The author accuses Arab glottodidactics of ideological compIicity with the political systems of the Arab countries and of a leveling of the cultural and linguistic reality, by adopting the archaic and anachronistic motto: "one nation, one language." Indeed, beneath the apparent linguistic homogeneity of Arabic, the fragmentation of the oral language should not be underestimated. In designing a possible project for the teaching of Arabic in the Italian schools, it is necessary, first of all, to define who the recipients are and what their needs are, in order then to be able to evaluate the adequacy of the variety or varieties of the language to be taught, of the teaching aids and methods to be used, the level and types of competence to be reached, and the tools to be developed for testing such competence. The author then draws up a profile of the teaching staff, illustrates and evaluates the French and American experiences in this field, and suggests creating a European Association of Teachers of Arabic (EATA), while expressing the hope that such a project will be realistic, secular and pluralistic in nature.
