Arabic

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An understanding of the linguistic and cultural aspects of the
native Arabic speaker learning English
Moharram, Nagia Eltorai, M.A.
Texas Womans University, 1992
Copyright 1993 by Moharram, Nagia Eltorai. All rights reserved.
UMI
3(H) N. Zeeb Rd.
Ann Arbor, Ml 48106
AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL
ASPECTS OF THE NATIVE ARABIC SPEAKER
LEARNING ENGLISH
A THESIS
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE
TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
BY
NAGIA ELTORAI MOHARRAM
DENTON, TEXAS
AUGUST 1992
TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY
DENTON, TEXAS
April 27, 1992
To the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research:
I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Nagia Eltorai
Moharram entitled "An Understanding of the Linguistic and
Cultural Aspects of the Native Arabic Speaker Learning
English." I have examined the final copy of this thesis for
form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Arts, with a major in English.
Turner Kobler, Major Professor
We have read this thesis and
recQitfmehd its acceptance:
Department Chairperson
Dean of College
Accepted
ean for Graduate Studies and Dean
Research
Copyright c Nagia Eltorai Moharram, 1992
All rights reserved
DEDICATION
To my grandparents,
Teta Nagiya and Giddi Mahmoud
and Teta Zenab (Katakeet) and Daddy Mahmoud
for giving me my Arabic heritage,
and to my parents,
Papa and Mama,
for giving me the opportunity to become an Arab-American.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
So many teachers, friends, and relatives have given me
much support and guidance in writing this thesis and
completing my master's degree. Special thanks to my thesis
committee chair, Dr. Kobler, for her advice, time, and
patience. Thanks to the other two committee members,
Dr. Webb and Dr. Longoria, for their openness toward the
thesis topic. Thanks also to Dr. Cowart for having
suggested this thesis topic. Much gratitude goes to my
fellow graduate students at Texas Woman's University, some
of whom did not only become mentors and sources of
inspiration, but also good friends. I also appreciate the
help of Gaye Childress of the Intensive English Language
Institute at the University of North Texas.
Much gratitude is sent to my immediate and my extended
family, all of whom supported me and motivated me. I cannot
begin to thank my parents and husband enough. As always my
mother has been a source of guidance and reference. My
father's pride in and devotion to my education will always
be appreciated. My husband's unwavering support as a
sounding board tor my thoughts and a constant source of
encouragement will always be cherished.
v
Above all, I thank God for giving me such supportive
friends and relations and for giving me analytical and
creative thought and a means for its expression.
vi
ABSTRACT
An Understanding of the Linguistic and Cultural Aspects of
the Native Arabic Speaker Learning English
Nagia Eltorai Moharram
August 1992
This thesis investigates some contemporary research on
the problems that native Arabic speakers have in learning
English. The research is based on a number of books and
articles on Arabic linguistics and culture (Chapters I-III
and V) as well as original research specifically regarding
culture (Chapter IV). Personal experiences of the Arab-
American researcher are also included. The differences
between Arabic and English discussed fall within the
following categories: phonetics, orthography, syntax,
semantics, and culture.
While this thesis is not meant as a comprehensive
study of the native Arabic speaker (especially in the area
of culture, which is not yet widely understood), it should
help EFL (English as a Foreign Language) instructors better
understand their Arab students and avoid making mistakes
based on stereotypes. This thesis may also be used for
self-awareness for the Arab student trying to live within
American culture.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION...................................................iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................ V
ABSTRACT....................................................vii
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION .......................................... 1
Who, What, Where ................................... 1
Two Types of Diglossia.............................. 2
II. LINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF ARABIC ........................ 6
Phonetics ......................................... 6
Orthography, Number System, and Punctuation . . . 10
Spelling............................................ 13
S y n t a x .............................................. 16
Semantics........................................... 28
III. ARABIC CULTURE........................................ 35
The Need for a Cultural Understanding.............35
Language............................................ 38
Personal and Social Relationships ................. 44
Education........................................... 54
Sense of T i m e .......................................56
I s l a m ............................................... 63
IV. TOWARDS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING .................... 72
Western:Eastern::Modern:Traditional::
Liberal:Conservative? .......................... 72
The S u r v e y .......................................... 82
V. CONCLUSION........................................... 110
NOTES
Chapter I .................................................113
Chapter I I ............................................... 118
Chapter I I I .............................................. 127
Chapter I V ............................................... 135
viii
Chapter V ................................................ 140
WORKS C I T E D ................................................ 148
ix
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Who, What, Where
Arabic is a Semitic language (a subfamily of the
Semito-Hamitic, or Afro-Asiatic, family of languages), whose
family of languages includes Assyrian, Amharic (Ethiopian),
Aramaic, and Hebrew (The American Heritage Dictionary
1976 ed.; Nydell 99; Smith 142). Arabic has 150 million
speakers, ranking it the fourth most widely spoken language
in the world (tied with the 150 million speakers of Bengali,
a modern Indie language) (Nydell 99).1 Arabic is the first
language in the following countries: Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain,
Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Irag, Syria,
Lebanon, and Jordan. It is also the first language of the
Palestinian Arabs living in Israel and the occupied
territories.
In addition, because Arabic is the language of the
O u r 1 an. the holy book of Islam, all Muslims (followers of
Islam), of whatever nationality, have a knowledge of Arabic.
Therefore, one must also note that, just as not all Arabs
are Muslims, not all Muslims are Arab. The non-Arab
countries which have a significant Muslim population
1
2
include northern China, the southern portion of the former
Soviet Union, Turkey, Mongolia, Iran2, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philipines,
Senegal, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Kenya, Somalia, Gambia, Comoros, Bangladesh, Albania, Ivory
Coast, Israel, and India (Smith 142; AMIDEAST 11, 26).3
Two Types of Arabic Diglossia
In the countries where Arabic is the first language two
main types of Arabic exist: Classical and colloquial.
Classical Arabic, also known as Literary or Modern Standard
Arabic, is the universal, pan-Arabic. It is the formal
language taught in schools and used by the mass media and
all official communication (Smith 142). Modern Standard
Arabic (MSA) is the direct descendant of pre-Islamic Arabian
poetry, the Arabic of the Our1 an. and the Arabic of the
Golden Age's classical literature. MSA differs from its
predecessors primarily in its vocabulary and style (Abboud
and McCarus v).
As opposed to MSA, colloquial, or dialectal, Arabic
differs from one Arabic country to another. These dialects
are used for more informal situations (Abboud and McCarus
v ) . Because each version of colloquial is not taught
through formal education, and yet each version is the
language each country's children acquire before they enter
3
school, Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic (TP and TR) consider
that each country's variation of colloquial Arabic is each
country's first language (609). Consequently, they consider
MSA as a second language because it is only learned through
formal instruction (610).
The differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and
grammar that exist between Classical Arabic and colloquial
Arabic may be large or small depending on the various
dialects. An Arabic speaker will not separate the two
Arabics; instead the speaker will mix them according to the
occasion and degree of formality required. Thus, for a non-
Arab to learn Arabic, both the Classical and any one of the
colloquial dialects must be mastered (Abboud and McCarus v).
The concept of two types of Arabic may be difficult to
grasp for those who do not know Arabic; however, there are
various analogies among diaLects of English speaking
countries. Although Smith remarks that the dialects differ
more greatly from Arab country to Arab country than the
dialectal differences of English between the U.K., the U.S.,
and Australia (142), the dialect of an Australian may not be
readily understood by an American from the Deep South and
vice versa.
In addition to national dialects, regional dialects
also exist within Arab countries. As Clark, Eschholz, and
4
Rosa (461) and Abboud and McCarus (v) point out, dialects
may differ within a country due to variations in region and
social factors. For example, within the U.S., an American
who speaks Black English may not be easily understood by an
American who uses the New England dialect and vice versa; or
an American from the Appalachians may not easily understand
an American from New York and vice versa.
From personal experience this researcher has found a
noticeable difference, within the Egyptian national dialect,
between the regional dialect of Cairo and the regional
dialect of Alexandria. One difference between the Cairo
dialect and the Alexandria dialect is in vocabulary. While
the Cairene might say /bltmattar/, meaning "it is raining,"
V .
the Alexandrian might say /bltlsti/. Another difference
between the two Egyptian dialects is in pronunciation. The
Cairene often uses the low-front vowel /aC/ where the
Alexandrian uses the low-back vowel /a/. For example, the
Cairene might say / meaning "forest" while the
Alexandrian might say /^aba/ .
Nydell divides Arabic dialects into five geographical
categories: North African (Western Arabic),
Egyptian/Sudanese, Levantine, Arabian Peninsular, and
Iraqi.4 Nydell also explains that the North African, Iraqi,
and some Gulf dialects are the most difficult for other
5
Arabs to understand (114-115).
Differences in vocabulary are greater than grammatical
differences among the various dialects. Differences in
vocabulary are generally in simple words, phrases, and
greetings; technical and erudite words usually do not
differ. An example of slight differences in vocabulary: "a
sheet of paper" in Egyptian dialect is /wde / , in
Saudi dialect it is /waraga/, and in Moroccan it is
/w ^ rk 9C. / . An example of a great difference in
vocabulary: "How are you?" in Lebanese is /kif9fi.k?/, in
y
Egyptian / Izzej k?/, in Iraqi /slon^fck?/, and in Tunisian
/snljjfce. hw%e.lLk?/ (Nydell 115).5
As a result of Classical Arabic and its colloquial
dialects, according to Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic, it
may be possible to distinguish errors in writing English as
a result of Classical Arabic interference, while errors in
speaking English may be dependent on which colloquial Arabic
is spoken. However, no research has been done t.o prove this
point (610). Therefore, because research has primarily
focused on the interference of Classical Arabic on the
learning ol English and because Classical Arabic is the
basis for all various dialects the rest of this paper will
concentrate primarily on Classical Arabic with only a few
comments on a particular dialect if applicable.
CHAPTER II
LINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF ARABIC
Phonetics
According to Smith, Arabic (combining both Classical
and colloquial) has six vowels and 32 consonants. The
vowels of Arabic are / i /, /5e/, /*u/, /I/, /Be./, and /U/.1
The most common vowel problems the native Arab speaker has
in learning English (American English) are the interchange
of /I/ and / ^ /, e.g., "sit" interchanged with "set"; /e/
and /o/ not pronounced long and hence confused with / / and
/a/, e.g., "raid" may be replaced by "red" and "hope" may be
replaced by "hop" (Smith 143).2
Smith also designates a few aspects of Arabic which may
cause an "Arabic accent" in English: 1) "a dull staccato
'jabber' effect" that arises from more stressed syllables
but fewer clearly articulated vowels than the less
"energetic articulation" of English; 2) "breaking up the
natural catenation of English" due to the placement of
glottal stops in front of initial vowels common to Arabic;
3) when an English word is spelled with silent consonants
and the written form is known, the silent consonants may
still be pronounced by the Arab learner, e.g., /klajmbld/
v
pronounced tor "climbed" and /farljln/ for "foreign"
6
7
due to the invariably phonemic Arabic spelling system (143,
145) .
The nineteen Arabic consonants that correspond to
American English consonants are /s/, /m/, /b/, /z/, /n/,
/f/, /s/, /l/, IQ/, / % / , /c/, /Y/, / j /, /t/, /k/, /w/, /h/,
/g/, and /d/.3 Smith lists several features of Arabic
consonants that do not exist in English or may cause
difficulties for the Arab learning English (144). The first
of these features is the glottal stop phoneme, / p/ , that
exists in Arabic but does not exist in standard English
(Cockney English does have a glottal stop in the middle of
some words, such as /bS>fl/ for "bottle"). Abboud and
McCarus describe the glottal stop as "the catch in the
throat" in the middle of the English expression "uh-oh!"
(40). Another feature Smith presents shows the effect of
various dialects of Arabic; there is only one letter which
Y
represents the "/g/-/j/ area," yet it is pronounced as /g/
by some speakers, especially those in Egypt, /k/ by other
speakers who do not have the /g/ phoneme in their dialect,
V
also as /z/, especially in North Africa and the Levant, and
Y
/j/, basically in the rest of the Arab world (Smith 144;
Abboud et al. 37). Thus, the English "g" and "j" may be
pronounced in a variety of different ways depending on the
Arabic speaker's dialect.
8
V
The phoneme /c/ is not found in many dialects, but it
V
does occur in all dialects in junctures of /t/ and /s/.
Arabic speakers tend to pronounce the English "h" harshly
because, although there exists the voiceless glottal
fricative /h/ that coincides with the English /h/, there is
a more common voiceless pharyngeal fricative /TT/ that has
the sound of "clearing the throat" (Ayyad 3). The Arabic
/r/ is either a voiced flap or trill, as in the Spanish
"caro" (meaning "dear") and "carro" (meaning "cart")
respectively (Abboud and McCarus 20; Fromkin and Rodman 45).
The voiced flap "r" is often omitted in many American
English dialects and is always omitted in prestigious
British English. An American New Englander will say "park
the car" as "pak the caa" where no "r" is heard. The "'r'
deletion rule" in some American English dialects is that /r/
should be deleted unless it precedes a vowel (Fromkin and
Rodman 45, 264). Thus, because of the differences of the
/r/ sound between English and Arabic, many Arabic speakers
may "over pronounce" the "r" in English (Smith 144).
Because some consonants exist in English and not in
Arabic, some English minimal pairs become allophones.
Arabic does not contain /p/ but does contain /b/, so the
English /p/ and /b/ become allophonic, confused, and
sometimes used randomly; Smith's example of random use of
these allophones is "I baid ten bence for a bicture of Pig
Pen" for "I paid ten pence for a picture of Big Ben" (144).
Arabic also does not contain the English /v/ but does
contain /f/, so they too become allophonic with the tendency
to pronounce both as /f/ (Smith 144).
Both the / O / anc* / / occur in literary Arabic;
however, many dialects pronounce the / & / as /t/ and the
/*% / as /d/ or /z/. (There is also a more emphatic Arabic
/ ^ / that may also be pronounced as a more emphatic /z/.u)

Thus, the same change in pronunciation of the English / ^ /
and /-^j / may occur. The final comment Smith makes with
regard to differences in individual consonants between
Arabic and English is that the phoneme /rj/ is pronounced as
/ng/ or /nk/ by Arabic speakers, possibly because /ij/ does
not exist in Arabic (144).
With regard to consonant clusters, Smith writes that
there are far less in Arabic than in English. Initial two-
segment clusters that occur in English but not in Arabic are
"pr," "pi," "gr," "gl," "thr," "thw," and "sp." No initial
three-segment clusters occur in Arabic, so none of the
following English initial three segment clusters occur:
"spr," "skr," "str," or "spl." (The above mentioned
clusters that occur in English with the letter "p" in them
will cause additional difficulty for the Arab learner since
10
no "p" exists in the Arabic alphabet.) Arabic also contains
very few final consonant clusters and does not share any of
the 78 final three-segment clusters and fourteen final four-
segment clusters of English. Because of the lack of the
English clusters in Arabic, Arab learners will tend to
insert short vowels between the consonant segments to aid
them in pronunciation. For example, the words "price" and
"spring," the Arab learner may say /p^rajs/ or /plrajs/ and
/Isprlrj/ or /slprliy, respectively. For English words with
final clusters, the Arab learner may say /9C.rrenjld/ for
"arranged," /m/\nIz/ for "months," and /n^klst/ for
"next." Such pronunciation problems will probably carry
over into English spelling as well (Smith 144-145).5
Orthography, Number System, and Punctuation
Unlike the Roman writing system of English, the Arabic
script is written from right to left, contains twenty eight
letters, and has no upper and lower case distinctions among
the letters (Smith 146; Nydell 118). While Arabic letters
are created by a series of strokes rather than a continuous
flow (TP and TR 610), it is a cursive writing system; i.e.,
the isolated forms of letters are not usually juxtaposed to
form words, rather most letters are attached within words,
and each letter may have up to four different shapes
depending on its position in a word (TP and TR 610). Some
11
letters can be connected to letters that precede them but
not to letters that follow them within a word to avoid
confusion among different letters. Many of the characters
differ only by dots above or below them.
Consonants and long vowels are represented by letters
while diacritical marks above or below letters show short
vowels, double consonants, and other aspects of
pronunciation. Diacritical marks are left out in most
printed and handwritten texts, but do occur in the O ur1 an to
assure its correct reading and in children's texts for
learning purposes. Otherwise, partly because of the
predictability of vowel patterns, literate Arabs know where
diacritical marks would normally occur, so their inclusion
is often redundant (Nydell 118). While handwriting and
printing in Arabic do not differ as much as they do in
English script (Abboud and McCarus 3), handwritten text may
differ slightly from printed texts in that its letters tend
to "flow," or have fewer angles, than printed texts.
Some ol the typical problems a native-Arabic speaker
might encounter in learning English may depend on adapting
to a new alphabet and reading and writing in a different
direction. The Arab learner may not be as guick and
proficient as his EFL classmate whose native language uses
Roman letters, especially in skimming, scanning, dictation,
12
and note-taking, which require speed in reading and writing
(TP and TR 610-611). Also, the Arab learner may confuse
letters with "mirror" images, e.g., "p" and "q" and "d" and
"b." Switching letters in the middle of words during
reading and writing due to eye movements from right to left
is another common problem among Arab EFL students. For
example, "form" may be read or written as "from" and vice
versa; also, "twon" may replace "town" (Smith 146).
Smith also suggests that some Arab learners may either
be inadequately trained in the formation of letters, or they
may develop their own idiosyncratic system which may lead to
malformation ol individual letters. Such malformation is
common in the formation or omission of capital letters
(because they do not exist in Arabic), the cursive linking
of almost any letters, and the malformation of the letters
"o," "a," "t," "d," and "g" (146). Many advanced Arab EFL
students also continue to print in English rather than write
in cursive script (Smith 146).
While the English numerical system, known as "Arabic
numerals," adopted the Arabic number system to replace the
Roman numeral system, not all the symbols used for English
numerals are used by Arabs. The English numerical system
adopted the following from the Arabic number system: one
symbol for the numbers 0 to 9 inclusive and adding new place
13
values for 10's, 100's, etc.6 Interestingly, unlike Arabic
script, Arabic number symbols used in Arabic are written
from left to right like those of English (Nydell 119).
Despite the similarities between the number systems, reading
and pronouncing English numbers are still difficult for the
Arab learner (Smith 147).!
Arabic punctuation is similar to that of English, yet,
of course, the symbols are reversed because Arabic writing
begins in the opposite direction of English writing.
Periods and commas are used more often than in English;
sentences may begin with "And" or "So," while within
sentences there may also be many "ands" and commas (Smith
147) .
Spelling
Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic cite some studies which
have found that spelling errors are the most common errors
found in the native-Arabic speaker's English writing (611).
The reasons for the spelling errors cited are primarily
differences in Arabic and English phonemics. Unlike
English, Arabic spelling is simple and primarily phonetic;
hence Arabic speakers try to spell and pronounce words
phonetically. The non-phonetic nature of English spelling
therefore causes the Arab learners to make spelling errors.
One spelling inconsistency occurs with the spelling of
14
weak vowels, e.g. "husbund" for "husband" and "biginner" for
"beginner." These spelling errors may occur due to English
vowel phonemes that are allophonic in Arabic. Also, as
mentioned above, /b/ exists in Arabic but /p/ does not;
thus, /b/ and /p/ are allophones. Errors in spelling may
occur with the replacement of /p/ with /b/, as in "beoble"
for "people," or hypercorrection by using /p/ for both /b/
and /p/, as in "hapit" for "habit" and "compination" for
V
"combination" (TP and TR oil). Also because of the /g //j/
range of pronunciation as mentioned above, some Arabs may
pronounce, e.g., "hamburger" as "hamburjer" and hence
misspell words which involve this range of phonemes, which
to the Arab may be allophones.
Spelling errors may also occur through the principle of
analogy; e.g., "languidge" ("language") may be compared to
"knowledge," "maney" ("many") may be compared to "money,"
and "toled" ("told") may be compared to "liked" (611).
Another inconsistency in English spelling exists in derived
words; e.g., the Arab learner might derive "hight" from
"high" rather than "height" and "speak" may become "speach"
rather than "speech" (TP and TR 611).
Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic also explain that
because of the nature of the Arabic vowel system, the Arab
learner will be inconsistent in representing vowels in
15
written English. Due to the omission of short vowels in
much of Arabic script, it is common for English vowels to be
omitted from entire syllables or words. For example, the
name "Mohammad" is written in Arabic as "mhmd" with
diacritical marks above or below (in this case marks are
above) the letters to create short vowels; however, those
short vowels are rarely included. Hence, the omission of
these short vowels and other diacritical marks and the
Arabic vowel allophones that are phonemes in English, the
transliteration of /raUh96 mra8. d/ into English has a variety
of forms: "Mohammad," "Mohammed," "Mohamed," "Muhamad,"
etc. Other transliterated words with variations include
"Muslim" and "Moslem" and "Qur'an" and "Koran" (612).
