Published date: Jul 21 2022

Journal Title: Gulf Education and Social Policy Review

Issue title: Gulf Education and Social Policy Review (GESPR): Volume 3, Issue 1

Pages: 1–24

DOI: 10.18502/gespr.v3i1.11493

Hanada Taha Thomurehanadaster@gmail.comEndowed Chair of Arabic Language, Zayed University, UAE 2Education Consultant, Designed Learning, Australia

Gail BrownEducation Consultant, Designed Learning, Australia

Richard SpeakerRetired. Past Chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Haitham TahaChair of Graduate Studies on Learning Disabilities, Sakhnin College for Teachers’ Education, Israel

Rana TamimFounder and CEO, Edubridges, Dubai, UAE

Nerolie O’ NeillIndependent Education Management Professional

Reading fluency has been defined as the process of automatically associating graphemic and phonetic information in a text with minimal conscious attention if any at all. Research has found that the effect of fluency on reading proficiency is of importance to student learning and that increasing oral reading fluency (ORF) rates has been correlated in several studies to improved comprehension. However, no reading fluency rates (FR) or standards in Arabic have been established to date. This exploratory study begins to examine Arabic language ORF and proposes an initial Arabic reading fluency scale. Thirty-five teachers from six private bilingual schools across three Arabian Gulf countries (KSA, the UAE, and Kuwait), administered ORF tests that comprised of authentic, vowelized, and leveled Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) connected texts on 1003 students in Grades 1–6 in Fall and Spring of the same academic year. Results of independent samples t-test revealed changes in reading fluency between Fall and Spring. Furthermore, the range of FR for these initial data within each grade level was significant. Results obtained, however, appeared to be lower than several of the international ORF charts used for English and Arabic languages. Girls outperformed boys in Grades 1–3, while boys outperformed girls in Grades 4–6. The study has several limitations and several likely implications that extend to languages other than Arabic possibly including the potential importance of extended reading practice and early exposure to text.

Keywords: Arabic language teaching and learning, Automaticity, Early reading skills, Literacy, Oral reading fluency

[1] Abu-Rabia, S. (1998). Reading Arabic texts: Effects of text type, reader type and vowelization. Reading and Writing, 10(2), 119–105. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007906222227

[2] Abu-Rabia, S. (1999). The effect of Arabic vowels on the reading comprehension of second- and sixth-Grade native Arab children. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 28(1), 93–101. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023291620997

[3] AlGhanem, R., & Kearns, D. (2014). Orthographic, phonological, and morphological skills and children’s word reading in Arabic: A literature review. Reading Research Quarterly, 50(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10 1002/rrq.84

[4] AlMousa, N. (2007). Arabic language in the modern era: Constant values and changing values. AlShurouq Publishing House.

[5] Badian, N. (1996). Dyslexia: A validation of the concept at two age levels. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 29(1), 102–112.

[6] Clarke, L., Huseyin Eryetli, H., & Zümrüt Selçuk, Z. (2015). The atlas of Islamic World science and innovation. Royal Society and SESRIC.

[7] Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (6th ed.). Routledge Falmer.

[8] Deno, S. L. (1985). Curriculum-based measurement: The emerging alternative. Exceptional Children, 52(3), 219–232.

[9] Dowd, A. J., & Bartlett, L. (2019). The need for speed: Interrogating the dominance of oral reading fluency in international reading efforts. Comparative Education Review, 63(2), 189–212.

[10] Dowd, A. J., Bartlett, L., Khamis-Dakwar, R., & Froud, K. (2020). Measure fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension in international reading efforts. Comparative Education Review, 64(2), 309–315.

[11] Dubeck, M. M., & Gove, A. (2014). The early grade reading assessment (EGRA): Its theoretical foundation, purpose, and limitations. International Journal of Educational Development, 40, 315–322.

[12] Ehri, L. C. (2002). Phases of acquisition in learning to read words and implications for teaching. In R. Stainthorp, & P. Tomlinson (Eds.), Learning and teaching reading (pp. 7–28). British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph Series II.

