Phonological processing skills as predictors of literacy amongst Arabic speaking Bahraini children

This paper reports a study of the reading and spelling skills of grades 1–3 Arabic‐speaking children in Bahrain. Children were tested on their literacy skills (single word reading and spelling), their ability to decode letter strings (non‐word reading) and measures of phonological awareness, short‐t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Dyslexia (Chichester, England) England), 2005-11, Vol.11 (4), p.269-291
Main Authors: Mannai, Haya al, Everatt, John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Awareness
Bahrain
Child
Educational Status
Female
Foreign Countries
Grade 1
grade 1-3 Bahraini children
Grade 2
Grade 3
Humans
Language
Literacy
Literacy Education
literacy in Arabic
Male
Phonetics
Phonological Awareness
phonological processing
Predictor Variables
Reading Skills
Semitic Languages
Short Term Memory
Speech Communication
Speech Perception
Spelling
Verbal Ability
Verbal Behavior
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Summary:This paper reports a study of the reading and spelling skills of grades 1–3 Arabic‐speaking children in Bahrain. Children were tested on their literacy skills (single word reading and spelling), their ability to decode letter strings (non‐word reading) and measures of phonological awareness, short‐term memory, speed of processing and non‐verbal ability. These tests were included to identify the best predictors of literacy skills amongst Arabic young readers. The results were consistent with the literature based on tests of English‐speaking children in that measures of phonological skills (decoding and awareness) were the best predictors of variability in reading and spelling among the Bahraini children. The results are discussed in terms of the literacy experiences of the children and the use of short vowels in Arabic writing. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1076-9242
1099-0909
DOI:10.1002/dys.303