Arabic language has been among the main constituent of the nation’s identity and unity, the language of the Quran and religion, with an international momentum that placed it among the six working languages of the United Nations; consequently, al-Quds Open University was keen to establish the Department of Arabic Language and Literature, which grants bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Arabic Language and Literature, among the departments of the Faculty of Arts in the university.
The Department aspires to excellence locally and regionally, through improving the quality of education and academic research, following its comprehensive academic plans, and its highly qualified faculty. In addition, the Department is diligent to place the Arabic language, due to its cultural and civilized role, in a highly advanced status among the world’s languages and nations.
The program aims at preparing qualified and specialized graduates in Arabic language and literature, exposing them to the essentials of reading, writing, conversation and structure. Graduates in the field will be acknowledged with the different genres of literature such as novels, poems and plays. In addition, they will gain the ability to analyze the diverse literary trends, acquire sound verbal expression and writing skills, and proofread the linguistic and literary texts according to the rules of the Arabic language.
The program aims at strengthening the students’ bonds with their national and patriotic heritage, advancing scientific research and creative writing and focusing at elevating the students’ skills and practical thinking. Graduates of the discipline will participate in scientific symposiums, forums and conferences which contribute to the advancement of Arabic language and augment its status among the other living languages. Accordingly, consolidate relations, and cultural bonds with other Arabic language departments in the local, Arab and international universities, especially the sectors of broadcast and journalism. Nevertheless, the program provides comprehensive knowledge for students to pursue their graduate studies.
Graduates after completion of the Arabic Language and Literature major requirements are expected to meet the following learning outputs:
- Knowledge of the levels of Arabic language system: Descriptive, functional and textual.
- Comprehension of the grammatical and morphological rules.
- Examining the critical approaches and literary trends.
- Introducing the most prominent linguistic and literary works.
- Analyzing the literary and linguistic texts according to the contemporary curricula
- To relate the literary text with the cultural environment.
- Sound verbal and written expression.
- Proofreading of the language/ linguistic texts.
- Writing scientific papers.
- Competitiveness and excellence in labor market and continuous professional development.
- Employing modern methods and technologies in education and diversifying learning sources and assessment methods.
- Enhancing the spirit of leadership, entrepreneurship, ideals and values.
- To maintain work ethics and confidentiality.
- Organized and scientific thinking.
- Teaching at private and public schools.
- Professional career at the various visual, audio and electronic Media outlets.
- Proofreading in the various sectors.
- Researching in the different research and translation centers.
Students who successfully completed high school is admitted into the program, according to the admission and registration system at the University.
Courses Description
0101 Learn How to Learn, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course deals with the practical and main skills needed throughout the student’s study. The course is designed in an interactive content that aids the student employ teaching and learning resources even after graduation and enables them to schedule their lectures, access independent learning and design planning sessions. The course highlights the open learning approach taking al-Quds Open University as a model, highlighting the learning strategies, employing learning and teaching resources in building knowledge and uses the tools of communication skills.
0102 Introduction to Computer, 3 credit hours (2 theoretical, 1 practical)
This course deals with the main concepts of computers, the development of computer science, its classifications, components, and features in terms of rapidness in performance, storing, processing and retrieving data.
0104 History of Jerusalem, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course helps the students explore and understand the history of the city of Jerusalem, as the city has always been prominent throughout history, highlighting its special place in the three monotheistic religions. The course addresses the following topics: The historical geography of Jerusalem, Jerusalem history under the Islamic conquest until the end of the Umayyad state, the conditions of the City from the beginning of the Abbasid state until the battle of Hattin, Jerusalem under the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, Jerusalem in the Ottoman era, and finally Jerusalem history under the British Mandate till present.
0105 Voluntary Work, 0 Credit hours
This course aims to acquire students with the culture of voluntary work and enhance their national belonging. This is applied through the completion of 50 credit hours of voluntary work that corresponds to the needs of the Palestinian community, its public and private institutions, including the University facilities and needs.
0106 Life Skills, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course aims to provide students with direct experiences through face to face interaction with people and life phenomena, which gives them the ability to integrate what they learn, by presenting life skills within the framework of what was proposed by the UNICEF including the following areas: Management skills, cognitive skills, social skills, team work skills, in addition to a set of other important skills for the student.