[13] Ehri, L. C. (2013). Grapheme–phoneme knowledge is essential for learning to read words in English. In L. C. Ehri, & J. Metsala (Eds.), Word recognition in beginning literacy (pp. 3– 40). Routledge.

[14] Faour, M. (2012). The Arab World’s education report card: School climate and citizenship skills. Carnegie Middle East Center. http://carnegieendowment.org/files/school_climate.pdf

[15] Ferguson, C. A. (1959). Diglossia. Word, 15(2), 325–340.

[16] Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Hamlett, C. L., Walz, L., & Germann, G. (1993). Formative evaluation of academic progress: How much growth can we expect? School Psychology Review, 22(1), 27–48.

[17] Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Hosp, M. K., & Jenkins, J. R. (2001). ORF as an indicator of reading competence: A theoretical, empirical, and historical analysis. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), 239–256. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532799XSSR0503_3

[18] Gillon, G. (2002). Phonological awareness intervention for children: From the research laboratory to the clinic. The ASHA Leader, 7(22), 4–17.

[19] Good, R. H., & Kaminski, R. A. (2002). Dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills. Institute for the Development of Educational Achievement.

[20] Good, R. H., Simmons, D. C., & Kame’enui, E. J. (2001). The importance and decisionmaking utility of a continuum of fluency-based indicators of foundational reading skills for third-grade high-stakes outcomes. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), 257– 288.

[21] Gregory, L. Taha Thomure, H., Kazem, A., Boni, A., ElSayed, M., & Taiba, N. (2021). Advancing Arabic language teaching and learning: A path to reducing learning poverty in the MENA. Washington, D.C. World Bank Group [Preprint].

[22] Gulf News. (2016, August 16). UAE has the highest number of international schools globally. https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/the-uae-has-thehighest- number-of-international-schools-globally-1.1567703

[23] Guthrie, J., & Klauda, S. (2014). Effect of classroom practices on reading comprehension: Engagements and motivation for adolescents. Reading Research Quarterly, 49(4), 387–416.

[24] Hasbrouck, J., & Tindal, G. (2017). An update to compiled ORF norms (Technical Report No. 1702). Behavioral Research and Teaching, University of Oregon.

[25] Hudson, R., Lane, H., & Pullen, P. (2005). Reading fluency assessment and instruction: what, why, and how? The Reading Teacher, 58(8), 702–714.

[26] Hussein, A. M. (2014). The indicating factors of oral fluency of monolingual and bilingual children in Egypt. International Education Studies, 7(2), 75–90. https://doi.org/10/5539/iesv7n2p75

[27] Khamis-Dakwar, R., Froud, K., & Gordon, P. (2012). Acquiring diglossia: Mutual influences of formal and colloquial Arabic on children’s grammaticality judgments. Journal of Child Language, 39(1), 1–29.

[28] Kuhn, M. R., & Stahl, S. A. (2003). Fluency: A review of developmental and remedial practices. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10 1037/00220663.95.1.3

[29] Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., & Meisinger, E. B. (2010). Aligning theory and assessment of reading fluency: Automaticity, prosody, and definitions of fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(2), 230–251.

[30] LaBerge, D., & Samuels, J. S. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6(2), 293–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(74)90015-2

[31] Logan, G. D. (1997). Automaticity and reading: Perspectives from the instance theory of automatization. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 13(2), 123–146. https://doi.org/10 1080/1057356970130203

[32] Lutz, S., & Guthrie, J. (2008). Relationships of three components of reading fluency to reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(2), 310–321. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/0022-0663.100-2310

[33] McGeown, S., Goodwin, H., Henderson, N., & Wright, P. (2012). Gender differences in reading motivation: Does sex or gender identity provide a better account? Journal of Research in Reading, 25(3), 328–336. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01481.x

[34] Moats, L. C. (2001). When older students can’t read. Educational Leadership, 58(6), 36–40.

[35] Mullis, I. V. S., Martin, M. O., Kennedy, A. M., & Foy, P. (2007). PIRLS 2006 International Report: IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study in primary schools in 40 countries. Lynch School of Education, Boston College.

