Rethinking Language Transfer in Writing

<p><strong>A compelling read that will spark debate in the field with its humanizing and scientifically-grounded counter-narrative to several decades of reductive research</strong></p><p>This book challenges the widely held belief that Arab writers’ English texts are shaped by the rhetorical traditions of Classical Arabic. Moving beyond contrastive rhetoric, it adopts a contextual, writer-centered approach that foregrounds literacy socialization, education and lived experience.</p><p>Through life-history case studies of five Arab graduate students, the book shows how diglossia, uneven literacy instruction and limited engagement with written Arabic complicate assumptions about L1-to-L2 transfer. Rather than drawing on Classical Arabic, many writers are effectively learning to write in English without a stable written model in their first language.</p><p>A timely intervention in second language writing and literacy studies, this book calls for a fundamental rethinking of how Arab L2 writers – and L2 writing more broadly – are understood.</p>