Arabic Grammar in Context (Languages in Context) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

This is certainly a groundbreaking textbook and one of the best resources for learning the Arabic language. The book explains Arabic grammar in detail and offers literary and non-literary Arabic texts, which creatively help to understand how Arabic grammar functions in practice. This composition allows learners to gain profound theoretical knowledge and test it through the practical exercises.In addition to being a well-known scholar of Arabic philology, the author of this book is also a specialist in theoretical and applied linguistics as well as in the field of second language acquisition. This unique academic combination allowed him to produce a textbook which effectively combines theory with practice. Being himself a teacher of Arabic for many years he knows at first hand how to deal with problems second language learners frequently face with.I am sure learners of Arabic will find this book extremely useful due to the following factors:1) The book provides fully vocalized Arabic texts of a variety of genres - classical texts (for example, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Battuta etc), modern prose (Taha Hussein, Tawfik al-Hakim, Huda Barakat, and many many others), poetry and analytical articles. Students not only get a priceless opportunity to understand Arabic grammar through the best examples of Arabic literature but also to improve their reading skills. In addition, the wide range of literary texts expand readers knowledge of Arabic literature and help them to decide what to read further on.2) Every chapter of the book contains exercises (with the answer keys at the end of the book). These exercises allow learners to understand the grammar through the analysis of the grammatical structures of provided literary texts. Moreover, exercises are organized in such a way that they help to grasp the new material better as well as to repeat the old ones (from previous chapters).3) At the end of the book, readers will find a detailed Arabic-English dictionary (glossary of vocabulary and expressions), which saves their time from word searching. So, the texts and exercises will also considerably build up learners' vocabulary.4) Moreover, the audio readings of all texts available online. And they are invaluable tools for improving the reading skills.

A little more approachable than most Arabic books. Arabic is such an algebraic, logical language that language books for it so often feel like trying to read dense continental philosophy. This one is a little more accessible, but it also leaves out some critical pieces like wazn or verb forms. If you're trying to refresh and you're maybe third year and you've got the basics of all grammatical forms down this would be a good book.

