UNC Arabic department uses Tabadul program to connect with students across the world

Since 2023, UNC Arabic classes have used the program Tabadul to enhance language learning. Now, thanks to a sub-grant from the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative, the program will remain in Carolina classrooms for another two years.

Tabadul, meaning exchange in Arabic, uses virtual reality and online interactive spaces to facilitate connections between students in North America and students from the Middle East and North Africa.

In ARAB 101: Elementary Arabic I, students partner with university students from Algeria or Morocco and have four interactions over the course of two weeks. The UNC students learn Arabic, and their partners learn English.

Caroline Sibley, an Arabic professor at UNC, uses Tabadul in her Elementary Arabic I and ARAB 203: Intermediate Arabic courses. Sibley has led the way in implementing Tabadul in the Arabic curriculum at UNC. 

Sibley said Tabadulallows students to break an unseen barrier that can be challenging when learning a new language. 

“My third-year students, they were really grateful to have the chance to practice Arabic with a native speaker,” Sibley said.

Bud Kauffman, another Arabic professor at UNC, has also implemented Tabadul in his Elementary Arabic I coursework. Kauffman said that for students taking introductory Arabic, having the vocabulary and linguistic ability to communicate formally can be challenging. 

Kauffman said having a program like Tabadul allows for students to become more comfortable in conversations. 

“Inherently and expectedly, they sort of detoured into more, finding common space, finding common ground, sharing information with each other and sort of letting the conversation lead them where it might,” he said.

Amanda Den Dulk, a first-year biology major, took Elementary Arabic I with Kauffman in the fall of 2024. Amanda said that as an introductory student in Arabic, she lacked the vocabulary needed to have fluent conversations with her partner in Morocco; however, through class discussions and one-to-one time with the other student, she was able to learn more independently. 

“I really like the idea of being talked to by someone who's fluent in Arabic, especially because she was at a higher level English. So she was very conversational,” she said. “She was able to teach me things I didn't know.”

Timothy Rose, associate director for exchange and sponsored programs at UNC Global Affairs, said the program is high impact with a low cost.

Rose said that between the price of teaching time and the Google Cardboard VR sets, the program totals $8,000 a year. 

He also said Tabadul, and programs like it, fit into UNC’s commitment to providing a global education to all students because regardless of what careers students pursue, one day, they will participate in the global economy. 

“They're going to be doing business with people from all over the world no matter what they're doing and being able to practice those skills both virtually, but also as they're talking to other students, is a major part of that global guarantee,”  Rose said.

Even outside of the benefits to the Arabic curriculum at UNC, Rose said programs like Tabadul help to fulfill Carolina’s COIL — Collaborative, Online, International, Learning — initiative, which works to globalize UNC’s campus and student body.

Rose said he was optimistic for Tabadul, its place in the Arabic curriculum and the ability of the program to increase the language learning experience at UNC. 

“I'm hopeful that this is one way and one tool that professors can use to expand the horizons of their students,” Rose said.

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