To Improve Hebrew Proficiency Among Arabs in Israel, Make It Worthwhile

Research shows that acquiring second-language proficiency can serve as a critical economic booster for populations in the minority of a society in which the majority group’s language dominates. In Israel, limited Hebrew proficiency has been identified as one of the prominent obstacles to Arab citizens’ economic well-being because it precludes them from participating in Israel’s Hebrew-dominated mainstream labor markets. In response, various governmental actors have launched wide-ranging initiatives to address the Hebrew proficiency gap. Most of these efforts have been focused on ensuring better access to and instruction of Hebrew for Arab citizens of different ages and career stages.

In this paper, RAND researchers agree that high-quality instruction is essential to language acquisition but argue that, in a divided society, solutions focused on language acquisition are not sufficient to ensure the overall socioeconomic integration of populations in the minority. If higher rates of Hebrew proficiency among Israel’s Arab citizens are the goal, policymakers should offer Arab citizens pragmatic reasons for learning Hebrew and focus on removing barriers that stand in the way of their socioeconomic ascent. Further, calls to improve Arab citizens’ Hebrew proficiency without meaningful efforts to make more key areas of Israeli life, including labor markets, thrive in Arabic will be susceptible to perceptions of forced assimilation and, ultimately, rejection.