0111 Arabic Language 1, 3 credit hours
This course aims at raising the competencies of students in employing the Arabic language and its diverse genres. The course includes 8 chapters: the phonetic level, morphological level, lexical level, grammatical level, stylistic level, written level, reading: silent and oral, listening, composition: oral and written.
0113 English (1): 3 Credit Hours
This course aims at integrating state-of-the art technology into learning and teaching English as a foreign language as well as improving students' ability to communicate fluently in English language. This course also tries to rely on best teaching practices and adopts learner-centered approach where students work as groups and individuals to explore problems and become active learners rather than passive knowledge recipients and ultimately, students can construct their own knowledge.
Towards this end, this course is based on active learning and teaching strategies such as collaborative learning, inquiry based learning, project-based learning, task-based learning, flip learning, group and pair discussion. The course also seeks to enhance students' linguistic skills. Therefore, the course is comprised of eight units: six major units and two revision units. Each unit contains three reading texts followed by a number of activities and exercises to be carried out by students to ensure active participation.
0205 Palestine and the Palestinian Issue, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course aims at exploring the cultural identity of Palestine throughout history, in order to understand its historical, political, geographical and religious dimensions. It also focuses on the historical and ideological backgrounds, interests and objectives of the conflicting parties in the Palestinian cause, in order to understand the reality and events in Palestine, to form opinions and stands.
0206 The Islamic Culture, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
The course tackles a number of intellectual issues that are directly related to the contemporary reality and its challenges. The course focuses on the basic principles of the Islamic culture, including the comprehensive Islamic view and the holistic humane aspects, the relation between Allah (God) and humans as well as the relations among humankind, in addition to the society and its relation to the location. The course also sheds the light on the technical linguistic, social legislative and scientific prodigy in the Quran. The course discusses the vitality of Islamic thought and jurisprudence that adapts to the changing conditions and times in accordance with the Islamic principles.
0115 Principles of Chinese Language, 3 credit hours
This course deals with the principles and basics of the Chinese language in terms of pronunciation and writings, introduces students to employing the most common vocabulary in sentences and structures. The course provides the mechanism of using the language in the learner's public and private life, such as introducing himself and writing a short and simple CV.
0116 Principles of the Turkish Language, 3 credit hours
This course deals with the principles and basics of the Turkish language in terms of pronunciation and writings, introduces students to employing the most common vocabulary in sentences and structures. The course provides the mechanism of using the language in the learner's public and private life, such as introducing himself and writing a short and simple CV.
0117 Principles of the Russian Language, 3 credit hours
This course deals with the principles and basics of the Russian language in terms of pronunciation and writings, introduces students to employing the most common vocabulary in sentences and structures. The course provides the mechanism of using the language in the learner's public and private life, such as introducing himself and writing a short and simple CV.
0207 Palestinians in the Prison Movement, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course aims at documenting the prisoners movement history and its stages between 1967-2016, particularly after the first intifada as the number of detainees increased dramatically. The course sheds lights on the suffering of the prisoners inside the prison and the repressive measures such as isolation, deprivation and trials in addition to the hunger strikes and the detention experiences. Such examples are strikes, organizing prisoners, prisoners learning, prisoners’ visits, arrests, the feminist prisoner movement in Palestine, and their role in the national movement “entrepreneur women prisoners”, the local community, prisoners’ rehabilitation, learning and integration in the community. The course also highlights the issue of defending the prisoners’ rights, the international protection “the international law”, ICRC organization, Amnesty and their reports, which condemn the occupation treatment of the Palestinian prisoners.
0208 Anti-Corruption: Challenges and Solutions, 3 Credit Hours
This course deals with the concept of corruption, its aspects, causes, motives and measurement indicators whether it was administrative and took the form of bribery or financial corruption which is manifested by abusing public finance through embezzlement. The course deals with political corruption and methods of combating it. The course discusses the ethical nature of the public jobs, the code of conduct and the offenses of abusing the civil servant for his own benefit or others.
0211 French Language (1), 3 credit hours
This course focuses on the fundamentals of French Language, alphabets, conjugating words, singular and plural, parts of speech: pronouns, verbs, subject and object. These fundamentals will enable student to write about himself (name, age, nationality, residence and hobbies) in addition to short of informal and formal speech
The teaching method is interactive that depends on understanding the terminology through images and signals, motivating the student to speak French, in addition to employing websites that include interactive exercises.
