Editor's Note

The six articles published in this issue of Al-'Arabiyya contribute in many different and meaningful ways to Arabic linguistics in general, Arabic applied linguistics and pedagogy, Arabic translation, Arabic literature and culture, and Arabic dialectology. Three of the six articles have implications for teaching Arabic as a foreign/second language; one, for the presence of unique Arabic elements in the Arabian Nights; one, for English–Arabic terminology translation; and one, for paratactic conditionals, exhibited in the Syrian dialect of Deir Ezzor, as a universal linguistic phenomenon. This volume also features six book reviews.

The article by Amel Khalfaoui deals with the role of discourse connectives in facilitating discourse comprehension. Khalfaoui proposes a procedural analysis of the discourse connective fa and suggests strategies for teaching such procedural meanings, which are based on relevance theory and informed by ACTFL proficiency and assessment guidelines.

Hezi Brosh investigates learners' perceptions and preferences with respect to grammar instruction. The study is based on data from a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews of seventy-one college students belonging to two proficiency levels (novice and advanced). In addition to examining participants' perceptions of the (non)benefit of grammar, other study findings relate to the participants' reasons for their interest in grammar, amount and mode of grammar exposure they desire, and the specific channel (i.e., teacher versus textbook) through which they prefer to receive grammar explanations.

Yahya Kharrat addresses the challenges faced by the Arabic language learner in writing the glottal stop hamzah symbol. Kharrat provides a brief account for the different orthographic realizations of the hamzah, speculates on different causes for the difficulties with the hamzah, and concludes by suggesting techniques and deliberate practice for the advanced language classroom to drill and teach/learn the hamzah writing rules.

Jamal Mohamed Giaber tackles the issue of concision in English–Arabic terminology translation and the conflicting demands for precision and concision, though the study is primarily concerned with concision. The study's findings are based on a corpus analysis of technical terms originally created in Arabic and technical terms translated from English to Arabic and comparing between the two types structurally and stylistically.

Mohammed Al-Hilal discusses the presence of paratactic conditionals in the Syrian dialect of Deir Ezzor and provides a descriptive account of their structural distributions, types, and meanings. Equivalent examples from English and French are offered to advance the claim that paratactic conditionals are a crosslinguistic phenomenon.

In his article, Ahmed Al-Rawi delves into classical sources and provides different accounts and descriptions of the Rukh bird. Al-Rawi concludes that the accounts mentioned in Arabic classical sources on the 'Anqā' are closer to the description of the Rukh than their Persian and Indian counterparts, contrary to what is commonly believed.

The book review section contains six reviews. It includes Keith Walters's review of Saiegh-Haddad and R. Malatesha Joshi's edited work, Handbook of Arabic Literacy: Insights and Perspectives; Carmen Cross's reviews of El Mustapha Lahlali and Wafa Abu Hatab's Advanced English–Arabic Translation: A Practical Guide and Roznak Husni and Daniel L. Newman's A to Z of Arabic–English–Arabic Translation; Brahim Oulbeid's review of Matthew Aldrich's Arabic Voices 1–2: Authentic Listening and Reading Practice in Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Dialects; Katrien Vanpee's review of Laila Familiar's Hoda Barakat's Sayyidi wa-Habibi: The Authorized Abridged Edition for Students of Arabic; and Barbara Romaine's review of Aida Bamia's translated work of Mohammed Achaari's The Arch and the Butterfly.

I am delighted by the variety of contributions in this issue of Al-'Arabiyya, especially as AATA is celebrating Al-'Arabiyya's fiftieth year of publication. On that note, on behalf of AATA, I would like to dedicate the present issue to Raji Rammuny, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan, on the occasion of his retirement after almost fifty years of dedicated service.