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Cited by 41Arabic Language Education StudiesReading and Literacy DevelopmentSecond Language Acquisition and Learning

Arabic Diacritics and Their Role in Facilitating Reading Speed, Accuracy, and Comprehension by English L2 Learners of Arabic

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MIDHWAH, ALI AL, ALHAWARY, MOHAMMAD T.·2020·The Modern Language Journal
DOI 10.1111/modl.12642
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Abstract

The present study investigated the role of Arabic diacritics in word recognition and their impact on Arabic L2 learners’ reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension at different stages of Arabic L2 acquisition. Fifty‐four English L2 learners of Arabic from 3 proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) participated in the study. They belonged to 2 sets of groups: half with exposure to instructional materials containing diacritics, vowelized textbook (VT), and the other half with exposure to instructional materials not containing diacritics, un‐vowelized textbook (UVT). Participants performed word‐list reading, text reading, and target‐word comprehension tasks under vowelized (V) and un‐vowelized (UV) conditions. The results revealed participants in all VT groups did consistently better than their UVT counterparts. This positive role of diacritics in terms of Arabic word recognition and reading performance implies that inclusion of diacritics in words and texts within instructional materials does not only benefit Arabic L2 learners by removing ambiguity from words, but it also positively impacts their reading and pronunciation performance in general. The study findings and pedagogical implications are also relevant to other languages, such as Farsi and Hebrew, which exhibit similar orthographic features.

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  1. Alhawary, M. T. (2017). Empirical directions in the fu- ture of Arabic second language acquisition re- search and second language pedagogy. In K. M. Wahba, Z. A. Taha, & L. England (Eds.), Hand- book for Arabic language teaching professionals in the 21st century II (pp. 408-421). New York, London: Routledge.
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  5. Williams, J. N. (2004). Implicit learning of form- meaning connections. In B. VanPatten, J. N. Williams, S. Rott, & M. Overstreet (Eds.), From meaning connections in second language acquisition (pp. 203-218). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Related

Authors
MIDHWAH, A. A., & ALHAWARY, M. T.
Affiliations
  • King Saud University (SA)
  • University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
ALHAWARY, MOHAMMAD T.
ORCID
ALHAWARY, MOHAMMAD T.
Venue
The Modern Language Journal
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2020-06
Volume
104
Issue
2
Pages
418-438
ISSN
  • 0026-7902 (ISSN-L)
  • 1540-4781
DOI
10.1111/modl.12642
OpenAlex
W3036768154
Cited by
41
References
40
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 28
FWCI
10.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 17 d)
Locations
  • Modern Language Journal (publishedVersion)
  • Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Arabic Language Education Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
Keywords
Arabic diacritics, vowelization, Arabic as a second language, reading speed, reading accuracy, reading comprehension, word recognition, orthographic features, teaching materials

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