Therefore, the Arab learner may transfer the omission
of vowels ot Arabic onto English spelling. Also, the Arab
learner may have spelling problems due to the relatively
complex vowel system ot English which includes eleven or
more (dialect dependent) vowel phonemes, yet has only six
written symbols (including "y") to create the various
sounds. The smaller number ot phonemic vowels in Arabic as
opposed to English cause the Arab learner to have difficulty
distinguishing phonemes as meaningfully distinct. This
difficulty arises because in Arabic those same phonemes may
be allophonic. For example, the distinction made in some
16
English dialects between the back vowels in "boot, "boat,"
and "bought" may not be heard as meaningfully distinct to
the Arab learner. Such lack of listening discrimination may
result in writing, reading, and pronunciation problems as
well (TP and TR 612).
Hence, the English instructor must be aware of the
difficulties the Arab learner may have with English
spelling, especially in differentiating vowels.
Systematizing regularities that exist in English vowel
variations and word derivations--almost eighty-five percent
of all English words have regular spelling (TP and TR 611)
will aid the Arab learner, who is accustomed to the
relatively more regular, phonetically-systematized, Arabic
language (TP and TR 612-613).
Syntax
The "Root and Pattern" System
The Arabic language is based on the "root and pattern"
system, whereby the root is an arrangement of consecutive
consonants. Each consonant of a root is called a radical;
while the majority of roots are made up of three radicals
(triliteral), a few roots may contain either one, two, four,
or five radicals. The root is associated with a particular
meaning related to all the words derived from it (Abboud and
McCarus 227-8). A particular root must be put into fixed
17
vowel patterns to create the particular part of speech, or
syntactic category, of a word. For every part of speech,
there is a fixed vowel pattern that is intermixed with the
radicals of a particular root. Affixes may also be added to
modify the word into a particular part of speech (Nydell
116; Smith 147; TP and TR 613).
Nydell (117) and Smith (147)8 both present
transliterated examples of these roots with fixed vowel
patterns and affixes:
Root /k/-/t/-/b/
/r/-/k/-/b/
/kie.tlb/ An agent doing this
Past tense
Place for this
/r*fc klb/
/ kittle be /
/rife kit b 9L /
/mae kt ae. b/
= "writing"
= "riding"
= "a writer,"
"a clerk"
= "a rider"
= "he wrote"
= "he rode"
= "office,"
"desk"
= "boat"
= "vehicle"
/m ae. r k H b /
/mife. rkfcfi. bife /
Other words which share the root of /k/-/t/-/b/ include
(Nydell 117):
/kltSfeb/ = "book"
/kltafeblfe/ = "writing"
18
/m9. ktB. bCC. / = "library," "bookstore"
/mgg. ktub/ = "written," "a letter"
While there are over 50 patterns, not all forms are
found for each root (Smith 147). Consequently, because
English does not have as systematic a pattern as Arabic,
Arab learners have difficulty in learning the irregular
patterns of English nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Yet the
regularities that do exist in English, such as affixes,
e.g., "-ing," "-able," "un-, " etc., can be quickly learned
by the native Arabic speaker.
Sentences
There are two types of Arabic sentences: equational and
verbal. Equational sentences have a subject, which may be a
noun or pronoun, while the predicate may be either a noun,
pronoun, adjective, adverb, or prepositional phrase. The
Arabic equational sentence corresponds to the English
sentence which uses the verb "to be," or copula, in the
present tense affirmative, and where the predicate
identifies or describes the subject. Examples of
equational sentences include "You are Suzanne" and "George
is from Egypt" (Abboud and McCarus 102-3). However, in
Arabic, there is no surface structure verb for the present
tense affirmative of the copula. Thus, one of the most
common verb errors of the Arab learner is the omission of
19
the English copula, especially in present progressive verb
forms. For example, the Arab student may say, "She doctor,"
"The boy short," or "My friend very happy" (Smith 148; TP
and TR 614-15). In addition, Arabic uses verbs to describe
states of being more often than English. For example,
Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic state that Arabic would more
likely use "he grieves" and "he rages" instead of "he is
unhappy" and "he is angry," respectively (615).
As its name implies, the verbal sentence contains a
verb. As a matter of fact, in its simplest form, the verbal
sentence may contain only one word, the verb itself, with
the subject indicated by the form of the verb (Abboud and
McCarus 157). The Arabic verbal sentence usually places the
verb first, then the subject, and, finally, the object.
However, especially in speech and informal writing, the
subject may precede the verb. The Arab student may transfer
such word order to English; e.g., "Decided the boy yesterday
to play soccer" (Smith 148).
The Verb System
With regard to the Arabic verb system, there are two
aspects, the perfect and imperfect. The perfect describes a
completed action, usually in the past, while the imperfect
denotes an action which has not yet occurred or is not yet
completed, often in the present or future (Abboud and
20
McCarus 263; TP and TR 615). Thus, Arabic is "highly
aspectual" (TP and TR 615). Because these aspects acquire
their meaning from the perspective of the completion or
incompletion of an action as opposed to the time of
completion or incompletion, both aspects can be used to
denote past, present, and future action. To give time
references to verbs, particles and conjugated auxiliary
verbs are used to give modal and temporal meanings which may
not be clear from the context. Another problem that the
Arab learner might encounter is confusing the Arabic
construction of PARTICLE + perfect or imperfect verb with
the English construction of AUXILIARY + participle or MODAL
+ base-form verb. Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic give the
following examples of errors that are common to the Arab
learner "1 didn't went to school" or "She might didn't
understand" (615). (All further references regarding the
Arabic verb system and the next section on Arabic relative
clauses are from the article by Thompson-Panos and Thomas
Ruzic, unless otherwise noted.)
Adjectives derived from verb roots form the progressive
aspect thus forming equational rather than verbal sentences.
An example of an error that may arise from this difference
between the Arabic and English progressive aspect is "Where
you going?" rather than "Where are you going?" The present
21
progressive form of the verb "go" is thus replaced by a
"dynamic adjective" derived from the verb (616).
Native Arabic speakers also have problems with the
sequence of verb tenses throughout adjoining clauses.
Arabic temporal clauses are often in the imperfect present
tense, with the meaning and time of the verb in the
subordinate clause the same as that of the verb in the main
clause. For example, an Arabic sentence might be "The boy
came (perfect) while he carries (imperfect) a frog," where
the imperfect tense describes an action taking place at the
same time as the perfect tense of the main clause. In
English, the above sentence may be in the form of "The boy
came carrying a frog." To clarify the sequence of events,
Arabic may use a particle with the perfect tense in the
subordinate clause: "The girl walked (perfect) to the
classroom while she (particle) talked (perfect) with the
pri ncipal"; in English, the above sentence may be translated
as "The girl walked to the classroom after having talked
with the principal" (616).
Due to the differences of tense usage between Arabic
and English, Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic suggest, that
formation, distribution rules, and usage of English tense
and aspect distinction should be taught to the Arab learner
of English. Special attention should be given to temporal
22
clauses and the progressive and imperfect aspects (617).
Relative Clauses
Native Arabic speakers also have problems with the
formation, although not the use, of English relative
clauses. The Arabic relative clause formation differs from
the English formation in three basic ways. First, instead
of a relative pronoun, Arabic has a relative particle that
links both clauses and is only present when there is a
definite antecedent (e.g., "I saw the girl who she has green
eyes," but "I saw a girl she has green eyes"). Thus, Arabic
interference may cause the relative pronoun to be omitted
when it is the subject ot the clause in the English
sentence.
The second major difference between Arabic and English
relative clause formation is that in Arabic neither the
antecedent clause nor the relative clause is subordinate in
the surface structure. They are both complete independent
sentences, so, unlike the subordinate formation in English,
relative clause formation is coordinate in Arabic (617-18).
Finally, the third aspect of Arabic relative clauses,
which may cause the greatest error of the three aspects
mentioned here, is the "relator" which exists in the Arabic
relative clause. The "relator" is an affix or a second word
that is either the subject or object of the clause and
23
refers to the antecedent. Thus, the interference of Arabic
in English in this case causes a repetition of referents in
English; e.g., "The man who he was tall came" or "This is
the dress which 1 made it." Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic
point out that because the object deletion rule is acquired
later than the subject deletion rule, the object deletion
rule will have to be given more time in the EFL classroom
(618) .
Some suggestions that Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic
give for exercises to teach relative clause formation in the
EFL classroom include: substituting pronouns for nominals
in subordinate clauses; inserting "which," "that," or
"who(m)" to combine clauses and delete the object pronoun;
eliminating the object relative pronoun and object pronoun
from sentences; controlled and minimally controlled sentence
combining to form relative clauses (618).
Prepositions
Errors in English preposition usage arise from the fact
that Arabic prepositions do not directly correspond to their
usage in English translations. As in English, many Arabic
prepositions and particles are fixed with specific verbs and
adjectives. Some of these phrases in direct translations
include: "to arrive to," "a picture from (for "of"),"
"responsible from," "afraid from," "angry on," and "to look
24
to (for "at")" (Smith 152). Smith notes that verbal force
may be carried by some prepositions: "on" gives a sense of
obligation, e.g., "It is on me that I pay"; possession is
expressed by "to" and "tor," e.g., "This book is to me/ for
me" (meaning this book is mine); "with" may express present
possession, e.g., "With me my camera" (meaning "I have my
camera with me"); purpose can be expressed by "for," e.g.,
"I went home for I get my book" (meaning "I went home to get
my book"). Hence, problems with prepositions and particles
are mainly lexical (TP and TR 614).
Articles
Arabic has no indefinite article, or free morpheme
representing indefinitness. Instead it is indicated by
diacritical and morphological marks at the end of words.
These marks, also called nunation, exist as an /n/ sound and
correspond to the English "a" and "an." Nunation occurs
normally when the definite article of Arabic, /3C.1/
corresponding to "the," does not occur (Abboud and McCarus
111). However, nunation is usually not spoken and often not
written; so, bas ica11y , the absence of the definite article
indicates indefinitness. Due to these properties of Arabic
indefinltness, Arab learners will often omit the English
indefinite: "This is coat" or "This coat" (meaning "This is
a coat"). At times the Arab learner may apply the principle
25
of analogy and use the indefinite article in English when no
article is necessary: "These are a trees" or "I want a
rice" (Smith 151).
The Arabic definite article, /^C.1/, is used just as the
English "the," except it is a prefix in Arabic. The most
common error that occurs with the definite article is due to
the difference between the Arabic and the English genitive
(possessive) construction. Whereas examples of English
phrases might be "John's car" or "the teacher's book," the
Arabic phrases would be "car John" or "book the teacher,"
respectively. In an English sentence, Arabic word order and
use of articles in genitive constructions might produce
"This is book the teacher" or "This is key the door" (Smith
9
151). As the examples ot Arabic interference suggest,
native Arabic speakers have trouble learning English
genitive construction.
Also in certain instances when English omits the
article, e.g., "on Thursday," or "for breakfast," Arabic
usually includes the definite article. Hence such errors
may arise: "At the sunset we made camp" or "What would you
like for the breakfast?". The days of the week, some Muslim
months, and many names of towns, cities, and countries are
also accompanied by the definite article in Arabic. Thus,
Arabic interference may produce such sentences: "We live in
26
the India," "We had an apartment in the Khartoum," or "On
the Monday we went to Cardiff" (Smith 151-2). Arabic uses
the definite article with abstract and generic terms, such
as "the freedom," "the education," "The fruit is fresh in
California," "The girls mature faster than the boys," etc..
The English Auxiliary "Do"
In addition to the tour syntactical errors Thompson-
Panos and Thomas-Ruzic mention as the most common among Arab
learners ot English, Smith includes a few more aspects of
Arabic that may cause interference, including the English
auxiliary "do," the active and passive voice, adjectives and
adverbs, and gender and number of nouns.
In Arabic there is no equivalent to the English
auxiliary "do." Where "do" would normally be used in a
question in English, especially when no specific question
word is used, a question is marked by rising intonation in
Arabic: "You like tea?" for "Do you like tea?", or "When
you went to Cairo?" tor "When did you go to Cairo?". (With
regard to questions, in some Arabic dialects, the word for
"where?" is /wen?/, and, due to its similarity to the
English "when?", "when?" may often be confused for "where?")
Omission ot "do" is also evident in negative statements.
The negative in Arabic ( / l i e . / or / mi e/ ) is a particle that
precedes the verb, so word order will remain the same: "He
27
not play tennis" (148).
The Active and Passive Voice
The concepts of active and passive should be easily
understood by the Arab learner because all tenses in Arabic
have both forms. However, the uses and forms of the English
passive may cause problems for the Arab learner for these
reasons: both forms in Arabic differ only in the short
vowelling, or diacritical marks, which is often unwritten
and hence only recognized through context. In addition, the
passive voice is rarely used in Arabic casual speech and is
not used as often in Arabic writing as in English writing
(Smith 150-1).
Adjectives and Adverbs
Arabic adjectives are also used differently than in
English. Arabic nouns are followed by their adjectives,
which agree in number and gender: "She is woman
intelligent" (meaning "She is an intelligent woman.")
Adverbs are used less often in Arabic than in English and do
not have fixed patterns unless they are adverbs of time.
Some adverbs are expressed in phrases: "with speed" instead
of "quickly" and "dangerous way" instead of "dangerously."
The Arab learner has difficulty distinguishing between
English adverbs and adjectives and often overuses the
adjective form: "She drives very dangerous" (Smith 152).
28
Gender and Number
Unlike English, Arabic words have masculine and
feminine genders denoted by their endings. Plurals of non
human objects are in the feminine singular form. The Arab
learner may thus say "All the books you gave me, I gave her
to the teacher." Many Arabic nouns are formed into plurals
through internal vowel changes of the singular forms; e.g.,
as in English "mouse" becoming "mice" in the plural. Thus,
ironically, due to the simplicity of adding an "s" suffix to
most English words for plurality, Arabs will often omit the
suffix altogether: "I have many friend." In addition, the
rule in Arabic is to use the singular form of a noun when
its number exceeds ten; thus, this rule may also be
transferred to English: "I have ten cats, and seventeen
bird" (Smith 152).
Semantics
Cognates
Although a number of English words are borrowed from
Arabic, lu relatively few cognates exist between Arabic and
English, as compared to cognates from European languages in
English. Consequently, the Arab learner will have more
difficulty learning the English lexicon than EFL classmates
whose native languages are European. Some English words,
especially those that are technical, have transferred to
29
Arabic, e.g., "radar," "helicopter," and "television." In
addition, Smith warns that some English words should be
avoided when possible by the EFL instructor because they
sound similar to vulgar words in Arabic: "zip," "zipper,"
"air," "tease," "kiss," "cuss," "nick," and "unique" (153-
4)
Dictionary Use and Vocabulary Building
Besides and despite the lack of shared vocabulary
between English and Arabic, Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic
have observed that Arab students make little use of their
dictionaries (613). One reason for the lack of dictionary
use is the difficulty of using an Arabic dictionary and the
difference between an Arabic dictionary and an English
dictionary. The difficulty in using an Arabic dictionary is
that it is arranged according to the root of a word (see
above for explanation of the Arabic word root) rather than
the individual word itself. To explain the Arabic
dictionary's organization and its difficulty, Thompson-Panos
and Thomas-Ruzic give the example of looking up the English
word "misconceive" under "cept." Thompson-Panos and Thomas
Ruzic thus make some suggestions for the English writing
instructor teaching the Arab learner: to spend more than an
average amount of time on instruction and practice of
English dictionary usage and to exploit the concept of word
30
derivation (e.g., "to criticize," "critic," "criticism,"
"critical," etc.), since it is quite a familiar concept in
Arabic (613) .
Thus, a systematic approach to learning of vocabulary
through knowledge of affixes and derivation will help the
Arab learner learn an entire system of vocabulary rather
than simply trying to memorize seemingly unrelated
individual words. Yet Thompson-Panos and Thomas-Ruzic
caution that despite the Arab learner's knowledge of
derivational words and meanings of affixes, Arabic and
English still differ in their distribution of nouns,
adjectives, and adverbs; hence, errors in word usage will
then occur primarily due to semantic and distributional
differences (614).
Direct and Indirect Lexical Interference
A noteworthy study ot lexical errors of Arab learners
is that of Abaza. As Abaza points out, there exist both
direct interference, due to literal translation, and
indirect interference from the native Arabic language
transposed on to English. In her thesis, Abaza surveyed
1,000 English compositions written by Egyptian college and
secondary school students and found them to have 657 lexical
errors (12). Of those errors, the frequency of error types
differed only slightly 55.7% from direct interference and
31
44.3% indirect interference (31). The two kinds of
interference were subdivided into seven categories.
The two categories of direct interference are "transfer
of nonmetaphoric lexical items," which caused the largest
percentage of errors at 47.7%, and "transfer of metaphors."
As mentioned earlier, these error categories are based on
literal word for word translations from Arabic into English;
an example of direct, or literal, non-metaphoric
transference is "No shoes can enter in his foot." meaning
"No shoes can fit him.11 or "I will travel outside," meaning
"I will travel abroad" (13). Direct metaphoric examples
include: "In the square of medicine, doctors can also serve
their country," where "square" means "field," and "They draw
marks of happiness on their faces." meaning "They look
happy" (15).
The second error type includes the following five
categories. The first category, "direct range of meaning,"
distinguishes pairs of meaning which in the native Arabic
language give a wider range of meaning to a thought than in
English. For example, two pairs of meaning which are
distributed lexically in Arabic different from English are
"tired" and "sick." In Arabic, one word is used to express
both thoughts, /tt^bii.n/, and the distinction of meaning is
made through context. However, in English the distinction
32
is made through two separate words. For example, the Arab
learner of English might say, "He stayed at home for a week
because he was tired," while tired here means "sick" (17).
The second category of errors due to indirect
interference, "different derivational paradigms," occurs
when the student imposes the derivational paradigm of the
native language on the target language. For example, the
triliteral root of "important" and "interested" are the same
in Arabic, /h/-/m/-/m/; hence, the student might say "I am
important in the field of social work," when what is meant
is "I am interested in the field of social work" (21).
"Multiple meaning of words" is the third category of
indirect interference errors. This error occurs when there
are several denotations to a word in the Arabic language and
the denotations are contused and transferred to English.
V
In Arabic, the word /sfcfiLk/ denotes "pricked" as well as
"doubted." The Arab learner might then confuse the
denotations and transfer them to English to produce, e.g.,
"I doubted my finger with a needle," where "doubted" is
confused with "pricked" (24).
The difference in "idiomatic use" between the native
language and the target language is the fourth category of
indirect interference error type. An example of this error
category is "On the other side, many people prefer the
33
country," where on the "on the other side" means "on the
other hand." In addition to the above mentioned idioms,
Abaza mentions the idiomatic nature of "compound verbs," or
"verbs followed by prepositions or adverbs," that differ in
English (26) .
Finally, the last category of indirect interference is
that of "difference in meaning resulting from affixation."
Abaza explains that the use of affixes for derivational
purposes differs between Arabic and English. Arabic words
which have similar roots but different affixes usually have
related meanings; e.g., /slnaf a/ means "industry" and
/slna^i/ means "industrial." However, in English, although
words may have similar roots, if they have different
affixes, they may have completely unrelated meanings; e.g.,
"industrial" and " industrious" or "improve" and "reprove"
(28). Thus, the Arab learner might use the wrong affix
although the correct "root" is used: "He is an industrial
and hard working student" or "Every country needs to reprove
its standard of living" (29).
Abaza notes that direct interference is much more
easily detected than indirect interference, because the
student is translating directly from Arabic into English.
However, to detect indirect interference, the English
instructor will have to be aware of "misconceived
34
associations" between the native language and the target
language (33). Such an awareness can truly only come by
knowing the native lanyuuge of EFL students which is not an
easy task for the English instructor with a mixture of
students from a variety of language backgrounds.
Abaza mentions that vocabulary memorization is a common
method ot study in Egyptian schools, so students often
misuse words not learned in context (34). Therefore, Abaza
suggests that students must be taught the use of words along
with their meanings (3J). Many of the students in her study
often imposed Arabic syntax on English vocabulary. Abaza's
assessment of the pedagogical implications of her study is
that the "[Arab] students must be taught how to 'think' in
English when expressing themselves in English. This can
only be achieved by teaching vocabulary in context" (36).