[36] Obeid, A. (2010). Reasons for the low performance in the teaching of Arabic language. Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science.

[37] OECD. (2011). How do girls compare to boys in reading skills? In PISA 2009 at a glance. OECD Publishing.

[38] OECD. (2015). PISA 2015 results in focus. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015- results-in-focus.pdf

[39] Osborn, J., Lehr, F., & Hiebert, E. H. (2003). A focus on fluency. Pacific Resources for Education and Learning.

[40] Park, Y., Chaparro, E., Peciado, J., & Cummings, K. (2015). Is earlier better? Mastery of reading fluency in early schooling. Early Education and Development, 26(8), 1187– 1209. https://doi.org/10 1080/10409289.2015.1015855

[41] Perfetti, C. (2007). Reading ability: Lexical quality to comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11(4), 357–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430701530730

[42] PIRLS. (2006). Progress in International reading Literacy Test 2006 technical report. http://pirls.bc.edu/pirls2006/tech_rpt.html

[43] Rasinski, T. V. (1989). Fluency for everyone: Incorporating fluency instruction in the classroom. The Reading Teacher, 42(9), 690–693.

[44] Rasinski, T. V. (1990). Investigating measures of reading fluency. Educational Research Quarterly, 14(3), 37–44.

[45] Rasinski, T. V. (2003). The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. Scholastic.

[46] Rasinski, T. V. (2012). Why reading fluency should be hot? The Reading Teacher, 65(8), 516–522.

[47] RTI International. (2013). Benchmarks for early grade reading in Egypt. USAID. https://earlygradereadingbarometer.org/files/Egypt%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

[48] RTI International. (2017). All children reading – Asia (ACR – Asia): EGRA benchmarks and standards research report. USAID. https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00STWQ.pdf

[49] Sadoski, M., McTigue, E. M., & Paivio, A. (2012). A dual coding theoretical model of decoding in reading: Subsuming the LaBerge and Samuels model. Reading Psychology, 33(5), 465–496. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2011.557330

[50] Saiegh-Haddad, E. (2005). Correlates of reading fluency in Arabic: Diglossic and orthographic factors. Reading and Writing, 18(6), 559–582. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-005-3180-4

[51] Samuels, S. J. (2004). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading, revisited. In R. B. Ruddell, & N. J. Unrau (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (pp. 1127–1148). International Reading Association.

[52] Stanovich, K. E. (2000). Progress in understanding reading: Scientific foundations and new frontiers. Guilford Press.

[53] Taha-Thomure, H., Tamim, R., & Griffiths, M. (2021). Review of Arabic diglossia and its effect on teaching and learning. Queen Rania Foundation. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.31501.46565

[54] Taha-Thomure, H., & Speaker, R. (2018). Arabic language arts standards: Revolution or disruption? Research in Comparative and International Education, 13(4), 551–569. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499918807032

[55] Taha, H. (2017). The Hanada Taha Arabic text leveling system. Educational Book House Publishing.

[56] Veenendaal, N., Groen, M. A., & Verhoeven, L. (2015). What ORF can reveal about reading comprehension? Journal of Research in Reading, 38(3), 213–225. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/1467-9817.12024

[57] University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. (2020). Dibels administration & scoring guide. https://dibels.uoregon.edu/docs/materials/admin_and_scoring_6th_ed.pdf

[58] Wagner, D. (2017). Children’s reading in low-income countries. The Reading Teacher, 71(2), 127–133.

[59] Wang, C., Algozzine, B., Ma, W., & Porfeli, E. (2011). Oral reading rates of second-grade students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(2), 442–454. https://doi.org/10 1037/a0023029

[60] Waters, G. S., Seidenberg, M. S., & Bruck, M. (1984). Children’s and adults’ use of spelling-sound information in three reading tasks. Memory and Cognition, 12, 293– 305.

[61] Wolters, A. P., Kim, Y.-S. G., & Szura, J. W. (2020). Is reading prosody related to reading comprehension? A meta-analysis. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2020.1850733