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This study examined the multiple-deficit hypothesis among Arabic-speaking elementary school students. A total of 90 students, divided into three main groups based on their performance on an Arabic word-reading task: dyslexic (n = 30), regular age-matched (n = 30), and 3rd-grade regular students, who were matched to the dyslexic group in regard to their reading proficiency level (n = 30). Participants underwent a nine-domain Arabic reading experiment that measured accuracy and fluency to evaluate general reading proficiency. The performance of Arabic dyslexic students was significantly worse than age-matched controls, but similar to young matched controls based on the reading level of each cognitive task. Moreover, dyslexic students showed deficits in three or more cognitive functions, depending on severity. This study adds to the limited empirical research on the double-deficit hypothesis and its extension to the multiple-domain model among young Arabic students.

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The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the orthographic representations among poor readers compared to typical readers. For this aim, an orthographic visual closure task was used. One hundred and twenty native Arab readers, 60 typical and 60 poor, from third, fifth and seventh grades, were participated in the current study. A computerized tool was designed to test the orthographic closure ability, where the stimuli were orthographic patterns of words in Arabic. For each orthographic pattern of each word, eight levels of appearance display were created: Level 1 showed the most completed level of the image and Level 8 showed the most fragmented one. Throughout the experiment, participants were required to look at the screen and tell their answer loudly as soon as the pattern was identified. The level at which each correct identification has occurred was recorded. The results revealed significant differences between the two groups of readers and between the different ages regarding the level at which they were able to identify the presented words. The findings showed that the identification of written words, like pictures, can be activated even that the orthographic information is not fully presented while the effectiveness of such activations depends on the effectiveness of the orthographic representations.

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The present study explored the influence of short vowelization in Arabic orthography on reading comprehension of different texts, different genres and on different levels, among students of different ages. It explored the influence of short vowelization in Arabic orthography on reading comprehension of texts from the Koran, informative texts, newspaper articles and poetry, by examining the influence of short vowelization on different levels of understanding among students from three cities and three Arab villages in the northern district of Israel. The results from the mixed design indicated that short vowelization improved the level of reading comprehension among the readers in each level of understanding and for each kind of text. The results indicated a greater improvement in reading comprehension among the young readers as compared to the older readers. The findings also showed that short vowelization improved the performance of the fifth graders, more so than for ninth graders. Furthermore, short vowelization did not influence the performance of the seventh graders.

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This study investigates the processing consequences of letter connectedness during Arabic visual word recognition. Specifically, this study examined (a) whether there is a processing cost associated with letter connectedness during word-level reading and (b) whether this factor modulates form-level activation among words during lexical access. Experiment 1 tested one-, two-, and three-chunk Arabic words and nonwords in a lexical decision task with masked identity priming. Experiment 2 tested the same stimuli in a lexical decision task with masked form priming, in which prime-target pairs differed by a letter associated with the morphological root. In both experiments, there was a clear processing cost for letter connectedness-one-chunk words had longer processing times than two-chunk words, which had longer processing times than three-chunk words. Comparable processing time differences were also found for nonwords, suggesting that letter connectedness influences Arabic word recognition at a prelexical orthographic processing stage. Furthermore, although reliable priming was found in both the experiments, there was a suggestion that letter connectedness modulated form priming effects (Experiment 2), with the strongest effect for three-chunk word targets. These findings are taken to indicate that letter connectedness is an important factor that should be considered-and controlled for-in examinations of Arabic visual word recognition.