Finally, Abaza concludes, contrastive linguistics,
making students "aware" ot the reasons for their errors, can
only help improve rather than hinder students' acquisition
of English (38). Hence, Abaza's concluding remarks
justify the presentation ot the above mentioned Arabic
linguistics and the following presentation of Arabic culture
to aid the English instructor better understand and guide
the native Arabic speaker in learning the English language.
CHAPTER III
ARABIC CULTURE
The Need for a Cultural Understanding
As with all language students and their instructors, a
mutual sensitivity and respect must exist not only between
the target language and the student's native language but
also between the cultures of the two languages. The
interrelation between language and culture is expressed by
Clark, Eschholz, and Rosa in their statement that "language
is not only the principal medium that human beings use to
communicate with each other but also the bond that links
people together and binds them to their culture" (1).
However, despite the interdependence of language and
culture which may limit an individual's way of seeing the
world, Daniels states, "human adaptability enables us to
transcend the limitations of language--to learn to see the
world in new ways and voice new concepts--when we must"
(32). What is of primary importance for the EFL instructor
is to define and alleviate any problems which might arise
due to the non-native English speaker's interconnection of
language and culture as they may contrast with the
interconnection of the English language and culture.
As Richard-Amato explains, "Attitudes toward self, the
35
36
target language, and the people who speak it (peers in
particular), the teacher, and the classroom environment all
seem to have an influence on acquisition" (54-5). Not only
might the second language learner attribute negative
stereotypes toward the target language and those who speak
it, but the second language learner may also be the target
of negative stereotypes. In either case, both the student's
self-esteem and motivation to learn the second language are
greatly decreased (55-6).
Bennett adds the notion ot "cultural pluralism," which
she defines as "in its purest form, is a process of
compromise characterized by mutual appreciation and respect
between two or more ethnic groups" (86). Therefore,
according to Bennett, within a society which is "culturally
pluralistic" its members are "of different groups [and] are
permitted to retain many of their cultural ways, as long as
they conform to those practices deemed necessary for the
survival of the society as a whole" (86) .
Bennett argues for cultural pluralism as opposed to
"cultural assimilation," which she defines as a loss of
native culture and a complete adaptation of the culture of
the host society. She says that cultural pluralism can
rightfully exist only within a society when all ethnic
groups adopt particular rules which will benefit the society
37
as a whole (88). Bennett views cultural pluralism as the
median between "cultural assimilation" and "cultural
suppression." "Cultural assimilation" asks the newcomer to
a host society to completely give up all of his native
cultural traditions and adopt all of those of the host
society; on the other hand, "cultural suppression" exists
when the newcomer refuses to give up any of his native
cultural traditions and becomes entirely isolated from his
host society (89-91).
The arguments above present background for the rest of
this thesis. This chapter will specifically focus on
characteristics of Arabic culture that the EFL instructor
should be aware of. While other aspects of Arabic culture
are part of the Arab student's life, they may not be aspects
that the EFL instructor needs to understand and thus will
not be included.
Many of the cultural characteristics are
interconnected; i.e., to explain one characteristic another
must first be understood. The reader should keep in mind
that the following generalizations will no doubt have a
multitude of exceptions based on each individual student's
unique character. Nevertheless, the information should
prove useful in understanding common aspects of Arabic
culture.
38
Finally, to confine Arabic culture under one heading,
as with any other culture, is certainly not an easy task.
However, the topics highlighted represent topics necessary
for the EFL instructor in an introduction to the Arab
student's culture. These topics include the Arab view of
language in general and Arabic, personal and social
relationships, education, time, and religion. All of these
topics affect the teacher/student relationship in the EFL
classroom, whether the issue is the Arab student's conduct
and performance or the EFL instructor's choice of words or
assignments.
Language
How Arabs view language in general may be the most
important topic of Arabic culture for EFL instructors. The
Arabs' attitude toward language stems from their respect for
their own language in its complexity and its effect on its
interlocutors.
As stated in Chapter I, Arabic is the language of the
Our'an . the holy book of Islam; consequently, Arabs highly
regard and take pride in the language which God chose to
reveal His message to humankind. Nydell adds that Arabs
believe that Arabic is superior to all other languages.
Arabic is perceived as superior not only because of its use
in the Our'an . It is also grammatically complex, which
39
allows for a rich vocabulary that can easily create new
words and expressions without borrowing many words from
other languages; its oral recitation is beautiful because it
is structurally rhyming and rhythmical; ultimately, Arabic
is "one of their [the Arabs] greatest cultural treasures and
achievements" (Nydell 101).
The love Arabs have for their language causes them to
revere Classical Arabic, which is closest to the language of
the Our'an . much more than any colloquial dialect. True
literacy in Arabic requires many years of study; as a matter
of fact, most Arabs 1 have known have told me that Arabic
was one of the, if not the, most difficult subjects they
were required to study in high school. Part of the
difficulty in learning Classical Arabic is not only its
inherent complexity but also how much its vocabulary differs
from colloquial Arabic dialects learned at home. Nydell
estimates that more than fifty percent of the vocabulary of
some colloquial dialects differs from that of Classical
Arabic, with some dialects having a different grammar as
well (102).
Attempts have been made to regulate the dialects to
make them adhere closely to Classical Arabic. Other
scholars have suggested replacing Classical Arabic by
written dialects. Neither approach has been successful,
40
leaving the problem of diglossia unsolved. Nevertheless,
maintaining Classical Arabic as the formal language of the
Arabs serves the important function of providing them with
one cultural identity.
Moreover, the appreciation of the language in itself
gives way to the reverence given it in its usage. Both
eloquence in speech and writing in Arabic are sought and
admired. Actually, how the language is used to convey a
message is almost as important as the message itself. Arabs
will commonly quote literature, poetry, verses from the
Our1 a n . ancient proverbs, contemporary satire, and anecdotes
in both formal and informal speech and writing, of course,
depending on their relevancy to the topic (Nydell 103;
Parker et al. 98). Parker et al. also acknowledge that
"[a]mong traditional Islamic 'sciences,' one finds
philology, rhetoric and criticism, lexicography, grammar,
literature, and poetry." Parker et al. continue, "Arabs are
in love with language . . . . Words carry a weight and
importance of their own. To talk, listen, and share words
is important to the Arab" (98).
Most Americans are not as fond of language for its own
sake as are Arabs. Even in day to day conversations, Arabs
use elaborate and embellished expressions that might be seen
as too "flowery" in American translation. These formulaic
41
sayings, that are used in no less than thirty specific
situations, include greetings, compliments, and blessings;
these "situational expressions" are employed to acknowledge
events ranging from congratulations for a special event
(such as marriage, graduation, etc.) to good wishes and
blessings for completing a task (whether it is finishing a
long term project or drinking a glass of water). These
expressions also have predictable, reciprocal responses.
Statements and responses contain eloquent uses of the
language, often with religious references (Nydell 120).1
Expressions which include religious references are
associated with the "power" that words have for the Arab.
Blessings are actually said as small prayers for prosperity
and to keep away harm or evil. Many of these blessings are
compliments but are said in such a way as to ensure that
there is no envy behind the compliment. Most Arabs believe
that an object or a person that is envied can actually be
harmed whether or not the envious person is aware of his
envy. While, as Nydell writes, the more educated the Arab
is, the less likely he is to fear "the evil eye" (105), this
concept ol envy is not only in old Arab tradition, but is
warned against in the Our1 an (113:5). Consequently, the EFL
instructor should be carelul when giving compliments to Arab
students, especially those who are new to Western culture.2
42
Just as blessings are thought to bring about
prosperity, conversely, swearing and cursing are extremely
offensive to Arabs. Curses are believed to actually summon
adversity (Nydell 105). Most Americans would find such
beliefs unfounded, and those Americans who do swear or curse
never give a second thought to possible consequences based
on their utterances. While some Arabs do swear and curse,
depending on their beliefs and with whom they are talking,
the EFL instructor should be aware that an instructor is
expected to refrain from swearing in the classroom in Arab
society.
Also due to the power words have for Arabs, euphemisms
are often used when Arabs talk about topics that make them
uncomfortable, such as illness, death, or catastrophe.
Nydell explains that in such instances the Arab does not
want to make "careless references" that might lead to
worsening an already unfortunate situation (160). A person
who is ill is usually referred to as "tired," and a person
who has died is said to "have been taken by God." Arabs
might also not tell others about an illness until it has
passed, nor mention a death to those who were not close to
the deceased for some time after the death (Nydell 106) .
The EFL instructor should take note of the possible use of
such euphemisms transferred to English, especially if a
43
student uses the excuse of being "tired for not having
attended a class.
With regard to script, Arabs are also very fond of
calligraphy. It is one of the most popular art forms in
Arabic art. Primarily, calligraphy is based on excerpts
from the Our'an and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad.
Islamic art forbids depictions of human figures especially
those of the prophets and a personification of God due to
the idol worship that existed prior to the coming of Islam.
Consequently, the pride that Arabs have in their decorative
script also is reflected in their daily script. Elegant and
legible script is highly admired and aspired to by Arabs.
Finally, Arabs have very different speech mannerisms
from those of Americans. Nydell accurately describes the
Arabs' locution:
Arabs talk a lot, repeat themselves, shout when
excited, and make extensive use of gestures. They
punctuate their conversations with oaths (such as "I
swear by God") to emphasize what they said, and they
exaggerate for effect. Foreigners sometimes wonder if
they are involved in discussion or an argument. (104)
Discussions tend to be loud with many interruptions or many
people speaking at once. Such behavior, Nydell explains,
represents sincerity, as emotion in discussion shows a
concern for its outcome (38). From personal experience, I
would add that such behavior is also attributable to the
Arab love of conversation and language in general.
44
Personal and Social Relationships
Emotions do play an important part in the Arab's life.
It is true that Arabs emphasize what Nydell calls the "human
factor" in decision making and formulating opinions (37);
however, Nydell seems to overemphasize the Arab's preference
of subjectivity over objectivity. Most Arabs who come to
the United States will be well-educated and will be aware of
factually based logic and objectivity as significant factors
in life's events and decisions.
The human factor does play a role in the native Arab
speaker's need to have his culture understood, to develop
personal and social relationships, to find mentors and
paternal figures, and, none of these needs can be met
without reciprocated hospitality and conversation (Parker et
al. 98-100). In choosing topics and activities, the EFL
instructor should be aware of the Arab student's attitudes
and expectations in relationships.
The Arabs' relationships inside and outside the home
are based on respect. In the home, the father, or eldest
Arab male, is overtly the decision maker of the family.
However, in private, the mother, or eldest female, plays an
important role in the making of decisions (Nydell 76).
Decisions of parents are also final, and most Arab children
do not rebel as strongly and openly as do American children.
45
Arab children have very close ties with their parents, their
siblings, and their extended families.
The age and status of individuals, in both familial
and societal relationships, play an important part in the
respect given; age often also determines status and respect.
Respect tor elders is expected of all Arab children. There
is an Arab proverb which says, "Older than you by a day,
wiser than you by a year" (Nydell 108); in other words, age
and experience bring about wisdom.
As a result of this emphasis on respect for one's
elders, the EFL instructor will be very respected by Arab
students. However, Arab students may feel awkward in an
informal setting (e.g., if the Total Physical Response
method is used) in the EFL classroom because of their
"paternalistic society" and "authoritative hierarchy" which
emphasizes the "imitative" method of learning as opposed to
the "creative" method (Parker et al. 96). Smith also writes
that some students, especially older ones, will not
appreciate learning American slang because of their high
respect for language and their preference for Classical
Arabic over any other dialect; such students will be more
comfortable with the grammar based approach; yet, Smith adds
that most Arab countries are updating their EFL methods so
that some non-traditiona1 approaches may not be entirely
46
alien to Arab students (154).
In addition to resistance to an informal classroom,
most Arab students will not be comfortable with an informal
relationship with the EFL instructor. (Although I have
lived in America for over twenty years, I am still
uncomfortable calling my instructors by their first names
especially it they are as old as or older than my parents.)
Also, some Americans believe that hugging, touching, and a
kiss on the cheek show friendship. For Arabs, these are not
atypical ways of showing friendship, however, they usually
only occur between persons of the same sex. Touching
persons ol the opposite sex is done only in private, among
husband and wife, or among some relatives, usually between
those who have a large gap in age and are not eligible
marriage partners, when greeting one another as a sign of
respect and affection. On the other hand, some conservative
Muslims will not shake hands with members of the opposite
sex, and, il they are very conservative will not make eye
contact when speaking.
in addition, in some conservative social gatherings,
men and women may not sit in the same room, with spouses
also separated. On the other hand, some modern Arabs will
provide contemporary Western dance music with both sexes
dancing together. Therefore, extremes exist in social
47
situations, but, in general, most Arabs adhere to the more
moderate behavior of the three.
Knowing this behavior pattern of Arabs, the EFL
instructor needs to be especially thoughtful when coming up
with social activities and should avoid such ideas as
throwing a dance or a swimming party. Also, the instructor
should be sensitive when grouping her students in pairs of
the opposite sex during class activities.
The EFL instructor must also always be formal with Arab
students. Not only because most Arabs adhere to not
touching members of the opposite sex but also because the
instructor is considered a respected figure of authority,
not to be treated casually. An EFL instructor once proudly
told me that it took her an entire semester to get her male
Arab student to adjust to her friendly hugs. Initially, as
an American, I thought her achievement amusing; however,
later, as an Arab, I realized the discomfort I would feel if
an instructor, especially a male instructor, were to hug me.
While it is true that not ail Americans are fond of hugging
and touching acquaintances either, those who are should not
feel it necessary to teach others who are not. To take an
example that reverses the situation, most Arab men hug and
kiss on the cheek when they meet and sometimes walk hand-in-
hand; none of this behavior implies homosexuality but is
48
rather very common behavior among close male friends and
relatives as it is among female friends and relatives.
However, if an Arab male were to impose such ways of showing
friendship on an American male, a verbal or physical fight
would probably ensue.
As a note of interest, Parker et al. remark upon an
interesting phenomenon with regard to male Arabs and their
friendships. To explain this phenomenon, first one must
understand that the Arabs on either side of a friendship
feel a great "sense of affection, of closeness, and of
mutual obligation in time of need." Because of these very
loyal friendships, Arabs usually have two or three very
close friendships that may last a lifetime; as another
result, they are often surprised with American friendships
that may be "quickly formed and sometimes quickly ended
. . . [seeming to the Arab] shallow and uncommitted."
While Arab friendships are usually among the same sex, in
America, Arab males may have more American female friends
than American male friends because of the greater closeness
American females allow in their friendships. Although the
friendship among American female peers also offers "wider
possiblities" (e.g., dating) than the friendship of Arab
females for the Arab male, his need to converse and express
his emotions as part of a normal Arab friendship is
49
satisfied by the American female more than the American male
(Parker et al. 98).
Upon first reading Parker et al.'s discovery of this
ironic phenomenon, I was skeptical. However, after having
asked a few Arab males, including my husband, I discovered
this phenomenon to be true. My husband admits that it was
much easier for him to converse about a wide variety of
topics with American female friends than with American male
friends, more especially when he and his friends were
younger.
However, while these friendships among Arab males and
American females may be sought, the American female must be
aware that even if she perceives the friendship as merely a
friendship, misunderstandings can arise. Because, in
general, friendships of the same sex are more common in Arab
countries, the Arab male may still misunderstand the
relationship. The American female must keep in mind that
physical affection is among members of the same sex, unless
more intimate relationships are being developed.
The American male must also be careful in his
relationship with an Arab female to avoid misunderstanding.
However, the Arab female is more likely to keep her distance
from the American male because she can make friendships with
American females with little misunderstandings between them.
50
If the EFL instructor is a young woman, she might find
it difficult to get respect from male students. Often, not
until a female instructor has reached an age when she
appears like a mother figure will she have few problems with
the Arab male student (Smith 154). In addition to the above
mentioned attitudes between the sexes, there may be
discomfort toward the young female instructor because in
some conservative Arab countries students are separated by
sex and are only taught by instructors of their same sex.
Some Arab males may simply be unaccustomed to being taught
by women; by that same token, some Arab females may be
uncomfortable around male instructors, although because of
their male-dominated society, they may not show disrespect
for male EFL instructors; both males and females from such
conservative Arab countries may be very shy in dealing with
teachers of their opposite sex. While education and
urbanization have brought women more into the forefront of
society, there still exist many restrictions in comparison
to American norms in male and female interaction.
Misconceptions and misunderstandings can easily arise among
Americans and Arabs of both sexes (Parker et al. 98).
Another custom among Arabs concerning male and female
relationships that may seem strange to Americans is that of
meeting prospective spouses. American style dating is not
51
easily accepted by Arabs. While some very westernized Arabs
do date American style, it is still disapproved of by most
Arabs. Generally, the more accepted modern arrangements
where the two sexes can socialize are allowed when there are
large groups with no individual male/female couples. Among
more conservative Arabs, chaperones must always accompany
unmarried Arab males and females; others do not allow mixing
of the sexes at all.3
Hence, American pre-marital sexual behavior and ways of
meeting prospective marriage partners are not the accepted
norm among most Arabs, of whatever religion. While
virginity is expected of both males and females before
marriage, there may be the unspoken double standard that
female virginity is more highly protected than that of
males, a standard that has some remnants in the U.S..
The above information may appear unimportant for the
EFL instructor. However, an awareness of such customs is
necessary when coming up with topics for assignments such as
"What I did on my date Saturday night" or when asking "Do
you have a boyfriend (girlfriend)?" or even when making fun
of blind dates.
Many Arabs live at home until they graduate from
college and/or marry. Parents support their children
financially until they are able to provide for themselves.
52
When parents are old, children feel that it is their duty to
take care of their parents, with many parents moving in with
their children when they begin to feel that they can no
longer live alone.
Generally, the eldest son becomes the responsible
figure head, once he has established himself financially.
He not only looks after his aging parents, but he also looks
after his siblings. Ii there is no male child in the family
the responsiblity may tall on the eldest daughter and her
husband. Keeping this aspect of Arabic culture in mind, the
EFL instructor should not mock or be surprised by students
who may still be living at home well into their late
twenties and beyond, despite the fact that it would be
considered anomiilous in American culture.
Other aspects of the relationship between men and women
in the Arab world that may differ from the West exist in
attitudes and beliefs specifically derived from the Islamic
religion. Under Islamic law men and women are defined as
equal but different. Each has his or her own role to play
within socie ty."
To return to the topic of family, which is seen as the
central core of society, men are instructed to be the bread
winners, and women are instructed to care for their
children. Despite the Western criticism of such a
53
relationship between husband and wife, Muslims see the role
of "mother" as extremely important, not only to the
individual child and the entire family, but also to society
as a whole.
A saying, or "hadith," of the Prophet Mohammad, the
last prophet of Islam, states, "Paradise lies at the feet of
mothers." In other words, those who respect and cherish
their mothers may find paradise. Also, once when a man
asked the Prophet Mohammad, "Who is the most deserving of
good care from me?" The prophet replied, "Your mother
[which he repeated three timesj, then your father, then your
nearest relatives in order." Thus, many modern Arab women
have little guilt feeling about not working outside the home
as do some American women.5
The issue of Muslim women covering their hair is also
one which many anti-lslamic groups present to show how Islam
treats women as inferior. However, once again, this issue
is misunderstood. Most Americans see scarf-clad Muslim
women as oppressed, living in a society where they have no
say. However, most women, especially those who cover their
hair outside of their Arabic countries, do so of their own
individual will, not because society or peer pressure has
forced them to do so. They believe that covering the hair
is required of women in the Our1 an as a means of modesty
54
with little to do with their status as equal to men. In
Islam, women have an equal status to men, but, because they
are not men, they have a different role to play in society.
As a matter of fact, men are also instructed to be modest in
their dress and not to draw attention to themselves.
It should also be noted that there are Muslim women who
do not believe in covering their hair. These women believe
that the Ou r 1 an says that they should be modest in their
dress, but that it does not specifically require the
covering ol the hair. These women do not believe that they
are being irreligious because they do not wear a scarf.
This issue is controversial and personal among Muslim
women, so the EFL instructor should remain neutral on the
subject to avoid insulting anyone. The instructors should
not feel that it is their moral obligation to free these
women oi their "suppressive" veils. Although some women may
cover their hair out ol tradition, many more do so out of
religious sincerity. Keeping in mind the courage it takes
to cover one's hair for religious reasons in American
society, one realizes the deep faith of such women.
