How to Speed up Arabic Literacy for Lower-Income Students? : Some Insights from Cognitive Neuroscience
Students in low-income countries often have trouble learning to read; 80-90 percent of second and third graders in some countries cannot even read a single word and may know few if any letters (RTI 2009, 2010, 2011a, 2011b). The reasons are linked...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/475061468333311427/How-to-speed-up-Arabic-literacy-for-lower-income-students-some-insights-from-cognitive-neuroscience http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26823 |
| Summary: | Students in low-income countries often
have trouble learning to read; 80-90 percent of second and
third graders in some countries cannot even read a single
word and may know few if any letters (RTI 2009, 2010, 2011a,
2011b). The reasons are linked to limited instructional
time, textbooks or parental help, potentially poor
nutrition, or complex teaching methods that originated in
high-income countries. Despite relative affluence, the
academic performance in the Arab world has been a problem,
with countries scoring on international tests much lower
than expected based on per capita income level. Similarly
Early Grade Reading Assessments (EGRA) in various countries
has shown lower reading speeds than one would expect. In
Pakistan and Afghanistan, which use the Arabic script, the
issues are similar. The interaction of the perceptual and
linguistic complexities turns Arabic reading into a complex
multistage exercise. A reader of the Arabic script must: (a)
decipher the text, (b) predict the vowels and keep multiple
alternative words in working memory to test and decide on
meaning, and (c) make linguistic sense in the case of
Arabic. This process means that readers need to identify
words faster than in other scripts in order to make sense of
the text, but in fact they identify them more slowly. Not
surprisingly, some studies suggest that the Arabic script
may be read more slowly than visually simpler scripts or
linear scripts. Education for All implies that nearly all
students must somehow learn fluent reading very quickly when
they start school in order to then progress to higher level
topics. This must be achievable in all the languages and
scripts used in low-income countries. By focusing on these
lower-level variables this is doable. |
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