Abstract

In this study, the researchers attempted to address the main hypothesis that diglossia may impede vocabulary growth of Lebanese bilingual students [in L1 Arabic], but they should eventually catch up in the upper cycle. A correlation design based on a two-stage random sample was used with 100 participants including pre-schoolers, first, second, fourth and fifth graders, answering a standardized, US normed picture vocabulary test. Parents and teachers were also surveyed to answer a number of questions related to children’s language preference at home and at school and vocabulary teaching practices. The results obtained show that their Arabic skills were not grade appropriate, especially the older students. Thus the negative effect worsens for the older group.  Both parents and teachers recognized the challenges posed by the diglossia effect and most of them had no reliable strategies to draw on. Diglossia was therefore shown to impede vocabulary development in young Arabic of Lebanese bilingual students, a finding which should call for a reform in the Arabic language instruction in the school system. Implications of the study are detailed, and a number of instructional strategies are provided to palliate the effect of diglossia and address the Arabic language deficits in Lebanon.

Key words: Diglossia, vocabulary acquisition, standard Arabic, colloquial Arabic, and educated spoken Arabic