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In the current study, the role of semantic activation in the process of word recognition was investigated among native Arab readers. Twenty-nine typical readers in third grade were tested in reading three lists of pseudowords. Each list consisted of thirty pseudowords (lists A, B and C). Each word in list A was matched with a real meaning, and each participant was trained during eight training sessions to learn the meanings of the pseudowords (the semantic list). For list B, the participants were exposed only to the phonological pronunciation of each word during eight phonological training sessions. List "C" was not used for trained at all, and the participants were not exposed to this list either semantically or phonologically. The training processes occurred aloud, and the participants were not exposed to the orthographic pattern of any pseudoword. The results showed that reading the semantic pseudowords revealed the highest accuracy levels and shorter reading times compared to reading the pseudowords from the phonological training trial and the unfamiliar pseudowords. The results support the assumption about the role of semantic activation in word recognition and shed light on the importance of vocabulary knowledge to the process of reading new words.

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The purpose of the present review is to examine the studies that tested the role of short vowels in reading Arabic. Most of the studies are reviewed in this paper and two contradicted data are presented: data that support positive contribution of short vowels in reading Arabic, and the other data that reject the assumption that short vowels contribute to the quality of reading, and suggest that these short vowels do not add any positive contribution and maybe the opposite; short vowels hinder reading in Arabic orthography. The results are criticized indicating some methodological problems and suggestions for further studies are presented.

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The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of short Arabic vowels on listening comprehension. It is well documented that short vowels affect reading and reading comprehension in Arabic literacy. Since reading comprehension and listening comprehension share many commonalities, it is assumed that short vowels will positively affect listening comprehension too. Two listening conditions were presented to students in three grade levels, 7th, 10th and 12th grades: a fully vowelized text and the second without short vowels (on ends of words). Students had to listen and answer multiple choice comprehension questions about the read aloud texts. Further, interviews were conducted with 10 volunteered students from each grade level to get their feedback about their experience. The results indicated significant differences between the two listening conditions in favor of the fully vowelized condition. The results are discussed in relation to different orthographies, reading comprehension, phonology, working memory and comprehension.

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The effect of vowelization signs on the process of visual word recognition in Arabic was investigated among 41 native Arab skilled readers with age average of 30.66 ± 9.09. The participants performed a lexical decision task using three types of words and pseudowords; full, partial and non-vowelized. The results showed that for both words and pseudowords, response times were shorter and accuracy levels were higher for the non-vowelized condition compared to the other conditions of vowelization. The results reinforce the argument that automatic lexical processes during word recognition in Arabic orthography might be disturbed by supplementary information such as vowelization.

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In the current study, two experiments were carried out: the first tested the development of derivational root and word-pattern morphological awareness in Arabic; the second tested morphological processing in Arabic spelling. 143 Arabic native speaking children with normal reading skills in 2nd, 4th and 6th grade participated in the study. The results of the first experiment demonstrated the early emergence of derivational morphological awareness in children, with root awareness emerging earlier than word-pattern awareness. The second experiment supported the implication of morphological processing in spelling words and pseudo words across all grades tested. The results are discussed within a developmental psycholinguistic framework with particular emphasis on the characteristics of the Arabic language and orthography.

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Phonological awareness (PA) is one of the most important components in the development of normal reading ability. It refers to the ability to detect and manipulate the sound structure of words independently of their meaning. The current study aimed to assess Arabic PA skills and the relation to word reading abilities in Egyptian Arabic-speaking children. The designed assessment was applied to 80 typically developing children, divided into two subgroups ranging in age from 5 years 6 months to 8 years 6 months. The design of assessment involved six PA tasks covering three levels: rhyme awareness, syllabic awareness, and phonemic awareness, as well as the assessment of reading abilities that include real word and nonsense word reading tasks. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation), Student's t tests, and Pearson correlation coefficient tests were used to analyze the data. The reliability of the test was proven using the test-retest procedure. Validity of the test was estimated through internal consistency validity. The results revealed that the Arabic PA assessment test (APAAT) proved to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing Arabic reading skills. Findings from the study provided important insights into the developmental patterns of Arabic PA. In addition, the findings revealed a strong relationship between phonological awareness skills and the proficiency in word reading abilities in Arabic school-aged children.

