Long Range Strategic Plan 2016-2020
Department of Arabic Language and Literature
The Hashemite University
Introduction
The Department of Arabic Language and Literature was established in 1995, which is the same year The Hashemite University was established. The Department offers Bachelor degrees in Arabic Language and Literature. The Department's study plan maintains a balance between language teaching on the one hand, and literary instruction on the other.
The main objective of the language courses is to help students understand, speak, read, and write Arabic and to use these four skills for meaningful communication and interaction. These skills are reinforced through the study of courses in linguistics which deal with a wide variety of linguistic theories and topics.
The literature courses aim at providing students with intensive knowledge of the major periods and genres of Arabic literature. Besides, literary teaching seeks to foster students' critical appreciation and understanding of literature as culture. Students are also exposed to selections of classical, American and European literature.
Department Mission Statement
Owing to the fact that knowledge paves the students' way for a better social and academic life, consolidates perseverance and self-determination, and is meant to equip students with ethical values and proper training, the Department of Arabic Language and Literature hopefully aspires to provide well- trained personnel, capable of contributing to solving the problems of society. Their research and willingness to disseminate the ethics they acquire from literature and cultural studies will be directed, and will be of benefit, to the local community. In short, we attempt to be responsive to the demands of high standards and to engage in research activities in order to provide the region with graduates who participate efficiently in developing our beloved country Jordan and shaping its future.
Our mission lies not only in providing students with good social and academic education, but also in instilling in them love and appreciation for their cultural heritage. Thus, our Department welcomes and attracts local, regional and international students who come to acquire a proficient knowledge of Arabic and cultural studies. The Department thus has equipped itself with the facilities essential to the attaining of such objectives. These facilities include three computerized language laboratories, a video room for screening educational films. The Department is now in the process of establishing a base room and a multi-media room. These rooms are well-equipped with the most recent technology to serve students' various needs.
Department's Vision
Based on the Department's Mission Statement, our vision is that one of the Department's greatest strengths is its diverse and talented faculty, who have the ability to offer a full range of courses and programs in language and literature at all levels. The faculty are well qualified to teach in both programs. The Department will continue to offer the Bachelor's degree in both programs and will look forward to establishing new ones.
The Department of Arabic Language and Literature in The Hashemite University will continue to adapt to the changing societal and local circumstances to meet its overall goal of preparing our students to their future careers. In order to achieve this goal, the Department will do two things; it will continue to use the best of the best traditional practices and areas of study, it will also actively explore and include new practices and areas as they develop.
The Department further envisions that one of its most important goals is to prepare its students to their future careers by promoting their written, oral, and computer skills. The Department offers many courses in writing, reading, and emphasizes on using the computer inside the classroom. Some of our courses are computer-based; students have the opportunity of interacting with their instructors online through certain programs like Blackboard and other programs. The Department plans to increase the number of such courses that use both classroom instruction and computer/internet instruction.
Finally, the Department envisions that the key to success is dedication and open-mindedness. In order to achieve all its goals, the Department will continue to provide students with the best possible teaching methods in the fields of language and literature. The Department plans to increase its contacts and partnerships with other Departments inside and outside Jordan in order to keep in touch with the most recent in the fields of Arabic language and literature and cultural studies.
Department Objectives and Strategies of Implementation
Objective 1: Ensure the continuation of its diverse and caring young faculty
Strategies:
1.1 Provide the required support for the Department's future PhD candidates.
1.2 Provide the incentives, rewards, and professional development that will encourage all faculty to set the highest possible standards for their methods of instruction
1.3 Ensure that the faculty workplace is fair, appropriate, and well-equipped.
1.4 Encourage faculty to carry out further research in their fields of specialization.
1.5 Encourage faculty to get their promotions to the higher ranks in the shortest possible time.
1.6 Encourage faculty to engage in creative activities appropriate to their field of specialization.
Objective 2: Offer courses and programs that meet the Department's priorities and the University's goals.
Strategies
2.1 Maintain student-faculty ratio at an acceptable level.
2.2 Offer courses that attract both majors and non-majors.
2.3 Respond to the new requirements in technology.
2.4 Respond to the new demands in the job market.
Objective 3: Enhancing and Developing Assessment and Evaluation Methods
Strategies
3.1 Yearly evaluation the content of our courses.
3.2 Increase the classroom visits from the dean, the Department chair, and the faculty to each other to provide the feedback that will improve the methods of instruction.
3.3 Yearly evaluation of students' performance.
3.4 Carry out surveys for our graduates' performance in the job market.
3.5 Develop a culture of evaluation and assessment in the Department for all the inputs and outputs.
3.6 Create a new Department position; coordinator for assessment.
Objective 4: Support our students as they prepare for and enter into their professional life.
Strategies
4.1 Design courses that prepare students for their future careers.
4.2 Organizing more job fairs to give students the opportunity to meet with their future employers.
4.3 Enhance and develop more contacts with students' prospective employers.
In addition to these objectives and strategies, the Department plans to do the following in the coming five years:
1. Hold frequent international and referred conferences in the fields of literature, linguistics.
2. Expand its community services.
3. Enhance E-learning programs.
4. Increase mutual exchange programs for students and faculty.
5. Develop a strategy for representing students in Department's meetings.
6. Increase research funds for both faculty and students
7. Maximize the academic and social interaction in both curricular and extracurricular activities
8. Establish an online writing center that will help students learn the skill of writing for academic purposes.
9. Encourage international students to study at the department to enrich the diversity of the teaching-learning process.
10.Yearly revision of the study plan for both majors in the Department.