Traditionally, many English language teachers around the world have conformed to an English as a foreign language (EFL) model. In this model, they expose their students to the standard language norms of English-dominant nations, such as the United States and the United Kingdom. However, English learners do not only need language skills to…

America's Middle East Studies Centers (MESCs) were originally founded to study the politics, culture, and language of Middle Eastern nations. But our analyses and case studies demonstrate that Middle East centers have since shifted their focus to promoting left-wing ideologies. "Hijacked: The Capture of America's Middle East Studies…

Hem Borker performed field-based research in madrasa "Jamiatul Mominat," a residential girls' madrasa in Delhi, exploring the everyday lives of young girls studying in the madrasa. She interacted with a number of students and teachers in this madrasa. But there were few with whom she developed a bond during her journey from being a…

The "Muqaddimah," a massive 14th century text by Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, while primarily a history, in the later chapters deals with linguistics and pedagogy. Multiple publications on what his work contributes to the field of education exist. But surprisingly, only two papers have appeared specific to teaching English to speakers of…

This paper sheds light on the late Mohammed Al-Busairi's affluent academic journey. I will trace his education and his work experience in teaching, supervision, translation, literature, with special focus on his writings on lexicography and dictionary making. We will read some of his works with critical clues. The man had a massive contribution to…

The greatest difficulty in reading Arabic script for nonnatives is the absence of short vowels. The correlation of 28 consonants with sounds poses no great difficulty. In Arabic, there are six vowel phonemes which are voiced only by three letters with help of some relevant diacritical marks (?arakat). As the bulk of Arabic publications is written…

What do a rural elementary school in Indonesia and a suburban high school in Maryland have in common? The authors share vignettes and describe culturally sustaining practices in these contrasting teaching contexts.

The growing need for professional development requires the language teachers not to be mere consumers of commercial instructional materials or implementers of sets of mandated or recommended techniques, but to attempt to generate their own classroom materials, seek innovative pedagogical approaches, explore the contexts in which their designed…

The greatest difficulty in reading Arabic script for nonnatives has long been considered as the absence of short vowels, however there is more to be dealt with. While the correlation of 28 Arabic consonants pose no great difficulty in deciphering the script, the six vowel phonemes voiced only by three letters even with help of some relevant…

Students at the College of Languages and Translation (COLT) take an Islamic Translation course in which they practice translating different kinds of Islamic texts (genres) including excerpts from the Holy Quran and the Prophet's Sayings. The aims of the present article are to introduce the students to the history of the translation of the Holy…

Throughout Eurasia, an Islamist social movement is helping Central Asians transition from their communist experience by building schools, offering English-language courses for adults, and consciously supporting a freer public sphere. It is because of both the extreme local conditions and the continuous success of the Turkish schools that…

The "foreign languages" considered in this paper are the non-European contemporary tongues whose study was encouraged by the Crusades and related projects for recovering the Holy Land from the Muslims, Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac (Chaldaic), of which Arabic held pride of place. No-one was more significant in advancing the study and…

A faculty member's research project to determine the effectiveness of an Arabic language component in a course on Islam is described. The construction of the course with an experimental model and problems in measurement of results are outlined. (MSE)