ABSTRACT
This chapter provides pedagogical strategies and tools for teaching literature to advanced learners of Arabic. It discusses approaches that are suited to teaching literature with the goals of improving learners’ competencies in language and cultural knowledge as well as introducing students to the content of the literatures whose language they are studying. Research into second-language learning has found that there are many benefits to teaching the target language’s literatures in the language classroom. This body of scholarship has further considered the benefits and challenges of teaching various genres of literature to language learners. Yet little of this work has focused on the Arabic language classroom. The extant research provides useful insights that can be applied to the teaching of Arabic literatures. However, there are specific considerations to take into account when teaching Arabic literatures, including the particularities of the Arabic literary corpus, the ways in which literary texts relate to lived realities and the spectrum of Arabic language varieties. This chapter connects the methodological insights of research on teaching literature in the language classroom with the particularities of teaching Arabic literature to language learners. Drawing on recent pedagogical research and my experience teaching literature courses to learners of Arabic, it suggests practices for selecting Arabic literary texts, creating teaching materials and structuring a semester-long course at the university level. In particular, it focuses on methods and strategies for teaching short stories to advanced learners to increase language proficiency, cultural competence and content knowledge of Arabic literature. It discusses methods of teaching short stories and the benefits of teaching this genre. In doing so, it suggests specific Arabic short stories and ways of incorporating them into a university-level advanced Arabic course.
