Balshe, Rima;
(2022)
Orthographic Learning in Arabic-Speaking Primary School Students.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
Preview |
Text
Rima Balshe Thesis copy.pdf - Other Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine how Arabic-speaking children construct orthographic representations and to identify cognitive/linguistic abilities that may facilitate novel word learning. The research involved first examining factors associated with single word reading and spelling accuracy in Arabic-speaking monolingual children and Arabic-English bilingual children, in order to separate universal from script-dependent predictors. Because Arabic is diglossic (i.e., two varieties of the language, one spoken, and one for literary purposes), it was considered important to include print exposure as a measure in investigating factors associated with single word reading and spelling. Thus, Study 1 involved the development of Title Recognition Tests (TRT) in Arabic and in English. Participants were children from grades three to five; 86 students participated in the development of the lists in Study 1a, and 76 in the development of the revised lists in Study 1b. Both lists were reliable and were used in the subsequent studies. Study 2 involved examining predictors of single word reading and spelling (receptive vocabulary, phonological processing, RAN, TRT, and orthographic matching) in 86 third- to fifth-grade bilingual children and 116 third-grade monolingual children. For the bilinguals, PA emerged as the strongest predictor of reading and spelling in Arabic. In English, verbal STM and orthographic matching were predictors for the younger bilinguals. PA was the strongest predictor of reading and spelling for the monolinguals. In Study 3, novel word learning in Arabic was examined using a paired-associate learning task, orthography present or absent and varying visual complexity (ligature and diacritics). The 116 monolingual children from Study 2 participated. Child-related predictors of novel word learning were examined. Results revealed that presence of orthography facilitated learning. There was evidence that consonant diacritics are a source of difficulty, but diglossic phonemes may also be responsible for reading difficulties documented in Arabic.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Orthographic Learning in Arabic-Speaking Primary School Students |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2022. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10151171 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
