The Impact of Arabic Diglossia on First Grade Learners’ Academic Achievement

Abstract

The current study revolved around diglossia. The end was to highlight the effects of Arabic diglossia on quality education, precisely at primary levels. The study attempted to examine the extent to which early exposure to Standard Arabic may reduce diglossia’s negative repercussions on education. As such, the research took place in two primary schools of which one provides preparatory classes to learners before school-age. The research built on a mixed methods approach to data collection in which classroom observation and mixed questionnaire were used. The analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data indicated that the vast majority of teachers have strong tendency to alternate between Standard Arabic and Dialectal Arabic. It has also demonstrated that preparatory classes that are offered to learners before the age of official schooling are of significant importance. Besides preparing young learners to school environment, their linguistic abilities are also fostered in that they are exposed to recurrent use of Standard Arabic. Therefore, learners who enroll in such classes have been found to perform linguistically better than learners who miss pre-schooling linguistic preparation.