CEFR–based TAFL. Syllabus, Lexicon, Variation

The present paper traces the history of Arabic teaching in Europe and analyses the impact on Arabic language pedagogy of recent approaches based on the concept of communicative competence, on the awareness of linguistic variation and on the use of corpus linguistics. Relating TAFL to CEFR levels implies recognizing the complexity of Arabic. This does not mean adopting a dialectological approach, which could also be described as “orientalist” or “neo–orientalist”. Rather, it represents a reverse trend from the utilitarian Western approach to Arabic towards a more holistic study of the language of Arabs and Islam. Such an approach distances itself from both “orientalist” and “neo–orientalist” positions, as it moves in the direction of the same perception that Arabs had of their culture and society in pre–colonial times. For the enhancement of authentic proficiency in Arabic, we should consequently introduce not only clearly characterized varieties (standard Arabic on the one hand and “pure” dialect on the other), but also intermediate forms that constitute the glue, and indeed the prevalent usage, in written and oral communication. Thus, in the pedagogic practice, the elements of unity shared by the different varieties and the continuous slippage between only theoretically distinct varieties, that occurs in the concrete use of the language, should take precedence over the traits of dis-tinction and opposition. For this reason, learners should be immediately and in parallel presented with a spoken and a written variety, helping them understand the real and concrete characteristics of a language system in which variation is a constitutive and essential element, and thus accustoming them to the flexibility necessary for linguistic production and reception, both oral and written. In other words, the main aim is to educate to variation, providing an essential (but usually excluded from language training) skill for the effective use of language in productive tasks, a skill which is at the same time crucial for receptive and comprehension tasks.