Lingue culture mediazioni (LCM Journal) (2021). Vol. 8/2: Arabic Language and Language Teaching: Policies, Politics, and Ideology-Arabo e didattica dell'arabo: politiche, politica e ideologia

This special issue of LCM addresses some of the core problems generated by the complexity of the Arabic language: How do we represent the variability of Arabic in the classroom and from which standpoint? Is there a conscious or unconscious relation between teaching practices and ideology? To what extent do language certifications exert influence on linguistic policies? And finally, how does the Arabic language convey political and ideological contents? Our working assumption in putting together this special issue was that the different perceptions of Arabic depend on the ideological framework within which the language is spoken, studied, and taught. Our contributors explore two main issues: first, they look into the ways in which Arabic reflects ideological, political or religiously oriented meaning, and how ideologies may influence the vision and expectations of its users, including learners and teachers. Secondly, they illustrate how different ideological approaches determine the practice of language teaching, with regards to the selection of varieties, curricula, and certifications.