TITLE:
Could an Interactive-Balanced Environment for Reading Acquisition Overcome the Triad Risk Factors: Low Socioeconomic Status, Low Literacy Skills and Language Properties?
AUTHORS:
Baha Makhoul, Raphiq Ibrahim
KEYWORDS:
Arabic, Reading Acquisition, Kindergarten, Literacy, Phonology, Morphology, Vocabulary, Syntax
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.5 No.19,
December
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: A large
number of the scientific efforts that have investigated the issue of Arabic
language acquisition have mainly focused on the implication of its Diglossic nature
and orthographic complexity in reading acquisition. However, the interplay of
the two factors and low-socio economic background was not addressed
sufficiently. The current study follows the progress in literacy skills among
atlinguistic risk Arabic native speaking kindergarten children throughout 2nd
grade, and assesses its impact on reading and writing acquisition in a Diglossic
context. Twenty-five at literacy risk children and 181 heterogeneous children
(resembling the heterogeneity of Socioeconomic Status (SES) and literacy
background in regular classes) took part in the study. The effects of an
interactive-balanced reading and writing learning program were evaluated.
Children were assessed both at the end of kindergarten and at the beginning of
2nd grade in the following domains: discourse, listening comprehension,
phonology, morphology, syntax and vocabulary. In the post-test, reading
measures were included. The results of the study indicate that the learning
program succeeded in bridging the gaps in literacy skills between the at-risk
children and their heterogeneous peers. However, lower performance was observed
in reading measures among the former.