0300 Human Civilizations and Their Achievements, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course defines the concept of civilization in general, and introduces its origins, manifestations, roles, expansion, and other topics related to the philosophy of civilization. The course also sheds the light on the prominent civilizations in a chronological order, starting from ancient civilizations to the modern technological era.
0306 Social Responsibility, 3 credit hours
This course aims at presenting a comprehensive overview on social responsibility in terms of: definition, dimensions, development, and methods of realizing it at universities and institutions. The course aims at acquiring students with knowledges supported with practical practices. These practices are characterized by integrity and accountability as per a unified vision to find novel systems which include quality standards to suit the requirements of the future. The course as well aims to show the role of the voluntary and charitable work with the help of the three sectors: the public, private and civil in order to overcome the problems of the community according to a specific, integrated policy.
8180 Hebrew 1, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course acquaints the student with the basic skills in modern Hebrew language such as the alphabet, Diacritics in Hebrew, writing, reading, cursive and print styles alphabet, singular and plural nouns, as well as masculine and feminine nouns. Students are expected to learn approx. 500 terms in Hebrew to enable them to read short texts in Hebrew and compose simple sentences related to the Palestinian culture.
0112 Arabic Language 2, 3 credit hours
Prerequisite: 0111 Arabic Language 1
This course consists of nine units that introduce the Arabic language to the students through specific texts from the Qur’an, Hadith, old and modern Arabic poetry and prose. The units are arranged as follows: The Qur’an, the Hadith, old poetry, old prose, modern poetry, and modern prose (articles, letters, short stories, plays, art of dialogue, and the Arabic language and its civilization.)
0114 English Language 2, 3 credit hours
Prerequisite: 0113 English Language 1
At this stage, students are expected to have become familiar with the system of open education, and to have benefited from English 0113. English 0114 is a continuation of English 0113. However, it remains a general remedial course, intended to upgrade the student's overall proficiency in English, particularly in reading and in written communication on the one hand, and in using library resources in English, on the other hand. Like English 0113.This course makes use of all available audio-visual materials and educational technology.
8109 Functional Syntax, 3 credit hours
Prerequisite: 0111 Arabic Language 1
This course addresses the sentence in the Arabic language and its types (nominal and verbal sentences) in terms of the structure and application. The course introduces the Arabic language’s vocabulary very briefly, with a focus on the most important functional grammar that the student uses in his/her daily life, especially in oral and written output, with attention to applied linguistics. Students are trained on grammar through composing texts that enable them to identify parts of speech. This course is distinguished by teaching through questions, solutions and application.
8242 Fundamentals of Arabic Writing and Punctuation, 3 credit hours
This course provides a glimpse into the origins and development of Arabic writing through the ages, the rules of spelling and their relevance to the sounds and structures of the Arabic language and parsing. Students will also be acquainted with the differences between oral and written outputs (the rules of addition and deletion) and relevant rules of numbering.
8340 Literary and Linguistics Research Methods, 3 credit hours
The course addresses linguistic, literary research and their methods: Descriptive, analytical, comparative, historical, stylistic, structural, deconstructive, social, psychological, and semiotic. The course discusses the qualities of the distinguished researcher and equips the students with the necessary skills for conducting and evaluating scientific research.
