<div>Before embarking on the present study, raising its questions, and
answering them, I would like to start with an introduction to show the
significance of the study and to explain the rationale behind choosing
it. Due to the openness in the field of teaching Arabic for non-speakers
of Arabic many researchers have joined the field—researchers who have
set teaching Arabic according to its skills as their main goal.
Accordingly, all those researchers have resorted to educational
workbooks that were set according to the standards of CEFRand ACTFL and
their requirements because these are the most popular accredited
frameworks of teaching languages and learning them. Generally, there is
nothing wrong with that, but one feels obliged to point out the fact
that these workbooks should be preceded by several steps before using
them for teaching and learning purposes. One of these endeavors that
fall under the educational process, and upon which the educational
process depend as a major constituent of the educational process is the
placement test of the foreign learners of Arabic and its requirements
with the purpose of placing them in their relevant levels. From this
point, learners would be immersed in learning the Arabic language
according to their performance and their linguistic capabilities which
would manifest in different tests.</div>


<div>Based on that, setting placement tests and authorizing them in
educational institutions has become of the utmost importance since it
plays a major effective role in determining the performance of a learner
and their linguistic competence on the one hand, and it accounts for the
backwash that befalls the learner due to the placement test on the other
hand. It is noteworthy that this term “backwash” that Arthur Hughes
has devised in his book entitled Testing Language
Teachers clearly explains the reactions to placement tests, be it
positive reactions or negative ones. As a result, including that type of
testing in the educational process is undoubtedly valid since it is a
requirement that precedes language learning immersion on the one hand,
and it would encourage the learner to learn Arabic or repel them away
from learning it on the other hand.</div>


<div>In light of that, the research questions arise. One of these questions
is: Are placement tests of the Arabic language set according to the
standards of competence and performance? If so, how could a learner’s
receptive skills of reading and listening be measured since they differ
from productive skills of speaking and writing? These two questions have
led me to a third major question which is the main goal and the epitome
of the present study which is: How can an advanced exam be set, away
from any familiar stereotypes, bearing in mind achieving a communicative
function with all learners of Arabic who speak different language since
communication is a pivotal key of learning a language and teaching it?</div>


<div>In conclusion, this study answers all these questions, and attached to
it is a placement test of the Arabic language as a foreign language. On
the one hand, the test is set according to the findings of this study,
and on the other hand, it is a confirmation of the credibility of the
present study away from any unjust theorizing.</div>