154 © 2021 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE ARABIC ACADEMIC VOCABULARY MASTERY: A STUDY OF STUDENTS IN MALAYSIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES Norhayuza Mohamad 1+ Mohamad Nor Amin Samsun Baharun 2 Ahmad bin Wan Abd Rahman 3 Zuraini Mohd Ramli 4 1,2,3,4 Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia. (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 7 January 2021 Revised: 15 February 2021 Accepted: 8 March 2021 Published: 25 March 2021 Keywords Mastery Arabic language Academic vocabulary Receptive vocabulary Productive vocabulary Malaysian Public Universities. The issue of learning Arabic among university students is closely related to the mastery of Arabic academic vocabulary (AAV). This study aimed to investigate the mastery of the receptive and productive Arabic academic vocabulary amongst Malaysian Public Universities students. 126 Arabic students from 6 public universities have been selected via purposive sampling method. In order to collect the data, researchers used a set of receptive and productive academic vocabulary tests. 50 academic vocabularies have been used from a list of academic vocabulary provided by Davies and Gardner (2013). The research data were analysed using SPSS v25 (Shapiro- Wilk Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test and Post-Hoc Bonferroni Test). The results shows that the productive test scored higher compared to the results of the receptive test. The findings showed that there are significant differences as compared to the findings of previous vocabulary studies where almost all earlier research indicates that receptive test achievement is usually better than productive test achievement. Researchers argue that this is probably due to the more difficult academic vocabulary features, the number of words used in receptive questions is more than productive tests as well as a less effective test formats to be applied to Arabic language learners as foreign languages. Contribution/ Originality: The main finding of this study is that the achievement of productive academic vocabulary is higher than the achievement of receptive vocabulary among students who are learning Arabic as a foreign language. This finding is slightly different from the previous studies conducted among native speaker students. Since academic vocabulary is more technical in nature, it is possible that appropriate test should be used for foreign languages. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background of the Study Arabic is the language of knowledge, civilization and intelligence, widely used from ancient times to the present. Studies conducted earlier have proven that a lot of the uniqueness and specialty of the Arabic language is International Journal of Asian Social Science ISSN(e): 2224-4441 ISSN(p): 2226-5139 DOI: 10.18488/journal.1.2021.113.154.167 Vol. 11, No. 3, 154-167. © 2021 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. URL: www.aessweb.com