Arabic Language and Literature

Creative Writing

Lecturer: Dr. Kawthar Jabir Kassoum

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course provides students with a broad theoretical overview of creative writing and an opportunity to write in various genres, including poetry, short fiction, memoirs, autobiographical pieces, and letters. The students will get a chance to write for pleasure, presentation and persuasion, narration, and literary publication. They will learn in a group workshop, enabling a fruitful and enjoyable learning experience.

Final grade components: final exam 60%, creative writing portfolio 40%.

Written Expression in Arabic

Lecturer: Dr. Kawthar Jabir Kassoum

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course provides students with knowledge regarding textual genres and their characteristics (literary, scientific, theoretical text, etc.) and develops their ability to express themselves in writing using diverse styles. The course aims to develop students’ ability to distinguish between literary and functional writing and introduce them to methods for creating meaningful textual continuity.

Final grade components: writing assignments 30%, final exam 70%.

Introduction to Children’s Literature

Lecturer: Dr. Kawthar Jabir Kassoum

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course provides basic knowledge of children’s literature as a new, established, and recognized genre. As part of the course, students will be exposed to some of the main works in international and Arabic children’s literature and will learn the main genres in children’s literature. The course will allow them to acquire tools for quality analysis of literary works according to various literary genres and phenomena.

Final grade components: classroom presentation 30%, final exam 70%.

Children’s Literature Seminar

Lecturer: Dr. Kawthar Jabir Kassoum

Course type: Seminar, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The seminar expands students’ familiarity with diverse topics from children’s literature for early childhood, teaches them the rules for writing a seminar paper, introduces them to research in the field of children’s literature, and enables them to experiment with scientific writing.

Final grade components: classroom presentation 20%, seminar paper 80%.

Modern Arab Fiction

Lecturer: Dr. Kawthar Jabir Kassoum

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course deals with the connection between the non-literary social-political reality and the development of the fiction genre. As part of the course, students will develop their ability to discuss selected texts from the content, stylistic, and linguistic aspects and various literary techniques. They will acquire skills and tools for analyzing multiple texts in modern Arabic fiction.

Final grade components: classroom presentation 30%, final exam 70%.

Local Arab Literature

Lecturer: Dr. Kawthar Jabir Kassoum

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course discusses Arabic literature’s historical and formal development in Israel from the mid-20th century. Students will get to know leading authors and poets in Palestinian literature and their outstanding works. They will be exposed to selected texts representing four categories: poetry, short stories, drama, and the novel.

Final grade components: classroom presentation 30%, final exam 70%.

Contemporary  Poetry

Lecturer: Dr. Kawthar Jabir Kassoum

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course is designed to impart knowledge regarding various types and categories of contemporary  Arabic poetry. Students will be exposed to selected texts from contemporary Arabic poetry. They will develop their skills in reading poetic texts, according to literary schools and according to techniques of content and formal analysis.

Final grade components: classroom presentation 30%, final exam 70%.

Oral Expression in Arabic

Lecturer: Dr. Johaina Khatib, Dr. Nasim Assadi

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course aims to expose the students to the different kinds of oral expression and to provide them with knowledge about the characteristics of each type.

The course aims to enrich the linguistic wealth of the students and impart new concepts and ideas that will strengthen their expression and pronunciation skills. As part of the course, students will practice writing arguments and proofs and learn to create a correlation between the ideas they wish to express and how to present them clearly and in an orderly manner.

Final grade components: assignments 30%, final exam 70%.

The Arab Novel

Lecturer: Dr. Fuad Azzam, Dr. Nasim Assadi

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course aims to identify the novel as a literary genre that is independent and separate from other types of prose, such as the short story and the novella, and to learn about the genre’s development in different periods. It will provide students with the skill of reading and analyzing a novel and expose them to novels by various authors.

Final grade components: two tests 20%, final paper 20%, exam 60%.

