Predicting Reading Comprehension in Arabic-Speaking Middle Schoolers Using Linguistic Measures

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the contribution of various linguistic components to reading comprehension (RC) in the seventh and ninth grades and to compare this contribution between two groups: children with typical development and those with reading disorders (RD). This was done by testing the relative contribution of phonological awareness, morphological knowledge, vocabulary, and syntactic knowledge to RC in both groups. The regression analysis indicated that the linguistic components explain between 60 and 56% of the variance in RC in the seventh and ninth grades among the typical group and between 74 and 79% in the same grades among those with RD. While phonological awareness and morphological knowledge contribute to RC only among the RD group, the contributions of vocabulary and syntactic knowledge were found to be significant in both groups. The results are discussed in light of previous findings in the literature with theoretical and pedagogical implications.

Keywords:

• Arabic
• morphological knowledge
• phonological awareness
• reading comprehension
• syntactic knowledge
• vocabulary