Publications [#384649] of Sarah Baker

Papers Published

1. Baker, S, “Biblical Hebrew Dialogues in the Language Classroom", Hebrew Higher Education, vol. 27 (2025), pp. 99-108 .
   (last updated on 2026/01/15)

   Abstract:
   Dialogues that are excerpted directly from biblical narrative can serve as a valuable learning tool in the Biblical Hebrew (BH) classroom. The question of what constitutes “authentic” Biblical Hebrew is of particular concern to instructors who embrace a more communicative approach to language learning and choose to use spoken BH in the classroom. Some amount of compromise and oversimplification is unavoidable, given the linguistic diversity within the biblical text itself (genres, times and places of composition, history of transmission, etc.), as well as the inevitable influence—conscious or otherwise—from modern languages and cultures on our understanding of BH and how elements of this language may be carried over into a classroom context. But in the interest of making the most of the available material, this article presents a strategy for infusing the BH classroom with spoken language that is both genuine and useful even at early stages of language learning. By designing classroom activities around dialogues that are excerpted directly from the Hebrew Bible, we can give our students an engaging and accessible entry point into the language and culture of the biblical world.