Elsa Elmahdy is a Lecturer in Arabic and the Arabic Language Program Coordinator in UC Berkeley’s Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. She earned her B.A. in Arabic at Berkeley and later completed two M.A. degrees at the American University in Cairo, one in Arabic Studies and another in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language. Her research focuses on Arabic language pedagogy, curriculum development, and corrective feedback in student writing. She is also a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, combining teaching with active research in Arabic literature and language acquisition.