Arabic Language Education Textbooks Nurturing Social-Emotional Skills and Bridging Cultural Divides through Language Learning

1.     Language Education as Social-Emotional Practice: Conceptual Foundations and Research Rationale

2.     Social-Emotional Learning and Arabic-Language Education in Divided and Multilingual Societies

3.     Social-Emotional Learning Competencies in Arabic First-Language Textbooks: Developmental Patterns and Pedagogical Implications

4.     Social and Socio-Political Awareness in Arabic First-Language Textbooks: Representation and Framing

5.     Social Awareness in Arabic-as-a-Foreign-Language Textbooks: Ideological Orientations and Frequency Trends

6.     Pedagogical Strategies for Social Awareness in Arabic-as-a-Foreign-Language Instruction: Multivocality and Conflict Framing

7.    From Emotional Inclusion to Critical Awareness: Reframing SEL in Arabic Language Education

Biography

Athar Taleb Haj Yahya is Senior Lecturer at the Arab Academic Institute at Beit Berl College.

Haifaa Sami Majadly is Senior Lecturer at Al-Qasemi and David Yellin Colleges of Education.

'This book reframes Arabic language instruction as a transformative arena for socioemotional growth, offering a rigorous and compassionate roadmap for building empathy across cultures in today’s highly polarized world. Whether you are a curriculum designer, policymaker, or an educational researcher, if you want to learn how this all happens in an educational setting, you must read this book. By centering social awareness as the lens through which Arabic textbooks are examined, the authors show how language education can either perpetuate division or become a powerful instrument for intercultural healing, empathy, resilience, peace, co-existence, and justice.'

- Nihat Polat, Professor and Chair, Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, College of Education, University of Maryland

'Language education is never neutral and is most effective when it addresses social awareness of the contexts in which a language is spoken. In their highly engaging book, authors Haj Yahya and Majadly brilliantly demonstrate how Arab language education textbooks, with attention to critical social and emotional learning have potential to help learners understand structural inequalities and social power relations. Such textbooks could help foster a humanizing Arabic language pedagogy in conflict areas such as Palestine and Israel that would be transformative, advancing critical thinking and civic agency.'

- Gainer, J., Texas State University

'This volume offers a timely and significant contribution to scholarship on language education, social-emotional learning, and curriculum development. Through a rigorous, theory-driven analysis of Arabic textbooks across first- and foreign-language contexts, it demonstrates that language education extends beyond linguistic proficiency to fostering empathy, social awareness, belonging, and civic responsibility. Combining analytical precision with conceptual depth and practical relevance, the authors employ content analysis, semiotics, and critical pedagogy to reveal how textbooks shape knowledge, identities, and values. This work provides valuable insights for advancing inclusive, context-sensitive, and socially responsive education in complex and multilingual settings.'

- Bawardi, B., Bar-Ilan University