ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the challenges facing the Arabic language in Israel and presents a framework for addressing them. It aims to support the planning and implementation of initiatives that can deal appropriately with the innumerable external, internal and inherent challenges to Arabic. Foreign languages, especially English and French, are used extensively in higher education in many Arab countries in fields such as the exact sciences and medicine. English and French are the languages of science and technology, the languages in which modern scientific knowledge is produced. A framework and practical proposals for the process of change will be presented, focusing on the case of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel. The proposed framework consists of three central avenues: linguistic practices, linguistic ideologies and linguistic policies. Language has a central position in the cultural system because of its association with a number of its components: intellect, creativity, education, information, heritage, values and beliefs.