreing languages in the Bibliography, students may ask for an alternative bibliography to the professor.

Non-attending students:

Arabic Language:

  1. Deheuvels L.-W., Grammatica araba. Manuale di arabo moderno con esercizi e cd audio per l'ascolto. Volumes 1& 2. Edizione italiana a cura di Antonella Ghersetti. Zanichelli, Bologna, 2010. lessons12-18
  2. Manca A., Grammatica teorica-pratica di arabo letterario moderno.Roma, Associazione Nazionale di Amicizia e Cooperazione Italo-Araba, 1989. Pp.145-180
  3. Audiovisual material from the online free-access Course "Sabily", Lessons38-50

Playlist Sabily

In addition to the volumes indicated in points 1 and 2, exercise texts and supplementary didactic materials on specific points may be drawn from: Veccia Vaglieri L , Avino M., Grammatica teorico-pratica della lingua araba, Istituto per l’Oriente, Napoli 2011 (voll.I, tomi I e II)

Arabic Literature:
  1. Camera D’Afflitto I. Letteratura araba contemporanea. Dalla nahdah a oggi, Carocci, Roma, 2007 pp. 1-51, pp.65-77 e pp. 155-195.
  2. Filoramo, G. (a cura di), Islām, Laterza Editori, 2006. Pp. 219-307.
  3. Adam SILVERSTEIN,Breve storia dell'Islam, tr. it., Carocci, Roma, 2013, limitatamente alle pp. 91-124.

From Muhammad Ali to Ismail:

  1. TAHTAWI, Rafiʿ Rifāʿa, Takhlis al-ibriz fi talkhis Bariz
  2. Avino, Camera D'Afflitto, Salem, Antologia della letteratura Araba contemporanea, Carocci pp.37-40 e 11-13 (arabic texts)

    European translations:

    1. French: : Tahtawi, Rafiʿ Rifaʿat, L’or de Paris: relation de voyage, 1826-1831, éd. Anouar Louqa, Paris: Sindbad, 1988.
    2. English: : Daniel L. Newman, An Imam in Paris : account of a stay in France by an Egyptian cleric (1826-1831).

      Studies on the course's topics:

  1. LOUCA, A., L’autre Egypte. De Bonaparte à Taha Huseyn, Le Caire, IFAO (Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale), 1998. -Excerpt to be chosen with the teacher
  2. Suleiman, V. The Arabic Language and National Identity: A Study in Ideology. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,2003; limitatamente alle pagine 16-37 e 169-197
  3. Newman, D. The Arabic Literary Language : The Nahḍa (and beyond). In J. Owens, The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013
  4. Newman, D. The European influence on Arabic during the Nahḍa lexical borrowing from European languages (ta'rīb) in 19th-Century Literature. Arabic Language and Literature (5), 1-32, 2002.
N.B. In case of lack of understanding one of the two foreing languages in the Bibliography, students may ask for an alternative bibliography to the professor.

Teaching methods

Language

Following the teaching method starded in the first module (Arab 2A), a syncrasis between the two most spread strategy in L2 learning will be used:

1) The grammatical approach, the "traditional method" used in academic teaching of Arabic language: the student will develop passive skills in written communication (translation from Arabic into Italian)

2)the inductive and mimetic approach proposed by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Learning / Teaching / Assessment).This approach will be adapted to the specific needs of the course and to the subject, i.e. Arabic, so to allow the student to activly produce small texts and dialogues.

The operational methodology will be further developed on the basis of a thorough “context analysis”, aimed at identifying the special needs of the students of this specific course.

History of Literature

The teacher's lectures will include the analysis and the translation of texts of the historical period studied within the course.

Assessment methods

Final Exam Structure

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The final exam consists of two parts: i)language and translation  and literature.

N.B. ARABIC 2B is an integrated course with ARABIC 2A, therefore the final evaluation is calculated splitting the average between the two notes. 

Language and translation

This part of the exam will assess the student’s command of Arabic language, at the level required by the Course, with reference to the following main skills:

i) Understanding oral and written messages in Arabic and producing answers to texts; ii) Translating written messages from Arabic into Italian iii) Producing written messages in Arabic in total autonomy.

For these reasons, the exam includes exercices (fill in the blanks, conjugation of verbs, comprehension, etc.) and a small translation.

The texts to be studied and analysed are all the texts in the grammar book and the literary texts in the syllabus. 

 

N.B. The written test will be evaluated on a scale of 30. Students will be admitted to the oral exam at condition of their being successful (at least 18/30) at the written one.

Literature

This part of the exam will assess the student's command of the material studied in the course. It includes two different moments: i) a linguistic and historical commentary on selected texts among those analysed by the teacher during the course and ii) questions, where his/her ability to summarise and critically discuss topics raised in the course, making use of the exam bibliography and the course tools provided will be assested.

The assessment will thus consider the student's:
- competence in commenting on the selected texts, i.e. in identifying, translating and contextualizing them;
- knowledge and understanding of the topics covered;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Assestments will be awarded following this principles:

TOP MARKS

(28-30)

  • the students can to provide a full-fledged linguistic and historical commentary of the selected texts
  • the students shows an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures
  • the students displays a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology

AVERAGE MARKS

(24-27)

  • the student has memorized the main points of the course material
  • the students is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary,
  • the student displays an average command of the appropriate terminology

LOW MARKS

(18-23)

  • the students knows very sparsely the exam material
  • the students is able to summarise and provide a general critical commentary,
  • the student displays a limited command of the appropriate terminology

FAILED EXAM

  • the students displays significant errors in his understanding the exam material
  • the student fails to grasp the overall outlines of the subject
  • the student displays a poor command of the appropriate terminology

Teaching tools

Textbooks will be integrated with a wide range of other tools, mostly relying on Arabic sources (audiovisual, press, literary texts, as well as religious, legal, economic and political texts).

Office hours

See the website of Ilaria Cicola