There is no doubt that Arabic, as a second language, has not been adequately and satisfactorily served as other global languages such as English and French. As a consequence, it lacks textbooks that specifically deal with the processes of teaching and learning it from a pedagogical point of view. However, it is fortunate to have a few experts in the field of Arabic second language acquisition such as Professor Mohammed Alhawary, the author of Arabic Grammar in Context, who took the burden and responsibility on his shoulders to fill this gab and to make the processes of teaching and learning Arabic skills, in general, and Arabic grammar, in particular, more effective.As a person who has received some training in Arabic theoretical and applied linguistics and who has been working in the field of teaching Arabic as a second language for over a decade, I can assure that Arabic Grammar in Context is first of its rate, and it can be a very significant source for both Arabic learners and teachers due to numerous factors:First, unlike the vast majority of Arabic grammar textbooks that provide learners with merely theoretical knowledge about Arabic grammar, this book was designed to provide learners with clear and concise explanations of the grammatical rules along with authentic texts that were selected from a rich inventory of sources. The authentic texts in this book are extremely beneficial to learners for the following reasons: a) Those texts are highly expected to lead learners to fully engage with them and to eventually have excellent command of the Arabic skills, including grammar, reading, and writing.b) Those texts do not discuss or talk about negative and controversial issues such as racism and religion that can increase the learners’ anxiety and prevent them from approximating any further towards achieving a high level of proficiency in the Arabic language.c) Those texts can draw the learners’ attention to the fact that the grammatical features that are presented and demonstrated throughout the book have been regularly used by early and contemporary Arab writers; hence, learners will be integratively motivated to develop the essentially grammatical tools that can help them in terms of enhancing their Arabic comprehension and production skills.Second, each chapter of the book encompasses a wide range of appropriate exercises that were carefully designed by the author to ensure that learners can put the grammatically targeted features into practice. those exercises include but are not limited to:a) Multiple-Choice Questions: The benefits of this type of exercises lie in its practicality and reliability. it assists teachers to quickly diagnose whether their students understood the grammatical rules or not. One might assume that multiple-choice questions lack validity because they facilitate guess-working. However, the author designed those questions carefully. To illustrate, in addition to the correct answer that is directly relevant to the stem sentence, there are three distractors that superficially seem to be in line with the correct answer, but they are grammatically incorrect. The inclusion of those distractors was essential to minimize the guess-working strategy applied by learners.b) Translation: in this type of exercises, students are provided with some English sentences and asked to translate them into Arabic. This exercise is crucial because it allows teachers to determine whether or not the errors made by their students are resulted from negative transfer from their L1 (i.e., English).c) Error Identification: in this exercise, students are provided with many ungrammatical sentences and required to identify the errors before they correct them. This exercise is extremely significant for language learners because it raises their consciousness about the grammatical rules and enhances their comprehension and production skills.Third, the book’s texts and exercises are fully vocalized. The full vocalization of Arabic textbooks, according to some recent studies, facilitates word recognition and pronunciation as well as reading speed and accuracy.Fourth, most of the texts and exercises in subsequent chapters of the book encompass some of the grammatical features presented in preceded chapters. Such a technique was deliberately adopted by the author as a way of reinforcing what have been previously learned by students.Fifth, the size of the book is absolutely appropriate for adult learners since the pages do not exceed 270 pages, including a glossary of vocabulary and the answer keys that are provided at the end of the book.Sixth, the book is equally divided into 23 chapters that cover a wide range of grammatical aspects that have been attested to be problematic for Arabic learners. Those grammatical features include the definite article, noun adjectives, i’Daafa phrases, adverb of manner, adverb of cause, cognate accusative, the number phrase, apposition, etc. As for the last chapter, it encompasses additionally authentic texts that were intentionally included for the purpose of reviewing the grammatically most important features being introduced throughout the book.Last but not least, as a native speaker of Arabic, I can assure that this book is not only beneficial to Arabic second language learners and teachers, but it can also be very useful for Arabic native speakers who are eager to become eloquent speakers and writers in Arabic, because the selected texts in the book were written by well-known prosaists, novelists, and poets who showed incredibly great skills in Arabic writing such as Ibn Khaldūn, Ibn Al-Muqaffaʿ Ibn Baṭṭūṭah, Al-Manfalūṭī, Ṭāhā Ḥusayn, Nizār Qabbānī, and others. Moreover, for those who are writing English papers about Arabic grammatical concepts but unfamiliar with the English equivalents of some Arabic grammatical terms, they can always refer to this book since the author provided the Arabic terms along with their English counterparts.

Having read Alhawary's A Guide to Modern Standard Arabic and greatly benefitted from the book, I wondered if it was possible for Arabic Grammar in Context to be just as beneficial and helpful as the guide. However after reading Arabic Grammar in Context, I see that both books are necessary for both learners and teachers of Arabic and provide students with a strong understanding of Modern Standard Arabic Grammar. Arabic Grammar in Context is perfect for both individual study as well as in a classroom setting. There are many different carefully crafted exercises, many of which use authentic texts, for each chapter and it is obvious that the author of this book has both years of experience in teaching Arabic to non native speakers as well as years of experience doing research in Second Language Acquistion. I look forward to using the book as a review for myself as well as using it in a classroom setting with my Arabic students.

Thank you. The book comes with audio recordings of the to-be-translated passages (Arabic Grammar in Context (Paperback) - Routledge; I cannot paste the link.

What a great book! Though I already knew quite a lot of Arabic rules and grammar and was looking for something that could refresh my knowledge, I'm really amazed to find myself learning new things through that book and not just refreshing already acquired knowledge. I strongly recommend it and I will probably buy other books by that author.