Arabic Self-Learning: A Module of a Research-Based Computerized Curriculum

Self-learning of Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) at the college level is presented as one module of a research-based, computerized curriculum in Arabic. Computer simulation of communicative and structural Arabic is intended to facilitate metacognitive learning or higher-order thinking of Arabic and Arabic language learning strategies. One objective of this study is to understand aspects of learners' strategy systems through computer simulations. Learners' awareness of their own language patterns and the transformation of their strategies are assumed to facilitate their integration of procedural and declarative knowledge of Arabic. Problem-solving skills and underlying Arabic linguistic principles that guide their application to diverse contexts are simulated to understand this integrative process. Findings suggest that prior language learning patterns have negative effect on the AFL learners' awareness of their own learning and on learning in the Arabic environment. Computer simulations, however, facilitated conscious relations between procedural and declarative knowledge of Arabic.