5323 Inimitability of the Quran, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course tackles the meaning of miracle, Quranic inimitability, the challenge proposed in the Quran, and the attempts of some Arabs to oppose the Quran, identify fate, and the views of the scholars regarding inimitability. The course also deals with the types of inimitability in the holy Quran in terms of linguistics unseen events either in a practical or religious way or by providing evidence on this matter.8112 Semiotics, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
The course deals with the concept of semiotic theories and their methods including signal, conceptual, contextual, pragmatic, and semiotic. It analyzes the para texts and linguistic signs in the literary discourse such as the title, cover, and others, body language and gestures in the Holy Qur’an and literary text. In addition, the course deals with the semiotics of colors, images, plastic painting, and other issues related to semiotics in the contemporary Arab heritage.8141 Resources of Literary Study, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course deals with the main books that tackle the literary and linguistic texts and studies in successive periods, the development of authorship approaches in literature, its main figures, and main books.8144 Poetry 1 (Up To the Umayyad Age), 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course examines texts from the following eras: pre-Islamic, the early years of Islam and the Umayyad. This course enables students to understand the pre-Islamic era and its main issues, and binds them to conceptualization of the pre-Islamic poems. The course moves gradually to study texts from the Islamic and Umayyad eras, selecting texts that highlight the factors that grew in the pre-Islamic age, such as satire and the Ghazal poetry. The course also deals with the updates on poetry in this era such as conflict poetry that depicts the struggle between Muslims and non-Muslims, conquest poetry, Islamic troops’ poetry, especially al-Kharij poetry.8240 Classical Arabic Prose Genres, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course deals with studying the Arabic prose historic development from the pre-Islamic era until the end of the sixth century AH. This is achieved by studying certain texts that represent this development, some examples to the various prose genres are speeches, proverbs, letters and the Maqamat.8241 Poetry 2 (Up to the Beginning of Awakening), 3 credit hours (theoretical)
Prerequisite, 8144 Poetry 1 (Up To the Umayyad Age) This course focuses on studying texts from the rise of the Abbasid era. This phenomenon represents the revolt against the poetic rhyme and it detects the various poetic orientations across centuries (the 2nd, 3rd, 4th). The course also examines poetic texts from al-Andalus that reflects the impact of Andalusian environment. The course is keen to select poetic texts that reflect confronting the crusaders attacks on our countries.8243 Arabic Rhetoric, 3 credit hours (theoretical) This course deals with rhetoric and its categories that include al-Ma’āni, al-Bayān and al-Badee’, and relating each category with the linguistic, criticism and language theories. In addition to highlighting the style as a new approach and studying it in a theoretical and practical way.
8244 History of Arabic Literature, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course focuses on identifying the eras of the Arabic literature, the features and the main cultural and artistic influences of each era. The course also deals with prose and poetry by showing examples of each age. It also delves into the causes behind the prominent changes in the Arabic Literature.8245 The Art of Writing and Expression, 3 credit hours, (theoretical)
The course deals with the art of writing in terms of linguistic accuracy, sound structure, choosing the vocabulary as per the horizontal and vertical arrangement vis-a-vie styling science, conjunctions and pronouns that ensure that the text is free of filling and repetition. The course as well describes the main and sub-ideas in writing, the sequence of events, and the importance of having an introduction and a conclusion. The course exhibits exceptional skills in writing that leads to writing short stories, poems, novels, flash prose, reports, biographies, memos, interviews and official correspondences in addition to the skills of elocution.8246 Popular Literature, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course identifies the theories, approaches, and schools of Arabic Literature. The course as well highlights the means of collecting texts from the field and analyzing them according to colloquial poetry and popular tales. In addition to reading and writing the popular traditions and customs of the Palestinian communities as this will lead to unifying the various genres in the Arabic literature.8247 Arabic Phonology, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course deals with studying the Arabic phonemes, their articulation and traits, accent and toning, and exhibiting some laws of the phonetic systems such as assimilation and elision (the minimum level of stress) and the other phonetic traits of the modern and ancient Arabic accents in terms of its spatial distribution, chronological evolution, in addition to its educational practical applications.8248 Arabic Morphology, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course deals with topics related to the structure of the word and the changes that occur as a result of omission, replacement and addition. The course as well introduces students to the definition of morphological balance, inflection and derivation, in addition to the diminutive form of words and inflexion, syntax, substitutions and more.8249 The Literature of the Late Ages (The Mamluk, Crusades & Ottoman Age), 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course describes the political situations in the afore-mentioned eras, the dominant literary genres and the main literary figures.8337 Arabic Syntax 1 (Arabic Sentence Patterns), 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course aims at knowing the morphological terms such as parsing (syntactic analysis), structure, and the difference between a noun and verb clause.8339 Syntax 2 (Inflection), 3 credit hours (theoretical)
