At ENTA-7, QFI Empowers Educators to Bridge Research and Practice in Arabic Education

London, UK (September 2025) - Qatar Foundation International (QFI) participated in the Seventh Conference of the European Network for Teaching Arabic (ENTA-7), held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, on September 12. The conference, hosted by the European Network for Teaching Arabic in collaboration with The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, centered around the theme “Literature and Culture in a Changing Language Classroom: Re-examining the language-Culture relation in the Arabic Curricula.”

The conference organizers invited submissions across several key areas, including Classical literature and heritage texts, Arabic teaching and reduced-intensity curricula, Measuring language development, and Content-Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and the Arabic classroom. QFI saw it as a unique opportunity to foster collaboration between researchers and educators within the European Arabic education field to explore the place that literature, culture and history can continue to occupy at the heart of Arabic language teaching.

QFI participated as a supporter of Arabic language educators presenting their research on Arabic teaching to school-aged learners, in addition to attending the event. QFI is proud to have supported seven attendees who were selected to give five presentations at the conference through the QFI Research to Practice Travel Grants (RtP). RTPs provide support to travel to relevant conferences to present research on and about the teaching and learning of Arabic in schools.

Fadi Abughoush, a QFI-supported educator who was presenting at an academic conference for the first time, emphasized how valuable the experience was for him: “The quality of the presentations was consistently high, offering innovative approaches and fresh perspectives on Arabic pedagogy, intercultural learning, and curriculum design. The conference was also very well organized, with sessions that flowed smoothly and plenty of opportunities for meaningful dialogue among educators. Overall, it was absolutely worth my time to attend and present — I left with new insights, stronger connections, and renewed energy for advancing Arabic language education.”

QFI-supported presenters at the conference spoke on a range of subjects, covering topics such as “How Do Teachers Incorporate Culture in the Arabic Classroom? Insights from K-12 Teachers in the US” and “Bridging Cultural Gaps through Modern Arabic Literature in AF/SL Classrooms: Toward Culturally Responsive Pedagogy.” These studies exemplify how teacher and student-centered research methodologies can inform future curriculum development.

"We were proud to support educators at this conference as they presented on key topics in Arabic language education," said Savannah Soter, Research Associate at QFI. "The event demonstrated that the complexity of teaching Arabic is a strength to be celebrated, not a weakness. This was reflected in the diverse, innovative teaching methods shared by educators from around the world. From a keynote on cultural nuances in classical literature to sessions exploring how students use social media to engage with the language, every presentation offered fresh insights and sparked meaningful discussions. Our participation reflects QFI’s commitment to advancing Arabic language education through increasing accessibility to evidence-based practices by uplifting teacher voices and student experiences, as well as fostering collaboration among K–12 educators, researchers, and policymakers."

QFI’s participation in ENTA-7 underscores its commitment to advancing Arabic language education by amplifying educator voices and fostering collaboration among teachers and researchers. QFI is committed to addressing critical gaps and ensuring Arabic language learning for school-aged learners is accessible, professional, and globally recognized, and looks forward to seeing how the presentations given at this conference advance innovation in Arabic teaching.

About Qatar Foundation International
Qatar Foundation International (QFI), based in Washington, DC, is dedicated to advancing the value of teaching and learning Arabic as a global language.