Umm Al-Qura University, represented by the Institute of Arabic Language for Non-Native Speakers, will launch today, Wednesday, the first virtual season of the Open Cultural Forum. The forum will discuss a number of topics in the field of applied linguistics as well as teaching and learning the Arabic language as a second language.

The Dean of the Institute, Dr. Hasan Bukhari, said the institute endeavors to upgrade the skills of its members and affiliates, urge them to provide their expertise for the sake of science and the community, and strive to achieve excellence in providing the programs for teaching the Arabic language to non-native speakers.

Dr. Bukhari said the forum will discuss various topics in terms of building the language curriculum, refuting linguistic courses in Arab and Western universities, discussing common structures in Arabic teaching, and recounting experiments and experiences in the teaching of Arabic language. This will take place in seven meetings which will be conducted every Wednesday evening at 8:30 p.m., via the WebEx platform, in the period from 28 October to 6 December 2020 A.C.

The Vice Dean of the Institute for Training, Dr. Ayman Al-Mansouri, said the forum opens the doors for those interested and specialized in teaching and learning the Arabic language as a second language. The aim is for them to share their expertise and exchange knowledge and culture by discussing the important academic issues in teaching and learning languages to non-native speakers.

He added that this forum is only the beginning of a number of training and development programs which will be staged later with the objective of achieving the noble mission of the institute in serving the Arabic language and the Islamic culture.

It is worth mentioning that the forum aims at providing a stimulating environment for learning and teaching, improving quality through the continuous development of the skills of the academic staff members in the Institute of Arabic Language for Non-Native Speakers. This is in addition to encouraging qualitative scientific research in the field of applied linguistics and harnessing research results in it to improve the Arabic language teaching and learning programs.