This paper intends to contribute to the research field of vocabulary learning from an Arabic language acquisition perspective. After a brief introduction, the paper deals first with some linguistic, Arabic-specific considerations within the vocabulary teaching theoretical framework and then presents a research project, the scope of which is the monitoring of students’ vocabulary proficiency in two subsequent terms, where vocabulary instruction differed in focus on teaching methods. Specifically, the paper outlines the frequency ranges of the words taught during the course, accounts for the methods chosen to measure the students’ vocabulary proficiency and compares and discusses the results.