A new comprehensive approach to teaching Arabic reading and writing skills to heritage students at the intermediate and advanced levels

From Reading to Writing, Volume 1 is a content- and task-based textbook for students of Arabic as a heritage language at the intermediate and advanced levels, aimed at developing learners' basic language skills, especially reading and writing. Although heritage learners can often communicate in colloquial Arabic through exposure to the spoken language at home or in their country of residence, they equally as often face fundamental problems in reading and writing, as well as in speaking Modern Standard Arabic. Through authentic texts, carefully chosen to represent the lived realities of the language, supported by a range of tasks, this book seeks to develop heritage learners' communication skills to meet the practical requirements of university study and the modern-day workplace. The topics covered also offer intellectually stimulating content to learners while connecting them in a meaningful way to Arab culture and society.

The authors developed the course content with their students for over a decade and have designed the tasks in this book with the notion that language acquisition is not just a set of rules but an interactive process that depends on performing different tasks in multiple contexts. The tasks include prereading and intensive reading activities; comprehension questions; writing, listening, and grammar exercises; and vocabulary building, as well as higher-order questions designed to promote critical thinking skills. The majority of the writing and listening tasks focus on group work to encourage students to collaborate and engage in the learning process.

From Reading to Writing, Volume 1 is also suitable for foreign-language learners of Arabic at the intermediate and advanced levels and native Arabic speakers enrolled at Arab universities.

A new comprehensive approach to teaching Arabic reading and writing skills to heritage students at the intermediate and advanced levels

About the Author

Abbas Al-Tonsi was senior lecturer and director of the Arabic Language Program at Georgetown University Qatar from 2007 to 2019, where he founded the Arabic Language and Culture for Heritage Learners program in 2008. He is author or co-author of several books, including the Al-Kitaab fii Ta'allum al-'Arabiyya series (1995-2001), Kalaam Gamiil: An Intensive Course in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic, vols. 1 and 2 (AUC Press, 2010 and 2013); and Umm al-Dunya: Advanced Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (AUC Press, 2013).

Mahmoud Al-Ashiri is professor in Arabic at Georgetown University Qatar and a specialist in Arabic language acquisition and literary criticism. He planned, supervised, and participated in authoring Arabic language learning books for the Ministry of Education in Qatar for Grades 1 to 10 (2018-2019). He is the author or co-author of several books, including most recently al-'Arabiya min ajl al-kafa'a (Arabic for Proficiency, 2022).

Reviews

"This textbook includes a plethora of thought-provoking and intellectually engaging texts that will appeal to both students and teachers. The authors have made a beautiful job of designing a variety of vocabulary-building activities and they present grammar in a way that is easy to digest. A unique textbook that caters to Arabic heritage learning in a variety of educational contexts." -Laila Familiar, NYU Abu Dhabi

"Three attributes come to mind for this book: comprehensive, well-designed, and timely. For quite some time, Arabic teachers have complained about the lack of instructional materials suited to the growing number of Arabic heritage learners, whose mastery of the standard language (fusha) is incomplete. This book does an excellent job filling that gap."-Munther A. Younes, Cornell University

"From Reading to Writing is a much-needed book for teaching and learning Arabic and can be used as a coursebook or as a valuable supplementary resource for any B1+, B2, C1, or C2 content-based syllabus. It aims at enriching students' vocabulary and deepening their knowledge and understanding of Arab culture, while developing their critical-thinking strategies. This book offers both students and teachers a wide range of exercises that teachers can customize to suit their schedule and students' interests and learning styles."-Iman Soliman, The American University in Cairo

Book Information
ISBN 9781649032737
Author Abbas Al-Tonsi
Format Paperback
Page Count 418
Imprint American University in Cairo Press
Publisher American University in Cairo Press