Education
Education is highly regarded by the Arab. Islam also
has an influence on the Arabs' respect for education. The
first words revealed to the prophet of Islam, Mohammad, who
55
was an illiterate merchant of Mecca in the sixth century
A.D., were "Read! In the Name of thy Lord and Cherisher.
. . ./ He who taught the use of the Pen/ Taught man that
which he knew not" (96:1). These words were said to
Mohammad by the Angel Gabriel as Mohammad was meditating in
the mountains to get away from the corruption of the city;
upon hearing the angel's message, Mohammad responded that he
could not read.
The angel repeated his command three times and Mohammad
began to recite after him the first words of what was to
become the Qur1 an. which literaly means "what is read or
recited." Later Mohammad would recite to scribes the words
of God that he had memorized from his many meetings that
were to follow with the Angel Gabriel. What the scribes
wrote down is what remains to this day unchanged from the
time of the prophet.
To also stress the importance of education in Islam, a
popular saying of the prophet, or "hadith," is "One of the
most important things all Muslims should do is to pursue
knowledge from the cradle to the grave." Therefore, both
literacy and knowledge are important to a true follower of
Islam. (Hence, the importance of the Arabic language to
pursue knowledge and to further understand the Our'an.)
As a result, most Arab students will be eager to learn.
56
Yet an understanding of their ways remains requisite. The
Arab, as noted above, does hold emotion as an important part
of his being, enjoys much conversation and comradeship, and
requires respect and understanding of the culture he holds
dear.
Sense of Time
All the attributes of the Arab EFL student presented
above may suggest a rather amicable and motivated student.
However, there is one particular attribute that the American
EFL instructor may find difficult to comprehend: the Arab's
sense of time.
While it would be unjust to those Arabs who make it a
point to strictly adhere to their appointment books to say
that all Arabs lack punctuality, there are still many Arabs
whose sense of time does not adhere to any clock.
The anthropologist Edward T. Hall has written several
books which give insight into intercultural and
crosscu1tura1 behaviors. In Christine I. Bennett's
Comprehensive Multicultural Education, she summarizes some
of Hall's theory. I will primarily use Bennett's summary as
my source for Hall's theory.
Hall distinguishes two types of time: Monochronic (M-
time) and Polychronic time (P-time). M-time is the system
of time most Americans adhere to, and P-time is the system
57
of time of most Arabs.
M-time consists of "linear" time where events occur one
at a time and adhere to strict schedules. M-time people
place a great deal of emphasis on punctuality and view time
as something "concrete" or "tangible" as they often modify
it as "being saved, spent, wasted, lost, made up, crawling,
killed, and running out" (Hall, The Dance of Life 48).
Those who cannot be punctual are considered by M-time people
as impractical or irresponsible (Hall, The Silent Language
6-9) .
P-time people, on the other hand, have very flexible
time schedules with many activities going on at once. P-
time is not segemented like M-time and is viewed as less
tangible than M-time. P-time "flows from past to present to
future, and Arabs flow with it" (Nydell 60).
M-time also emphasizes the future, but it is seen in a
more limited way; "long-term" in M-time is the "foreseeable
future." However, unlike the future of many P-time people
that is viewed in centuries or infinity, the "foreseeable
future" lor M-time people is anything from a few days to
twenty years, but not much longer (Hall, The Silent Language
8 ) .
To understand Hall's notion of time particularly
relevant to the Arab, Hall's notion of "low and high context
58
cultures" should also be mentioned. Bennett first
introduces the two types of cultures through an explanation
of differences in "interpersonal communication styles."
Her explanation is as follows:
In low-context cultures, such as the U.S., Germany, and
Scandinavia, meaning is gleaned from the verbal message
itself . . . . What is said is more important than who
said it . . . . High-context cultures, such as East
Asian, Arab, southern European, Native American,
Mexican, and portions of the rural United states, are
the opposite. Meaning must be understood in terms of
the situation or setting in which communication takes
place. (54)
Low-context culture is thus the superheading of M-time
people and high-context culture encompasses P-time people.
In superficial analysis, low-context cultures may be
incorrectly identified as "mechanistic" and high-context
cultures may be looked upon as "humanistic" (Bennett 54).
M-time, as a characteristic of low-context cultures,
superimposes time compartments on an individual's life which
he cannot easily escape. On the other hand, P-time, as a
characteristic of high-context cultures, places people above
time: it a friend needs to talk a little longer or needs a
favor to be done, despite other appointments, the P-time
person will place that friend's needs and wants above any
adherence to a rigid schedule. Because in P-time many
people and their needs and wants are being dealt with, it is
difficult to impose time compartments on any one of those
59
individuals.
However, as Bennett points out, both types of cultures
and their uses of time can not be categorized as exclusively
"mechanistic" or "humanistic." For example, Bennett writes,
"individuals in high-context cultures tend to gain identity
through group associations (e.g., place of work,
neighborhood organizations, family or lineage)." On the
other hand, she continues, "individuals in low-context
cultures usually develop an identity based upon their
personal efforts and achievements."
In other words, neither culture or time system can be
classified as superior to the other. "[H]igh-context
cultures provide a strong human support network that helps
guard against the alienation of a technological society";
while "low-context cultures provide ways of adapting,
changing, and using new knowledge that can help resolve
human problems such as starvation and disease" (54).
Hall states that M-time and P-time are "logically and
empirically distinct. Like oil and water, they don't mix.
Each has its strengths as well as its weaknesses" (The Dance
of Life 46). However, to comfort the EFL instructor, Hall
does write:
Scheduling is difficult if not impossible with P-time
people unless they have mastered M-time technically as
a very different system, one they do not confuse with
60
their own but use when it is situationally appropriate,
much as they use a foreign language. (Beyond Culture
2 2 )
As Nydell adds, some Arabs are quite punctual and are
impatient with those who are not. However, there are also
Arabs who are habitually late, especially to social events.
Nevertheless, Nydell acknowledges that due to the "demands
of economic and technological development and modernization,
the concept of time is slowly changing in the Arab world"
(60) .
From personal experience, I have encountered both the
very punctual and the habitually late Arab among friends
and relatives (and in myself) and in both social and
business settings. Both types of Arab exist. The non-
punctual Arab who has lived in the U.S. for some time is not
oblivious to his lack of punctuality; instead, he has
difficulty in breaking his habit.
Hall does have a suggestion as to how to get the P-time
person to follow the M-time system. His example is that of
Sioux Indians, P-time people, who were forced to adhere to
the M-time system through their American school system. The
superintendent of the Sioux schools made a point to have
buses running on a strict schedule, so that if students were
late they had no way of attending school that day. Hall
writes that despite this seemingly harsh method of teaching
61
M-time to P-time people, teaching M-time in such a technical
way and making it "mean something" is the only way to teach
it quickly. Later on, those who have learned technical
M-time can eventually learn its "informal variations" (The
Silent Language 14).
However, most EFL instructors do not have as much
authority as a superintendent of a school to control such
things as bus schedules. Here are some suggestions for the
EFL instructor who may be frustrated with the tardy Arab
student. First, the EFL instructor should speak to the
student on an individual basis and let him know that his P-
time system is not acceptable. The instructor may suggest
ways to master the M-time system through techniques of time
management such as planning to come to class at least one
half hour before it is scheduled to begin. If the student
is still unable to be punctual, then he may be informed that
there will be concrete consequences; then the instructor may
impose some disciplinary action. Such disciplinary action
should, however, be applied to all tardy students so that
the Arab student is not solely targeted. For example, some
teachers deduct points from students' grades for every day
they are late.
Some Arab students will be able to change, others will
simply require a great deal of patience from the EFL
62
instructor. If the student is well behaved otherwise,
further disciplinary action may not achieve any result, but
a frightened and confused student. Also, the instructor
should take into account the age of the student when
deciding on the disciplinary action; younger students may
accept the concept of disciplinary action much more than
older students who may teel they are being patronized.
Most Arab students can understand the problem of being
tardy but cannot easily change a habit that is a part of
many other aspects of their lives and culture. The EFL
instructor may simply have to leave the students to deal
with their troubled conscience on their own; also, the
instructor should realize that the problem of time
management may not be simply based on cultural influences
but may be a personal habit, which can be more difficult to
change.
Ironically, one aspect of time that is positive among
Arab students is that in general they will not be tardy with
their assignments. Such behavior is due to the very
rigorous course work that Arab students have in their Arab
countries. Also because ul their love of learning and
respect tor the instructor mentioned earlier, assignments
will generally be handed in promptly. However, lazy,
irresponsible, and unmotivated students, unfortunately,
63
cannot be excluded from any culture.
Carole M. Archer also adds another aspect of time that
pertains to education: response time. In this respect
Archer writes that Arabs do not differ from Americans but
are as eager to answer questions quickly because in both
cultures "the ability to 'think on one's feet' is highly
valued" (122-3). In addition, quick response time in Arab
students may also be due to their style of rapid and
boisterous conversation, mentioned earlier.
Islam
In The Silent Language, the anthropologist Hall writes,
"The content of religion, its organization, and the manner
in which it is integrated with the rest of life varies
greatly 1rom culture to culture." He also acknowledges that
religion pervades all parts of life in the Arab world unlike
the reduction of religion to only one aspect of life in
America (t>4) . In most Arab countries, religion exists
everywhere: as part of school curricula, religious sayings
abound in all types of speech, many Arabs have first names
that are religious in nature, religious jewelry is worn, and
religious art decorates cars, offices, and homes (Nydell 87-
8 ) .
Many laws are also dictated by religion. Marriage and
divorce must be overseen by religious authorities. Islamic
64
laws regarding inheritance, banking (Islamic law forbids
usury), and criminal punishment are followed to some extent
in all Arab countries, more so in more conservative Arab
countries (Nydell 88). Consequently, because religion and
its practice are respected and so much a part of the Arabs'
lives, the EFL instructor must be careful not to criticize
either.
No matter which religion is followed, nor how pious,
all Arabs define their identities from their religious
affiliations. While Nydell writes that Arabs respect anyone
who adheres to his religion, no matter what the religion
(87), I believe that "no matter what the religion" here is
mostly limited to any religion of the Judeo-Christian-
Islamic tradition.
Jews and Christians are called "People of the Book" by
Muslims, who believe that Islam is the final message sent
before the Day of Judgement. Mohammad is seen as the last
prophet in the long procession of prophets including Adam,
Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Jesus. Consequently, Muslims
believe that they are part of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
While some Arabs may privately feel that they are atheists
or agnostics, most Arabs are surprised to meet anyone who
does not adhere to any religious beliefs.
As Parker et al. write, "Upon arriving to the U.S.,
Middle Eastern students are often disconcerted to encounter
ignorance of Islam and to find themselves considered
unbelievers" (97). Much of the information Americans
receive about Islam is through the media which portrays all
Muslims as terrorists and anti-American, whether through
news stories or fictional depictions (as will be elaborated
upon in Chaper IV). As noted earlier, not all Arabs are
Muslim and not all Muslims are Arabs; but, because Islam is
so misrepresented in America and because Islam has greatly
influenced Arabic culture, the EFL instructor should become
familiar with the religious beliefs, practices, and holidays
of one billion of the world's population.
The rest of this section will be based on my own
personal knowledge as well as Thomas W. Lippman's
Understanding Islam and Hammudah Abdalati's Islam in Focus.
Muslims believe in the same God and prophets of the
Jews and Christians, with only a few differences. In
Arabic, the word for "God" is "Allah," just as in French,
"God" is "Dieu" and in German, "God" is "Gott". Hence, both
Muslim and Christian Arabs use the word "Allah" when
speaking of God (Lippmnn /).
Abraham is also believed to be the patriarchial prophet
of Islam. Muslims believe that it is Abraham's first son,
Ishmael ("Ismail" in Arabic), a great grandfather of the
66
prophet Mohammad, who was almost sacrificed by Abraham to
prove his faith in the one God. Muslims also believe in the
Prophets Moses and Jesus. However, Muslims do not believe
in the Trinity.
Instead, Muslims view the Prophet Jesus as a very holy
man, who was born through the Virgin Mary by way of a
miracle, as was Adam created by the power of God. Muslims
also do not believe that Jesus was crucified but was taken
up to heaven by God, after God made another man resemble
Jesus, so that man was killed instead. Muslims do believe
in Jesus' Second Coming before the Day of Judgement.
Muslims do not believe that Jesus died for the sins of
people, nor do they believe that humans are born sinful, by
way of original sin. Muslims believe that all humans,
whether they be Muslim or non-Muslim, have a will of their
own and, thus, an opportunity to go to heaven after death.
What is required to go to heaven is that one's thoughts and
actions be good, i.e., be in accordance with God's
teachings, and, of course, ultimately it is God who judges
whether a person goes to heaven or hell.
Muslims do not believe that mankind's first sin was
entirely the fault of Eve, rather it was the fault of both
Adam and Eve. Moreover, they were both forgiven after they
asked God's forgiveness while still in heaven. Their
67
descent to earth is not as a punishment, but rather to be
able to worship God through appreciating all that He has
created on earth. Furthermore, before having created Adam
and Eve, God had told the angels that man would be sent to
earth to be His trustee and take care of His Creation.
Finally, Mohammad is seen as the last prophet, or the
Seal of the Prophets, to bring the culmination of God's
message to mankind in the long procession of messengers
before the Day of Judgement. Islam strictly forbids that
Mohammad be seen as anything more than a man and a prophet.
He is not to be worshipped, but his teachings, brought to
him through divine revelation, are to be followed. He is
the example of how man should worship his one God.6
Islam requires five basic duties, called the Five
Pillars of Islam, of all Muslims. These duties include:
the testimony of faith that there is only one God, who has
no partners, nor is begotten, nor begets, and that Mohammad
is His messenger; prayer, five times a day; almsgiving, at
least two and one half percent of all savings and belongings
that are above a prescribed minimum, if one is debt-free and
has a surplus of funds; lasting, during the ninth month of
the lunar Islamic calendar, known as Ramadan, and the month
in which the Qur1 an was first revealed; and performing the
pilgrimmage to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where
68
Islam first began, at least once in a person's lifetime.
As noted earlier in Chapter I, ninety percent of all
Muslims are of the Sunni sect, i.e., of orthodox Islam. For
a general introduction to the holidays of Islam, the three
main events that occur annually of the Sunnis and are
acknowledged by all other Muslims will be presented. First,
there is the practice of fasting during the entire month of
Ramadan from sunrise until sunset. Ramadan is the ninth
month of the Islamic lunar calendar and when the
Ou r 'an was first revealed to the Prophet Mohammad. Because
the Islamic calendar is lunar based, Ramadan does not occur
at the same time of year every year on the solar calendar.
Fasting for Muslims includes complete abstention from
eating, drinking (including not drinking water), sexual
contact, smoking, bad habits, and evil or foul thoughts,
words, and deeds.7
The EEL instructor must be aware of those students who
are fasting. The first few days of fasting are the most
difficult as the body adjusts to a different pattern, and it
is in these lirst few days that some students may appear
weak or lethargic due to lack of food and liquids. Other
students may not participate in events where food is an
essential part, or, if the EFI, class is a night class, the
student may leave early or bring food to class to break his
69
fast at sunset.
The second annual event in Islamic practice that the
EFL instructor should be aware of is the "Feast of Breaking
the Fast," which is on the lirst day of the month following
Ramadan, called Shaw'wal. in Arabic, this feast is called
"Eid-i1-Fitr," and it begins with the Muslims congregating
for a morning prayer and a sermon on the first day of the
holiday. Muslim EFL students may ask to be excused from
class to attend the prayers and to celebrate the holiday
with their families. This least is traditionally celebrated
for three days, but the first day is the most important.
The third Islamic annual event that the EFL instructor
should be aware of is that of the "Feast of the Sacrifice."
This feast, known in Arabic as "Eid-i1-Adha," takes place on
the tenth day of the last month of the Islamic calendar,
Thul-Hijjah. This day commemorates the sacrifice that the
Prophet Abraham was willing to make of his son Ishmael to
God, and how God spared him by makig a sheep materialize to
be sacrificed instead. While Jews and Christians believe
that it was Abraham's younger son, Isaac, who was to be
sacrificed, the Muslims believe it was Ishmael, whose
progeny were to become the Prophet Mohammad and the first
Musiims.
Eid-il-Adha is celebrated for four days. Again, the
70
first day is the most important and Muslims congregate for
morning prayers and a sermon. Also, during this holiday,
those Muslims who can afford to must offer an oblation of a
goat or sheep to be killed and given as food to the poor.
The three events mentioned above are special times of
worship, charity, and family and social gatherings. EFL
instructors should be reminded that these holidays are like
Christmas and Easter for their Christian students, and
Hannukah and Passover for their Jewish students. Instructors
should allow Muslim students their holiday on their two
feast days and be aware of their efforts of fasting during
the month of Ramadan. In addition, some Muslim students may
ask to be excused to perform one of their required five
daily prayers if the duration of class will cause a prayer
time period to be missed.
The EFL instructor should also know that Muslims are
forbidden from eating certain foods, drinks, and certain
activities. These regulations are meant to protect the
Muslim. Muslims are not allowed to take any intoxicants
including liquor and narcotics; Muslims cannot eat the meat
or products of swine, including pork, ham, bacon, and lard;
a Muslim also is not allowed to gamble; Muslims are
forbidden to have pre-marital or extra-marital sexual
relations (moreover, celibacy is also not acceptable in
71
Islam, and marriage is encouraged so that natural desires
can have legitimate fulfillment); and, finally, Muslims are
required to dress, speak, and behave in a manner that
displays modesty and decency.
Despite this seemingly detail-laden introduction to
Islam, EFL instructors may be in need of much of the above
information to prevent misunderstandings and misconceptions
between them and their Arab Muslim (and non-Arab Muslim)
students.
CHAPTER IV
TOWARDS A BETTER UNDERSTANDING
Western:Eastern::Modern:Traditional::Liberal:Conservative?
While the subheading of this section may have some
truth to it, it is ultimately merely a stereotype, or a
labeling, that cannot truly encompass all the values and
beliefs of each and every individual within each hemisphere.
Some would also place the additional relationships of
Right:Wrong::Good:Bad to the above relationships, and
obviously that would be clearly bigoted.
The Arabs in particular have had quite a negative image
in the West, as clearly seen in their representations in the
popular media. Many examples of Arab sheiks as villains
have been presented in movies and television programs; one
famous example of a negative portrayal of Arabs is the 1921
silent film, The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino.1 The
news media is also very lond of presenting Mi Idle Eastern
demonstrators, waving clenched fists and shouting anti-
American slogans. Regardless of what Middle Eastern or
developing country these demonstrators are from, they are
associated with anti-American Arabs and terrorists. Most
recently, the Gulf War sparked much anti-Arab sentiment,
despite the fact that many Arab countries were American
72
73
allies and America was fighting to liberate the Arab
country of Kuwait.2
Some popular fallacious images of the Arab rolled into
one would be an uneducated "uncivilized," Bedouin who
becomes a filthy rich Arab sheik having attained all his
money through oil which he happened to stumble across
without initially knowing its value; he is so greedy that he
refuses to lower oil prices, while he hurts the economies of
other nations; yet he secretly funds vicious Arab terrorists
whom he contacts from his many mansions around the world
where he has at least one of his many wives who is awaiting
his return to get his permission to go out of the house; and
because she is so suppressed and oppressed she finds having
an affair with the locals or one of her husband's many
terrorist friends her only escape from insanity . . . this
excerpt could become an excellent drugstore novel.
Despite the sensationalism and ridiculousness of the
above excerpt, I believe many Americans still would believe
it to be true about the majority of Arabs. It would be
similar to an Easterner believing that all Americans live
like the avaricious, devious, womanizer, modern cowboy,
J. R. Ewing, of the American television series Da 1las. Just
as there is a great deal more to Americans than the J. R.
Ewing character type, there is certainly a great deal more
74
to the Arab than the common stereotype of the Arab as
portrayed by the Western media.
In addition, even if someone is interested enough to
try to find out about the true Arab, unfortunately, as
Nydell points out, much of the writings on Arabic culture
are either out-dated, inapplicable, or inaccurate. Nydell
writes:
The most serious deficiency in research about Arab
society is the lack of attention given to modern,
urban, and often Western-educated Arabs. Researchers,
especially anthropologists, have tended to focus on
village life and nomadic groups and to study
traditional social patterns. Interesting as these
studies are, they offer little directly-applicable
information for Westerners who will, for the most part,
observe or interact with Arabs who are well-educated,
well-traveled, and often very sophisticated, (vii)
However, Nydell does also note that although there exist
differences among Arabic countries, regions, and social
classes, some generalizations can be made. For example,
norms among educated Arabs can differ greatly from those of
the uneducated. Also, within Arabic society there are more
clearly defined tiers of social classes than in American
society. Nydell warns that because the intellectual Arabs
might appear to have manners very similar to those of an
American, subtleties in different patterns of behavior and
thought can easily be overlooked (ix).
