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Welcome to the Arabic Program at Texas Tech University

 مرحبا بكم في قسم العربية في جامعة تكساس تاك

أهلا و سهلا

Welcome to the Arabic program at Texas Tech University. You will find a variety of information regarding our academic programs, resources and current events outlined on this webpage. Should you have any questions, please feel free to visit our page or send us an email to the Arabic program coordinator at amani.zaier@ttu.edu or the senior advisor liz.hildebrand@ttu.edu

 

Arabic Language & Area Studies

The Arabic language is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world. Around 200,000,000 people speak it as their primary language in more than twenty two countries, from Morocco to Iraq, and as far south as Somalia and the Sudan. It is the language of Quran, the Holy book of Islam. The Arabic language originated in Saudi Arabia in pre-Islamic times, and spread rapidly across the Middle East. An adapted form of Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, is used in books, newspapers, on television and radio, in mosques, and in educated conversation. Written Arabic is distinctive in its script which is read from right to left, top to bottom: Arabic is written in the 28-character Arabic alphabet. In Arabic, a character may change depending on its placement in the word or sentence. Arabic letters are connected like script. Fine writing is called calligraphy and is held in high regard and appreciated as an art form in the Arabic culture.

The Arabic Language has been designated by the U.S. State Department as a critical language whose study is of strategic importance. Arabic is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

 

Arabic Language at Texas Tech University

TTU began offering Arabic language courses in Fall 2002. In Fall 2003, under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. State Department's Strategic Languages Initiative administered through the International Educational Exchange, a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant was added to the Arabic instructional staff. Today we continue to host one or more Arabic FLTAs from various countries each semester.

Arabic language training at TTU is a part of a comprehensive program in Arabic Studies offering coursework in formal and spoken Arabic at all stages of proficiency at the undergraduate level. ARAB 1501 is open to anyone with no background in Arabic who wishes to learn the language.

All students who have not previously taken Arabic classes at TTU, but who have some knowledge of Arabic, however acquired, must take a placement test before registering for Arab 1502. The test includes listening, reading, writing, and an oral interview with the test proctor. Contact the Arabic coordinator, Dr. Amani Zaier to reserve a place at the placement test. The test is given during the week before classes begin.

Arabic language training consists of three years of core language-centered coursework that aims to build skills in reading, listening, speaking, writing, and culture. These courses (ARAB 1501, 1502, 2301, 2302, 3305 and 4300) offer a proficiency-based curriculum using “Arabic for Life” and “Ahlan Wa Sahlan” series, which exposes students to both formal and spoken Arabic from the beginning, and focuses on developing learning and comprehension strategies in addition to the active acquisition of vocabulary and structure.  In addition, students can register for the conversation class. This conversation course has  ARAB 2302 as prerequisite and it can be taken up to 4 times with different dialects and content.

Students are expected to reach Intermediate Low to Mid proficiency by the end of the first year, Intermediate Mid to High by the end of the second, and Advanced proficiency by the end of the third year.

Why Study Arabic?