Integration of Corpus into Teaching Arabic Language in Southwest, Nigeria

Arabic holds historical significance in Nigeria, once serving as its official language. Though it is now a foreign language in Nigeria, it remains vital to its citizens for numerous reasons. In view of that, the language teaching and learning approach in southwest, Nigeria's Yoruba-speaking region, has evolved. However, a satisfying approach has not yet been reached; several learners are today seeing displaying an unsatisfactory level of proficiency in the language after years of learning. Researchers have pinpointed that unsuitable learning materials, often imported from Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt without considering local contexts, contribute to this issue. To address it, this paper proposes integrating a corpus-based approach to teaching Arabic. By utilizing a parallel corpus, tailored instructional materials can be developed, potentially reducing learning time and enhancing proficiency for Yoruba learners.