Learning Approaches and Assessment

Egyptian Colloquial Arabic for Beginners

Learning Scenario

Colloquial Egyptian Arabic is the dialect Egyptians use in speaking, texting and everyday life activities. Standard Arabic which can be taught with the traditional ways because it is the language used in official manner has big differences than the spoken dialects which makes Egyptian Arabic a language for practice and life.

In the beginner level, the main goal to reach is to be able to Use greetings and self-introducing terms and expressions, including name and nationality, efficiently in a basic conversation and to be able to do very basic grocery shopping which may not be very successful at this level and that is acceptable. There are other goals and objectives but they are not applicable for speaking but rather a part of the learning process to serve language processing and understanding and connecting with more topics in higher levels.

There are various considerations when learning a language such as; the nature of language and its relation to the learner's native language, purpose of learning it, type of learner's intelligence and capacity of gaining knowledge and the type of learner's personality and their readiness to make connections and social networks for practice. For better results in language learning especially, in the beginner levels, I consider the experiential approach and gamification to be very effective in gaining the first bits of knowledge.

Authentic Assessment

1. For the first objective and depending on the

type of classroom, the learner will receive a

message about changes in the coming class.

The learner needs to either go to the helpdesk or make a phone call or send a voice note introducing himself/ herself and enquiring about the coming class using whatever vocabulary they learnt during the level. The learner will have a sheet with the details they need to get like what changes are happenning to the coming class, the reason and the day and time of class. The person in contact will give answers to certain information in Arabic and English will be acceptable in case the statement is away from the assessed objectives. Depending on learners capabilities, some terms that are not taught and that will not affect understanding greatly may be added to assess listening. Later on in the group classrooms, learners can exchange the sheets anonymously to check each others findings as a peer-assessment activity.

2. The instructor will ask them to write a list of grocery items that they need to

buy and choose an online shop or an actual shop and try to find the

prices and discounts to be discussed in the next session with the instructor

giving recommendations on the quality of products. If the class is not 1-1,

each student should choose a different shop. The prize will be an item of their choice (limit of price is mentioned) of which price is deducted from the fees of the session.

It should be noted that a learner at the beginner level should not be exposed to high level of authenticity meaning direct pushed interaction with natives unless very ready and by choice. Language learners at this level are sensitive and sometimes mistakes and negative feedback may demotivate them. Adult learners are mostly internally motivated but there is a high social pressure here that needs to be balanced with the nature of learner and environment.

Learning Theories Applications

I believe almost all theories take part in this assessment and in language learning in general. Behaviourism approaches are usually good when the learner starts a new language because a percentage of teacher-centred learning needs to give the first push. Also, gamification is always a good approach at all levels and this is the best one of Behaviourism when teaching adults. This appears in the second assessment.

Constructivism approaches appear largely in the knowledge students need to build and practise and the social interaction they need to push themselves into. It is a social language in the end and the goal is social communication so scaffolding is vital and spontaneous. This appears with the guidance of the instructor and the person in contact in the first assessment and the choice of wider social interaction in the shops in the second one, a little guidance and the learner is doing the rest in collecting information in both examples, then getting back to class for feedback.

Cognitivism approaches play a big role here because of the relationships and processing a learner does to develop a skill in learning the language, new vocabulary, rules to form meaningful phrases, connections to one's language or previous experiences until it reaches the long-term memory to be usable later. Observing and imitation here are essential to master the skill according to the level a learner needs to reach. This is what the student will be doing to speak and understand the person they are talking to and the information they need to receive in the first assessment and the information they may read in the second.

Connectivism is a good approach here especially for listening and reading skills, however for speaking real-life is the best environment because of the authentic unchosen situations which enrich the knowledge, especially with such a social nation.

Finally, Andragogy with all its principles must be blindly applied here. Giving the student a variety of options to choose from and considering their backgrounds and experience gives them confidence. Language learners need to build confidence first, that is why the assessment did not put big social stress on them to practise at the beginner level and is trying to motivate by means that are easy and taking it step by step in a fun way with a variety of formative assessments in the middle and with tools of technology they may be utilizing in their everyday life as motivators.