Basic Skills in Middle Arabic

Lecturer: Ms. Asmahan Muqtarin, Dr. Nasim Assadi, Dr. Hanan Musa, Ms. Bayan Amara 

Course type: Lecture + exercise, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to deepen and perfect the students’ ability to use correct writing in the Arabic language, notice common errors, acquire linguistic knowledge, internalize the pronouns and expressions acquired in the language, raise the level of linguistic knowledge and the variety of skills in the Arabic language.

Final grade components: ongoing assignments 40%, final exam 60%.

Arabic Grammar A

Lecturer: Dr. Murad Musa, Dr. Jamal Shalataa 

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course deals with the basics of Arabic syntax. Its goal is to bring the students to understand the development of the grammatical terms relevant to components such as verbal subject, grammatical subject for the passive verb, nominal subject and predicate, and grammatical subject of auxiliary verbs – at the sentence level and the whole paragraph level. The course will include frontal instruction and distance learning. It will consist of lectures, independent reading, using digital tools, and submitting assignments and short tests using the digital tool Ed Puzzle.

Final grade components: assignments and tests 40%, final exam 60%.

Arabic Grammar B

Lecturer: Dr. Murad Musa

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

A follow-up course to the “Arabic Grammar A” course that deals with the basics of Arabic syntax, both on the normative level (normative grammar) and on the creative level (generative grammar), mainly in sentence elements that receive an accusative case and a genitive case. The course is based on diversity in teaching methods, and the main topics will be given in frontal instruction and Zoom lectures. The exercises will be carried out in a distance learning framework through exercises that promote and enrich the practical aspect of the language.

Final grade components: assignments 30%, final exam 70%.

Reading Comprehension A

Lecturer: Dr. Eman Kashkosh

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

Reading comprehension is the ability to extract meaning from texts and to relate them to other texts. Accordingly, the course deals with current theoretical models of understanding texts while emphasizing the relationship between linguistic and thinking skills and pragmatism. The course is designed, among other things, to introduce students to innovative strategies in the teaching, learning, and assessment processes of the Arabic language, and experience their application; expose them to digital tools and their integration in these processes; and cultivate their creative and critical thinking. The course is based on a mixed model that combines face-to-face and online learning and will use diverse teaching and learning methods such as flipped classroom, active learning, personal learning, research learning, collaborative learning, and peer learning.

Final grade components: exam 15%, four assignments 85%. Attendance is required in at least 80% of the lectures.

Reading Comprehension B

Lecturer: Dr. Eman Kashkosh

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course deals with literary theories and complex theoretical models for analyzing and understanding texts, emphasizing the modernist mechanisms integrated into them. The course exposes students to different approaches to reading; introduces them to cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies that promote reading comprehension processes; provides them with high-order thinking skills in analyzing and understanding the linguistic discourse; and exposes them to diverse digital tools and ways of integrating them into teaching, learning and evaluation processes of the Arabic language. The course combines face-to-face learning based on lectures and active learning (discussion management, group work, cooperative work, etc.).

Final grade components: classroom presentation and assignment 30%, exam 70%. Attendance is required in at least 80% of the lectures.

Folk Literature

Lecturer: Dr. Eman Kashkosh

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the meaning, definitions, importance, and characteristics of folk literature, as well as the difference between it and formal literature; expose them to the various genres of folk literature and provide them with tools for its analysis, interpretation, and understanding; expose them to sources and studies that have researched specific phenomena in each genre; and instill in them positive folk values. The course presents various genres of folk literature (proverbs, folk poetry, folk tales, etc.). It refers to their characteristics while simultaneously reading sources and articles that researched specific phenomena in each genre. It also offers an analysis of various folk texts, with a particular observation of the cultural and stylistic phenomena and their structural and stylistic characteristics.

Final grade components: three assignments 70%, exam 30%. There is a mandatory attendance of at least 80% of the lectures.

Studies in the Works of Al-Jahiz

Lecturer: Dr. Eman Kashkosh

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 2 weekly-hour

The course focuses on the character of Al-Jahiz – the man and the author. As part of the course, students will be exposed to the various works of Al-Jahiz, among others, “Kitāb al-Bayan wa al-Tabyīn”, “Kitāb al-Ḥayawān“, “ Kitāb al-Bukhalā’”, “Adab al-Rasāil”, “Al-Bursān and Al-’Urjān and Al-Ḥulān“ and will discuss the influence of Aristotle’s philosophy on his writings. 