Parker et. al. aptly call their generalizations
"cultural clues" (94). Parker et al. also write that the
75
Arab student is one of "the most adaptable" of the foreign
students who come to the U.S. (94). Parker et al. explain
that such a quality does not imply that these students are
"fickle or shallow," but rather it is a quality that stems
from within Arabic society: "[sjocial morality prevails
over personal morality" (9b).
Parker et al.'s statement is true; however, it may be
misunderstood. Within the context of Arab society where
there is believed to exist an absolute right and wrong
derived from religious teachings, an individual should not
jeopardize the good of the society for his own selfish
desires. Such an explanation does not imply that an
individual has no rights, but rather, because an
individual's actions directly affect the society and vice
versa, there must be mutual interaction and consideration.
Parker et al.'s statement does not entirely explain how
the Arab's "adaptability" is not "fickle or shallow" but
implies, especially to those who may not be familiar with
Arabic culture, that the Arab does not have an individual
conscience. Many Arab-Americans have chosen to completely
assimilate with the American culture; however, their initial
intent for assimilation may have come from the simple desire
to please others, a common trait of Arabs, or, as with many
other immigrants, from a need to feel that they belong, or
76
from no longer having any ties with their ancestors' culture
and preferring the American culture.
Parker et al. are also not entirely correct about Arab
adaptibility. Many Arabs are guite confused about their
identity as Arab-Americans and are in constant search for a
balance between their current home's culture and that of
their ancestors in the old country. Other Arabs, who are
quite comfortable choosing what they prefer of each culture,
become culturally pluralistic.
Most Arab-Americans, as with all other nationalities
that have come to make America their new homeland, either
are culturally assimilated, culturally suppressed, or
culturally pluralistic, to use Bennett's terms. However, as
Nydell argues, Western values are not easily mixed with
traditional Arab values, so it takes quite some time for the
culturally pluralistic Arab to truly "adapt."
Again, it is necessary to mention the topic of
stereotypes. A large majority of Arabs feel they need to
assimilate or become completely isolated because they are
negatively stereotyped and because they may negatively
stereotype Americans. Consequently, if it is true, as was
noted in Chapter III, that cultural pluralism is preferred
to cultural assimilation and suppression, then stereotypes
on both sides must be eliminated.
77
As Nydell acknowledges, Arabs have been targets of much
direct and indirect criticism by the West, despite and/or
because of ignorance of Arabic culture by the West.
Mansfield agrees with Nydell in the following statement:
Any writer who embarks on an attempt to describe
and interpret the contemporary Arab world to Western
readers is confronted by a set of formidable
difficulties. At the superficial level he encounters a
stereotyped vision of the Arabs, and of the Islamic
religion which is closely associated with them in the
Western mind. A more complex problem is that the
average educated Westerner is unaware that he suffers
from prejudice towards the Arabs. The New England or
Hampstead liberal would be alarmed to find himself
making a derogatory generalization about "the blacks,"
"the Chinese" or, still more, "the Jews." He feels no
such compunction in his thoughts about "the Arabs."
(491)
The basic thesis of Edward W. Said's book, Orientalism,
is that for centuries the West has defined the East as
"Other" and as everything the West is not. The area
considered the "Orient" is the Near East (Middle East),
which includes the Arab countries, and the Far East, which
includes India, China, and Japan. However, Said focuses his
work on "the Anglo-French-American experience of the Arabs
and Islam, which for almost a thousand years together stood
for the Orient" (17).
Said is a professor ot comparative literature at
Columbia University and an American of Palestinian descent.
His book is filled with examples ot how the East has been
defined by the West. Although his work is complex and goes
78
beyond the scope of this thesis, some of what seems
applicable to the notion of stereotypes in his text is
highlighted below.
Said distinguishes three interdependent meanings for
Orientalism. The first is an "academic" meaning as in "Any
one who teaches, writes about, or researches, the Orient
. . . either in its specific or its general aspect, is an
Orientalist, and what he or she does is Orientalism." The
second meaning is a "more or less imaginative" meaning
whereby "Orientalism is a style of thought based upon an
ontological and epistemological distinction made between
the Orient' and (most of the time) 'the Occident.'" This
second meaning creates the "basic distinction between East
and West as the starting point for elaborate theories,
epics, novels, social description, and political accounts
concerning the Orient, its people, customs, 'mind,' destiny,
and so on" (2-3).
The third meaning is "more historically and materially
defined" than the first two. This meaning allows
Orientalism
[to] be discussed and analyzed as the corporate
institution for dealing with the Orient--dealing with
it by making statements about it, authorizing views of
it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling
over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for
dominating, restructuring, and having authority over
the Orient. (3)
79
Finally, the following paragraph is an apt summation of
what many Arabs feel regarding their image, among those of
the West especially:
One aspect of the electronic, post modern world is
that there has been a reinforcement of the stereotypes
by which the Orient is viewed. Television, the films,
and all the media's resources have forced information
into more and more standardized molds. So far as the
Orient is concerned, standardization and cultural
stereotyping have intensified the hold of the
nineteenth-century academic and imaginative demonology
of "the mysterious Orient." This is nowhere more true
than in the ways by which the Near East is grasped.
Three things have contributed to making even the
simplest perception of the Arabs and Islam into a
highly politicized, almost raucous matter: one, the
history of popular anti-Arab and anti-Islamic prejudice
in the West, which is immediately reflected in the
history of Orientalism; two, the struggle between the
Arabs and Israeli Zionism, and its effects upon
American Jews as well as upon both the liberal culture
and the population at large; three, the almost total
absence of any cultural position making it possible
either to identify with or dispassionately to discuss
the Arabs or Islam. Furthermore, it hardly needs
saying that because the Middle East is now so
identified with Great Power politics, oil economics,
and the simple-minded dichotomy of freedom-loving,
democratic Israel and evil, totalitarian, and
terroristic Arabs, the chances of anything like a clear
view of what one talks about in talking about the Near
East are depressingly small. (Said 26-7)
Conversely, some Arabs also view the West negatively.
They still feel a strong sense of humiliation and resentment
due to Western colonialism and the crumbling of their once
vast and highly sophisticated empire. Mansfield writes that
the Arabs, Turks, and Iranians, or those of what he calls
"western Islam" or "Inner Islam" (as opposed to those of
80
"Outer Islam" who are Muslims of central and eastern Asia),
"are all inheritors of great empires which in earlier
centuries were both more civilized and more powerful than
Christian Europe." Those of "western Islam," he also
writes, find that after a "long period of Christian
ascendancy . . . have been seeking to bring their present up
to the level of the their past" (503).
However, pointedly, to justify Said's theory of
Orientalism, most Americans are unaware of the history of
the Arabs. Such ignorance is insulting to the Arab, who is
commonly seen by Americans as the stereotypical, dime store
novel, Bedouin sheik of the excerpt at the beginning of this
chapter. Hence, to return to the EFL instructor, he or she
must become somewhat familiar with the Arabs' past, as well
as their present.
The instructor should be aware of the modernization
currently taking place in the Arab world with regard to
villages, cities, education, agriculture, industry,
scientific research, and society in general. As AMIDEAST
states in Introduction to the Arab World, the current
changes taking place in the Arab countries are a result of
Western influence, yet there was a time when the Arab world
greatly influenced the West.
In early times, the Middle East was a trade route
81
between Europe and Asia and Africa. When the Islamic empire
flourished Arabs, non-Arab Muslims, including Persians and
Turks, and non-Muslims, including Christians and Jews, all
were able to contribute significantly to the fields of
mathematics, astrology, medicine, political science, social
science, philosophy, and literature. The universal language
and the language of the sciences, was at one time Arabic.
Achievements under the Islamic empire contributed greatly to
leading Europe out of the Dark Ages and into its
Renaissance. However, as the Islamic empire began to
crumble and Christian Europe began its quest for its
identity, Arab and Islamic influence began to fade.
The Islamic empire was still in existence until the
beginning ol the twentieth century. As Europeans began to
look for raw materials, new markets, and inexpensive labor,
during the late 1700's and the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution, they began invading and colonizing the Arab
world (AMIDEAST 19).
While this is in no way meant as a comprehensive
history of the region, much of it may be relatively new
information to the Westerner. All the above historical
information is mentioned m the hopes ot intriguing the EFL
instructor to research more about the history of the Arab
world and become aware ot its once glorious and flourishing
82
empire and its current state of development and
modernization.
The Survey
The following survey was given to Arabs and non-Arabs
to discover their views of the interaction of Arabic and
American culture.3 Their responses were solicited to try to
eliminate several stereotypes and to clarify misconceptions
of Arabic culture and its peoples. The perspectives of both
Arabs and non-Arabs can help the EFL instructor attain a
better understanding of the culture of the native-Arabic
speaker learning English. The bulk of the answers presented
are based on those of Arabs, primarily, because the basic
intent ol the survey was to solicit answers from them, and
most of the questions are more applicable to Arabs than to
non-Arabs.
After having received the completed surveys, I noticed
that some of the questions may not have been properly worded
or may have been unintentionally written to lead
participants to specific answers. Questions regarding the
attitudes of EFL instructors toward English and toward
Arabic may have been leading questions (questions 9 and 9a).
The apparent specificity of answers to these questions,
caused some respondents not to answer at all, either because
they were unsure of what the question asked for or because
83
they simply found no answer. Those questions that were less
specific and/or allowed the respondents to answer in a
variety of ways provided a wider and more interesting range
of answers.
The Respondents
A total of fifty respondents answered the survey.
Thirty-three of the respondents were students studying the
Arabic language in a community college in Southern
Californie\. The other seventeen respondents are relatives,
friends, and acquaintances of the surveyor, living in
California, Louisiana, and Texas. A total of twenty seven
respondents are Arabs, sixteen of whom are from the
surveyor's group, and sixteen respondents are American, one
of whom is from the surveyor's group. The remaining seven
respondents, who are all from the community college class,
are from Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries: three
from Afghanistan, one from Turkey, one from Pakistan, one
from India, and one from Japan.
Some ot those respondents who wrote that they are
American may have had some Arabic ancestry which can be
surmised through other answers on the survey or from their
names; however, since they did not indicate a native Arabic
country tor the third question on the survey, they were
considered American. Moreover, other respondents were born
84
in the United States but stiil indicated a native Arabic
country. Having noted a native Arabic country, these
respondents may still feel a greater link to Arabic culture
than other Arab-Americans who chose to identify themselves
as American only.
Those respondents Irom Afghanistan, Turkey, India, and
Pakistan may exhibit some cultural patterns similar to those
of Arabs due to the ini luence of Islam and consequently the
existence of the Arabic language in their countries. The
Japanese student is included in the survey solely for her
interest in Arabic and its culture.
The entire group ot titty respondents varied in age
from 14 to 62 years oi age; thirty-three of these are
females and seventeen are males. An arbitrary scale of
classifying the age groups is 0-25 years old represent the
"youth" group, 26-39 years old represent the "young adult"
group, and 40 years old and older represent the "mature
adult" group. There are seventeen female and seven male
youths, nine young adult females and eight young adult
males, and seven mature adult females and two mature adult
males in the entire group ot respondents.
Among the Arabs there are 13 youths, 11 young adults,
and three mature adults; there are 15 Arab females and 12
Arab males total. The occupations of the Arab respondents
85
included: several students, including some graduate
students, K-12 teachers, a community college language
teacher, a university prolessor of engineering, an
accountant, a chemist, a pharmacist, several electrical
engineers, two computer scientists, some office managers and
administrative assistants, and a homemaker.
Twelve respondents are originally Egyptian, two
originally Lebanese, one Kuwaiti, and one Jordanian; the
rest of the Arabs are eleven Palestinians, two of whom were
born and lived in Saudi Arabia, two in Jordan, one in
Kuwait, and one in Iraq. The length of time the respondents
lived in their native Arabic countries varied. For example,
some of the Palestinians were born in the U.S. and never
lived in their native Arabic country. Other respondents
lived outside the U.S. and their native Arabic countries.
One respondent was born in Kuwait, but her family is
originally from Egypt, where she eventually returned at the
age of twelve.
Other respondents may have lived in their native Arab
countries tor a short period of time and then moved to a
non-Arab country or were born in a non-Arab country other
than the U.S.. The Jordanian respondent was born in France,
and moved to the U.S. at age seven. Two Egyptian
respondents were born in Egypt but also lived in Kuwait and
86
the U.K. before coming to the U.S.. Another Egyptian
respondent was born in the U.S. and moved to Canada as an
infant. Still other respondents were born and lived in
their native Arab countries until they reached adulthood and
then came to the U.S.. As a result, the respondents are not
a homogeneous group but have had a variety of different
experiences that will aid to give this survey greater
credibility.
Twenty one of the respondents are U.S. citizens and six
are legal residents. Five of the respondents received their
citizenship by birth and sixteen received it by
natura1i zat ion.
Responses of the Arabs and Arab-Americans
Many respondents stated that learning English was not a
matter of choice: some were born in the U.S., others were
taught English as part ol the curriculum in their Arabic
countries, and others had parents who felt it important for
them to learn English for educational and/or economic
purposes. Furthermore, most respondents came to the U.S.
having learned some English in one of the Arab countries.
Most schools in the Arabic countries, whether public or
private, recognize the universality of English and so
introduce it to their students at some point in their
education.
87
Those Arabs who made a conscious choice to improve
their English were those who came to the U.S. as adults and
who felt they had not had enough English courses in their
native countries. Only one respondent wrote that it was his
conscious choice to learn English because he felt it was a
universal language, yet other respondents reflected that
view in other answers.
The reasons the Arab respondents gave for coming to the
U.S. are somewhat related to those regarding why the English
language was studied. The respondents who came with their
families to the U.S. or were born here had little choice in
the matter. Some of those who came with their parents were
aware that their parents came to the U.S. for greater
opportunities in education and a higher standard of living.
The eldest respondent who came to the U.S. with her four
children reflected the reasons of all those who immigrated
to the States as adults, "for a better future for our
children." Others who came as adults also included the
freedom of speech and beliefs allowed in the U.S. as one of
their reasons.
Eight of those who learned English in their native
Arabic countries said that they had non-native English
speakers as their EFL instructors. Five of the respondents
had native English speakers and three respondents had both
88
native and non-native English speakers teaching them
English. Not all the EFL instructors who were native
English speakers were American; some were British. Also not
all non-native English speakers who were instructors of
English were Arab; some EFL teachers were French, Canadian,
and German.
English instructors were said to have had either
positive or neutral attitudes toward English. Some
respondents did not answer this question possibly because
they did not understand it, found it to be looking for a
particular answer, or thought it was redundant (i.e., if a
teacher is teaching a particular subject he probably views
it positively). Although this question may not have been
well written, some of the responses may reflect either how
the students felt toward their instructors or how their
instructors actually portrayed themselves.
One respondent wrote that the simple reason the
instructors were positive toward English was that "They were
British." Other students wrote that the instructors'
attitudes were positive because "[they were] good teachers
[who] cared" and "They were probably proud of their
country(ies) and their culture, and felt that they had a
rich heritage upon which they could draw (e.g., the works of
Shakespeare)."
89
Those EFL instructors who were non-native English
speakers but had a positive attitude toward English were
said to "look up to those who speak English, so it is a
matter of status as well." Also non-native English speaking
EFL instructors had a positive attitude because "they were
very proud ot their knowledge of English" and "they thought
it was important for us to learn English to advance in this
world." Others who said their EFL instructors were neutral
towards English described them as having "a professional
attitude."
The responses regarding the EFL instructor's attitude
toward Arabic ranged from negative to neutral to positve.
One respondent who was born and learned English in the U.S.
seemed to find the question a leading one. She wrote,
"Neutral. Some people were negative and some were positive,
[but] I was never hated because I was an Arab!" Others
indicated neutrality becasue they felt they were too young
to notice any underlying attitudes.
Another respondent born and brought up in Egypt
believed that his instructors had a neutral attitude because
"native [Arab] teachers spoke it, and British teachers had
to know it to use it in their daily life when they were
living in Egypt." Another respondent who believed that his
American EFL instructors were neutral writes "Teachers of
90
English over here did not know much [or even] anything about
[the] Arabic language, therefore they had no opinion about
it.
A female respondent writes that her EFL teachers'
attitudes were neutral,
sometimes tilting towards negative. Being British,
they felt superior in a country that was colonized by
their people; their general attitude was that of
disdain for the people, the culture (and the language
follows).
Another respondent whose teachers were British echoed the
above sentiment, "never positive, mostly neutral, sometimes
derogatory--[due to] British colonial attitudes."
A male respondent evaluates his EFL instructors as
having a "negative to neutral" attitude toward Arabic
because "they were evaluating the language by evaluating the
modern achievements of the Arab people and cultures [not
their grand achievements of the past]." Conversely, another
respondent wrote that her- instructors were "very ignorant
and uneducated about our modern civilization and culture."
In this instance, this respondent is probably referring to
the stereotype of the uncivilized Arab living in a tent and
riding a camel as opposed to all the intellectual thought
and modern technology that actually exist in the Arab world
today.
Those respondents who believed their EFL instructors
91
had a positive attitude toward Arabic wrote that their
native Arabic speaking EFL instructors were proud of their
native language and feit it was important for students not
to lose their native language or culture. One Muslim Arab
woman presented an encouraging example of teachers who put
their prejudices aside. She writes that not only did her
instructors believe that Arabic was necessary for religious
reasons (i.e., reading the Our1 an) but also because she
"went to Catholic school and since the nuns were teachers,
they wanted everyone to be the best and believed Arabic was
great since it was their native language."
The Egyptian respondent who attended a German private
school in Egypt acknowledged that her German EFL instructor
knew no Arabic but as "a foreigner and living in Egypt
[that] may mean that her attitude was fairly positive about
the language and culture of the country." The respondent
who was brought up in Canada writes that her teachers'
attitudes were "neutral to positive" because they "were
fascinated by such a complex language, and one so different
from their own."
When asked whether there were any occasions when the
repondents felt that the English instructors were unfair in
their judgements of the respondent's ability as an English
learner, many said, "No." However, many of those who said,
92
"No" were those who were born in America and learned English
at a very young age (Arabic may have been taught as a first
language in the home and English may have been taught as a
second language or been taught simultaneously with Arabic in
the home); also those who were taught English in their
native Arabic country may have come to the States with an
adequate grasp of the language and had no need to worry
about their English. Others felt that their instructors had
very fair and clear criteria for grading, and, thus, there
was little room for misjudgement. Others stated that they
were high achievers and thus their abilities could not be
misjudged.
One student writes, "No, I think that they [teachers]
were always very considerate when teaching, and they never
hurt our leelings as learners of a foreign language." An
Egypti an respondent writes about his experience with his
American teacher, "No, 1 was very lucky to have a teacher in
the fifth grade (first year of English) who treated me as a
very special foreign student."
However, there were those who did feel their
instructors were unfair. one respondent from Lebanon
believed that his Jewish-American EFL instructor wrongly
gave him a much lower grade than he deserved as his final
grade; when the instructor was questioned, he refused to
93
take any action to change the grade. An Egyptian student
also recalls a sense of prejudice from her teachers,
I can't recall any incidences in my English classes,
but I had a British teacher for French classes, and she
seemed to be less patient and more likely to flare up
with Arab students than with Brits and other Europeans.
She seemed to doubt our intelligence.
Another student felt that she should not have been
placed in an EFL class, but was wrongly placed because she
came from a different country. Another student complained
that teachers would often spend too much time explaining
things, despite the fact that she already understood.
Conversely, one student vented her frustrations at not
being able to express herself and as a result both she and
her teachers were frustrated. Another student made an
astute observation that his EFL classes were too large and
mixed together too many levels; as a result of class size he
felt he was not getting the attention he needed and teachers
actually paid more attention to those students whose level
of English acquisition was higher than his; he believes that
most ol these more advanced students had other European
languages as their first language, so they advanced much
more quickly than he did because of what could be easily
transferred from their iirst language to English (e.g.,
alphabet and vocabulary).
When respondents answered whether there were any
94
occasions when they felt that their English teachers
misunderstood them because the instructors misunderstood the
students' culture, many respondents did not answer with
respect to their English teachers only. Those who said they
did not feel misunderstood either reasoned that it was
because they were born here or because they were already
familiar with American culture and did not stand out. One
student wrote, "No one seemed to realize I was not like
everybody else; after learning the language, I was like
everybody else." Others who were taught English in their
native Arabic countries by native Arabic speakers, believed
that, ot course, no misunderstanding could arise.
