Dr. Mustapha Saidi
University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Arabic has become an international language with a highly religious, economical and geopolitical significance. It is currently taught at various South African schools and universities. However, teaching Arabic at those institutions is still in its infancy and learners encounter various problems especially in understanding structural and grammatical constructions. This study will therefore deal with the current situation of teaching Arabic in the South African context. It will focus on Arabic language teaching at the University of the Western Cape, where it is offered as part and parcel of the department of Foreign Language. In particular, the study will cover the most widely adopted approaches to teaching Arabic morphology and syntax. It is believed that grammar-translation method which is widely used in teaching Arabic at various Islamic schools in South Africa is not effective. Communicative language teaching through authentic texts can be an ideal alternative. The study concludes that the use of simple short literary texts such as short stories and poems does not only enhance the grammatical competence of the learners, but it also motivates them to go beyond the grammatical structures in a text to other language skills such as reading.
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The Fourth Annual International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.TLLL.IR), 1-2 February 2020, Ahwaz.
