Beyond the Classroom Walls: A Scoping Review of Immersive Strategies for Teaching Arabic Culture
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study is situated within the context of contemporary foreign language education wherein cultural understanding is considered integral to linguistic proficiency, particularly in the diverse field of Arabic pedagogy. Still, despite the prevalent use of out-of-class activities, few studies have explored the full range of these strategies systematically. The current study fills a gap by providing a comprehensive overview of the evidence supporting these methods. The main objective of this study is to identify, categorize, and document the extracurricular strategies used for teaching Arabic culture to non-native speakers. The research design involved a five-stage scoping review following the Arksey and O'Malley framework. Data were collected through a systematic search of electronic databases (including Google Scholar, Scopus, and Dar Al-Mandumah) using keywords in both English and Arabic, resulting in a final dataset of 35 relevant scholarly sources out of 1,250 previous studies. The data were analysed using thematic analysis to chart, collate, and identify recurring strategies and themes across the literature. The analysis uncovered five dominant extracurricular strategies: (1) homestays, (2) language partner programs, (3) structured field trips, (4) community-based service-learning, and (5) cultural clubs and media workshops. Key results pinpoint a profound scarcity of rigorous empirical research, an absence of comparative studies, and a strong geographical bias in the literature toward Egypt and Morocco. This research provides evidence of a growing consensus on what strategies are used at the expense of their relative effectiveness. With this in mind, the study urges future research to conduct more empirical, comparative, and geographically diverse studies, deploying reliable and validated tools to measure cultural competence and cultural sensitivity.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
References
Adaskou, K., D. Britten, and B. Fahsi. 1990. “Design Decisions on the Cultural Content of a Secondary English Course for Morocco.” ELT Journal 44 (1): 3–10.
Al-Batal, Mahmoud. 2007. “Arabic and the New Technologies: The Case of the Arabic-Speaking World.” In Language and Technology, edited by D. M. Chun, 235–59. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Al-Issa, A. 2005. “The Role of English in the Omani Educational System.” Journal of Language and Learning 3 (2): 224–45.
Allen, H. W. 2007. “A Study of the Development of Intercultural Sensitivity among College Students During a Semester-Long Study Abroad Program in Morocco.” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 15 (1): 19–35.
Annette, J. 2002. “Service-Learning in an International Context.” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 8 (1): 59–79.
Brewer, E. C., and K. Cunningham, eds. 2009. Integrating Study Abroad into the Curriculum: Theory and Practice across the Disciplines. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Bringle, Robert G., and Julie A. Hatcher. 2009. “Innovative Practices in Service-Learning and Civic Engagement.” In Institutionalizing Community Engagement in Higher Education, edited by L. R. Sandmann, C. H. Thornton, and A. J. Jaeger, 25–36. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Byram, Michael. 1997. Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Deardorff, Darla K. 2006. “Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Internationalization.” Journal of Studies in International Education 10 (3): 241–66.
Dwyer, Mary M. 2004. “More Is Better: The Impact of Study Abroad Program Duration.” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 10 (1): 151–63.
Engle, L., and J. Engle. 2003. “Study Abroad Levels: Toward a Classification of Program Types.” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 9 (1): 1–20.
Fisher, L., and M. Evans. 2000. “The School Exchange Visit: Effects on Attitudes and Proficiency in Language.” Language Learning Journal 21 (1): 15–20.
Geist, M. 2011. “The Value of Peer-to-Peer Interactions in the Study Abroad Context: A Case Study of a Language Partner Program in Morocco.” L2 Journal 3 (1): 1–22.
Gordon, D., and A. Akkari. 2011. “Rethinking Study Abroad Programs for American Students in the Arab World Post 9/11.” Comparative and International Education Review 40 (2): 175–92.
Hass, G. 2012. “The Effects of a Short-Term Study Abroad Program on the Development of Intercultural Competence among Students of Arabic.” Foreign Language Annals 45 (1): 6–27.
Husseinali, G. 2006. “Who Is a ‘Native Speaker’ of Arabic? A Critical Look at the Proficiency Construct.” Al-Arabiyya 39: 13–28.
Hymes, Dell H. 1972. “On Communicative Competence.” In Sociolinguistics: Selected Readings, edited by J. B. Pride and J. Holmes, 269–93. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
Kasper, G., and K. R. Rose. 2002. Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Knight, J., and B. Schmidt-Rinehart. 2010. “The Role of the Homestay in the Study Abroad Experience: A Case Study from Costa Rica.” Hispania 93 (1): 107–22.
Kolb, David A. 1984. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Kramsch, Claire. 1993. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krashen, Stephen D. 1985. The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. London: Longman.
Paige, R. Michael, T. A. Harvey, and K. S. McCleary. 2012. “The Confluence of Study Abroad, Intercultural Competence, and Language Learning.” In Social and Cultural Aspects of Language Learning in Study Abroad, edited by B. L. Leaver and D. E. Davidson, 23–44. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Pellegrino, V. A. 1998. “Student Perspectives on Language Learning in a Study Abroad Context.” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 4 (2): 91–120.
Ryding, Karin C. 2013. Teaching and Learning Arabic as a Foreign Language: A Guide for Teachers. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Shaheen, Jack G. 2012. Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press.
Swedenburg, Ted. 2006. “Egyptian Popular Music and the Nation.” In Arabic Music and Its Encounters with the West, edited by M. D. Sawaie, 111–31. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Tonkin, Humphrey, ed. 2011. Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: A Sourcebook. New York: Routledge.
Trentman, E. 2013. “Imagined Communities and Language Learning During Study Abroad in Cairo, Egypt.” Foreign Language Annals 46 (4): 545–64.
Trentman, E. 2021. “Arabic Study Abroad.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, edited by E. Al-Wer and U. Horesh, 92–111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108348552.007.
Vande Berg, M., J. Connor-Linton, and R. M. Paige. 2009. “The Georgetown Consortium Study: Intervening in Student Learning Abroad.” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad 18 (1): 1–75.
Werry, M. 2008. “Service-Learning and the Culture of Travel in Cairo.” Journal of Experiential Education 31 (1): 93–111.
Wilkinson, S. 1998. “Study Abroad from the Participants' Perspective: A Challenge to Common Beliefs.” Foreign Language Annals 31 (1): 23–39.
Younes, Munther. 2015. “Teaching Arabic through Film and Television.” In The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, edited by K. C. Ryding and D. M. Wilmsen, 523–38. New York: Routledge.
Zemni, B. 2014. “The Challenge of Teaching Culture in the Arabic Language Classroom: A Case Study in Tunisia.” PhD diss., University of Manouba.