Arabicization in Saudi Arabia: Procedures and Implementations

Abstract

Educators and policymakers maintain that Arabicization is of paramount importance. The question, however, is why the Arabicization process has been lagging behind in almost all Arab countries and in Saudi Arabia particularly. This paper attempts to evaluate the planning process of Arabicization based on Haugen’s language planning model (Haugen, 1983) depicting the success in Arabic as a national language but its regression at an official level. Being the clearest language planning in KSA, it still has some problematic areas in terms of its proper implementation. It incorporates distinct steps; the identification of financial resources, creating time schedules for conclusion, and the evaluation and assessments. This research begins with an introduction to Haugen’s language planning model (1983) and its basic elements. Moreover, some historical foundations including the objectives of language planning are investigated. Activities of Arabizing language planning are explored as well as the effects of globalization on Arabizing language outlining. The argument here is situated on the exploration of the Saudi language program and supporting legislative records. This paper tackles the questions of implementation in the light of its failures and successes as far as the Saudi policy is concerned.