Arabic Online

Online Arabic Program is a vital online program and a turning point in the history of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers. The program is a new learning model offered by the Saudi Electronic University to teach the Arabic language. I may go as far as to suggest that the program makes learning Arabic as a foreign language readily available anywhere, anytime, the world over.

Because of a program of such nature, the beauty of the Arabic language may be experienced around the globe.

Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Mosa - Rector of Saudi Electronic University

Preliminary

The Arabic language has played a major role in preserving human culture. Now spoken in 22 countries by 422 million people it has long been a major influence on humanity. It is also a universal language used by more than one and a half billion Muslims around the world, and one of the six languages of the United Nations, celebrated by UNESCO each year.

1. There has been an increasing demand from speakers of other languages for learning Arabic for various purposes.

2. There is now an urgent need, in today’s world, for cultural and civilizational communication between Arabs and other peoples around the globe.

3. At the present time, there is a lack of a comprehensive and integrated online program in the field of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers that can offer an advanced educational curriculum with placement and standardized tests.

The Saudi Electronic University has taken an important step to meet the demands above by teaching Arabic to non-native speakers, adopting an advanced approach and program by implementing the Arabic-Online.net initiative, a pioneering initiative of e-learning of Arabic at both a regional and global level.

Mission: Provide quality education for non-native speakers of Arabic, meet the latest international standards and best practices in learning and teaching languages, through a pioneering online approach.

Our Objectives

1. Meet the needs of the field of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers by providing a comprehensive and integrated online program, presenting an advanced educational curriculum with placement and standardized tests in the most advanced language teaching format.

2. Meet the increasing demand from speakers of other languages for learning the Arabic language.

3. Present Arabic to non-native speakers in its modern standard and functional form, focusing on everyday usage.

4. Present an integrated, interactive and modern e-learning of Arabic to speakers of other languages.

Teaching Levels

The teaching levels of this program are based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The course, therefore, presents, in an integrated module-based format, the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), and the main components of language (sounds, vocabulary, and structures). The program also takes into consideration linguistic, communicative, and cultural proficiencies of learners by gradually presenting the material based on learners' proficiency levels. The program combines virtual and self-learning formats.

The point of departure for Arabic-Online.net is the placement test, where learners would determine what level of classes they should take. The program usually starts with the phonemic awareness component. This stage presents Arabic sounds (the full inventory of Arabic sounds and their articulation is given), Arabic letters and their various graphemic variants. The program is comprised of 16 levels, and achievement tests are indexed to the end of each of 6 stages.

Learners completing the program requirements are offered a certificate of Arabic proficiency for non-native speakers certified by Saudi Electronic University.