Arabic Language Use and the Educated Language User

In light of current theories of foreign language acquisition, selecting only one “variety” of Arabic for instruction, such as classical or colloquial, will seriously prejudice the ability of the non-native learner to communicate effectively in an Arabic-speaking community. Rather, both varieties of the language should be taught together, as occurs in natural speech contexts. In spite of this fact, many Arabic programs select only one variety for language instruction. The problems that this approach entails for Arabic language teaching and learning motivates the present chapter.