Prerequisite 8337 Arabic Syntax 1 (Arabic Sentence Patterns) This course deals with the vocalization and vowelization of the Arabic words’ roots and derivations, in addition to identifying the numbers and their rules, negation and interrogation in the nominal and verbal sentences.8342 Methods of Arabic Literary Criticism, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course identifies the factors that formed literary criticism, as well as the main grammarians, philosophers and writers. The course also presents examples of texts that highlight the most prominent issues tackled by the ancient Arab critics.8343 Arabic Prosody, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course identifies prosody, its origin, topics, terminology, the evolution of rhyme and rhythm across ages until modern ages.8344 Methods of Modern Literary Criticism, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course is based on two main areas: The first is the study of modern literary criticism in a critical approach, such as linguistics, the historical, psychological, and social aesthetic. The second is the reflections of these approaches onto the Arabic literature and literary criticism, in addition to highlighting its advantages and disadvantages.8345 Children Literature in the Arab World, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course identifies the concept of children literature, its origins, and the factors that led to its evolution and flourishing, in addition to the prominent and creative figures in children literature. The course displays the educational components of writing literary texts according to the age levels of children.8346 Studies in the Palestinian Literature, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course presents studies related to the origin of the Palestinian literature, and its development over the times. It deals with the Palestinian poetry, novel, short stories, theatre, biography and the Palestinian essay in its theoretical and practical aspects. The course as well highlights the main figures, topics and aesthetic traits.8347 Modern Arabic Prose Genres, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
The course of modern Arabic prose genres deals with stories, novels, plays, essays and flash prose, in terms of their origin, main figures, development, elements and the main aesthetic traits, from the view point of the modern, practical, and theoretical literary criticism perspective. The course aims at introducing students to these literary genres and their analytical mechanisms.8348 The Verification of Texts & Manuscripts, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course deals with the definition and development of texts verification and the importance of heritage in the development of nations. The course introduces students to the approaches and steps of verification, the approach of comparing written copies, and identifying the first copy, identify the characteristics of the authenticator, and the ancillary components.8349 The Andalusian Literature, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
The course gives an introduction on the cultural, social and political aspects of al-Andalus, the poets’ approaches and their literary orientations, how these orientations emerged and developed, in addition to studying prominent poets. The course highlights the main poetic genres in that era, the art of Muwashshah, the main figures of this art and how this art developed. Then the course describes the oral strophic poetry (Zajal), and finally concludes with studying the main Andalusian prose genres, identifying its parts and main writers, and citing some prose examples.8440 Comparative Literature, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course deals with the emergence and development of comparative literature throughout history, and sheds light on the most famous curricula in the field of comparative studies such as the French, American and Slavic curriculum, how this science grew, and the difficulties experienced by specialists in this field. The course introduces students to the terms used in the comparison applications of common models in the world, the relationship of the Orientalist perspective to comparative literature, and the relations of the classical and modern Arabic literature with other literatures, as well as identifying the diverse ways on how to implement comparative textual applications.8442 Arabic Syntax 3, (applied syntax), 3 credit hours (theoretical)
Prerequisite 8339 Syntax 2 (Inflection)This course introduces students to the structure of the sentence and the syntactical analysis of the sentence in order to aid students to better understand syntax, in addition to giving examples from the Holy Quran, poetry and prose to illustrate this course more and aid them express in a sound Arabic language.
8444 Poetry 3 (Modern Age), 3 credit hours (theoretical)
Prerequisite 8241 Poetry 2 (Up to the Beginning of Awakening)This course deals with studying selected texts that examine the evolution of poetry and its trends. and explain the impact of both Arab heritage and Western culture on the development of poetry. The selected texts also take into account the study of different poetry environments, and the early renovation of the modern poem by its pioneers in both Iraq and Egypt.
8445 Arabic Linguistics, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
This course provides comprehensive information on the Arabic linguistic phenomenon that deals with its historical position in the Semitic languages, its subjective characteristics and the study of the linguistic system with its phonological levels, lexical and morphological, and grammatical (syntactic) levels.8446 Modern Literary Criticism Applications, 3 credit hours (theoretical)
Prerequisite 8344 Methods of Modern Literary CriticismThe course offers the skills of analyzing the literary text according to the most prominent modern critical approaches, especially the stylistic approach that reveals the aesthetics of artistic phenomena. It also identifies the structural approach that examines the semantic dimension of the text through examining discrepancies in the structure of the text. The course as well presents semiotics and the deconstructive approach.
8499 Graduation Project, 3 credit hours (1 theoretical, 2practical)
Prerequisite 8340 Literary and Linguistic Research MethodsThis course provides students with the needed skills to write their graduation project and employ the fundamentals of scientific research. The course includes: The fundamentals of writing the graduation project, selecting the topic, setting a plan, collecting the material needed, in addition to the analysis and the documentation of the techniques.