• About

    In 2009, Zaytuna College was founded in Berkeley, California, with a mission that called for grounding students in the Islamic scholarly tradition as well as in the cultural currents and critical ideas shaping modern society.

  • Academics

    As a Muslim liberal arts college in the West, Zaytuna offers a curriculum that provides its students with a foundation in the intellectual heritage of two major world civilizations: the Islamic and the Western.

  • Admissions & Aid

    Our mission is to educate students to become morally, intellectually, and spiritually accomplished individuals ready to contribute to our contemporary world in ways that are proportionate to their gifts and to the needs of human society.

  • Campus Life

    Zaytuna’s campus is on Holy Hill and students enter the College as part of a cohort, a community of learners that travel together through the curriculum.

BA Arabic Course Descriptions

Arabic in the BA Program

Goals of the Department

  • To teach the Arabic language to non-native speakers in a non-Arabic environment, and to connect it to the broader context of Islamic studies

  • To help students gain access to classical Arabic sources by teaching them the most important elements, skills, and theoretical points of Arabic grammar

  • To prepare graduates to become fluent readers of a variety of traditional literature in Arabic, and in general, to gain a broad appreciation of Islamic literature 

  • To contribute toward the development of the skills and knowledge necessary to be effective writers and speakers of the Arabic language

Summer Before Freshman Year

Beginning Arabic

The Summer Arabic Intensive (SAI 1) Program introduces students to Modern Standard Arabic. Following a proficiency-oriented teaching method, it aims to help students achieve elementary-level competence in listening, reading, speaking, and writing and to introduce them to various aspects of Arab and Islamic culture through the curriculum of Al-Kitaab, Part *and various multimedia. The Arabic grammatical tradition receives special consideration by focusing on morphology, syntax, and oral competence, as developed through extensive use of reading exercises and small-group conversation practice. This course is usually given as an intensive course in the summer.

Note: Students who pass the Arabic Language Placement Test upon enrollment do not have to take SAI 1.

COURSE OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to: 

  • Employ a wide range of frequently used Arabic vocabulary

  • Write comprehensible short passages and letters

  • Make brief oral presentations entirely in Arabic, using authentic expressions

  • Demonstrate comprehension of short Arabic passages on specialized topics

  • Display knowledge of fundamentals of Arabic morphology (i.e., verb conjugation, noun declension, word derivation, and memorization of the ten verb forms)

  • Display elementary command of proper Arabic inflection 

  • Converse in Arabic using short statements and discrete sentences in straightforward social settings

Freshman Year

Intermediate Arabic 1 and 2

This two-semester course is a continuation of the SAI Program and therefore aims to help students achieve intermediate-level competence in listening, reading, speaking, and writing. The proficiency-oriented teaching method employs both written and audio-visual materials to teach various aspects of Arab and Islamic culture. Further emphasis is placed on the Arabic grammatical tradition, with a focus on morphology, syntax, and oral competence, as developed through extensive use of reading exercises and small-group conversation practice.

This course also aims to develop students’ competence from intermediate-low to intermediate-mid level in both productive skills (speaking/writing) and receptive skills (reading/listening). In addition, emphasis is placed on acquiring intermediate translation skills, as well as knowledge of cultural and religious topics.

COURSE OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to: 

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a wide range of Arabic vocabulary and the appropriate use of various linguistic structures and cultural expressions in a given context

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of intermediate Arabic grammar, focusing on proper Arabic inflection and achieving a comprehensive view of the Arabic case system: nominative, accusative, genitive, and jussive

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of intermediate Arabic morphology (i.e., verb conjugation, noun declension, and word derivation)

  • Understand and engage in spoken discourse of medium complexity on specialized topics, including current events, matters of public/community interest, and religion

  • Comprehend select verses from the Qur’an and traditions from the hadith canon 

  • Compose passages in written Arabic of medium length on specialized topics

Explore the BA Program

Course Descriptions


Preceptorials


Experiential Learning


BA FAQs