My primary fields of research are sociolinguistics and second/heritage language acquisition (S/HLA). While my work in these different areas extends over diverse themes, my research is grounded in one broader interest, namely, using qualitative approaches to examine the relationship between language and identity in multilingual contexts. As a sociolinguist, I am interested in how language interacts with the construction of identity in immigrant contexts. My first book, "Multilingualism and Gendered Immigrant Identity: Perspectives from Catalonia" (Multilingual Matters, 2022), which focuses on Muslim immigrant women in Catalonia, looks at how gendered, religious identity is brokered through language use and attitudes for multilingual speakers. This project became a springboard for not only expanding on my understanding of multilingualism in Catalonia, but also for exploring Arabic-Spanish contact in Spain, as well as migration in Spain. As I've delved further into my research on these topics, I've also developed a broader interest in text-based analyses (e.g. language policy and new media) as a medium for examining linguistic ideologies. This interest formed the basis of my second book, "Policy, Media, and the Shaping of Spain-Morocco Relations: Discursive Representations of Migration to Ceuta and Melilla" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Here, I use sociolinguistic approaches to explore how media discourse on undocumented migration informs Morocco-Spain political relations. Using the cities of Ceuta and Melilla as a case study, I situate them within the wider context of both immigration-related policies and news articles in order to examine how migration is represented in Spain and Morocco.

Blog posts:

(2024). Media Discourse and the Making of ‘Us vs. Them.’ Social Science Matters. Palgrave
Macmillan.

(2023). Muslim Women and Multilingualism: When Religion and Gender Converge.
International Gender and Language Association.

(2022). Why Intersectionality Matters in the Study of Migration, Language and Identity.
Channel View Publications and Multilingual Matters.

Books:

Ali, F. (2024). Policy, Media, and the Shaping of Spain-Morocco Relations: Discursive Representations of Migration to Ceuta and Melilla. Palgrave Macmillan.

Ali, F. (2022). Multilingualism and Gendered Immigrant Identity: Perspectives from Catalonia. Multilingual Matters.

Recent articles:

Ali, F. (2024). Sexual Violence in Higher Education: A Critical Discourse Analysis of University Policies. Higher Education Policy.

Ali, F. (2024). Discursive and Photographic Representations of Migrants in the Media: The Case of Ceuta and Melilla. The Journal of North African Studies, 30(2), 232–258.

Ali, F. (2024). A Critical Review of Multilingual and Multidialectal Approaches to Heritage and L2 Arabic Instruction. Critical Multilingualism Studies, 11(1), 8–25.