Those who felt that they were misunderstood gave a
variety ol reasons. One Palestinian who was born in Kuwait
wrote that "the strictness of my parents really seemed to
interfere with school activities." Several other
respondents wrote that too many stereotypes about Muslims
and Arabs existed and as one Egyptian respondent wrote,
"Sometimes, their [teachers'] stereotypes [of Arabs] were
obstacles to their understanding [of Arabic culture]."
Another respondent wrote that when Americans found that
their impressions of Arabs were wrong, they "seemed
shocked." A female Muslim wrote
Prejudices and misconceptions abound; for me, many of
them pertained to the position and freedom and
95
"standing" of Arab and/or Muslim women. Many expressed
surprise at finding me so "normal."
Another woman echoes an earlier response by another
respondent to another question as she writes about her
experience
at college [in Egypt], the level of teaching by British
teachers was very low. They seemed to lower their
standards and expectations and were almost shocked at
excellent work by a native [an Arab].
Finally, one male engineer is quite aware of the
differences in Arabic speech mannerisms and those of
Americans. He writes that American teachers did not
understand his body language, hand movements, and voice
elevation which he used to make his point.
Some respondents wrote that they never misunderstood
their English teachers because of a misunderstanding of
American culture on the respondent's part. Others wrote
that when they first arrived to the States they may have
misunderstood some things. One respondent wrote,
Yes, I am sure, especially during my first years here.
Everything was so new and different. I was only ten,
but after some time there was no real problem.
Another respondent wrote that her misunderstandings
were not actually based on American culture in general but
with special terms specific to a class or a subject in
a particular school. For example, in P.E. [there was
the term] "a goody box." Even an American outside that
school may not know exactly what is meant by "a goody
box" and what it is for.
Others who answered affirmatively to having
96
misunderstood teachers due to their misunderstanding of
American culture felt that most of the subjects,
discussions, and even jokes in class revolved around
American culture which they were not yet familiar with. One
respondent felt that he had difficulty in understanding
attitudes and when he tried to break barriers he was often
unsuccessful. Another respondent was uncomfortable with
touching between males and females. However, he was not as
uncomfortable when the teacher was much older than he.
A few respondents brought up the issue of the different
sense of time that Arabs have from that of Americans and the
differences that exist in etiquette. One woman expresses
emphatically that when she attended graduate school in the
States, she had
trouble with American "deadlines" and TIME management.
Also I did not appreciate the off color joking and
sometimes too open criticism. We [Arabs] would often
go out of our way, inviting and trying to please but
were not appreciated.
Another respondent distinguishes between Americans and
the British and their arnica bility.
American people/teachers are, or seem to be, so warm
and friendly, and they seem to invite you into their
lives. But British teachers were so much more
reserved--you felt you had to keep your distance--
usually. The American "sincerity" ("Have a good day!")
that's taught to salespeople seems to have spilled over
to most of the population, but it's lacking in true
warmth--something winch took me a little while to
realize.
97
Only six of the twenty-seven respondents said that no
one inside or outside of their English class said or did
anything that showed ignorance of their culture. One of
those who said, "No," wrote that it was because he did not
interact very much with his classmates. Another respondent
wrote that because his EFL class in the States was comprised
of all foreigners, everybody was curious and interested in
befriending one another and learning about each other's
cultures.
Many of those who experienced the ignorance of others
about Arabic culture wrote that they were either insulted by
many of the common slang derogatory words used to define an
Arab or asked many questions that showed a great deal of
ignorance about the modern Arab world. Some of the slang
terms that were included: "camel jockey," "tabouli eaters,"
"towel heads," and "sand niggers." Questions and comments
that were addressed to the Arabs include: "Oh, Egypt,
that's were they have all that sand."; "Did you use to live
in a tent or a pyramid?"; "Did you ride camels to school?";
"Do you keep a camel in your basement?"; "What language do
they speak over there?"; "Well, English is a better language
for expressing yourself, anyway."
Questions specifically asked of Arab women: "Can you
belly dance?"; "How come you don't wear a veil?"; "Were you
98
allowed to drive [in your Arab country]?"; "How will you
ever get married if you don't date?"; In reference to
Muslim women who wear a hair covering, or "hijab": "Do you
wear that in the shower?"; "Do you sleep with that on your
head?"; and lastly, asked of a Muslim man about his wife who
was wearing a head covering and standing next to him, "Can
she talk?"
Needless to say, most Arabs were offended by these
terms, questions, and comments, as well as suggestions that
all Arabs are terrorists and/or are very rich Arab oil
sheiks, and/or all Arab men have harems, and/or all Arab
women live in harems. One respondent added that she was
asked why she didn't have a "dot on my head [like the
Hindus]" and Arab names were mocked. Another remarked that
Americans are generally unaware of who the Arabs and Muslims
are and how they are related. One respondent noted that
although she would state that she was from Egypt many would
later confuse her homeland with Israel. She believes that
"geographical ignorance is quite prevalent."
While all respondents admitted that such comments were
based on ignorance, reactions to that ignorance varied. For
example, one man wrote that he did not find these comments
to be "too insulting, they were just having fun! I was not
really hurt." On the other hand, another man wrote that he
99
experienced such ignorance "All through school. I had to
get into many physical lights about it."
One respondent did not mention the ignorant slang and
questions but instead wrote about the difference among her
peers. She wrote that in her experiences in Egypt,
American students at the American University (graduate
classes) seemed to group with their own, and there
seemed to be a separation between them and the Arabs in
classes (subtle, but apparent)."
The Rest ol the Respondents
The last three questions were the most general and, as
a result, the most applicable to all the respondents
including those who are non-Arab. Surprisingly, many of the
answers ol the non-Arabs are almost identical to those of
the Arabs. Moreover, many ol the Arabs gave the same
answers.
As mentioned earlier, most of the non-Arab respondents
were taking the Arabic language course in Southern
California. According to the Egyptian-American instructor
of the course, while some ol the non-Arabs may have been
taking the course simply to learn another language, many of
them had some other alt illation with the Arab world. Many
of the students either have Arab families, husbands,
boyfriends, friends, or ancestry. Some of the students are
also Muslim and need to study the language to be able to
read the Qur1 an.
100
In response to the question of what is the most
important thing that a non-Arab American should know about
Arabic culture, many Arabs replied that becoming educated
about many other cultures is needed. However, many were
more specific in what they wanted to educate non-Arabs
about. Some focused on making distinctions; the
distinctions to be made would be between Arab and Islamic
culture, between Arabs among themselves, and between Muslims
among themselves. One Arab respondent wrote that non-Arabs
should learn
that Arabic culture is not monolithic or homogeneous.
It is quite diverse, and non-Arabs must realize this--
Egyptians are not Saudi Arabians, and Palestinians are
not Syrians. What binds us is our language and our way
of life/basic beliefs and the belief in the Oneness of
God, but our customs and cultures do vary.
Another Arab respondent wrote that what non-Arabs should
know about Arabic culture is "that it is a culture! Not a
backward barbaric society."
Others wanted to clarify any misconceptions about both
Arab and Muslim women. An Arab man answered that "Arab
women are very misunderstood. Americans must be aware that
they are educated!" He adds that Muslim women cover their
hair "not because they are second class citizens but out of
modesty and out of deep spiritual belief." Others want non-
Arabs to learn about the rich history of Arabs and be aware
of the modern Arab as wel1 .
101
That [Arabic culture] stretches back for centuries and
is much deeper and more complex than they can guess.
That they [non-Arabs] shouldn't settle for one or two
viewpoints of it (probably engineered by the media) but
they should rather search for alternative outlooks
perhaps written by native authors, journalists, and
commentators.
Still others want non-Arabs to be aware of more
detailed aspects of Arabic culture, such as most Arabs that
they will meet in the U.S. are very well educated; also,
most Arabs have strong lumily ties and religious beliefs.
"Children are not usually kicked out at age eighteen and the
extended family is common. Religious beliefs permeate every
aspect of the Arab's life." In addition, with regard to
social and sexual behavior, males and females do not mix
casually in social situations, they do not date, but are
strongly encouraged to marry, and the physical affection
between members of the same sex does not imply
homosexuality. Respondents wanted non-Arabs to be aware
that such norms cause there to be a greater shyness between
members ol the oppusite sex.
Others emphasized the importance of avoiding
stereotypes. One Palestinian writes "the main thing they
[Americans] should know or realize is 'different' doesn't
necessarily mean 'bad.'" An Egyptian writes
Savour the differences and take comfort in the
similarities especially with regard to the influence
Islam as a religion has had on the culture.
102
Another Egyptian writes
understand Arab culture in general, and that they
aren't stereotyped as either terrorists, millionaires,
vulgar people, or ignorant and that there are
terrorists, millionaires, vulgar, and ignorant people
all over the world including the Arab world.
American respondents gave very similar answers to those
of the Arab respondents lor what the non-Arab should know
about Arabic culture, although some of the responses seem to
include a bit of ignorance and irony. One Catholic American
woman writes, "They should know that there is more to the
Arab culture than terrorists and uneducated people." She
goes on to say,
They should know of the beauty of the language and that
the religion is a good religion--that makes as much
sense as Christianity or Judaism and of the ancient
culture that the people have.
A retired American physician writes "that Arabic culture is
not hostile to us."
An American Muslim writes, "A so called third world
country does not necessarily mean that the people who live
there are barbaric." Another American Muslim woman writes
They must learn a little about Islam. They are very
ignorant and assume that 1 can't be Muslim because I am
American and vice versa. They shouldn't believe
stereotypes and the media. They should get rid of
their Western supeilurity complex.
One American woman wants non-Arabs to know "That people
are people and the same the world over if you overlook the
politics and religions." While another American makes a
103
stereotypical error about Iranians, who are not Arabs and
not all terrorists, she writes that non-Arabs should know
the differences between the countries (the terrorists
in Iran etc. versus Egypt) people listen to the media
too much. American people are ignorant when it comes
to the Middle East.
Among the non-Arab, non-American group of respondents,
again, answers were similar to the rest of the group. This
group of seven mentions that the non-Arab should learn: that
not all Arabs are terrorists; that non-Arabs should not try
to change the cultural and religious views of Arabs; that
family ties are very important to Arabs; that Islam should
be viewed as one of the three main religions of the world;
and two of the respondents mention becoming more aware of
the Arab side of the Arab-Israeli issue, which was not
mentioned by other respondents because the survey encouraged
avoiding the subject of politics.
As to the most important thing Arabs should know about
Americans, answers were even more limited to approximately
three or four with a few variations. The most basic answer
is that American culture is completely different from Arab
culture, and it allows much more freedom of speech and
actions. One Arab wrote, "Learn to appreciate freedom. I'd
suggest that the best thing they [an Arab] should do is to
read the Constitution and its amendments." However, another
Arab answered,
104
That American culture is extremely materialistic and
luring, and if one is not careful one will get sucked
into a mode of life that is centered around oneself,
consumerism, and this worldly life alone, without
knowing it.
Another Arab writes that "the total freedom here should not
shock newcomers; they should be made familiar with the life
style of people here (through education, films, etc)."
Another respondent warns Arabs new to America of how
Americans are ignorant ot Arab culture, but they must be
patient because Americans are ignorant about many cultures
outside of their own.
A great many Arab respondents recognized the need to
mention that just as Arabic culture has stereotypes that
should be avoided so does American culture. Both cultures
were acknowledged as having good and bad aspects. A
Palestinian writes that
Many Arabs automatically develop animosity towards the
U.S. and its citizens. Arabs need to learn these are
not developed opinions but rather comments due to
ignorance.
Another Arab man warns that
there are many misconceptions about Americans including
that all American women are cheap, and if an American
woman is kind to an Arab man, it does not mean that she
is necessarily looking for a romantic relationship.
Also, not all Americans go to bars and drink; so those
Arabs who do not drink can find Americans who do not
drink to socialize with.
An Arab woman advises Arabs:
105
to be frank and straight forward in their daily
interactions. To work from the basis that people are
fundamentally the same independent of language or
culture. Do not assume that Americans are fair or
indiscriminating (Americans do have biases).
An Egyptian explains,
Young people should not be shocked by the "freedom" of
life style in the States and should not abuse of it.
They must learn to take the good [with the bad] and
understand the differences, yet keep away from what is
harmful in this culture. They should learn not to
believe all they see and read in the media, etc.
And to the image of the States as the land of "golden
opportunities" an Arab woman concedes that becoming
successful in the U.S. still requires hard work, keeping
goals in mind, and being "smart" in general. Part of being
"smart" also entails adhering to the time system of
Americans. One Arab man strongly advises Arabs to "Keep
appointments!! Respect time!" An Egyptian woman writes that
what is expected in the States is
Promptness, punctuality, work ethics, high standards in
the work place (usually). Life here can be a lot
harder; you are expected to work very hard and for long
hours. This is not an easy paradise.
The responses of the Americans once again are almost
identical to those of the Arabs.
New arriving Arabs should not be so quick to judge
Americans on behavior. America is very liberal and
some actions may shock them but all must be accepted,
declares one American. "America is not as decadent as Arabs
think," writes another. Another respondent echoes,
106
They should understand that American society is more
open and less restrictve, has fewer behavioral rules
(e.g., a woman dating men is not immoral).
A surprising bit of advice from one American reads,
Americans like to be free. They like to wear, speak,
or do whatever they want. Try to keep your culture
and traditions. Americans wish they had real
traditions.
The non-Arab, non-American students warned the Arab a
bit more about the loss of morality that they believe
prevails in the U.S. "[The U.S.] seems void of any moral
standards, ethics, and social limits" and
Don't leave your children to follow American young
people's way--go with girl/boyfriends at night, hate
their parents, and spend a lot of money on drugs.
These comments also included those who believed that
"Americans are very open minded and will question your
background, your religion, and your culture." Another
writes be "proud of what your are! don't try to be
Americanized. Don't change your name. Don't forget your
religion, language, [and] culture."
The final question was answered in basically the same
way by all respondents. The respondents answered that other
suggestions they would make to the EFL instructor would
simply be to go out and research Arabic culture. The
Egyptian-American Arabic instructor writes,
It's time for Americans in general, and teachers of
Arab students in particular to learn about their
107
students (first hand) by talking to their students,
listening, reading, (traveling if possible), with an
open mind. Their main goal should not just be teaching
the language, but trying hard to understand "foreign"
students to help them adjust and grow.
Other respondents also made many suggestions about how
EFL instructors can learn more about their Arab students.
One Palestinian suggests visiting several local Arabic
communities that he says will all for the most part
volunteer information. others simply suggest asking the
student when a misunderstanding arises and not assuming the
reasons that misunderstanding occurred. Several wrote that
the EFL instructor must be aware that the Arab student is
very sensitive and shy, so he needs individual but sincere
attention. One respondent gave an example regarding the
sensitivity and shyness of the Arab as tending to say he
understands possibly when he does not. The reason the
respondent gives is both that the student is embarrassed to
ask, and, if the student is of the opposite sex from that of
the instructor, he will also shy away. The respondent
suggests that the EFL instructor ask the student what he
understood to ensure that he did. Also a lack of
participation may not imply disinterest but self-
consciousness .
One American-born Palestinian writes that some Arabs
believe themselves superior to others and these
108
unfortunately reflect bad on other Arabs. Any ESL
instructor should learn to temper his/her attitude
towards these obnoxious Arabs. They do not reflect the
attitude or air of the majority of Arabs.
Another Egyptian respondent writes that the EFL instructor
must always keep in mind that "Arabs among themselves are
different with many cultural differences."
Other respondents emphasized that they do not ask for
special treatment for the Arabs, but rather equal treatment
as "I urge English instructors to try to understand their
students, whether Chinese or Arabic, and where they're
coming from (attitude-wise)", writes an Egyptian. And,
finally, another Egyptian writes "Educate yourself so you
can educate your students."
The American respondents emphasized patience and
sensitivity. "Encourage a genuine sharing and acceptance of
their culture by accepting each person as individuals.
Encourage pride in what they bring with them." Yet another
warned against special treatment,
English teachers should treat the Arabic student like
they were in their home country. Students should
respect their teachers (no talking back, no leaving in
the middle of class, etc.).
Other Americans want teachers to be familiar with much of
what was mentioned above, i.e., religion, language, and
history, and suggest that EFL instructors take Arabic
culture classes (such classes are taught in some community
109
colleges in California), preferably taught by a native Arab.
Finally, the non-Arab, non-American group writes with
the most fervor. "Know about their countries and their
values and accept them as they are and do not try to convert
them to the American way of life." Another adds
Please don't expect them to know everything the first
few years of their being here, and don't blame them if
there is a war in the Persian Gulf--there, far away.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
The research conducted on Arabic linguistics and
culture points to general problems in finding informative
material on these subjects. In the area of linguistics,
much of the material was either not specific to the native
English speaking EFL instructor, i.e., written for native
Arabs who teach English, or too technical as an introduction
for the EFL instructor who is not already familiar with it.
In the area of culture, much of what was found was either
inaccurate, outdated, or focused on small groups that are
mainly of anthropological interest but do not represent the
majority of Arabs that will come to the U.S..
Generally speaking, however, the material found on
Arabic linguistics, presumably due to its more scientific
nature, was more useful, thorough, and reliable than that
found on Arabic culture. The greater lack of material on
Arabic culture demands more information on the subject to
erase the amount of ignorance and misconceptions most
Westerners have regarding it. The information presented in
this thesis is intended as introductory material and not a
comprehensive study; moreover, although some of the material
in this study may seem to go into detail beyond the needs of
110
Ill
the EFL instructor, due to misinformation and ignorance
about Arabs, such detail is necessary for a more complete
introduction to the Arabs.
Ironically, the Gulf War promoted some relatively
sensitive articles on Arab-Americans. Such articles attest
to the same misconceptions and ignorance of Arabic culture
that were found in the survey in this thesis. Two such
articles are Susan Edmiston's "Arab Women: It's Time to End
the Stereotypes" and Elaine Liner's "Beyond the Veil," both
of which I have summarized in the Notes.1 In addition,
various institutions and organizations exist that can give
EFL instructors more information and references on Arabic
culture; these too are listed in the Notes.2
The survey presented in Chapter IV was conducted to
introduce the EFL instructor to some of the people in the
Arab-American community. Although the survey had only fifty
participants, of whom only twenty-seven were Arabs, the
participants had a variety of different backgrounds, yet,
pointedly, many of the participants' responses were similar.
Despite flaws in the survey, it was quite successful as
it justified much of what was stated in the earlier
chapters. No longer were references brought from published
texts but came from real people who are and were in the
middle of the very situation being discussed. This
112
researcher was not expecting responses to adhere so closely
to what was written in the preceding chapters. However,
that happy circumstance has not only strengthened my
statements above, but emphasizes the need for a better
understanding of linguistic and cultural aspects of native
Arabic speakers learning English.
All too often, the image one has of a certain group of
foreigners is based on any one, some, or all of the
following: the image the media of one's country portrays of
that group, the political stance of one's government toward
that group's government, an uninformed and/or prejudiced
author or commentator, an anthropologist's view of the
"exotic" traditions of a small group within the foreigner's
culture, and one's experiences with a few members of that
group who may not accurately represent the majority of their
people. EFL instructors are encouraged to immerse
themselves into Arabic culture by finding many of the
references used for this study and by visiting Arabic
communities in their area. A basic truth confirmed by this
study is that to really understand a people, their culture
and language, one must mingle with as many of them as
possible. In better understanding Arabic language and
culture, the American EFL instructor can better teach native
Arabic speakers American language and culture.
NOTES
Chapter I
1 The three most widely spoken languages are Mandarin
Chinese (720 million speakers), English (305 million
speakers), and Spanish (240 million speakers) (Nydell 153).
2 . . . .
A common misconception is to believe that Iranians'
first language is Arabic. Actually, the Persian language is
Farsi which stems from the Indo-European language family.
The misconception arises from the fact that after the
Islamic conquest of Persia in the seventh century Farsi
adopted Arabic script to replace its original Pahlavi
script. Two letters that do not exist in Arabic but have
been created to suit the Iranian language are /p/ and /v/
(Wilson 129). In addition, Persians, along with Asian
Indians, belong to the Aryan race, unlike Arabs and Jews who
belong to the Semitic race.
3 The following are statistics from AMIDEAST.
Introduction to the Arab World. (Washington, D.C.:
AMIDEAST, 1989) 25-26.
"Listed below are the approximate religious compositions of
Arab countries' populations (The World Factbook 1988.
Washington, D.C.: Director of Intelligence for Central
Intelligence Agency, 1988.)
