ABSTRACT
Language materials development is not only a practical activity for educators but also a relatively new growing field of academic inquiry in Arabic language education. It refers to the design, use, adaptation, and evaluation of materials for language instruction. This chapter briefly reviews the history of Arabic language learning and teaching materials. It also sheds lights on the current state of Arabic language materials by surveying a sample of Arabic language textbooks. Despite the progress seen in the development of Arabic language materials in the last decade, the design and testing of language materials for Arabic is little studied and understood. The chapter concludes with a discussion of several issues in the field of teaching Arabic as a foreign language as related to materials development and research, making recommendations for future directions and research in the field of Arabic language materials.
