Designing Instructional Units from Pre-Islamic Prose for Non-Native Speakers of Arabic: A Descriptive Applied Study

Abstract

This research aims to develop an applied model for designing pre-Islamic prose learning units for non-Arabic speakers, based on the characteristics of ancient literary texts and the requirements for teaching them as linguistic, literary, and cultural material simultaneously. The researcher employed a descriptive-analytical approach to present the concept of pre-Islamic prose and its most prominent forms and characteristics, and an applied approach to reorganize two classical texts into two educational formats: the sermon of Quss ibn Sa'idah al-Iyadi and the will of Dhu al-Isba' al-Adwani to his son. The two units are structured progressively, beginning with an introduction and context, followed by the text itself, vocabulary within its context, general and detailed comprehension, stylistic and rhetorical analysis, linguistic and communicative activities, and assessment.

The application demonstrates that ancient prose texts can be transformed from difficult historical material into a progressive learning experience when careful text selection is maintained, their linguistic density is controlled, vocabulary is linked to meaning, rhetorical appreciation is guided towards its function in discourse, and tasks are diversified between comprehension, analysis, and production. The model also reveals that sermons and testaments allow learners to practice reading, understand argumentative structures, internalize cultural values, and use vocabulary and grammatical structures in new situations. The study does not claim to experimentally measure the effectiveness of these two units, but rather presents an instructional design that can be experimented with and developed for use in Arabic language programs for non-native speakers.