Among other things, the course aims to improve students’ informed reading abilities of Al-Jahiz’s texts from the Middle Ages; to provide them with a variety of tools and skills for literary, historical, and cultural analysis of his works, using sources and research literature; to give them knowledge in the field of creative philosophical writing in the Mu’tazila school that stood out in the Middle Ages; to introduce them to the Arab society in the Middle Ages for an in-depth reading of the works of Al-Jahiz, as well as his religious ideology and how it is reflected in his literary and philosophical essays; and to provide them with essential knowledge in the field of the Mu’tazila philosophy, which was the first school to develop religious awareness in an intellectual-thought-philosophical manner. The course will combine face-to-face learning based on lectures and active learning (discussion management, group work, cooperative work, etc.).

Final grade components: classroom presentation and assignment 30%, exam 70%. Attendance is required in at least 80% of the lectures.

Preparation for the Arabic Language Proficiency Exam

Lecturer: Dr. Eman Kashkosh

Course type: Lecture + exercise, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course gradually and systematically provides students with the skills and material required to take the Arabic language proficiency exam. The exam is held annually by the Ministry of Education and is divided into three main parts: reading comprehension, linguistic knowledge, and written expression. During the course, particular emphasis will be placed on difficulties and problems discovered in the students’ work. Among other things, the goals of the course are to cultivate prior knowledge, linguistic knowledge, reading skills, lexical knowledge, and knowledge of genres; develop reading skills in the four dimensions of text understanding; acquire tools in the fields of linguistic knowledge: grammar, morphology, spelling, semantics, punctuation; improve written expression; and acquire higher order thinking strategies. The course will combine face-to-face learning based on lectures and active learning (discussion management, group work, cooperative work, etc.).

Final grade components: assignment submission 20%, exam 80%. Attendance is required in at least 80% of the lectures.

The Quran and Islamic Culture

Lecturer: Dr. Jamal Shalataa, Dr. Rida Igbariyeh

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour 

The purpose of the course is to provide students with basic knowledge about the Quran and Islam and to develop their ability to read and understand texts from the Quran with the help of commentary books. The course will improve their knowledge on various topics, such as the attitude of Islam toward man in society and the rules of behavior in Islam, and recognize the contribution of this literature to the development of the Arabic language.

Final grade components: classroom presentations 40%, final exam 60%.

Drama 

Lecturer: Dr. Johaina Khatib

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour 

The course introduces students to the concept of dramatic taste, teaches them how to judge the dramatic work aesthetically, and allows them to have aesthetic and artistic experiences by identifying the most critical technical components in the art of dramatic theater. It offers an introduction to the genre’s characteristics, an analysis of the relationships between different texts, and exposure to local and Arab theatrical models.

Final grade components: final paper 50%, ongoing assignments 50%.

The Literature of the Sects

Lecturer: Dr. Johaina Khatib

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour 

The course deals with the literature of Islamic, political and sectarian sects in the ancient era. That is the literature of the parties that emerged at the beginning of the Islamic caliphates period, which assumed the monopoly of Muslim rule and based their legitimacy on a religious foundation derived mainly from the Holy Quran (the Kharijite party and the Shia party, as well as the Adab Al-Firaq party, in the first and second centuries of the Hijri calendar).

Final grade components: paper 50%, ongoing assignments 50%.

Classical Poetry

Lecturer: Dr. Rida Igbariyeh

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour 

The course explores the types of classical Arabic poetry – praise (Al-Madh), satire (Al-Hijaa), love (Al-GHazal), lament (Al-Rithaa), description (Al-Tuzaf), the hunt (Al-Tradiyyat), wisdom (Al-Hikmah) and more. It serves as an introduction to classical poetry, observing it as a mirror from which life is reflected and as an authentic source from which the qualities of life can be drawn in all areas. Among other things, the course will offer explanations and analysis of each type of poetry in the different periods; present the differences in vocabulary, style, rhetoric, language, and the uniqueness of the period; and point out what can be learned from the different types of poetry and applied in social life, in the economy and interpersonal communication.

