Learning languages in their natural environments has often been an enticing experience upon which all serious learners of a second language embarked. Research results are not conclusive as to the language and cultural gains that learners achieve from intensive summer programs abroad. This investigation studied the impact that study abroad (SA) had on student achievement in listening, speaking, reading and writing. A mixed-method approach was used including descriptive and inferential statistics, and semi-structured interviews. The study population included 60 learners who studied Arabic for a period of 8 weeks at Al-Akhawayn University intensive summer program. To measure the progress of the learners in listening and speaking, reading and writing, students took a proficiency-based test and an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) test prior to and after the end of the two sessions of this program. The results of the study revealed that short-term SA programs are beneficial to student Arabic language learning. The study also revealed that, often, learners embark on their SA without the necessary skills to speak Arabic being it MSA or the spoken varieties. However, the participants in this study made linguistic and cultural gains and became aware of issues that would support future learning of the language and the culture.

In this paper, I examine the use of blended learning approach in the teaching of Arabic culture and literature to advanced students in a study abroad program. More specifically, I explore the role of technology in mediating the material and promoting the learning goals in the reading skill and optimal interaction. I investigate how study abroad students engage with technology in their learning and how instructors can integrate experiential learning through an approach that presents literature and culture in more interactive, effective, and flexible ways to enable students to experience the culture, participate in it and develop linguistic and cultural competency. The intercultural component in my research focuses on the relationship between blended learning and the students’ abilities to engage in self-study. Since blended learning systems combine face-to-face and computer-mediated instruction, I will examine the educational and learning benefits of combining these approaches and how we can mitigate their potential limitations. One clear advantage of the use of blended learning in teaching Arabic language and culture to students in study abroad programs is associated with the possibility to introduce differentiated instructionwhich involves custom-designing instruction on the basis of students’ needs( DeGula 2004 ). I will analyze how courses such as Introduction to Arabic World Literature or Arabic as a Foreign Language for Advanced Students in Study Abroad, can benefit from, on the one hand, the strategies of computer - based learning for more flexibility, participation, and organization of the lesson, and on the other hand face-to-face in-class instruction for human connection, spontaneity, and group discussion, including learning components. he conclusion will focus on how blended learning in study abroad combines selection of material with outside the classroom experience of the culture, interactive media learning and social cultural immersion to enhance linguistic and cultural proficiency as well as the learning goals and the study abroad educational mission.

Instructors are reluctant to introduce intermediate students of Arabic to literature. I believe that exposing intermediate students to Arabic literature is both a necessary motivator to boost their confidence and an effective way in the development of linguistic and cultural competency. In this paper, I examine the experience of blended learning in introducing Arabic literature, mainly short stories, to intermediate students at an intensive summer program. I look at the benefits of using technology, and the face-to-face instruction to promote individualized engagement with the materials, developing reading skills and promoting interactive learning.