Asmaa Taha Teaching Arabic in a Communicative Approach I believe that teaching Arabic using the communicative approach because

I believe that this is one of the most important issues in teaching Arabic nowadays. In this essay, I will discuss the advantages of using the communicative approach in teaching a foreign language, the problems of the non-communicative books for second language learners and I will conclude by explaining an Arabic communicative lesson that I designed for speakers of Arabic as a second language.

First of all, let me start by defining the communicative approach in teaching languages. It is an approach to foreign or second language which emphasis that the goal of language learning is communicative competence. Therefore, the ultimate goal of CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) is communicative competence. Communication can be divided into two categories; input (which includes reading and listening skills) and output (which includes speaking and writing skills).

There are four main stages in CLT. In the first stage, the teacher gives a short presentation of a grammar or vocabulary point. The teacher then gives students opportunity to practise the point in a controlled exercise. In the second stage, the students carry out the controlled exercise while the teacher monitors and intervenes where appropriate. In the third stage, the student are asked to take part in an activity designed to get them to produce the vocabulary and grammar they have been taught. The teacher monitors and notes errors and interesting points. The teacher intervenes only when asked or when absolutely necessary. In the fourth stage, which is also called feedback stage, the teacher comments on the errors he/she noted during the activity. Finally, CLT should be fun for both teacher and students.

Asmaa Taha The Advantages of Teaching Arabic Communicatively: 1) The communicative approach can be used along with other teaching techniques such as TPR (Total Physical Response). TPR is an approach by which students can learn a language primarily as commands, which learners respond to physically. Mixing the two approaches together means learning language with fun and with interaction rather than passive listening or lecturing style and makes a balanced learning atmosphere. That will to create an atmosphere allows learners to acquire comprehension of new vocabulary and structures quickly and easily. 2) The communicative approach is useful for different learning styles: kinesthetic, auditory and visual. The reason behind that is that the communicative approach includes different activities e.g. pictures, audio or video or games and mingling activities that are suitable for different types of learners. 3) The communicative approach is suitable for all learners regardless of their age. Some teaching approaches might not be suitable for senior (elderly) learners, but the communicative approach can be used for all learners and they all enjoy it. I have been teaching for four years now using the communicative approach along with some other approaches and it has proved to be a very successful way of teaching.

4) It reduces pressure and stress because the learners work with pairs or groups and they feel relaxed doing. During most classroom activities the teacher will monitor and intervene only when necessary. Students can make mistakes and learn from their mistakes through peer correction and constructive feedback from the instructor at the end of the activity.

Asmaa Taha 5) Communication involves the integration of different language skills. By the end of the course, the students master all the language skills, listening, reading, writing and speaking. That is very essential because other teaching methods would only focus on writing or reading. 6) The learners are independent and autonomous because this teaching technique is a student centred rather than teacher centred. The selfdiscovery approach focuses on the students interests and figuring out things themselves rather than just receiving information passively or listening to lectures. 7) The communicative approach increases the students motivation because it uses authentic and meaningful interaction in the classroom activities (e.g. role plays or daily life situations. As a result, students highly motivated to learn the target language using the skills that they need in their real life. 8) CLT gives equal importance to both the spoken language and the accuracy of the production. However, the fluency sometimes is more important than accuracy.

Problems of the Non-communicative Books of Second Language Learners In this section, I will discuss the most common and popular problem in books which are available nowadays in teaching Arabic to non-native speakers in America. Firstly, many Arabic books do not focus on the learners or communication at all. For that reason, it is more likely that we end up having learners unable to communicate even after studying Arabic for two or three levels or even if they have studied two entire books. Why does this happen? Most of the books are designed in the grammar translation approach in which the focus is only on grammar or translation, so the learners will know a lot of vocabulary and grammatical rules, but they cant really use them accurately or fluently.

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In my opinion, the (second language learners) L2 learners should speak more than they listen or read. The focus in non-communicative is on pronouncing individual words or individual sounds rather than focusing on words and chunks and using them in a real context. So it is more beneficial if we teach Arabic communicatively paying attention to the use of the language, the communication, words and phrases in contexts rather than isolation, and pair and group activities like role plays.

Secondly, many books also dont focus on the Arabic culture and some books reflect the American culture rather than the culture of the language being taught. It is well known that when people learn a new language, they learn its culture with it. We need to concentrate on the culture being taught to give L2 learners a chance to be familarised with people, their way of living and their culture in depth. For example, we would talk about the most famous places in Cairo or Beirut rather than New York or Denver. Then the students can compare the differences and the similarities between the Arabic and the American cultures, for example. Thirdly, Arabic books should include a reference for the grammar and for the function (i.e. speaking activities). Having a simplified grammar resource would save time and would encourage the students autonomy. That would also be a very important resource for teaching grammar as a self discovery approach rather than teaching grammar. For example, students can read several examples about a grammar rule in Arabic and then they can discover the rule by answering guiding questions then answering fill in the gaps questions to make sure that all the students understand the rule. At last, they can speak together in pairs or in groups to use the learned structure. That is an indirect, self-explanatory and independent way of presenting grammar rather than explaining grammar. Finally, Arabic books should include teachers guide books which include sample lesson plans and interactive and communicative games and activities. Having a teachers guide is necessary for all teachers whether experienced or less experienced so they can understand the aim and the goal of the class activities as well as the whole lesson. So the explanation of the following lesson I designed in a lesson planning form.

