How can students of Arabic learn both a dialect and MSA?

As part of her doctoral research at Michigan State University, Dr. Lizz Huntley, Ph.D., currently an Instructor of Arabic and Linguistics at the University of Colorado Denver, explored the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Arabic in a lab setting.

Can students of Arabic learn both a dialect and MSA at the same time, or will that lead to confusion? There is lots of anecdotal evidence on both sides of the argument – whether to teach only MSA or to teach integrating a dialect and MSA; what the field is missing is empirical research into how multiple registers of Arabic (i.e. MSA and a dialect) can be acquired and processed by learners. The research question driving this study was “does studying in one register versus two lead to significantly different learning outcomes?” The study explored how students learn Arabic diglossia. The broader field of Second Language Acquisition characterizes diglossia as a form of “sociolinguistic variation” (SLV). This study is one of the first to use psycholinguistic research methods to explore the acquisition of SLV in Arabic and looks at the fundamental cognitive process underlying simultaneous acquisition of MSA and dialects. The results showed that students of Arabic can indeed acquire multiple registers simultaneously from day 1. Responses in the integrated (MSA and a dialect) condition were slightly less accurate than in the MSA-only condition, yet participants were comparably fast in answering. The results lend support for the integration of dialects into Arabic world language curricula. They furthermore provide teachers with insights on what to expect and where to offer additional support for their students when introducing SLV to their classrooms.