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Article published In:
Language Problems and Language Planning
Vol. 47:1 (2023) ► pp.49–71

Teaching Hebrew as second language in Arab schools in Israel

Policy and identity politics

ORCID logo | Hebrew University | Beit Berl Academic College
| Beit Berl Academic College

Students belonging to the substantial Palestinian-Arab minority in Israel – about one-fifth of the population – are required to study Hebrew as a second language (SL). This study analyzes the policy of teaching Hebrew as SL through content analysis of policy papers, questionnaires and interviews with teachers. It aims to elicit the meaning of studying the majority language by the minority in practical and ethnonational identity terms. The findings indicate that the current policy aims at promoting the acquisition of spoken Hebrew for the purpose of integration in higher education and the labor market, and that international contents are more prominent as part of the growing openness in Palestinian society in Israel. In terms of identity, the importance of Hebrew in that society has grown, but also posed challenges in terms of the minority’s sense of belonging to Israel and identification with the values attendant on acquiring the language. Overall, we identified interfaces between three identity spheres: the Palestinian ethnonational identity, the Jewish-Israeli identity as encountered through Hebrew language studies, and the global identity as represented by educational and employment opportunities and values.

Keywords: language policy, Hebrew curriculum, Hebrew as second language (SL), Palestinian-Arab teachers in Israel, identity, belonging
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Language policy
    • The Israeli context
    • Teaching Hebrew in Arab schools
    • The present study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Instruments and procedure
      • Primary sources
      • Self-Report questionnaires
      • Interviews
      • Ethics
  • Results
    • “An existential concern”: Hebrew Communicability as an Instrumental Asset
    • “Reduce the cultural gap”: Integration in the job market and higher education
    • “From local to global citizenship”: Global issues and autonomous thinking
    • “The language of the occupation”: The teachers’ ethnonational identity
  • Discussion
    • Globality and modernity vs. locality and tradition
    • Arab identity: Blurring vs. highlighting its uniqueness in Israel
    • Conclusion
    • Limitations and implications for research and practice
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 April 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.22002.man
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