113
114
Religious Compositions of Arab Populations
Algeria 99% Sunni1**1, 1% Jewish and Christian
Bahrain 30% Sunni, 70% Shi'ac**]
Egypt 94% Sunni, 6% Christian (predominatly Coptic)
Iraq 60-65% Shi'a, 32-37% Sunni, 3% other (mostly
Christian)
Jordan 95% Sunni, 5% Christian
Kuwait 45% Sunni, 30% Shi'a, 15% Christian, Hindu,
* r * * * * 1
Parsi 1
Lebanon 34% Shi'a, 26% Maronite Christian, 21% Sunni, 12%
other Christian, 7% Druze1**1
Libya 97% Sunni, 3% other
Morocco 99% Sunni, 1% Jewish and Christian
Oman 75% Ibadi Muslim, 25% Shi'a, Sunni, some Hindu*
Qatar--95% Sunni, 5% other*
Saudi Arabia--99% Sunni, 1% Shi'a
Sudan 70% Sunni, 5% Christian, 25% other
Syria--74% Sunni, 16% other Muslim (predominately Shi'a
subsects), 10% Christian
Tunisia--99% Sunni, 1% Jewish and Christian
United Arab Emirates--80% Sunni, 16% Shi'a, 4% Christian,
Hindu*
Yemen, North (YAR) l***]---50% Sunni, 50% Shi'a subsects
Yemen, South (PDRY) [***] 99% Sunni, 1% other
115
These figures may include foreign workers, thereby
reflecting the religious affiliations of non-Arabs.
c**] Muslim sect [my insert]
North and South Yemen have recently united into one
Yemen [my insert]
Parsi is an East Indian sect of the Zoroastrian
religion, which originated in Persia in the sixth century
B.C. fThe American Heritage Dictionary 1976 ed.; my insert]"
The following is a chart in AMIDEAST's Introduction to
the Arab World. "Most Muslims are not Arab. Listed below
are the Muslim populations of various non-Arab countries
fThe World Factbook 1988)
Muslim Populations of Selected Non-Arab Countries
% Muslim Number of Muslims
Iran 98% 50,885,215
Turkey 98% 53,084,500
Pakistan 97% 104,243,433
Senegal 92% 6,698,540
Gambia 90% 701,539
Mali 90% 7,798,993
Afghanistan 89% 12,887,968
Indonesia 88% 161,933,997
Comoros 86% 369,351
Guinea 85% 5,872,903
116
Bangladesh 83% 91,269,747
Niger 80% 5,771,156
Albania 70% 2,203,146
Brunei 60% 189,939
Nigeria 50% 55,951,751
Malaysia 49% 8,035,169
Chad 44% 2,102,303
Guinea-Bissau 30% 285,222
Ivory Coast 25% 2,796,211
Israel 13% 558,659
India 11% 89,851,119
[former] Soviet Union 9% 25,779,135
China 3% 32,645,075
Pre-1967 estimate; mosques and churches
(26) .
closed in 1967"
4 Nydell's chart (114) :
Native or Other
Category Dialects Language Influes
1. North African Moroccan Berber
(Western Arabic) Algerian
Tunisian
Mauretanian
2. Egyptian/Sudanese Egyptian
Sudanese
Coptic, Nilotic
117
3. Levantine
Arabian Peninsular
5. Iraqi
Lebanese
Syrian
Jordanian
Palestinian
Saudi
Yemeni
Adeni
Kuwaiti
Gulf (Bahrain,
the Emirates,
Qatar)
Omani
Iraq
Local Semitic
languages
(Aramaic,
Phoenician,
Canaanite)
Farsi (in Gulf
states)
South Arabian
languages
Local Semitic
languages
(Assyrian,
Chaldean)
Farsi
5 To be consistent, I have transcribed the sample words
Nydell uses to show differences in vocabulary into the
International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA). Nydell, however,
transliterated these words as follows. The word for "a
sheet of paper" is, in the Egyptian dialect, "wara'a," in
Saudi dialect, "waraga," and, in Moroccan dialect, "werqa."
118
The phrase for "How are you?" is, in Lebanese, "keefak?", in
in Egyptian, "izzayyak?", in Iraqi, "shlonak?", and in
Tunisian, "shniyya hwalak?".
Chapter II
1 The six Arabic vowels are usually paired off as three
vowels that have a "long" and a "short" version.
Consequently, /i/ and /I/, /S/ and /ae./ and /u/ and /U/
are all pairs. The "long" version is represented by a
letter, while the "short" version is represented by a
diacritical mark directly above or below the consonant which
the "short" vowel sound foJlows. However, due to the
consonants that immediately precede or follow either version
of the /d/ and l^fLI vowels especially, an allophone may
occur. The pair /a/ and /a/ are allophones of /,/ and
/ae/ ; when an emphatic consonant is adjacent to either of
the pair, the vowel sounds become the rounder back vowels
/a/ and /a/ rather than the front vowels and /*/
2 Smith's information is based on British English;
however the information has been modified to suit American
English (Smith xii). To convert his information to American
English, 1 used the following chart of phonetic symbols
found in Fromkin and Rodman's An Introduction to Language
(58-9) :
119
TABLE 2-6 Phonetic Symbol/English Spelling Correspondences
Consonants
Symbol Examples
p spit tip apple ample hiccou g/i
ph pit prick plaque appear
b bit lab bral bubble
m mitt tarn smack Emmy camp comb
I stick pit kissed write
th tick intend pterodactyl attack
d Dick cad drip loved ride
n nick kin s/iow mnemonic design gnostic pneumatic know
k skin stick scat critigue ocher exceed
kh curl kin ckarisma critic mcckanic close
g girl guard burg ogre longer Pittsburg/i
r) sing think finger singer ankle
f /a t p/iilosop/iy / l a t p/ilogiston coffee reef coug/i
v vat dove gravel ravage
s sip skip psychology pars pals democracy scissors fasten
deceive descent pseudo peace
z zip jazz razor pads kisses Xerox lies peas xylophone design
lazy scissors maize
0 t/iigh t/irough wrat/i ether wreath Matt/icw
6 thy their weather lathe mother either
shoe musk mission nation fisk glacial sure Russian
z measure vision azure casual decision rouge (for those who do not
pronounce this word with the final sound of jud^c)
choke matck feature rick righteous
j yudgc midget George magistrate region residual
1 leaf feel call sing le
r reef fear Paris singer
j you yes playing feud use
w H'itch swim mowing queen
M wkich wkerc wkale (for speakers who pronounce which differently
than witch)
h kat who whole rckash
7 bottle button glottal (for some speakers)
120
TABLE 2 - 6 Phonetic Symbol/English Spelling Correspondences
(continued)
Vowels
i beet beat be receive key believe amoeba people Caesar
Vaseline serene lily
i bit consist injury bin been
c bate bait ray great eight gauge reign they
c bet serenity says guest dead said
X pan act laugh comrade rally
u boot lute w/io sewer duty through to too two move Lou
u put foot butcher could
A cut tough among oven does cover flood bird herd word fur
0 coat go beau grow thoug/i toe own over melodious
3 caught wrong sta/k core saw ball awe
a cot father pa/m sergeant /lonor hospital melodic
9 sofa alone principal symphony roses difficult suppose melody
tedious wanted the America
aj
bite sight by die dye Stein aisle choir liar island height sign
aw, x w about brown doubt coward
3J
>
>
o
-
o
Some of the symbols in Table 2-6 are those traditionally used by linguists in
the United States in place of IPA symbols:
U.S. IPA U.S. IPA
5 =
f
1 = t
V
z =
3
u = CD
c =
tf
V
J = d3
D = j
121
3 While Smith says that there are 32 consonants, he
only specifies those consonants that correspond to English
consonants but does not specify those Arabic consonants that
do not exist in English. Thus, since the other sources only
mention the consonants which exist solely in the Classical
Arabic, these are the only ones I can designate as
consonants that do not exist in English (Abaza 9-11; Abboud
and McCarus; Ayyad 3-4):
Stops:
/t/ voiceless velarized "t" in "cut," but more
alveolar stop emphatic
/d/ voiced velarized "d" in "double," but
alveolar stop
/ P / voiceless glottal stop "catch in the throat"
in English "uh-oh"*
more emphatic
/q/ voiceless uvular stop "c" in "column,"
emphasis from throat
Fricatives:
/ 5r / voiced velarized "th" as in "thus" but
interdental fricative more emphatic
voiceless velarized
"s" in "sun," but more
alveolar fricative emphatic
/ x / voiceless velar fricative "ch" in Scottish
"loch"
/ * /
/IT/
voiced velar fricative
voiceless pharyngeal
fricative
voiced pharyngeal
fricative
Liquids:
/c/
in
tongue flap
voiced alveolar trill
122
"r" in French but more
"gargling" sound
"h" with sound of
clearing throat
strong gutteral sound
created by
compressing throat
and exhaling
"r" in Spanish "caro"
meaning "dear"**
"r" in Spanish "carro"
meaning "cart"
The glottal stop may have three vowel sounds
associated with it depending on its placement over the three
Arabic long vowels; these sounds may be compared to the
following English words, with all sounds made more
emphatically to represent the glottal stop: "a" in "amber,"
"i" in "inn," "u" in "zuiu."
Abboud and McCarus note that the English "r" is more
like a vowel than a consonant. They explain that "English
'r' is the 'u' in 'but' pronounced with the tip of the
tongue turned back and with rounded lips as in 'red rat.'"
(20) .
123
4 As a matter of fact, some texts will present the more
emphatic /^ / as an emphatic /z/ as does A. T. Ayyad in his

book Teach Yourself Arabic. However, the more widely used
and more linguistically oriented text of Abboud and McCarus,
Elementary Standard Arabic, presents the Arabic letter as a
more emphatic /Jf/ and compares it to the other Arabic
letter that is a less emphatic /Jf/. The more emphatic /z/
is very common and in many dialects, and that may be why
Ayyad placed it in his text that is meant to simplify
Arabic; however, the more emphatic / ^ / is still the more
"correct" in Modern Standard Arabic.
5 Again, to be consistent I transcribed Smith's
examples into IPA symbols. Smith had written the possible
Arab pronunciations as "perice" and "pirice" for "price,"
"ispring" and "sipring" for "spring," "arrangid" for
"arranged," "monthiz" for "months," and "neckist" for
"next."
6 Arabic numerals are based on the number system o f the
Asian Indians, known in Baghdad circa 760 A.D. (Grun 81).
7 The Arabic numbers are presented below (Nydell 119):
0 6
M 7 V
2 Y 8 A
3 r 9 \
4 1 10 \ *
5 6
124
Examples o f numbers:
79 790 100 345 1983
YA Y V Xlo WAT
8 Smith uses the incorrect vowel pattern for the agent
of the root /k/-/t/-/b/. Although the'vowel pattern that
Smith uses does exist, this particular pattern does not
apply for this root. Abboud and McCarus (608), Madina
(562), and Nydell (117) all present "kaatib" as the correct
transliteration of "a writer" or "a clerk." Hence, in the
chart, I have used Smith's format, but Nydell's information.
However, for consistency, I have transcribed Nydell's
examples into IPA symbols. When long vowels were needed, I
used the diacritical "line" above the phonemes. For example
when Nydell wrote "kaatib," I wrote /kattlb/. Because the
transcription to IPA is clear and consistent, Nydell's exact
examples will not be guoted here as the reader can easily
recover them without discrepancies.
9 Smith writes "This is the key door [underlining is my
insert]" possibly meaning "the door key." However, a direct
translation of the Arabic would more likely give "This is
key the door."
10 The following is a list presented in AMIDEAST's An
Introduction to the Arab World (75-6):
125
English Words of Arabic Origin
admiral (amir al-, "commander o f )
albacore (al-bakurah)
alcazar (al-qasr, "the castle)
alchemy (al-kimiya)
alcohol (at-kuhul, powdered antimony)
alcove (al-qubbah, "the arch)
alembic (al-anbiq, apparatus used in distillation)
alfalfa (at-fasfasah)
algebra (al-jabr, "the reduction)
algorithm (al-Khwarizmi, a ninth century Arab
mathematician)
Alhambra (al-hamra, "the red house)
alkali (al-qili, ashes of the saltwort plant)
almanac (al-manakh, "the climate)
amber (anbar)
ammonia (not Arabic; from Ammon, an Egyptian
god near one of whose temples it was prepared)
apricot (al-birquq)
arsenal (dar sina'ah, "house of manufacture)
artichoke (al-khurshuf,\or ardi shauJd, choke of
the earth")
assassin (hashshashin, pi., users of hashish)
attar (itr, "perfume")
average (awariyah, "damaged merchandise)
azimuth (as-sumut, "the ways)
azure, lapis lazuli (lazuward)
balsam (balsaan, "the balm tree)
borax (buraq)
calabash (qar'ah yabisah, dry gourd)
caliber (qalib, "mold, model)
caliph (khalifah, "successor)
camel (jamat)
camise (qamis)
camphor (kafur)
carafe (gharrafah)
carmine (qirmii, "kcrmcs," insects used to produce
a red dye)
carat (qircu. "bean pod; a small weight")
caraway (karawiya)
checkmate (shah mat, "the king is dead")
coffee (qahwa)
cotton (quin)
cipher (sifr, "empty, zero)
cigar (sigara)
cork (qurq)
crimson (qirmizi, from qirmix)
cumin (kammun)
divan (diwan, "hall, assembly)
damask (dimashq, "Damascus, Syria)
elixir (al-iksir)
gazelle (ghazaf)
gauze (qazz, raw silk)
genie (jinniy, "demon)
ghoul (ghul)
giraffe (zirafah)
guitar (qitar)
126
English Words of Arabic Origin
gypsum (jibs, plaster')
hashish (hashish)
hazard (az-zahr, "the die")
henna (hinna)
j a r (jarrah)
jinn (jinniy, demon")
kismet (qismah, "portion, lot)
lemon (laymun)
lilac (lilak)
loofah (lufa)
lute (al-ud)
jasmine (yasmine)
macrame (migramah, embroidered veil")
magazine (makhazin, pi., "storehouses")
mascara (maskharah, "buffoon)
mocha (mukha, Mocha, a city in South Yemen)
mohair (mukhayyar, "having the choice")
monsoon (mawsim, "season)
mummy (mumiyah)
muslin (mawsiliy, "from Mosul, Iraq)
myrrh (murr)
nadir (nazir, "opposite")
orange (naranj)
racket (rahah, "palm of the hand")
ream (rizmah, "bale, bundle")
safari (safara, "to travel")
safllower (asfar, "yellow")
saffron (za'faran)
sash (shash, "muslin)
sesame (simsim)
sequin (sikkah, die, coin)
sherbet (sharbah, a drink)
sofa (suffah, long bench)
sugar (sukkar)
sumac (summaq)
syrup (sharab, "beverage, drink")
tak (lalq)
talisman ( tilasm)
tamarind (lamr hindi, "Indian date)
tambourine (tanbur, a stringed instrument)
tariff (l a r i / , information, notification)
tarragon ( tarkhun)
typhoon (lufan, flood, damage)
vizier (wazir)
zenith (saml, way)
zero (sifr)
127
Chapter III
Most of the notes for this chapter are not specifically
necessary for the EFL instructor. However, due to the great
many misconceptions about Arabic culture, this researcher
felt it necessary to include elaborations in these notes on
certain subjects that are the most misunderstood.
1 An example of such Arabic expressions is when someone
returns from a trip, the Arab may say "Thanks be to God for
your safety," with the response "May God make you safe,"
while the American statement might be "Good to see you back"
(Nydell 120).
Some Arabic sayings are said on occasions which do not
usually require any sayings in American English. Some of
these sayings include: "May God give you strength," said to
a person working; "May our Lord make it easy," said to a
person discussing plans tor the future; and "Blessings of
God," said after some one has gotten a haircut, taken a
shower, or any "cleansing" process, with the response "May
God bless you."
Many formulaic expressions have several reciprocating
responses, as an interchange between the initial speaker and
his respondent. Although these interchanges generally call
for only one statement and one response as etiquette,
speakers often enjoy further elaboration, embellishment, and
128
playful use of the language. For example, what is said for
"Good Morning" uses many metaphors for things that represent
"goodness," primarily these are reflected in things that are
"white" in color which can be equated with the morning
light:
1st person: "Morning of goodness"
2nd person: "Morning of light"
1st person: "Morning of Arabian jasmine"
2nd person: "Morning of milk"
1st person: "Morning of honey" etc.
2 Some of the blessings protecting against envy include
the following. "This is what God wills" is said when
admiring an object, an accomplishment, a child, or family;
"May God keep him (it)" is also used when admiring an
object, a child, or family. The admirer of an object should
be especially careful when admiring a small and precious
object; some Arabs feel obligated to give the object as a
gift to the admirer to show that they are not conceited
about owning the object (Nydell 67). "Blessed" is used in a
variety of situations including the purchase of small or
large items (e.g., clothes or a house) to congratulations
for a small or large accomplishment (e.g. potting a plant to
graduating from college).
The sayings mentioned above that were not immediately
129
followed by particular responses may have more than one
response depending on the occasion. Keeping in mind the
Arab love of language, many other statements and responses
may be created for whatever the occasion. The following are
some of the more common responses to the above statements.
In the case of a blessing for a person working or someone's
future plans, the response may be "If it is what God wills."
When someone has just admired a child, the response, if
someone is at an age when they can have children, "May you
also have the same, someday," or if such a response is not
appropriate, "Thanks be to God."
A blessing for an accomplishment may also have the
response "May you also achieve the same, someday," if
appropriate, or "May God bless you"; finally in the case of
the purchase of an item, the response may also be "May God
bless you" or "You are welcome to it," whether or not the
possessor of the object actually gives the admirer the
object or simply is responding verbally to the blessing.
3 Single men and women meet in small groups usually
only when there are intentions of marriage. Prospective
brides and grooms are otten initially introduced through
family or social gatherings; such initial introductions do
not include any mention of marriage, although one or both of
the prospective mates may be aware of the intention of the
130
meeting. Family involvement and approval of marriages is
still preferred by most Arabs. However, the extent to which
the family is involved differs depending on the
modernization of the Arab families.
Arabs consider their families so precious and so close
that when one marries he or she is not just marrying another
person, but to some great extent he or she is also
"marrying" that person's entire family. After marriage a
couple still remains close to parents and in-laws, so they
must be able to get along. Family background, values,
religion, and status are all part of the marriage equation.
Among some Arabs, marriage is actually kept within the
family; themarriage of first or second cousins is not
uncommon. However, marriages to cousins are less common
today than a few generations ago, although they are still
quite common among rural and nomadic Arabs.
Rejection or acceptance of a marriage proposal is the
right of each prospective bride and groom. Both bride and
groom are allowed to visit to get acquainted and to help
them in their decision. However, in some instances all
meetings are chaperoned. Arabs seeking marriage partners
discuss many serious issues quite frankly, including the
desire to have children and their method of upbringing,
personal and financial responsibilities, and religious
131
beliefs and conduct.
Although once an engagement is publicly announced
couples may be given more privacy in their meetings, pre
marital sex is still not accepted behavior. A couple
consummates their marriage after a religious ceremony and,
if there is to be one, the social ceremony that follows to
annonunce their marriage to the community. Sometimes the
religious ceremony occurs days, weeks, or even months,
before the social ceremony because of several personal
reasons including finding a suitable place to live, or due
to one of the couple's job and vacations; however, whatever
the reason, if a social ceremony is going to take place, a
couple does not consummate the marriage nor, of course, live
together, until after the social ceremony.
Only the religious ceremony is required by both Islamic
and Christian religious laws but the social ceremony has
become common by way of tradition. If civil ceremonies are
performed, as are in the U.S., they still must be
accompanied by religious ceremonies.
4 The role of women in Islam has often been
misunderstood and questioned. However, such a topic goes
beyond the scope of this paper, and it can not possibly be
fully explained in a few sentences in the text. The comments
that follow are not considered comprehensive, yet may give a
132
brief introduction to the topic of "woman in Islam."
Women were given a great many rights with the coming of
Islam. Among the pre-Islamic pagan Arabs, the burial of
female infants was commonly done in fear of their
dishonoring the family when they grew up. However, Islam
forcibly outlawed this practice. In addition, Islam has
given women many rights that they had never had before and
either do not yet hold or have only recently obtained in the
Western world. A Muslim woman keeps her maiden name after
marriage. Her husband pays her a dowry, which she may spend
any way she prefers. Also all her money and possessions
remain in her name after marriage. In case of divorce, she
keeps all her possessions. Women are also given specific
rights to inheritance.
