A system of language assessment may be used as a mechanism for affecting language policy. Language tests convey messages and ideologies that regard prestige, priorities and hierarchies, and they generally lead to the suppression of diversity (Shohamy 2007). The relationship between tests and language policy, based mainly on the criteria used for judging language quality through rating scales, guidelines and other frameworks, leads to a view of language as standardized and homogenous. From this perspective, language tests can serve as tools that negotiate and mediate between ideology and practice. In the Arabic-speaking world language tests have only recently been introduced, although very few Arab countries have shown an interest in developing the necessary means to evaluate language performance levels. In this paper the language tests developed by the Arab Academy, the UAE National Center for Assessment (Markaz al-Waṭanī li-l-Qiyās), the Mother Tongue Center (Markaz al-Lisān al-Umm), the Jordan al-Naǧāḥ National University (Ǧāmiʿat al-Naǧāḥ al-Waṭaniyya) and the King Saʿūd University will be taken into consideration in order to determine any ideological orientation in test objectives, content and rationale. Particular attention will be paid to communicative skills within a general framework of linguistic variation in the Arabic-speaking world.

Akkari, Abkeljalil. 2004. "Education in the Middle East and North Africa: The Current Situation and Future Challenges". International Education Journal 5 (2): 144-153.

Alosh, Mahdi. 1997. Learner, Text and Context in Foreign Language Acquisition: An Arabic Perspective (Pathways to Advanced Skills Series). Ohio: Ohio State University National Foreign Language Resource Centre.

Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.

Barni, Monica, and Luisa Salvati. 2017. "The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)". In Language Testing and Assessment, edited by Elena Shohamy, Iair G. Or, and Stephen May, 416-427. Cham (CH): Springer.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02261-1_29

Bassiouney, Reem. 2009. Arabic Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623730.001.0001

Bassiouney, Reem. 2014. Language and Identity in Modern Egypt. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748689644.001.0001

Benrabah, Mohamed. 2007. "Language-in-Education Planning in Algeria: Historical Development and Current Issues". Language Policy 6 (2): 225-252.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-007-9046-7

Blommaert, Jan. 2006. "Language Policy and National Identity". In An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Method, edited by Thomas Ricento, 238-254. Malden: Blackwell.

Chejne, Anwar G. 1969. The Arabic Language: Its Role in History. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.

Facchin, Andrea. 2017. "Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language in the Arab World: Some Aspects". Quaderni di Studi Arabi 12: 193-206.

Ferguson, Charles. 1959. "Diglossia". Word 15 (2): 325-340.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1959.11659702

Gebril, Atta, and Taha Thomure Hanada. 2013. "Assessing Arabic". In The Companion to Language Assessment, edited by Anthony J. Kunnan, 1779-1789. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118411360.wbcla065

Greenfeld, Liah. 1992. Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.

Holt, Mike. 1994. "Algeria: Language, Nation and State". In Arabic Sociolinguistics, edited by Yasir Suleiman, 25-41. Richmond: Curzon Press.

Khaldieh, Salim. 2001. "The Relationship between Knowledge of iʿraab, Lexical Knowledge, and Reading Comprehension of Nonnative Readers of Arabic". The Modern Language Journal 85 (3): 416-431.

https://doi.org/10.1111/0026-7902.00117

Lian, Chaoqun. 2020. Language, Ideology and Sociopolitical Change in the Arabic-speaking World: A Study of the Discourse of Arabic Language Academies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Maamouri, Mohamed. 1998. Arabic Language Education and Human Development: Arabic Diglossia and Its Impact on the Quality of Education in the Arab Region. Philadelphia: International Literacy Institute.

Miller, Catherine. 2003. "Linguistic Policies and Language Issues in the Middle East". In Islam in Middle Eastern Studies: Muslims and Minorities, edited by Akira Usuki and Kato Hiroshi, 149-174. Osaka: JCAS (JCAS Symposium Series, 7).

Or, Iair G. 2017. "Language Policy and Education in the Middle East and North Africa". In Language Policy and Political Issues in Education. 3rd ed., edited by Teresa L. McCarty and Stephen May. Cham (CH): Springer.

Ryding, Cathrine. 1995. "Discourse Competence in TAFL: Skill Levels and Choice of Language Variety in the Arabic Classroom". In The Teaching of Arabic as a Foreign Language: Issues and Directions, edited by Mahmoud Al-Batal, 115-133. Provo (UT): American Association of Teachers of Arabic.

Shohamy, Elana. 2007. "Language Tests as Language Policy Tools". Assessment Education 14 (1): 117-130.

https://doi.org/10.1080/09695940701272948

Solimando, Cristina. 2017. "E-writers and the Arabic Language: New Genres and Linguistic Renewal". La Rivista di Arablit 13: 35-50.

Solimando, Cristina. 2020. "Linguistic Interference and Religious Identity: The Case of a Lebanese Speech Community". Linguae & 19 (2): 155-170.

https://doi.org/10.7358/ling-2020-002-soli

Spolsky, Bernard. 2004. Language Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Suleiman, Camelia, and Lucas Russel. 2012. "Debating Arabic on al-Jazeera: Endangerment and Identity in Divergent Discourses". Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 5: 190-210.

https://doi.org/10.1163/187398612X645235

Suleiman, Yasir. 2013. Arabic in the Fray: Language Ideology and Cultural Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637409.001.0001

Taha-Thomure, Hanada. 2008. "The Status of Arabic Language Teaching Today". Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues 1 (3): 186-192.

https://doi.org/10.1108/17537980810909805

Wahba, Kassem. 2006. "Arabic Language Use and the Educated Language User". In Handbook for Arabic Language Teaching Professionals in the 21st Century, edited by Kassem M. Wahba, Taha Zeinab, and England Liz, 139-155. Mahwah (NJ): Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Websites

https://www.actfl.org/resources/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012/arabic/arabic-consensus-project/speaking [22/06/2021].

https://cec.uaeu.ac.ae/ar/arabiclanguage.shtml [22/06/2021].

https://cec.uaeu.ac.ae/en/partners.shtml [22/06/2021].

https://www.etec.gov.sa/ar/About/Centers/Pages/qiyas.aspx [22/06/2021].

https://learnarabic.najah.edu/ar/registration/arabic-international-proficiency-exam/ [22/06/2021].

https://learnarabic.najah.edu/en/registration/arabic-international-proficiency-exam/ [22/06/2021].

https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=0900001680459f97 [22/06/2021].