The UO curriculum offers three years of Arabic courses dedicated to increasing students’ ability to speak, read, understand, and write Arabic. Courses at the University of Oregon are designed to produce highly skilled Arabic speakers who pursue degrees in the academic majors of their choice, and to compete for national fellowships such as the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad (CASA) program.
Minor Requirements
All students must take 24 credits to complete the minor in Arabic Studies. 20 of these must be intermediate and advanced Arabic, i.e., ARB 301 and above (or equivalent from study abroad).
Students may fulfill the minor with 24 credits of intermediate and advanced Arabic. Or, they may take 20 credits of intermediate/advanced Arabic and four credits of an elective (i.e., and English language course with substantial content of either Middle East or the Islamic world-- "category 3" below.)
Most students achieve this with ARB 301, 302, 303, two or three ARB 410 Topics classes and/or four credits from an elective.
Arabic studies minors are encouraged to study Arabic in countries in which Arabic is spoken.
Category I: Arabic Language and Culture (12 Credits)
- ARB 301 Arabic Language and Culture (part 1)
- ARB 302 Arabic Language and Culture (part 2)
- ARB 303 Arabic Language and Culture (part 3)
Category II: Advanced Arabic (8-12 Credits)
Students must take a minimum of two additional advanced 300- or 400-level Arabic courses from the following list. They may take three such courses to complete the minor.
- ARB 331 Advanced Arabic Grammar/Reading Classical Arabic (text course)
- ARB 410/510: Topic course (any course with this designation counts for fulfilling the advanced Arabic elective)
Category III: Arabic Culture and Society Electives (0-4 Credits)
Students may count any course for 4 credits from a category III course towards fulfillment of the minor. Some examples of these classes include:
- CRES 435/535 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- ARB 199 (any course with this designation counts)
- GEOG 209 Geography of the Middle East and North Africa
- HIST 199 Islamic Civilization I
- JDST 340 Israelis & Palestinians
- REL 233 Introduction to Islam
For the most up-to-date courses that count as a Category III course, see the catalogue or contact the department.
Note: Students who pass out of ARB 303 due to previous knowledge (such as literate native speakers of Arabic or students who come to UO with advanced knowledge of Arabic) may complete the minor with at least 12 credits of ARB 410/331 and up to 12 credits of electives.
Modified Requirements for Students with Prior Literacy in Arabic
Students who already have skills that satisfy the equivalent of the ARB 301-303 third-year sequence—whether from native proficiency, study abroad, or courses from another university—may choose to test out of one or more of these courses by passing a proficiency examination which will be administered by the UO Testing Center, designed to demonstrate basic literacy in Arabic.
If students wish to transfer their third-year Arabic courses from other universities or study abroad, they may do so contingent on the successful completion of an examination at the appropriate level, to ensure proper placement.
Students who pass the proficiency exam must still complete 24 credits for the minor in Arabic Studies, including:
- At least 12 from among Category II Advanced Arabic courses
- Up to 12 from among Category III Arabic Culture & Society electives
FAQs
What is the program focus? What type of Arabic will I learn? What if I’m a native speaker? Find answers to common questions here.
What is the focus of UO’s Arabic program?
The focus of the three-year sequence of Arabic courses is to improve students’ skills in the four skills of speaking, reading, listening, and writing in Modern Standard Arabic. These courses are devoted to building students’ capacity to communicate and become functionally literate in the language of the contemporary Arabic world. Our curriculum is intended to provide students the opportunity to rise to the intermediate and advanced levels of Arabic and allow them to compete for nationally granted programs such as The Center for Arabic Studies Abroad (CASA) to study advanced Arabic in the Arab world.
In addition, the Arabic program will also offer a number of Arabic text courses available to advanced students and native speakers taught by faculty who use Arabic in their research. These courses will be cross listed with the department of the professor teaching them. The approach of these courses will vary according to the professor teaching them. These courses will be cross listed with their home departments.
What is the focus of the Arabic text courses offered?
Reading classical Arabic focuses on Arabic grammar and syntax, and extremely close reading of classical Arabic sources that are well-known to contemporary native speakers. Other courses are thematic in organization, and may apply a proficiency-based approach, a “read and translate” approach, or some combination, depending on the nature of the topic and professor leading the course.
What type of Arabic does UO teach?
Arabic is characterized by what linguistics call “diglossia,” a linguistic community which uses multiple linguistic registers depending on the communicative context. Throughout his or her day, an educated native speaker of Arabic is constantly engaging different levels of Arabic. Written prose and speech in a formal setting such as a news conference or university lecture is conducted in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), while everyday conversation is conducted in the colloquial language of the region.
Following the best practices in the field, UO’s three-year program focuses on MSA, while also introducing students to common expressions and high frequency structures of Egyptian and Syrian colloquial. While we hope to develop courses in colloquial Arabic in the future, for now, self-study courses in a number of dialects are available through the Yamada Language Center. We also strongly encourage students to study colloquial Arabic in overseas programs in the Arab world.
I am a native speaker of Arabic who grew up in the Arab world, but I would like to work on my grammar. In which courses am I eligible to enroll?
Native speakers are encouraged to enroll in the classical Arabic sequence of courses. They are not eligible to enroll in the first three-year sequence of Arabic, which is designed for non-native speakers.
I am a native speaker and interested in working with students studying Arabic. Do you facilitate this?
We would be happy to try to match you with students studying Arabic on an informal basis for language exchange. Based on programmatic need, the program might be interested in one or two native speakers enrolling in a Practicum in Arabic Pedagogy (ARB 409) as a P/F 4 credit course. For more details, please contact Arabic Studies’ faculty supervisor.