A standardized test for non-native Arabic speakers has been launched in Saudi Arabia by the Education and Training Evaluation Commission, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture.
According to an online article by the Arab News, the aim of the test is to “help strengthen the role of the Arabic language regionally and globally by encouraging and supporting its use”.
The Minister of Culture, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, said the initiative is an “extension of the Kingdom’s vital role in serving the Arabic language and enhancing its position”.
The test is believed to be the first standardized Arabic language competency test for non-native Arabic speakers in the region, covering reading, writing, listening and conversation, and it will operate in line with the standards of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
The test, compiled by a group of leading academics, experts in applied linguistics, and measurement and evaluation professionals, is designed to increase ability, proficiency, and qualification level for non-native students learning Arabic in Saudi Arabia’s regional and international universities, and for use by other organizations who recruit non-native Arabic speakers.
Those students who complete the test will receive a certificate as proof of their Arabic language abilities along similar lines to those given for completion of the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the International English Language Testing System.
The test will particularly appeal to university students from overseas who aren’t native Arabic speakers, or those who wish to live and work in Saudi Arabia or other Arabic speaking countries.
The Arab News spoke to Osama Ghanem Al-Obaidy, an adviser and professor of law at the Institute of Public Administration in Riyadh, who stated that the test is likely to “play major role in the development of [Arabic] language skills” and that it will “help to measure the ability of non-native Arabic speakers to study and specialize in the Arabic language or related fields, or even to study other majors in the Arabic language such as religion, history and law, to make sure that those students and scholars are linguistically qualified enough to study or even teach any field in the Arabic language.”
It is also proposed that the test will support the Kingdom’s crucial role of enhancing the position of the Arabic language, encouraging its use, locally, nationally, and globally.
