ARIDA: An Arabic Interlanguage Database and Its Applications: A Pilot Study

This paper describes a pilot study in which we collected a small learner corpus of Arabic, developed a tagset for error-annotation of Arabic learner data, tagged the data for error 1, and performed simple Computer-aided Error Analysis (CEA)

Annotating an Arabic Learner Corpus for Error

This paper describes an ongoing project in which we are collecting a learner corpus of Arabic, developing a tagset for error annotation and performing Computer-aided Error Analysis (CEA) on the data. We adapted the French Interlanguage Database FRIDA tagset (Granger, 2003a) to the data. We chose FRIDA in order to follow a known standard and to see whether the changes needed to move from a French to an Arabic tagset would give us a measure of the distance between the two languages with respect to learner difficulty. The current collection of texts, which is constantly growing, contains intermediate and advanced-level student writings. We describe the need for such corpora, the learner data we have collected and the tagset we have developed. We also describe the error frequency distribution of both proficiency levels and the ongoing work

The cultural component of the Arabic summer program at Middlebury College: fufillment of students' needs and expectations

textThis study investigates the students’ cultural needs and expectations of the Middlebury College Arabic Program during the summer of 2002. It also examines how the program, through its provision of a wide array of cultural activities, curricular and cocurricular, fulfills those needs and expectations. One hundred eighteen students and 22 teachers took part in the study, and a bi-methodical, quantitative and qualitative, approach was used to collect and analyze data. The findings of the study indicated that social etiquette, role of religion, diglossic situation and politics top the list of the students’ needs and expectations. Also, the study showed that there was a little variance across all levels in terms of their cultural needs and expectations. The study revealed that the Arabic School does a satisfactory job in fulfilling students' cultural needs. However, it also showed that more planning, reevaluating of the activities and teacher training need to be done to achieve a higher rate of satisfaction and fulfillment. The study concludes by providing some recommendations that are peculiar to the study setting itself as well as the field of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language in United States. It also includes a set of areas where further research is needed and the limitations of the study.Foreign Language Educatio

Heritage and Non-Heritage Language Learners in Arabic Classrooms: Inter and Intra-group Beliefs, Attitudes and Perceptions

This study examines how Arabic heritage language learners (HLLs) and non-heritage language learners (non-HLLs) perceive each other, and the class dynamics in a combined classroom setting. Two groups of HLLs and non-HLLs completed a separate questionnaire and answered follow-up open-ended questions. The results show that learners do not feel strongly about mixing or separation, but they also acknowledge that just as there are disadvantages to combining, there are advantages as well. While instructors need to capitalize on the advantages to create a more engaging and more successful teaching environment for both groups, they also need to be aware of the disadvantages in order to counteract them. The study also shows that the particular diglossic situation of Arabic seems to have impacted students’ perceptions and attitudes. The implications and recommendations of the study are quite relevant to schools similar to where the study was conducted. The study makes it possible for the voices of HLLs and non-HLLs to reach educators and administrators and empower them in their research processes to inform the teaching of heritage languages

ARIDA: An Arabic Inter-Language Database and Its Applications: A Pilot Study

This paper describes a pilot study in which we collected a small learner corpus of Arabic, developed a tagset for error annotation and performed simple Computer-aided Error Analysis (CEA) on the data. For this study, we adapted the French Interlanguage Database (FRIDA) (Granger, 2003a) tagset to the data. We chose FRIDA in order to keep our tagging in line with a known standard. The paper describes the need for learner corpora, the learner data we have collected, the tagset we have developed, its advantages and disadvantages, the preliminary CEA results, other potential applications of the error-annotated corpus of Arabic, and the error frequency distribution of both proficiency levels as well as our ongoing work