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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15. Answers to the questions from corpora
6. What are the most frequently used subject pronouns in English, in MSA and in the Quran?
English
From the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)
MSA
From the frequency dictionary
Quran It هو هم I
أنا
You هي
أنتم He
أنتَ
نحن
They We

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

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

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

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

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

23. Any questions? Thank you for listening