Overview
Courses Developed and Taught:
- Arabic Language (Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced, and Intensive Arabic)
- Arabic for Heritage Speakers
- Arabic Grammar and Writing
- Introduction to Qur’anic Arabic
- In Search of the Original Qur’an
- Palestine in the News
- Current Events in the Arabic Media
- Modern Arabic Literature
- Arab Society and Culture
- Comparative Semitic Linguistics
- Arabic Pedagogy Practicum
Research Focus
Arabic linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, sociolinguistics, and comparative/historical dialectology), teaching Arabic as a foreign language, the language of the Qur’an, comparative Semitic linguistics.
Publications
Books
- RiHla ilaa Bilaad al-‘Arab: A Comprehensive Introductory Course for Arabic Heritage Speakers. Routledge 2021.
- Arabiyyat al-Naas fii MaSr, Part I, with Makda Weatherspoon, Elizabeth Huntley and Jonathan Featherstone, Routledge 2020. (A first-year Arabic textbook with an audio and video component.)
- Kalila wa Dimna for Students of Arabic, Second Edition, Routledge 2020.
- Charging Steeds or Maidens Performing Good Deeds: In Search of the Original Qur’an. Routledge, 2019.
- The Integrated Approach to Arabic Instruction, Routledge 2015.
- Arabiyyat al-Naas, Part III, (for third-year Arabic), with Yomna Chami, Routledge 2014.
- Arabiyyat al-Naas, Part II, (for second-year Arabic), with Hanada al-Masri, Routledge, 2013.
- Arabiyyat al-Naas, Part I (for first-year Arabic), with Makda Weatherspoon and Maha Saliba Foster, Routledge 2013.
- The Routledge Introduction to Qur’anic Arabic, Routledge 2013.
Articles
- “Entering the House through the Front Door: The Integrated Approach to Arabic Instruction”, to appear in Relating Arabic L2 Teaching to CEFR Guidelines: Principles, Approaches, and Practices (Proceedings of the conference “Mastering Arabic Variation” held at the University of Genoa, Italy in September 2018.
- “Solving the Arabic Language Dilemma: First Steps”. In Revisiting Levels of Contemporary Arabic in Egypt: Essays on Arabic Varieties in Memory of El-Said Badawi, edited by Zeinab Taha. The American University in Cairo Press, 2020.
- (With Elizabeth Huntley) “From an MSA-Only to a Fully Integrated AFL Curriculum”. In The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics. Edited by Enam El-Wer and Uri Horesh. Routledge, 2019.
- “To Separate or to Integrate, That Is the Question”. In Arabic Integration. Edited by Mahmoud al-Batal. Georgetown University Press, 2018.
- “Blessing, Clinging, Familiarity, Custom -- or Ship: A New Reading of the Word Īlāf in Q 106”, Journal of Semitic Studies LXII/1 Spring 2017.
- “Angels, Death, the Soul, Stars, Bows--or Women?: The Opening Verses of Qur’an 79.” New Perspectives on the Qur’aan: The Qur’an in Its Historical Context 2”. Edited by Gabriel Said Reynolds. London and New York: Routledge 2011.
- “In Suffering or in Honor: A Reinterpretation of Q 90 (al-Balad)”, Die Entstehung einer Weltreligion I. Edited by Markus Groß and Karl-Heinz Ohlig. Berlin/Tübingen: Verlag Hans Schiller 2010.
- “The Case for Integration” The NECTFL Review. Fall-Winter 2009.
- “Ingrate or Honorable: A reexamination of the word kanuud in Qur’an:100 (Al-‘Aadiyaat)”, Arabica 56, 2009.
- “Charging Steeds or Maidens Doing Good Deeds: A Re-Interpretation Of Qur’an 100 (Al-‘Aadiyaat)”, Arabica 55, 2008.
- “On ’I‘raab, Power, and Language Reform in the Arab World”, Al-‘Arabiyya 40-41, 2008.
- “Bringing Hamza under Control: A Proposal for Simplifying Hamza-Writing Rules in Arabic”. Al-'Arabiyya 38-40, 2008.
- “Integrating the Colloquial with Fusha in the Arabic-as-a-Foreign-Language Classroom”, in Handbook for Arabic language teaching professionals in the 21st century (edited by Kassem M. Wahba, Zeinab A. Taha, Liz England).Mahwah, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006.
- “Redundancy and productivity in Palestinian Arabic verb derivation”, in Proceedings of the Third International Conference of AIDA (Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe), 2000.
- "An Integrated Curriculum for Teaching Elementary Arabic," The Teaching of Arabic in the 1990’s: Directions and Issues, 1995.
- "On Vowel Shortening in Palestinian Arabic," Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics VII: Papers from the Seventh Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, 1995.
- "On Emphasis and /r/ in Arabic," Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics VI: Papers from the Sixth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, 1994.
- "Emphasis Spread in Two Arabic Dialects," Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics V: Papers from the Fifth Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, 1993.
- "An Integrated Approach to Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language," Al-‘Arabiyya 23, 1990.
- "The Stressing of Superheavy Syllables by Saudi Learners of English: Implications for the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis," Proceedings of the Third Annual Yarmouk University Linguistics Conference, Irbid, Jordan, 1984.
- "Emphasis and the Low Vowels in Palestinian Arabic”, Texas Linguistics Forum 23, 1984.