ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the long history of English and English teaching in Saudi Arabia. It describes how from the iron ages onwards the inhabitants of what is now Saudi Arabia have encountered and spoken foreign languages including English because of their value to trade and social mobility, political expediency, and later, the spread of Islam. The chapter also traces shifts in attitude towards English teaching from its first formal introduction in the Schools of Higher Learning during the ‘Golden Age’ where it was part of a dynamic mixture of religious and secular learning to its virtual disappearance during the ‘Wahhabi Period’ and its reintroduction and expansion from the ‘Unification’ period to the present. The chapter examines the contested nature of English in Saudi Arabia throughout its history and traces the roots of key modern developments back to the past.
