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  • Editor’s Note

The articles published in this issue of Al-‘Arabiyya contribute in many meaningful ways to the ongoing discussions in Arabic applied linguistics, Arabic sociolinguistics, and Arabic dialectology. Two articles focus on second language acquisition and learning, two deal with sociolinguistics, one with dialectology, and one with language evaluation by Medieval Arab grammarians and literary critics. One article is a review article of Arabic through literature. A substantial book review section is also included in this issue.

The article by Mahmoud Azaz engages current interest in second language acquisition research in the semantics of definiteness and investigates related crosslinguistic effects in the acquisition of three types of Arabic determiner phrases by English speakers, focusing on L1 transfer and typological effects. The article by Jeremy Palmer extends a community-based practicum model (from a Spanish study) to Arabic where language and cultural exposure can take place (outside of the classroom) through interaction with the local Arabic-speaking community in a study abroad language environment.

Brahim Chakrani’s study deals with the analysis of deictic shifts and ultimately contributes to Arabic sociolinguistic research by showing the role of language and its centrality in defining one’s own identity. The article by Basem Al-Raba’a replicates earlier studies on language attitude on Jordanian varieties with data from rural and urban Jordanians belonging to two generations from two regions, one of which was not investigated before.

In his article, Alexander Magidow proposes the use of demonstratives (as a generally unused isogloss) in exploring the development and classification of the Arabic dialects. Abdulkareem Said Ramadan explores the standards or criteria that Medieval Arab grammarians and literary critics used in evaluating and assessing levels of language output (literary and nonliterary) akin to current assessment practices of foreign language proficiency. Johanna Sellman, in her review article, briefly reviews five recent publications aimed at teaching Arabic though literature. Her assessment covers the publications’ approaches and potential uses in the language classroom. [End Page v]

The book review section contains an impressive number of reviews. It includes Mahdi Alosh’s review of Karin Ryding’s pedagogical guide, Teaching and Learning Arabic as a Foreign Language; Marilyn Booth’s review of Humphrey Davies’s translated work of Al-Shidyāq’s Leg over Leg; Maher Awad’s review of Reem Bassiouney and E. Graham Katz’s Arabic Language and Linguistics; Jamal Ali’s review of Mohammed Sawaie’s Fundamentals of Arabic Grammar; Jonathan Owens’s review of another book by Ryding, Arabic: A Linguistic Introduction; Jeremy Palmer’s review of Hezi Brosh and Lutfi Mansour’s Arabic Stories for Language Learners; and William Cotter’s review of another book by Bassiouney, Language and Identity in Modern Egypt.

I hope you will enjoy the variety of contributions in this issue of Al-‘Arabiyya and find many of the ideas and implications of great benefit to your teaching and research. [End Page vi]

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