In 2004 English became a compulsory subject in the primary curriculum in Saudi Arabia, yet analyses of this reform have been limited. This mixed methods study examines the perspectives on the primary English reform of 504 long-serving ELT professionals. Based on interviews and questionnaires, the study concludes that respondents were largely supportive of the policy to start English early; they believed it had a positive effect on levels of English among Saudi state school pupils, even though it was also felt that the official targets stipulated by the Ministry of Education were over-ambitious. Most respondents believed, too, that teaching English in primary school had allowed pupils to develop more positive attitudes to English. Despite these positive views about the 2004 reform, it was also felt that primary ELT in Saudi Arabia was still characterised by a number of challenges, particularly regarding the lack of specialised teacher preparation, demanding textbooks and the limited time allocated to English in the curriculum. It is recommended that addressing such challenges should be an important element in any reforms, particularly given the recent decision in Saudi Arabia to introduce English from Grade 1.

2004年，英语成为沙特阿拉伯小学必修科目，但对这一改革的分析却很有限。这项混合方法研究考察了 504 名长期任职的英语教学专业人员对初级英语改革的看法。根据访谈和问卷调查，研究得出的结论是，受访者很大程度上支持尽早开始英语学习的政策；他们认为这对沙特公立学校学生的英语水平产生了积极影响，尽管他们也认为教育部规定的官方目标过于雄心勃勃。大多数受访者还认为，在小学教授英语使学生对英语形成了更积极的态度。尽管对 2004 年的改革有这些积极的看法，人们还认为，沙特阿拉伯的小学英语教学仍然面临许多挑战，特别是缺乏专门的教师准备、要求很高的教科书以及课程中分配给英语的时间有限。建议应对此类挑战应成为任何改革的重要组成部分，特别是考虑到沙特阿拉伯最近决定从一年级开始引入英语。