Prospectus

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Reading Modern Arabic Texts

Course
2021-2022

Admission requirements

This course is only open to students in the Arabic track who – upon written request – were granted access by the Board of Examiners to the Shadow Programme.

All preceding Arabic language acquisition courses from the first semester: Arabic Literature, Research Analysis through Arabic Sources and dialect or equivalent knowledge of MSA.

Description

This lower intermediate level course aims at introducing students to spoken and written texts from different genres such as literature, religion, art, economics, politics, etc.
All the required Arabic texts will be posted on Brightspace.

Course objectives

This course is proficiency-driven. It aims at raising students’ proficiency within the intermediate level.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Read Arabic texts in their original language with the aid of a dictionary.

  • Identify the structure of an article, main ideas, and supporting details of short texts written in Modern Standard Arabic.

  • Identify and appreciate cultural constructs and practices underlying a given text.

  • Analyze, summarize, and evaluate short texts (1-6 pages or 5 – 15 minutes spoken).

  • Give a presentation with factual information based on written or spoken materials.

  • Write short text (1 – 3 pages) of factual information on familiar topics.

Timetable

The timetables are available through My Timetable.

Mode of instruction

Seminar.

Attendance and active participation are obligatory for seminars. Students are required to prepare for and attend all sessions. The convener(s) need to be informed without delay of any classes missed for a good reason (i.e. due to unforeseen circumstances such as illness, family issues, problems with residence permits, the Dutch railways in winter, etc.). In these cases it is up to the discretion of the convener(s) of the course whether or not the missed class will have to be made up with an extra assignment. The maximum of such absences during a semester is two. Being absent without notification and/or more than two times can result in exclusion from the term end exams and a failing grade for the course.

Assessment method

Partial Assessment Weighing
Presentations 10%
Classroom participation 15%
Midterm 20%
Homework 25%
Final Exam 30%

The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average.

Resit

There is only a resit for the final exam (30%).

Exam review

If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will be organized.

Reading list

  • Weekly reading texts on Brightspace.

Reference:

  • Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Registration

Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in [English])http://hum.leiden.edu/students/study-administration/usis-english.html) and Dutch

Contact

Remarks