Learning and Teaching Arabic as an Additional Language – Phase 2: Systematic Reviews of Experimental Research

This project constituted the second phase of our review of research on the learning and teaching of Arabic as an Additional Language (AL2).

Phase 1 consisted of a thorough, systematic scoping review and bibliographic mapping study, funded by QFI (2023). Our scoping review identified available research, published in English, on the theme of learning and teaching AL2.

Building on this work, Phase 2 consists of a series in-depth systematic reviews, synthesizing research on the learning and teaching of AL2. We focused on experimental and quasi-experimental studies which are designed to assess causal relationships between variables – for example, the effect of a particular pedagogical intervention on a given outcome variable.

Six individual systematic reviews were planned, focusing on: reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar and vocabulary. Reviews on the four skills have been completed, with the vocabulary and grammar reviews scheduled to be completed by April 2026.

We identified few experimental/quasi-experimental studies investigating reading, writing, speaking and listening in AL2. Quality assessment of these studies revealed important areas for future development in the field of AL2 experimental research.

Findings and discussions of these results and their implications were presented at the first Oxford-QFI Forum, hosted at the Department of Education in July 2024. Findings of all six reviews are due to be published in article format.