Abstract

The most important practical distinction of language derived from the medium of expression is that of speech and writing which produces the spoken and written variants, observed more or less in all the languages. The differences of the two variants depend on the distance or proximity of the spoken from the written forms. Owing to the conspicuous differences of speech and writing in the Persian language, learning Persian as a foreign language accompanies abundant difficulties for the learners. The difficulties become more noticeable when we consider that most teachers in the field are non-Iranians, Iranian teachers have specialties other than language teaching, students learn the language in alien linguistic environment, they feel poor stimulation for language learning and, finally, learners are deprived of audio visual sources. Referring to the formation of spoken-written studies at the start of the article, the general situation of teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers has been briefly introduced and, then, the chief structural differences of the spoken and written variants have been discussed. An analysis of the differences, based on recent linguistic researches, forms the main part of the article. The theoretical principles may be used as the basis for presenting appropriate tactics to teach the differences in Persian syllabuses, prove useful to language learners in acquiring spoken skills, and finally, end in the promotion of their language knowledge and the status of the Persian language. The article is derived from the writer’s knowledge and experience in teaching Persian to non-Persian speakers, the data being influenced by the works of prominent linguistics researchers on a documentary basis.