BA Arabic Studies / Course details

Our BA Arabic Studies course will enable you to achieve an advanced language level in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) while studying the language within its cultural and historical context.

You will start as an absolute beginner in reading, writing, speaking and listening and develop to an advanced level by the end of the four-year course. 

You will also look more widely at Arab culture and literature and you will be introduced to social and cultural trends in the Arab Middle East and beyond. 

The course is carefully structured so you can measure your progress step by step.

Learning modern Arabic also opens the door to the vast literature of classical Arabic, including religious and secular texts, and provides a perfect platform from which to learn one or more of the colloquial dialects. 

You will spend your third year  studying abroad   at an academic institution in an Arab country, an ideal way to improve your fluency in the language while gaining a fascinating first-hand experience of the Arab world.  

You can choose from a wide variety of course unit options to focus on your special interests or to study other disciplines within the University, such as linguistics, history, archaeology or the social sciences. 

In addition,  Flexible Honours   may allow you to study an additional arts, languages or cultures subject.

The course unit details listed below are those you may choose to study as part of this programme and are referred to as optional units. These are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this programme. Although language units may show here as optional, they are a mandatory part of your modern languages degree and you will take the units relevant to your level of language in each year of study. It Is compulsory to study language at all levels of your modern languages degree.

Residence abroad

All our Modern Language degrees offer the opportunity to study and/or work for up to a year in a country or countries relevant to your chosen language(s).

You will improve your communicative language skills through focused learning in a native speaker environment and develop a first-hand understanding of the history and culture of your host country or countries.

Find out more about residence abroad for modern languages students, including destinations and support.

Societies

The University is home to over 30 international and language-related student societies offering a breadth of cultural activities and experiences.

You can learn more about colloquialisms in language through native speakers and take part in discussion groups and socials.

Some of our societies also coordinate trips abroad to language-specific destinations.

You'll learn through a mixture of formal lectures, seminars and tutorials, spending approximately 12 hours a week in formal study sessions. 

For every hour of university study, you will be expected to complete a further 2-3 hours of independent study.

You will also need to study during the holiday periods. 

The individual study component could be spent reading, producing written work, revising for examinations or working in the University's Language Centre .

• written and oral examinations;
• presentations;
• coursework (which may include library research, linguistic fieldwork and data collection, or web-based research);
• in your final year, a dissertation based on a research topic of your choice.

Assessment methods vary from course unit to course unit - see individual course unit listings for more information.

The University Language Centre is home to language resources, including a new interpreting suite, purpose-built recording rooms, and resources for more than 70 languages.  

The Centre also offers multilingual word processing, language learning software, off-air recording and AV duplication, multilingual terrestrial and satellite TV, and extensive support and advice for learners.  

Learn more at facilities