Asmaa Taha The lesson plan of My Arabic Lesson Plan Using the Communicative Approach The title of this lesson is Tourism in Egypt. I designed this lesson for intermediate students. The main aim of this lesson is that the students will be independently able to read a text and understand and deal with a reading text regardless of the new vocabulary that might be in that text. By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to use to guess meaning of new or unknown words using clues and using the context. They will also be able to differentiate between different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adverbs or adjectives). Exchanging information and improving speaking skills are the subsidiary aims of this lesson.

This lesson integrates all the language skills as it has reading, speaking, writing and listening activities. The students will get a chance to read a text and analyse it and do some speaking activities at the same time. At the end of the lesson and as a follow-up activity, they write a letter related to the discussed topic. As for the listening skill, it will be during the whole lesson done through the speaking skills and listening to peers and the teacher.

This lesson is suitable for different learning styles; it is good for auditory learners as they will listen to their teachers instruction and feedback and their peers as well. It is good for visual learners as it includes pictures and different guiding formats such as highlighting, underlining and in a readable style. It also suitable for kinesthetic learners because they carry out some physical activities and exercises during the lesson. At last, it is also useful for reading and writing preference learners as they can read and write their notes during the lesson. The best example is exercise 11 in the lesson (which will be shown later) where they are asked to write their notes about a speaking activity before starting the activity so they can be ready and prepared to talk and initiate communication.

Asmaa Taha Time 10 minutes warm-up exercises (1 and 2) Stage / Procedure Students will match the four pictures of the places in Egypt with their names. To do this activity, students will have a sheet including the names of the four places and they should move around the classs wall to do the matching activity. Students will be listening to an Arabic song during the matching exercise. Then the students will check answers in pairs and finally the teacher will give oral feedback to the class. The students will talk in pairs about the famous or tourist places in New York city and then they will talk about any tourist or famous city in any Arab countries that they might be aware of. Aim The aim of this exercise is to warm up the students and get them familarised with an Arab country.

10 minutes

The aim of this exercise is to activate the students Speaking activity schemata about the lessons topic and think exercises (3) about their own country and other Arab countries. 5 minutes The students will skim the text to do the The aim of this exercise is matching activity where they will match the to enable the students to Reading to skim paragraphs with their headings. The students will use one of the most the text have the 5 paragraphs as cut-ups along with the important reading skills head titles and then they will match. The teacher which is to skim the texts to exercise (4 and 5) will give written feedback of the text as a whole get to know what the text is with the headings matched with their about. paragraphs. 20 minutes The students will scan the text looking for The aim of this exercise is underlined words and figuring out their parts of to enable the students to reading to scan the speech from the context whether it is a noun, scan a text, find the text verb or an adjective. The teacher will model the required information first underlined word to give the students an depending on the text's example to use the text as a clue. Students will clues even if some words exercise (6 and 7) work individually to do the task then they will might be new to them. check their answers in pairs. At the end of the activity, the teacher will give feedback to the students on the board where the teacher will highlight clues from the text.

20 minutes Reading for details exercise (8, 9 and 10)

20 minutes guessing the meaning from the context exercise (11, 12 and 13)

10 minutes Speaking activity Exercise (14) 10 minutes Speaking activity Exercise (15) 10 minutes Speaking activity Exercise (15)

Asmaa Taha The students will choose the meaning of the new words underlining words and phrases in the texts that enable them to do the matching exercise. Students will work individually to do the task then they will check their answers in pairs. At the end of the activity, the teacher will give feedback to the students by nominating some students to answer the question giving opportunity to students to correct each other. At the end, the teacher will drill the new vocabulary with the students in pairs and in groups focusing on difficult sounds for the learners. The students will read again looking for highlighted words and figuring out their parts of speech from the context whether it is a noun, verb or an adjective. Students will work in pairs and then the teacher will give a checking sheet as a written form of feedback. At the end, the teacher will drill the new vocabulary with the students in pairs and in groups so the learners can be confident about the new vocabulary. The students will talk about the most famous places in America. The will use the learned vocabulary for the task and two students can model the activity for the whole class. The students will write some notes about the places that they have visited whether inside or outside Egypt. Then they will talk about these places and their experiences there. The students will write a letter to one of their friends about a famous place in Egypt and then invite him/her to visit this place. This activity can be homework as well.

The aim of this exercise is to enable the students to read for details and to analyse the text's, find the required information depending on the texts clues. It also aims to do some work on pronouncing the new words.

The aim of this exercise is to enable the students to scan a text, find the required information depending on the text's clues even if some words might be new to them. It also aims to do some work on pronouncing the new words. The aim of this exercise is to enable the students to use the new vocabulary in a real context about their own culture. The aim of this exercise is to enable the students to communicate talking about previous travelling experience.

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