The evolving draft of culture proficiency guidelines is a clear indicator of the importance and urgency of addressing the teaching and assessment of culture proficiency in foreign language programs. The issue of culture proficiency is particularly pertinent for study abroad programs where opportunities for cultural learning are greatest and the quality of pedagogical practices varies most. The Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Arabic program is a summer intensive study abroad that is administered in six different locations in the Arab world with shared goals and objectives but with different living arrangements and level specificities. This paper first reports on the various approaches that the Arabic CLS program has adopted in order to actively promote cultural learning and consciously integrate it in the curriculum. The focus will be on addressing the local Arabic varieties and creating "language socialization" opportunities for students. Second, this paper investigates the effectiveness of the various approaches of the CLS program in the acquisition of various discrete as well as elusive components of culture and the role of technology in promoting this learning. Cultural proficiency is assessed using surveys administered before and after the program in all six sites as well as observation and interviews. The draft culture proficiency guidelines will be piloted in rating the students.