Unfortunately, there does exist a distinction between
theory and practice. To imply that all women in all Arab
countries are highly respected and have equal rights to
those of men would be to ignore reality. However, if women
are not getting their proper rights in some Arab countries
it is because of laws made by men not those of God in Islam.
Women in Arab countries lace similar types of discrimination
to those faced by women in America.
There have been efforts in the past few decades to
encourage more women to get an education and integrate into
133
the workforce. Yet many educated Arab women appreciate
their limited role in the public domain because they believe
that it is a form of protection and complimentary to their
nature and status as women. On the other hand, many Arab
women are working towards more legal, social, and personal
freedoms (Nydell 53-5).
Women at the beginning of Islamic times had the best of
both worlds. As Abdalati writes, during the time of early
Islam, "The status of woman was taken for granted to be
equal to that of man. It was a matter of course, a matter
of fact" (184). He also writes that "the impact of foreign
cultures and alien influences" caused the status of woman to
be questioned, and, in effect made inferior (184).
During early Islam, women were not only allowed all the
rights concerning personal property, inheritance, and
respect mentioned earlier, but there were also many who
owned their own businesses; during the Islamic battles,
women helped treat the wounded, prepared supplies, helped
the fighters in battle, and others remained in the villages
to take care of the homes and businesses while the men
fought.
A passage from the Our1 an reads, "0 mankindl reverence
your Guardian-Lord, Who created you from a single person,
and created of like nature his mate, and from them twain
134
scattered (like seeds) countless men and women" (4:1).
Clearly, according to Islam, God created women and men as
equals and complements to one another.
5 Many Arab women do work outside the home and have
found ways to incorporate their duties as mothers with their
desires for careers. Yet few Arab women, as American women
can also vouch, have found full-time work easily compatible
with full-time house-hold management without their husbands
sharing in some of the house-hold chores. Generally, modern
Arab couples come to the decision of whether one or both
should work outside the home depending on their material and
spiritual wants and needs. The decision is usually made
upon mutual consent, as one of the questions discussed
before any marriage proposal is accepted or rejected.
6 The terms "Mohammedanism" and "Mohammedan" are used
as synonyms for "Islam," /IslBC.m/, and "Muslim," /mUslIm/,
respectively, by the West (note the "s" in both Arabic words
is pronounced as /s/ not /z/). However, these terms are not
Islamic terms and are considered offensive by Muslims; the
use of such terms imply that Muslims worship Mohammad, which
is considered highly blasphemous by all Muslims. The main
tenet of Islam is that Muslims worship One Almighty God that
has no human form and Mohammad is God's humble servant like
all other Muslims. EFL instructors should thus avoid
135
these terms.
7 Through fasting the Muslim achieves many things.
Primarily the Muslim fasts to obey God's decree; however, if
that is all the Muslim learns from fasting, he has not
successfully fasted. Fasting is also meant to teach the
Muslim: self-discipline and control; patience; selflessness;
moderation; adaptation to his given situation; a sense of
unity and equality in joining all other Muslims in fasting;
self-assurance and dignity that he is capable of self-
control and free from complete reliance on his physical
self; appreciation of his physical possessions and pleasures
and his spiritual existence that goes beyond these; an
understanding and sympathy for all those who suffer through
poverty and hardships; and, finally, above all, as he fasts
the Muslim concentrates on his spiritual self and being
close to God (Abdalati 87-90).
Chapter IV
1 The basic plot of Valentino's movie is, Ahmad, played
by Valentino, the Arab sheik, kidnaps an Anglo woman, Marie
(I cannot recollect the female character's name, so I will
use the name "Marie") because he is mystified by her beauty;
when Marie refuses his advances, the sheik decides not to
force himself upon her, but assures her that in time she
will come to love him. As Ahmad predicted, the beautifully
136
frail Western damsel, eventually does fall for his gallantry
and his generous gifts. Meanwhile, an Arab desert robber,
Omar, discovers that Sheik Ahmad has this fair maiden and
decides that he must have her; Omar kidnaps Marie when Ahmad
is away.
Upon his return and the discovery of his love's peril,
Ahmad gathers up his tribe of Bedouins and raids Omar's
camp, as Omar and his tribe are being entertained by belly
dancers and getting drunk. Ahmad rescues Marie just as Omar
is about to rape her, but in the process of killing Omar,
Ahmad is wounded and rendered unconscious. Ahmad's men
return him and the European lady back to their camp where
she sits by his side waiting for him to recover.
As she awaits anxiousLy, she holds the sheik's hands
and remarks to the European doctor who is also present, that
Ahmad's hands are "rather big for an Arab." The doctor, a
long time triend of Ahmad, realizes the love Marie feels for
Ahmad, and recounts to her Ahmad's life story. It is then,
when Marie first acknowledges her love for Ahmad to another
person, that she discovers that her Arab lover is really not
an Arab but a European.
His parents had been lost in the desert and were
rescued by the former sheik of Ahmad's tribe; they were so
well treated by the chieftain of the tribe that they stayed
137
with him in the desert and brought up Ahmad there until he
was old enough to attend college in Europe. After his
graduation from college, Ahmad returned to the desert to
govern over the Arabian tribe he inherited from his parents'
rescuer. The movie closes with Ahmad regaining
consciousness and smiling at his lady love, who is delighted
to have discovered that her lover is not a foreigner; the
doctor goes out of the sheik's tent and tells the tribe that
Ahmad has regained consciousness, consequently, the Bedouins
rejoice by prostrating and giving thanks to "Allah."
2 In "Arab-American Women: It's Time to End the
Stereotypes," Susan Edmiston states that forty-three hate
crimes against Arab-Americans were reported in the five
months following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait (August through
December 1990) and an increase to fifty-two such crimes
between January and April of 1991. Edmiston compares the
high number of incidents after the invasion of Kuwait to the
relatively lower number of five hate crimes against Arab-
Americans in the first few months of 1990, before the
invasion (178).
3 The actual survey along with the cover letter sent to
participants (for purposes of brevity here, the blank spaces
allowed for the respondents' answers in the original survey
are not all included below):
138
Dear
To give you some idea of the purpose of this survey
here is a brief explanation: I am writing a thesis to
complete the requirements for a master's degree in English
at Texas Woman's University. The thesis is entitled "An
Understanding of the Linguistic and Cultural Aspects of the
Native Arabic Speaker Learning English." I am getting my
information on linguistics through various reliable books
and journal articles. However, my research has shown me
that a number of books which claim to understand the Arab
culture and the Arab mind are inadequate.
Therefore, I have written this survey. It is not
intended to be a scientific survey but rather as a way for
me to find out some opinions of the Arab-American community,
including how they feel other Americans view them and how
they wish to be viewed. If at all possible, I would
appreciate all those taking the survey to try to relate
their answers to their study of English; however, I realize
that may be difficult, so I welcome all variations of
answers (please avoid mentioning political issues). Keep in
mind that this survey is meant to aid the American English
teacher better understand the Arab who has recently arrived
to the U.S..
I greatly appreciate all the time you will give in
filling out this survey. I will be calling you during the
weekend, unless we have made other arrangements. If you
would rather write down your answers and send them to me, I
have enclosed a self-addressed stamped envelope. However, I
may still need to call you after having received your
written response to ciarity an answer. Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Nagia E. Moharram
Survey of Native Arabic Speakers Learning English
1.) Name (only for surveyor's knowledge, otherwise kept
confidential):_______________________________________________
Age:_______ Sex:_____ Occupation:
2.) What is your native Arabic country?
139
3.) How long did you live there?_______________________________
4.) Why did you choose to learn English?_____________________
4a.) Why did you choose to live in the U.S.?________________
5.) How long have you lived in the U.S.?_____________________
6.) Are you a citizen of the U.S.?____________________________
If so, are you an Arab-American by birth or naturalization?
7.) Did you learn English in the U. S. or your native
Arabic country?___________________________________________________
8.) If you learned English in your native Arabic country,
were your English teachers native English speakers?_________
9.) What were the attitudes of your English teachers toward
English (positive, negative, neutral)?_________________________
Please explain why you think they had such attitudes:_______
9a.) What were their attitudes toward Arabic? (positive,
negative, neutral) ___________________________________
Please explain why you think they had such attitudes:_______
10.) Were there any occasions when you felt that the
English teachers were uni air in their judgement of your
ability as an English learner? E x p l a i n . ___________________
11.) Were there any occasions when you felt that your
English teachers misunderstood you because they
misunderstood your culture? Explain.________________________
12.) Did you ever misunderstand your English teachers
because of your misunderstanding of American culture?
140
Explain.___________________________________________________________
13) Did any of your classmates inside or outside your
English class say or do things that showed ignorance of your
culture? Explain._______________________________________________
14.) What is the most important thing that you feel non-
Arab Americans should know about Arabic culture?
Explain. _________________________________________________________
15.) What is the most important thing that Arabs that are
new to America should know about American culture? Explain.
16.) Please include any other comments you would like to
make to help English instructors better understand their
Arabic students:________ ______________________ _______
Chapter V
1 One noteworthy article is Susan Edmiston's "Arab
Women: it's Time to End the Stereotypes." She includes the
stories ot discrimination and bigotry against several Arab-
American women. While this article was written just shortly
after the Gulf War ended, it not only highlights incidents
occurring due to the war, but also incidents unaffiliated
and prior to the war.
Stories specific to the Gulf War include that of an
Arab-American woman who works as a regional coordinator for
the Detroit office of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
Committee. She retells the incident of a phone call at her
141
office the day after the war began: "Some guy called up and
said, 'I'm gonna be down there in fifteen minutes with a
high-powered rifle to shoot you A-rabs.1" The same woman
continues, "People haven't become sensitized to racism
directed against Arab-Americans; we have to make it socially
unacceptable" (178).
Yet it is not just anonymous crank callers that show
bigotry toward Arabs. Edmiston reports that
At a political roast in early March [of 1991], U.S.
Representative Bob Davis (R-Mich) made a series of
ethnic "jokes" about Iraqi women, including the
following: "What is the difference between a catfish
and an Iraqi woman? One has whiskers and smells bad,
and the other is a lish. (178)
A first generation Aiqerian-American graduate student
who is involved in a variety of Arab cause organizations
says of her extracurricular activities:
You have to believe that we're not powerless if we
choose not to be . . . People have to take their anger
and turn it into energy and hard work . . . and try not
to flunk out of school. During the Gulf War, I was
walking across the law quad at Ann Arbor [University of
Michigan] and overheard two guys talking. One said,
"In Saudi Arabia everyone has forty wives." The other
guy said, "That's amazing. I can't even control one
woman." The first guy said, "But over there they have
them trained." I really lost it. When I turned around
and started screaming at them, I think they got a whole
different idea of Arab women. (195)
This same Algerian American woman was on a segment of The
MacNei1/Lehrer NewsHour during the Gulf War giving her
opinions as an Arab-American. After she appeared on the
142
program, she received a call at home from someone claiming
to be from the financial aid office of her university
threatening her with loss of her financial aid due to her
televised comments (178).
A third generation Lebanese American also had a
negative experience while attending college. While
attending California State University at Sacramento, the
woman narrates:
In one of my classes the Arab-Israeli conflict came up,
and my professor stood in front of the class and said,
"All you have to know about Arabs is that they lie,
cheat, and start rumors." Nobody challenged this
statement. Everyone was taking notes like it was going
to be a test question. And I said, "Excuse me, I think
I'm an Arab, and I think what you just said was
racist." I took it to a dean, who told me, "Anything a
professor says in a classroom, she or he has a right to
say." Can you imagine? The only ones who helped me out
were the affirmative action people, so since then I've
considered myself a woman of color. (195)
A Lebanese woman complained about the Arab stereotypes
that she and her family encountered in America.
When we first moved from Dearborn [Michigan], where
there is a large Arab community, to Dearborn Heights,
where there are few Arabs in the school system, some
kids called my son "sand nigger" and "camel jockey." I
think they just saw a new kid on the block, someone new
to pick on, and that was all they could think of to
say. But it hurt my son, who wrestles and plays soccer
and thinks of himself as American. He came to me and
said, "Are we really camel jockeys?" I told him the
truth: "The only time I've ever even seen a camel was
at the Detroit Zoo." (196)
A forty-three year old second generation Palestinian-
American whose name and appearance gave no hint of her Arab
143
heritage only recently began to acknowledge her Arab roots.
She discovered the prejudice that exists against Arabs in
the process of revealing her background. She recounts an
incident that happened when she and her even less
stereotypica1ly Arab looking sister attended a conference:
It came out over dinner that she and I were
Palestinian, and the other people at our table were
totally blown away. Something happened in the way they
looked at us. Then my sister announced that we'd both
married Jewish men, and everybody breathed a sigh of
relief. Why? (190)
Lastly, Edmiston highlights a Lebanese born twenty-
three year old who came to the U.S. at age nine and is very
proud of having acquired American citizenship. This woman's
narrative represents the teelings of many Arabs who have
come to the States and want to be accepted as Americans not
as the "other."
Your family comes here from a war-torn country, and
except for knowing some relatives, you start from
scratch. Your dad gets a job, you're able to go to
school, you make friends, everything starts to happen.
I'm probably the only person I know who has an American
flag in my [sic] room. But when people say, "Love it
or leave it," when they yell, "Go back where you came
from," that's difficult. As a naturalized citizen, I
really think about the meaning of the Constitution. It
was all new to me; 1 wasn't born to it. So I really
appreciate it. You can't let people steal your
symbols. 1 will never let anyone take away what that
flag means to me. (197)
Another noteworthy article that was prompted by the
Gulf War is that of Elaine Liner, entitled "Beyond the
Veil," in Dallas Lite Magazine. Liner's article highlights
144
much of what was said in Chapter III about Islam. It also
presents several stories of ignorance, misconceptions, and
prejudice toward Islam. one incident is of two teenage
girls, one of whom wears a scarf, when stopping to get a
pizza. A man calls out "Get a gun, get a gun" as they sit
and eat Shocked, they run out of the restaurant into their
car; as they wait at a stoplight, a woman and her children
in the car next to them give them strange and hostile looks
(10) .
The Muslim teenager who is not wearing a scarf does not
gain attention by her appearance but because of her last
name: "Hussain," transliterated one letter differently from
the Iraqi dictator's last name. She is of Indian heritage,
but, undoubtedly, her name brings her much unwanted
attention. She states,
People at school say insulting things about my last
name. 1 work at a hospital after school, and the other
day a man saw my nametag and wouldn't let me take his
b lood pressure. i've heard people say stuff like, "So,
your lather started the war?" and "Are you a
terror- i st?" (10)
She also has had tires on her new car slashed in her high
school's parking lot; also, a boy in her math class placed
pages from his notes in her notebook, and then claimed, "You
Iraqi, you stole my homework!"
She recounts an incrdent that happened with her high
school teacher:
145
A teacher pulled me aside and told me I was wasting my
life. She said my life was worthless because 1 don't
date and that because I don't go to proms I'd have
nothing to look back on in my teenage years. I wanted
to say, "Look at the girl in the back row of the class.
She's 16, and she's pregnant. Now, who has the better
system?" (20)
One American Muslim woman married to a Palestinian
expresses her anger at the images presented by the media of
Muslims. She specifically mentions the movie Not Without Mv
Daughter, starring Sally Field, depicting a true story that
took place in Iran.
It should not be seen as a film about Islam. It's the
story of a bad marriage and an abusive husband. If the
husband had been American and had taken his child away
to his fanatically religious parents in up-state New
York, people wouldn't automatically assume that all New
Yorkers act this way. It's the same with Muslims. (13)
Another American Muslim woman talks about media
coverage in general:
If you watch TV, you'd never know that there are
different types of Muslims in the world. All Americans
see are those same pieces of stock news footage of
Iranian men beating themselves on the back [Shiite
Muslims] and shouting anti-American slogans and the
women all in black screaming in the streets. These
people no more represent all Muslims than Jim and Tammy
Bakker represent all Christians. (13)
The same woman who is a lree-lance writer born in Saint-
Louis says of the misconceptions Americans have toward
Muslim women:
There's been a conspicuous absence of good press about
us. From the outside, it appears that there are all
these problems for Muslim women. But Islam is about
146
freedom and making choices about what you want to do.
That's also what feminism is about, and that's what
Muslim women get--freedom and equality. That equality
is between men and women and among ourselves. In our
beliefs, the poor woman is equal to the rich, the fat
woman is equal to the skinny one, the one with short,
thin hair is equal to the one with long, thick hair.
Because of the way we dress, in long skirts and
scarves, we can't make those physical judgements of
each other. That physical competition thing is
eliminated, so we can know each other and develop
respect in so many other ways. (12-13)
2 The organizations and institutions listed below as
well as any local mosques or Arabic heritage foundations may
be helpful sources of reference on Arabic culture for the
EFL instructor:
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
4201 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20008
(202) 244-2990
American Educational Trust
P.O. Box 53062
(202) 939-6050
(800) 368-5788
AMIDEAST*
1100 17th Street, N.W.,
(202) 785-0022
Arab American Institute
918 16th Street, N.W., Suite 601
(202) 429-9210
AWAIR
Arab World and Islamic Resources and School Services
1400 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 9
Berkeley, CA 94709
(415) 704-0517
147
The Center for Middle Eastern Studies
The University of Chicago
5848 S. University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
(312) 702-8297
Center for Near Eastern and North African Studies
144 Lane Hall
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(313) 747-4142
Community Resource Service
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Room 501, Intercultural Center
Georgetown University
(202) 687-5793
Middle East Resource Center
Outreach Program
335 Thomson Hall (DR-05)
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
(206) 543-4227
National Association of Arab Americans
1212 New York Ave, N.W., Suite 300
(202) 842-1840
Outreach Program and Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Middle East Resource Center
The University of Texas/SSB 3.122
Austin, TX 78712
(512) 471-3881
Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(213) 825-1571
AMIDEAST, the source for many of the above listings,
can offer more addresses and phone numbers.
WORK CITED
Abaza, Salwa. Lexical Interference of Arabic in Learning
English: An Analytical Study. Master of Arts in
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Thesis. The
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Institute. May 1970.
Abboud, Peter F., and Ernest N. McCarus, eds. Elementary
Modern Standard Arabic. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1985.
Abdalati, Hammudah. Islam in Focus. N.p.: Islamic Teaching
Center, [1975?].
The American Heritage Dictionary. 197 6 ed.
AMIDEAST. Introduction to the Arab World. Washington,
D.C.: AMIDEAST, 1989.
Archer, Carol M. Living with Strangers in the U.S.A.:
Communicating Beyond Culture. Englewood Cliffs, N J :
Prentice 1991.
Ayyad, A. T. Teach Yourself Arabic. London: Ta Ha, 1982.
Bennett, Christine I. Comprehensive Multicultural
Education. 2nd ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn, 1990.
Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa,
eds. Language. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1985.
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Edmiston, Susan. "Arab Women: It's Time to End the
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Fromkin, Victoria and Robert Rodman. An Introduction to
Language. 4th ed. New York: Holt, 1988.
Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History. 2nd ed. New
York: Simon, 1979.
Hall, Edward T. Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor-
Doubleday, 1976.
The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time. New
York: Anchor-Doubleday, 1983.
The Silent Language. New York: Anchor-Doubleday,
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Liner, Elaine. "Beyond the Veil." The Dallas Morning News
5 May 1991, Sunday ed. Dallas Life Magazine: 10+.
Lippman, Thomas W. Understanding Islam: An Introduction to
the Moslem World. New York: Mentor-NAL, 1982.
Madina, Maan Z. Arabic-English Dictionary of the Modern
Literary Language. New York: Pocket; Canada: Simon,
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Nydell, Margaret K. Understanding Arabs: A Guide for
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Westerners. The InterAct Ser. Ed. George W. Renwick.
Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural P, 1987.
Parker, Orin D. and Educational Services Staff, AFME
American Friends of the Middle East (AMIDEAST).
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Culture Bound. Ed. Joyce Merrill Valdes. New York:
Cambridge UP, 1986. 94-101.
O ur1 an . Trans. A. Yusif Ali. 2nd ed. N.p.: The Muslim
Students' Association of the U.S. and Canada, 1977.
Richard-Amato, Patricia A. Making It Happen. New York:
Longman, 1988.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage-Random,
1979.
Smith, Bernard. "Arabic speakers." Learner English.
Eds. Michael Swan and Bernard Smith. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1987. 142-57.
Thompson-Panos, Karyn and Maria Thomas-Ruzic. "The Least
You Should Know About Arabic: Implications for the ESL
Writing Instructor." TESOL 17 (1983): 609-23.
Wilson, Lili and Martin Wilson. "Farsi speakers."
Learner English. Eds. Michael Swan and Bernard Smith
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987. 129-41.

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