Enriched Descriptive Guides for Museums: A Case Study on the Use of Modern Standard Arabic and Urban Qatari Dialect

This research aims to explore the use of one type of audio description, Enriched Descriptive Guides (EDGs), in enriching the understanding and enjoyment of potential museum visitors of visual arts in two linguistic varieties: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Urban Qatari Dialect (UQD). The study was conducted at one of Qatar’s iconic museums, The Arab Museum of Modern Art (Mathaf), with the use of two paintings made by Qatari artist Jassim Al-Zaini (1942- 2012): ‘The Bicycle Passenger’ (1960) and ‘For Women Only’ (1984). Twelve Qatari participants (six sighted and six blind) took part in this exploratory study. In order to evaluate the impact of EDGs on participants understanding and enjoyment, this research adopted a mixed methods approach: qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through questionnaires and a focus group discussion in order to triangulate the findings. The primary results of this study showed that both linguistic varieties were understood very well by most of the participants; however, the MSA version of the EDGs conveyed the paintings’ contents more successfully. The research also showed that the multi-sensory experience was not enriching to all visitors’ understanding of the paintings. The result of the focus group discussion was positive. Participants wished to experience EDGs in Qatar museums and asked to explore visual arts using a multi-sensory approach.