Best Study Practices for Successful Students of Quranic Arabic
Students often ask what the best study habits are to ensure optimal success in Quranic Arabic. Over many years of instruction and curriculum development, we have honed in on the following best practices that ensure optimal success in learning Quranic Arabic:
1.) Be consistent, even if just a few minutes a day: we cannot emphasize this enough. Quranic Arabic requires dedicated study on a regular basis. This doesn’t mean students need to spend hours a day studying. On the contrary, putting in 30 minutes a day will lead to far better results and long-term retention of material than studying for 3 hours at one time. This is how languages (especially Quranic Arabic!) are designed. Anyone can cram a large amount of material in one go, but those students who retain the material for their lifetime and who can reproduce it at the spur of a moment are those who put in regular study on a daily basis.
2.) Find little bits of time to study in your day: this could be in the most “unexpected” of places, but most students can find a few minutes here and there to study vocab and verb conjugations. For example, one can often find valuable minutes of study on the commute to work, in between meetings, during lunch break, a few minutes before bed time, a few minutes before starting the day, etc. In fact, the time after Fajr (or Tahajjud!) is often considered the best time to study for its barakah (blessings).
3.) Find a study buddy: this is especially important for vocab acquisition and verb conjugations practice, because both of these do not really have any logic to them, and they mainly require lots of repetition and practice! A study buddy is ideal for this, and the study partner doesn’t even have to know a word of Arabic! This could be anyone: a family memeber, friend, even a pet! The key is to practice as much as possible.
4.) Everyone hits a plateau at some point: even the most dedicated students and instructors hit a plateau at least once (often more) in their studies. How does one overcome the plateau? By keeping a daily regimen of study, even if just for a few minutes! This is absolutely essential for success. Those students who delay their study for various reasons often fall so behind that they cannot easily catch up, which can become a vicious cycle of playing constant catch-up.
5.) Remember the end goal: let’s face it: most people find grammar and morphology to be dry and boring. We recognize that. We always need to have our end goal in mind: to understand the Noble Quran. To achieve this, we have to learn the grammar and morphology inherent in the Quran to progress. This is important and often underscored by many students. Students often think that Quranic Arabic will be easy to learn and that it will always be enjoyable and fun. The reality of the matter is that Quranic Arabic can be challenging to learn and it can have dry moments that do not seem fun. The key is to remember that what you are learning is a means to the final destination, which is to understand the Quran. The grammar and morphology is not the goal in and of itself, but is rather a means to the end goal. This growth mindset will help students to endure the difficult phases of their learning in order to see the fruits of their studies. As they say, short-term pain for long-term gain!
6.) Make study guides and visual resources: we have noticed that the most successful students make their own versions of study guides and study charts. These students learn so much by taking the material and forming it into visual depictions, which is incredibly helpful in solidifying the material, as it uses various parts of the brain, which further accentuates learning. Being able to diversify one’s learning style will help tremendously in reinforcing the material.