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How Can Large Collections of Machine-Readable Data Support Arabic as a Second Language in the Classroom?About the lecture:
Arabic language instruction has traditionally focused on Modern Standard Arabic, but there is growing demand for proficiency in the Arabic dialects among students and employers, including the Levantine dialect spoken in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria. Empirically based pedagogical materials must be further developed to meet this need, and analyzing large collections of machine-readable texts can facilitate the identification of the most frequently used vocabulary, informing materials creation.
To ensure that the multi-million-word collection that I have built faithfully represents the Levantine dialect, I have interviewed experts who create content in the dialect, including an author, a scholar, an oral historian, a director, a musician, two cartoonists, two founders of language institutes, and a YouTuber, podcaster, and playwright. To gain perspective on how the dialect is typically used in everyday life, I had 16 proficient speakers take detailed notes on how they used the dialect over a four-hour period. The interview and survey results informed the composition of my collection, which features conversations, online written interactions, songs, and YouTube videos. Analysis of this collection can lead not just to the identification of the most frequently used vocabulary, but it can also inform the development of curricula, graded readers, frequency dictionaries, and listening libraries, allowing learners to gain proficiency more efficiently and affordably.
The lecture may be attended in person or via Zoom
(https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87562651405?pwd=3JETR2J39eqRyUAySrk5qMzP93EVMa.1) and will be livestreamed on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@ACORJordan1968).
About the Speaker:
Andrea Flinn in a PhD candidate studying applied linguistics and technology at Iowa State University, with a focus on corpus linguistics, which involves the study of language through large collections of machine-readable texts. She has earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Cornell University, a master’s degree in teaching English to speakers of other languages from San Francisco State University, and a master’s degree in Arabic from Middlebury College. She has been able to study Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic with the generous funding of fellowships from the Fulbright Program, the Boren Awards, and the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad (CASA). She hopes to use her skills in technology and Arabic to support English and Arabic language learners in the United States.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
8 Rashad Al Abadle street , Amman, Jordan 11181, Jordan
