BYU team stands out among participating universities at national Arabic debate competition.
Elementary school spelling bees, science fairs, and academic decathlons: For some kids, they’re a dreaded experience, and for others, an exciting chance to show off hard-earned skills. No matter how you feel (or felt) about such events, there’s no doubt that academic competitions in front of judges and spectators give rise to a distinct pressure. Now imagine how much more pressure you might experience participating in a prestigious, university-level language debate competition—in a language you don’t speak natively. On October 13–15, 2023, a team of four BYU students faced that pressure and placed at the fourth annual U.S. Universities Arabic Debating Championship, held at the University of Utah.
The championship takes place every year thanks to QatarDebate Center, the national debating organization of Quatar. According to its website, the U.S. Universities Debating Championship “is one of QatarDebate’s outreach programs that aims to spread the culture of open dialogue and the Arabic language across the globe.” Caleb Dewey (Middle East Studies/Arabic ’25), Jonah Phillips (International Relations, Arabic Language ’23), Alex Bills (Russian, Middle East Studies/Arabic ’24), and Joseph Yanchar (Microbiology, Arabic Language ’25) competed in several rounds of debates, speaking exclusively in Arabic as they presented arguments about various political and cultural issues.
Teams received their debate topics 30 minutes before each round, so they had time to discuss and prepare together. Judges valued debate content—including logic, evidence, argument clarity, and rebuttals—above speaking ability or vocabulary level. Out of 42 teams from across the U.S., the BYU team qualified for the semifinal round, where they argued against the idea of having a benevolent AI rule the world. In the end, they won the award for best non-native speaking team.
In addition to the team awards, the competition had two categories of individual awards: best overall speakers (out of all native or non-native competitors) and best non-native speakers. Dewey led the BYU students as team captain this year, having competed in the previous year’s championship at Stanford, and he won third place in the category of non-native speakers. He values the chance to connect with others through such a cool linguistic opportunity, saying, “It’s one of the best immersion experiences I’ve ever had inside the States. My roommate was a Jordanian Arabic-speaking native from the Islamic University of Minnesota. And I competed against him.”
Phillips, who has also participated in the competition previously, won fifth place overall this year in the open category of both native and non-native speakers. On the challenges of competing, he says, “It takes you longer to think because it’s not your native language, but it’s a useful way to learn how to talk about things you’re not used to talking about . . . and how to be organized in your spontaneous Arabic.”
Experiential learning opportunities through the College of Humanities helped Phillips prepare for success in the competition. He has gone on two study abroads to Jordan and Morocco, where he honed his language skills and gained a deep appreciation for the Arabic-speaking people. He remarks, “I’ve developed a really strong love for the people and their culture. If I want to try and give back to that community in any way, I have to be doing it with an effort to learn their language and communicate with them in their mother tongue.”
Mentorship also played a huge role in the BYU team’s success—to prepare for the event, students trained with Arabic Flagship Center Coordinator Ahmad Karout. Speaking about the training experience, Dewey says, “Dr. Karout believes in his students a lot. Sometimes I don’t believe in my ability to succeed at Arabic, and then he comes along and . . . pushes me a lot further than I could have ever gotten otherwise.”
Participation in the U.S. Universities Debating Championship and other real-life language experiences can be a springboard toward Arabic students’ careers, especially if they hope to continue using their Arabic in a setting like the Foreign Service. Resources that the Arabic Flagship Center provides, such as strong mentors and plentiful experiential learning opportunities, allow the College of Humanities to better aid students in achieving their academic and personal goals. With such strong support, it’s no wonder that BYU students continuously achieve great things—even in the face of immense pressure.
Learn more about Arabic Flagship Center here.