Alternatives to literature courses for advanced heritage language students: The case of Arabic in a community college

Abstract

Following traditional course offerings, many colleges provide advanced proficiency students with
literature courses. This paper calls for alternative courses for native speakers and advanced heritage
speakers of Arabic; in addition to literature courses, it proposes a variety of language for specific
purposes (LSP) or content-based instruction (CBI) courses integrating content-based choices in line
with students’ heterogeneous needs and interests and meeting their needs to use both dialect and
standard discourse. Parallel to literature courses, LSP/CBI courses can potentially enhance community
college students’ academic achievement by preparing them for transfer to senior colleges and for
using their cultural and language skills in their future careers.