MSA300 Advanced Modern Standard Arabic

Prerequisites

• MSA200, or
• proof of completion of equivalent level, and/or
• through placement test

Course Description

This course builds on the skills acquired on Intermediate level course and develops further the Arabic language skills to an advanced level. Focus is on more sophisticated vocabulary and complex grammatical structure required for both advanced reading and writing.

The themes are also more abstract and are drawn from various cultural and academic areas: literature, sociology, anthropology, etc.

Course Objectives

On completion of this course the students will be able to:

• understand texts of general interest with minimal use of dictionary,
• use context and grammar to identify the form of guess the meaning of unfamiliar words,
• start and sustain discussion on topics of general interest,
• present information in formal language,
• understand the main points in media products be they written or spoken,
• write opinion essays about topics covered in class,
• speak and write with more well-formed sentences,
• identify and read a variety of styles in Arabic : fromal/informal, legal/journalistic etc,
• do basic research in a variety of fields,
• have a deeper appreciation of aspects of Moroccan and Arabic culture in general,
• identify major literary and culture Arab figures.

Course Materials

• the textbook used is Al Kitab Part 2 (Units 2-10) and Al Kitab Part 3 (Units 1-4),
• other materials prepared by IIHEM Arabic faculty.