Using language corpora in developing Arabic lessons & syllabuses Dr Rasha Soliman Teaching Fellow in Arabic Language Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies University of Leeds Arabic Teacher Development and Networking Day 11th of July 2016

Overview Fields of linguistic research Corpus linguistics in Arabic language teaching Examples and discussions Available tools for Arabic teaching Ways they can help Challenges Questions

Fields of linguistic research Traditional Linguistics Corpus Linguistics Sociolinguistics Psycholinguistics Historical Linguistics 4 5 3 1 2

What is the use of corpus linguistics in Arabic teaching? The searchable language corpora can provide non-biased answers to many questions that we – the teachers – and our students may have.

Try to answer the following questions based on your own experience and intuition Write down 10 words that you think are the most frequently used words in MSA. Which noun case ending is most frequently used in MSA? Is it المرفوع , المنصوب or المجرور? Which is the correct plural of مشكلة? Is it مشاكل or مشكلات? Which is more commonly used in MSA; المصدر or أن المصدرية + الفعل المضارع. Example أريد السفر or أريد أن أسافر? What are the most frequently used adjectives in: English, in MSA and in the Quran? What are the most frequently used subject pronouns in English, in MSA and in the Quran? What are the nouns that tend to come after the following verbs: أبْدى - أتاح - حَقَّق - عَقَدَ ? In the use of إذا in conditional sentences, can it be followed by present verb or past verb .e.g إذا أذهب or إذا ذَهَبْتُ Can the adjectives describing objects (non-human) be in the feminine singular or feminine plural forms? E.g. هذه الأيام باردة or هذه الأيام باردات ?

Arabic corpora Quranic - http://corpus.quran.com/ Dilworth Parkinson’s: http://arabicorpus.byu.edu/search.php Frequency dictionary: Buckwalter, T., & Parkinson, D. B. (2011). A frequency dictionary of Arabic : core vocabulary for learners. London: Routledge. Arabic Learner Corpus http://www.arabiclearnercorpus.com/ The English profile http://www.englishprofile.org/

Answers to the questions from corpora Write down 10 words that you think are the most frequently used words in MSA. و في مِن على أنَّ إلى كانَ لا الله أنْ From: Buckwalter, T., & Parkinson, D. B. (2011). A frequency dictionary of Arabic : core vocabulary for learners. London: Routledge.

Answers to the questions from corpora 2. Which noun case ending is most frequently used in MSA? Is it المرفوع , المنصوب or المجرور? المجرور

Answers to the questions from corpora 3. Which is the correct plural of مشكلة? Is it مشاكل or مشكلات? Both are used but مشاكل is more common

Answers to the questions from corpora 4. Which is more commonly used in MSA; المصدر or أن المصدرية + الفعل المضارع. Example أريد السفر or أريد أن أسافر? أن المصدرية

Answers to the questions from corpora 5. What are the most frequently used adjectives in English, in MSA and in the Quran? English From the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) MSA From the frequency dictionary Quran http://corpus.quran.com/lemmas.jsp?page=2 Other آخر رحيم New عربيّ عظيم Good كثير عليم High جديد حكيم Old كبير دنيا Great أمريكيّ أليم

Answers to the questions from corpora 6. What are the most frequently used subject pronouns in English, in MSA and in the Quran? English From the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) MSA From the frequency dictionary Quran http://corpus.quran.com/lemmas.jsp?page=2 It هو هم I أنا You هي أنتم He أنتَ نحن They We

Answers to the questions from corpora 7. What are the nouns that tend to come after the following verbs: أبْدى - أتاح - حَقَّق - عَقَدَ ? اهتماماً – استعداداً – رغبة – إعجاباً - ارتياحاً أبدى الفرصة – المجال – خدمات - إمكانية أتاح نجاحاً – نتائج – تقدماً – ربحاً – هدفاً حقَّق مقارنة – العزم – قران - اتفاقاً عقد http://arabicorpus.byu.edu/search.php

Answers to the questions from corpora 8. In the use of إذا in conditional sentences, can it be followed by present verb or past verb .e.g إذا أذهب or إذا ذَهَبْتُ In MSA, it’s followed by past verbs. In the Quran, both forms are found

Answers to the questions from corpora 9. Can the adjectives describing objects (non-human) be in the feminine singular or feminine plural forms? E.g. هذه الأيام باردة or هذه الأيام باردات ? In MSA, it’s singular. In the Quran, both forms are found.

Ways in which corpora can help us design lessons and syllabuses Teaching language for specific purposes i.e. Media, Quran, Business. etc. Selecting more frequently used words first Finding collocations and their contexts Designing glossaries and dictionaries Compare between languages and between varieties of the same language Better understand how the language is really used We can even make our own corpora i.e. children stories, language used in textbooks…

challenges Some require paid subscription Slow processing Technical issues Linguistic issues Language change

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