The richness of Arabic sociolinguistic variation (SLV) offers unique opportunities and challenges for second language learners and instructors (Al-Batal, 2018). Despite this linguistic reality, the Arabic as a Foreign Language (AFL) community is torn over how and when to introduce SLV to students. Although many language functions at even the novice proficiency level necessitate SLV awareness (ACTFL, 2012), most existing research into this topic explores outcomes with intermediate and advanced learners of Arabic (Nassif & Al Masaeed, 2020; Soliman, 2014; Trentman & S’hiri, 2020). The current study expands this area of research by investigating the acquisition of SLV at the initial stages of learning. 56 novice participants studied mini-Arabii, a miniature language (e.g. Cross et al., 2020; Mueller, 2006) which mimics lexical SLV between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA). The training conditions operationalize different AFL curricular approaches: 1) Integrated (MSA and ECA taught side-by-side, representing a classroom that introduces SLV early on); 2) Sequential (MSA taught first, ECA taught second, representing traditional instruction followed by study abroad or a dialect elective), and 3) Traditional (MSA-only). Acquisition across the three conditions was measured throughout the three-day, web-based experiment in terms of accuracy (both absolutely as a binary score and approximately utilizing the Levenshtein Distance) and processing speed (reaction time). Initial findings reveal mixed results: learners appear to process words more quickly in the Integrated condition than the Sequential condition, yet accuracy is roughly equal between all three conditions. The results shed light not only on how L2 learners of Arabic can acquire and process SLV through a psycholinguistic lens, but furthermore how these outcomes are influenced by current curricular approaches.