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The current study investigated the contribution of two linguistic intervention programs, phonological and morphological to the development of word spelling among skilled and poor native Arabic readers, in three grades: second, fourth and sixth. The participants were assigned to three experimental groups: morphological intervention, phonological intervention and a non-intervention control group. Phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and spelling abilities were tested before and after the intervention. Participants from both linguistic intervention programs and in all grades made significant progress in linguistic awareness and spelling after the intervention. The results showed that both intervention programs were successful in promoting children's spelling skills in both groups. Also, older poor readers showed a stronger response to the morphological intervention than the older skilled readers. A transfer effect was found with the phonological training contributing to the morphological skills and vice versa. The results of the current study were discussed in the light of developmental and psycholinguistic views of spelling acquisition as well as the characteristics of Arabic language and orthography.

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Although reading accuracy of isolated words and phonological awareness represent the main criteria of subtyping developmental dyslexia, there is increasing evidence that reduced reading speed also represents a defining characteristic. In the present study, reading speed and accuracy were measured in Arabic-speaking phonological and mixed dyslexic children matched with controls of the same age. Participants in third and fourth grades, aged from 9-10 to 9-8 years, were given single frequent and infrequent word and pseudo-word reading and phonological awareness tasks. Results showed that the group with dyslexia scored significantly lower than controls in accuracy and speed in reading tasks. Phonological and mixed dyslexic subgroups differed in infrequent and frequent word reading accuracy, the latter being worse. In contrast, the subgroups were comparable in pseudo-word identification and phonological awareness. Delayed phonological and recognition processes of infrequent and frequent words, respectively, were placed in the context of the dual route model of reading and the specific orthographic features of the Arabic language.

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BACKGROUND: This study investigated first the main cognitive abilities; phonological processing, visual cognition, automatization and receptive vocabulary in predicting reading and spelling abilities in Arabic. Second, we compared good/poor readers and spellers to detect the characteristics of cognitive predictors which contribute to identifying reading and spelling difficulties in Arabic speaking children. METHODS: A sample of 116 Tunisian third-grade children was tested on their abilities to read and spell, phonological processing, visual cognition, automatization and receptive vocabulary. RESULTS: For reading, phonological processing and automatization uniquely predicted Arabic word reading and paragraph reading abilities. Automatization uniquely predicted Arabic non-word reading ability. For spelling, phonological processing was a unique predictor for Arabic word spelling ability. Furthermore, poor readers had significantly lower scores on the phonological processing test and slower reading times on the automatization test as compared with good readers. Additionally, poor spellers showed lower scores on the phonological processing test as compared with good spellers. Visual cognitive processing and receptive vocabulary were not significant cognitive predictors of Arabic reading and spelling abilities for Tunisian third grade children in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Our results are consistent with previous studies in alphabetic orthographies and demonstrate that phonological processing and automatization are the best cognitive predictors in detecting early literacy problems. We suggest including phonological processing and automatization tasks in screening tests and in intervention programs may help Tunisian children with poor literacy skills overcome reading and spelling difficulties in Arabic.

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The Arabic alphabetical orthographic system has various unique features that include the existence of emphatic phonemic letters. These represent several pairs of letters that share a phonological similarity and use the same parts of the articulation system. The phonological and articulatory similarities between these letters lead to spelling errors where the subject tends to produce a pseudohomophone (PHw) instead of the correct word. Here, we investigated whether or not the unique orthographic features of the written Arabic words modulate early orthographic processes. For this purpose, we analyzed event-related potentials (ERPs) collected from adult skilled readers during an orthographic decision task on real words and their corresponding PHw. The subjects' reaction times (RTs) were faster in words than in PHw. ERPs analysis revealed significant response differences between words and the PHw starting during the N170 and extending to the P2 component, with no difference during processing steps devoted to phonological and lexico-semantic processing. Amplitude and latency differences were found also during the P6 component which peaked earlier for words and where source localization indicated the involvement of the classical left language areas. Our findings replicate some of the previous findings on PHw processing and extend them to involve early orthographical processes.