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This reference manual-cum-textbook provides advanced learners of Hebrew and their teachers with the linguistic information - both grammatical and semantic - and the strategic means necessary to reach a native-like proficiency in reading scholarly works in the field of Jewish Studies.

Through straightforward exposition of rules, numerous examples from scholarly texts, and models demonstrating how to use linguistic information in the text as clues to meaning, the book articulates the grammatical and semantic knowledge that native Hebrew readers bring to the task of reading complex academic prose. It is aimed at students and researchers in the field of Jewish Studies who wish to access seminal and recent Hebrew language scholarship in their area of expertise, as well as those preparing for a Hebrew to English translation exam. The book includes exercises with solutions and practice texts for comprehension and translation, and can be used as a course textbook, a self-study manual and/or a reference source for Hebrew teachers. \"It is to help the student navigate the gulf between spoken Hebrew and academic prose that Nitza Krohn has produced a very important and useful volume...The book is a valuable resource for students and teachers alike.\"Jonathan Paradise, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

To provide curriculum planners with empirical data, the present study investigated the Hebrew language needs of Conservative movement rabbinical students. Using a multidimensional model of needs assessment, the study addressed the context, the learning (instructional) situation, the academic and professional target language situations, the learner situation and aspects of the institutional means. The research questions concerned each of the need dimensions and the differences between stakeholder perceptions. To attain methodological and data triangulation, a mixed-method methodology was employed. In the first phase of the study qualitative data were collected via interviews with 44 individuals from six stakeholder groups (students, rabbis, language and content teachers, school administrators and congregants), and through class and site observations and review of administrative, instructional and professional documents. These data were interpreted descriptively via content analysis. The information gathered in the qualitative phase served as a heuristic for the construction of three parallel 5-point Likert-type questionnaires administered to students, rabbis and congregational presidents in the second, quantitative, phase of the study. Analytic procedures in the second phase included reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and means ranking, and non-parametric tests of group differences. The data were also submitted to Many-Facet Rasch analysis (via FACETS program) which mapped persons and items on a common interval scale, provided evidence for the measurement validity of the instrument and, with group as a third facet, indicated the extent to which the stakeholder groups differed in their opinions. The study highlighted the existence of different perceptions of language needs among stakeholder groups as well as a gap between actual and anticipated use of Hebrew. The pedagogical and curricular recommendations that could be made on the basis of the results included the following: provide students with a mix of specific purpose and general purpose language instruction and ample practice in oral reading of unvocalized texts, focus on speaking and reading skills but with little attention to writing, and strengthen reading comprehension skills through emphasis on grammar (morphosyntax) and vocabulary instruction. Implications for policy concerned the duration of language study, the Israel year and the implementation of content-based instruction.