Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA) in the Teaching of Arabic in Indonesia

Abstract

The variety of Arabic language that can be found in written texts is different from what the Arabs use in daily conversations. This creates a problem for Arabic language teachers and program developers, who might find it difficult to decide which language variety they must teach to ensure that Arabic language learners can use the language effectively. Educated Spoken Arabic (ESA), which is said to combine both varieties, emerges and offers a solution for this problem. As the effectiveness of a solution depends on the context, this research is conducted with the purpose of helping teachers understand the nature of ESA and its suitability for Arabic language teaching in Indonesian context. The method of literature review was employed. Based on the literature review, it is found that ESA can help Indonesian learners achieve communicative competence, but they still need to learn the other forms of Arabic, especially the classical one, to access Islamic knowledge. Thus, it can be concluded that having ESA as a base to develop communicative skills might be beneficial, but it does not mean that the other forms of Arabic should be left behind. The basic rules of ESA and teachers’ knowledge about ESA also need to be considered carefully.