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Academic Paper

Title:	Early literacy in Arabic: An intervention study among Israeli Palestinian kindergartners
Author:	Iris Levin
Institution:	Tel-Aviv University
Author:	Elinor Saiegh-Haddad
Institution:	Bar-Ilan University
Author:	Nareman Hende
Institution:	Tel-Aviv University
Author:	Margalit Ziv
Institution:	Tel-Aviv University
Linguistic Field:	Applied Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Writing Systems
Subject Language:	Arabic, Standard
Abstract:	Arabic Literacy acquisition was studied among Israeli Palestinian low socioeconomic status kindergartners within the framework of an intervention study, implemented by teachers. On pretest, letter naming, alphabetic awareness, and phonological awareness were very low. Whereas the comparison group hardly progressed throughout the year, the intervention group progressed substantially on all three skills. The diglossic nature of the Arabic letter name system was manifested in children's transition from a mixture of two systems to preference for standard over colloquial names following the intervention. As in other alphabets, visual similarity and adjacency increased letter confusability. The unique features of Arabic literacy are discussed.

	This article appears in Applied Psycholinguistics Vol. 29, Issue 3, which you can read on Cambridge's site or on LINGUIST .

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