ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the way Arabic is taught in UK schools, who learns it and what their motivations and ambitions are. The chapter looks at who teaches Arabic, what methodologies and materials instructors use and what training and professional development is available for Arabic teachers. The authors also examine the wider context for language learning in the UK and the policies that influence schools and teachers in deciding which languages they choose to teach. Despite being acknowledged as a language of great importance to the UK, Arabic struggles to attract the attention and learnership that other languages do. The content of this chapter will draw on recent research commissioned by the British Council into the teaching of Arabic in UK as well as the authors’ experiences supporting schools that have elected to teach Arabic as their modern foreign language.
