Rhetorical duality and Arabic speaking EST learners Ahmad M. Halimah * 8 Allfrey Road, Eastbourne BN22 7TA, UK Abstract This study analyses matched writing samples of 100 native Arabic speakers' writing on WST (Writing for Science and Technology) topics in English and Arabic. The initial assess- ment of acceptable WST writing is carried out by three English speaking and two Arabic speaking WST teachers using ten criteria. The ®ndings indicate that, though students have studied EFL writing for eight years, and are judged to be fairly good at the mechanics (i.e. capitalisation, punctuation, spelling and handwriting), lexis and grammar, they still have sig- ni®cant diculty in writing in WST rhetorical style. This is ascribed to the fact that, because of rhetorical duality, they transfer rhetorical irregularities of the Arabic discourse over into their WST writing. This conclusion is supported in part by the results of a questionnaire given to their WST teachers which demonstrates that these teachers place great emphasis on lin- guistically-oriented elements and very little on style, and in part by an analysis of the Arabic corpus on the basis of communicative Arabic, rather than WST style. This analysis clearly shows that features considered good in communicative Arabic are not acceptable in either Arabic or English WST. # 2001 The American University. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Rationale As a teacher of English for Science and Technology (EST) at the College of Technological Studies (CTS) at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) in Kuwait, and formerly a teacher of English in other educa- tional settings, I have observed that, although Arabic students learning to write for science and technology (WST) have studied English for eight years before being admitted to their programmes, they still have many problems in writing academic English. In the present case, although these students studying science and technol- English for Specific Purposes 20 (2001) 111±139 www.elsevier.com/locate/esp 0889-4906/01/$20.00 # 2001 The American University. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0889-4906(99)00031-9 * Tel.: +44-1323-728385. E-mail address: drhalimah@aol.com (Ahmad M. Halimah).