Qalam’s Media Arabic course seeks to meet the increasing demand from non-Arabic speakers to learn Arabic media and understand its nature and cultural, global and economic motivations. Through this course, students learn to identify the components of the Arab media in light of media globalization and the age of communication and information technologies. The course further examines Arab media’s impact on changing social and intellectual concepts of citizens and society.
Introduction to Media Arabic
Despite the positive technological developments and advancements in the world of media and communication in modern times, these changes also serve as one of the biggest challenges for students as they study this media. With the modern media revolution, it is imperative to have an Arabic media curriculum that establishes new dimensions, enhances students’ media awareness, and imparts critical thinking skills. Once students learn the prominent media personalities in the Arab society and their respective media organizations, they are encouraged to then crystallize their perceptions and ask important questions to understand the reality of the Arab media in an integrated, modern and interactive course structure.
Qalam’s course seeks to educate students in accordance with the most recent standards globally, technically, linguistically and culturally through relevant content, teaching, and evaluation strategies to achieve a high-quality, critical-thinking education. Knowing how the Arab media works, students and researchers alike can keep abreast of the changes and transformations taking place in the Arab arena. Additionally, providing students with a sincere understanding of Arab culture promotes intercultural communication between different civilizations and cultures and enriches the global presence of Arabic culture on a larger scale.
The Arabic Media program uses media material produced and prepared by Qalam’s highly-trained teachers with experience in the media field, as well as the Arabic textbook.
Media Arabic Courses
In order to join the Media Arabic courses, students must have mastered the basics of the Arabic language and be able to communicate. For this reason, Qalam requires at least an intermediate level of Arabic study to join the Media Arabic program.
The media program is divided into the following courses:
FIRST YEAR: Media outlets and conceptual projections
MEDIA201: Media in the Arab World: Origination, Media, Characteristics
The first Arabic media course introduces two comprehensive approaches to media that will prepare the student for discussion and study of the media field. The course will examine the various media outlets in circulation in the Arab world and their classification with regards to chronology and subject matter by focusing on the basic concepts used in this field theoretically and practically. Students also engage directly with informational material and its formal and objective functions, taking part in media practice workshops and information media application.
MEDIA202: Media Material: Components, Elements and Content Building
In this course, the student will acquire how to produce media material, especially written material, systematically taking into account the components and elements of each type of media in both its form and content (i.e., reports, articles, investigations).
SECOND YEAR: Media practice
MEDIA301: The Structure of the Arab Media and Methods of Employment
This course seeks to add to the students’ knowledge of prominent media figures in Arab society and the orientations of Arabic media organizations. Through this course, students can identify the most important Arabic media platforms, in addition to understanding the interaction between the international and Arab communities in the media. Students continue to develop language skills related to the media field in general, and the Arab world especially.
MEDIA302: The Language of Arab Media and Media Field Issues
During this course, students delve into more detail of concepts and terms used within the media field. The goal of this course is three-fold: to expand communication skills in this field, to keep abreast of the latest developments in the media arena through various institutional platforms, and to cultivate media language comprehension and how it operates within the media today.
THIRD YEAR: Media and multimedia
MEDIA401: Arab Media: Mechanisms, Trends and Challenges
The third year of Media Arabic is divided into two sessions in which the status of freedom of expression in the Arab world and the extent of its practice in the media field are examined. Additionally, students strengthen their critical thinking skills about the mechanisms and means upon which the Arab media depends and ways to deal with external and internal issues. The class discusses the ways in which media are used as a mechanism of control, as well as the restrictions that make Arab media live between freedom and prevention.
MEDIA402: The Literature of Arab Media Between Roles and Goals
The final Qalam wa Lawh Media Arabic course delves into the specificity of Arab cinema and the extent of its uniqueness in the subjects it deals with. Students are exposed to the ways Arab media express the basic issues of the Arab citizen, and learn to examine the relationship between security and the Arab media, acknowledging some of the violations that journalists face while practicing their profession and the roles played by the Arabic media in keeping up with these global issues.