This interdisciplinary paper draws on findings from academic research on Arabic language diglossia demonstrating the linguistic distance between spoken Arabic, a’amiya and written Arabic, fusHa. It extends the implications of these findings to the literature on child development and reading. In this respect, it is is the first study to address the challenges of reading to children in a language diglossia situation. The paper starts by addressing the unfounded popular claim that fusHa and a’amiya are similar. It then outlines relevant practices from developed countries that feature language diglossia and finds no merit in the second popular concern that reading to children in their mother-tongue — a’amiya — would weaken their later grasp of fusHa — the language of education. The common practice of ad hoc on-the-spot translation of fusHa text in storybooks to a’amiya is not optimal for reasons highlighted. Further, the paper discusses the wider proven benefits of reading to children that go beyond literacy, and that are likely forgone by the exclusive focus on producing and reading children’s books in only fusHa. Finally, the study argues that the sociolinguistic nature of a’amiya and the demographics of most Arab countries ought to support a viable market for a’amiya children’s books.
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