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Thursday stream 4-6 Session 11.35 - 12.50 Length 25 minutes
Sana Awartani-Tibi
An-Najah University, Palestine tibi@iname.com
Abstract
Reading disability is a broad term and includes different types of reading deficits. The most central issue in the area of reading instruction appears to be the early identification of children at-risk for reading failure prior to the onset of formal reading instruction. The primary purpose of this study was to collect a regional normative database on the performance of Arabic-speaking children using measures found to correlate highly with later reading achievement. This study was designed because no formal Arabic test exists that assesses reading readiness. The subjects included 150 Arabic-speaking children between the ages of 7.0-7.6 years. The subjects were selected from three different types of communities in the West Bank (city, village and a United Nations refugee camp). The general skill areas measured were: phonological awareness, naming, complex speech production and visual- perception. A variety of tasks were used to conduct measurements in each skill area. Results of this study revealed a robust correlation between the total Early Reading and Screening Instrument (ERSI) scores and the Phonological Awareness (PA) scores. In addition, moderate significant correlations were found between the PA test and the speech production, and between the PA tests and naming tests. No significant differences were found between male and female subjects' scores. However, significant differences were found between the performance of subjects from the city and those from the village.
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