Final grade components: final exam 80%, attendance and participation 20%.

Classical Arab Fiction

Lecturer: Dr. Rida Igbariyeh

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour 

The course is designed to impart basic knowledge about the development of the story, starting from the Al-Jahiliyyah period until the Abbasid period, as well as the skill to analyze classical literary works in general and fiction in particular. Students will get to know the elements of the classical story and witness its beauty; be exposed to customs and mentality; discuss the influence of the classical story on the modern story and compare their elements; and be introduced to the types of classical stories (folk, lyrical, the stories at the beginning of Islam, the Quran story and the words of the prophet – al-Hadith, and in the Abbasid period especially the legendary “ Al-Maqamat” stories including stories in the language of animals such as the stories of “Kalila and Dimna“).

Final grade components: exercises 20%, lecture 30%, exam 50%.

Selected Texts from Maqāmāt Literature 

Lecturer: Dr. Rida Igbariyeh

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour 

The course deals with the analysis of the different stages in the development of “Maqāmāt” literature, from the period of Ibn Duraid until modern history, in the al-Yāzijī’s Maqāmāt, in addition to the founder of the genre Al-Hamadhani, followed by Al-Harīrī, Al-Zamakhshari, Al-Suyuti and others. The course reflects the daily life of society during the Abbasid period. It offers a historical, social, political, and economic analysis of the language content and rhetoric in four “Maqāmāt“.

Final grade components: exam 80%, attendance and participation 20%.

Spelling and Writing Principles

Lecturer: Dr. Rida Igbariyeh

Course type: Lecture, Semester, 1 weekly-hour 

Calligraphy is a fundamental and essential matter for every teacher since students copy what the teachers write on the board into their notebooks and naturally try to imitate the original. Therefore, it is essential that the teacher’s writing be consistent with the agreed-upon principles. As part of the course, students will learn to write in perfect writing all the letters of the Arabic language, from the first letter ” As part of the course, students will learn to write all the letters of the Arabic language in a beautiful and clear script, from the first letter “Hamza” to the last letter “Ya”, in all their different forms and positions.

Final grade components: exam 80%, attendance and participation 20%.

Phonology and Shapes

Lecturer: Dr. Rida Igbariyeh, Mr. Mahmud Wakid

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour 

The course will deepen and expand on the field of phonology and shapes in the Arabic language, both in verbs and in nouns, and will deal with common problems in the field. It is designed to establish students’ knowledge regarding the verb and its derivatives; morphological changes in names and verbs; the relationship between I’rāb, the verb form, and phonetic transcription; different word formation patterns of names and verbs; identifying word structure and meaning (morphological analysis of a sentence and text) and more. By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze nominal forms in classical Arabic (root, word formation pattern, group, declension, relation) and reconstruct the development of words in classical Arabic from their basic forms (Sound changes).

Final grade components: exam 80%, attendance and participation 20%.

The History of Arabic Literature

Lecturer: Dr. Fuad Azzam

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course aims to expose students to the history of classical and modern Arabic literature and to familiarize them with social and political life and its influence on classical and contemporary literature. Poets and writers who impacted the development of literature, religious and political factions, and prominent historical events that influenced Arab literature will be presented. 

Final grade components: exam 100%.

Literature in the Arab Press

Lecturer: Prof. Mustafa Kabha

Course type: Lecture, Annual, 2 weekly-hour

The course aims to present the literary press in Arab newspapers during the Renaissance period, spanning from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of World War II. The course introduces the phenomenon of Arabic literary journalism and the most important doctrines of theoretical terms related to journalism and literature. Journalistic literary texts will be analyzed according to their historical, social, and cultural contexts.

Final grade components: classroom presentation 20%, final paper 80%.