Haitham Taha

How Does Arabic Orthographic Connectivity Modulate Brain Activity During Visual Word Recognition: An ERP Study

One of the unique features of the Arabic orthography that differentiates it from many other alphabetical ones is the fact that most letters connect obligatorily to each other. Hence, these letters change their forms according to the location in the word (i.e. beginning, middle, or end), leading to the suggestion that connectivity adds a visual load which negatively impacts reading in Arabic. In this study, we investigated the effects of the orthographic connectivity on the time course of early brain electric responses during the visual word recognition. For this purpose, we collected event-related potentials (ERPs) from adult skilled readers while performing a lexical decision task using fully connected (Cw), partially connected and non-connected words (NCw). Reaction times variance was higher and accuracy was lower in NCw compared to Cw words. ERPs analysis revealed significant amplitude and latency differences between Cw and NCw at posterior electrodes during the N170 component which implied the temporo-occipital areas. Our findings show that instead of slowing down reading, orthographic connectivity in Arabic skilled readers seems to impact positively the reading process already during the early stages of word recognition. These results are discussed in relation to previous observations in the literature.

The Role of Phonological versus Morphological Skills in the Development of Arabic Spelling: An Intervention Study.

The current study investigated the contribution of two linguistic intervention programs, phonological and morphological to the development of word spelling among skilled and poor native Arabic readers, in three grades: second, fourth and sixth. The participants were assigned to three experimental groups: morphological intervention, phonological intervention and a non-intervention control group. Phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and spelling abilities were tested before and after the intervention. Participants from both linguistic intervention programs and in all grades made significant progress in linguistic awareness and spelling after the intervention. The results showed that both intervention programs were successful in promoting children’s spelling skills in both groups. Also, older poor readers showed a stronger response to the morphological intervention than the older skilled readers. A transfer effect was found with the phonological training contributing to the morphological skills and vice versa. The results of the current study were discussed in the light of developmental and psycholinguistic views of spelling acquisition as well as the characteristics of Arabic language and orthography.

Morphology and Spelling in Arabic: Development and Interface

In the current study, two experiments were carried out: the first tested the development of derivational root and word-pattern morphological awareness in Arabic; the second tested morphological processing in Arabic spelling. 143 Arabic native speaking children with normal reading skills in 2nd, 4th and 6th grade participated in the study. The results of the first experiment demonstrated the early emergence of derivational morphological awareness in children, with root awareness emerging earlier than word-pattern awareness. The second experiment supported the implication of morphological processing in spelling words and pseudo words across all grades tested. The results are discussed within a developmental psycholinguistic framework with particular emphasis on the characteristics of the Arabic language and orthography.

The effect of the internal orthographic connectivity of written Arabic words on the process of the visual recognition: A comparison between skilled and dyslexic readers

Previous research has suggested that reading Arabic is more challenging than reading Hebrew or English, even among native Arabic readers due to the visual complexity of the Arabic orthography. In particular, the fact that most of the Arabic letters connect to each other and change their basic form according to their place in the written word (beginning, middle or end) has been hypothesised to constitute a visual load affecting reading efficiency. Here, we tested this visual complexity hypothesis by manipulating word-internal orthographic connectivity during visual word recognition. Fifty-eight adult skilled readers and 20 disabled readers of Arabic performed a lexical-decision task using words (and nonwords) whose letters were naturally fully connected (Cw), partially connected (PCw) and nonconnected (NCw). Behavioural measures for words as a function of word connectivity (and word frequency) were analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance. The results revealed that within both groups of readers, higher accuracy rates were measured for the Cw rather than for the NCw, with PCw falling in between. The analysis of the individual standard deviations of the response times within each word condition revealed that Cw yielded a response variance lower than NCw, again with PCw in between. These results indicate that Cw tend to be processed more efficiently and accurately than NCw, in both reader groups. The results presented here extend recent findings in normal readers and indicate that word connectivity does not negatively impact word recognition processes among adults. The psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic implications of these findings are discussed.

Exploring the Phenotype of Phonological Reading Disability as a Function of the Phonological Deficit Severity: Evidence from the Error Analysis Paradigm in Arabic

The dominant error types were investigated as a function of phonological processing (PP) deficit severity in four groups of impaired readers. For this aim, an error analysis paradigm distinguishing between four error types was used. The findings revealed that the different types of impaired readers were characterized by differing predominant error types. The dysphonetic errors predominated in readers with severe PP deficit and the morphological errors predominated in those with moderate deficits. Finally, readers with attention difficulties showed a predominance of semiphonetic errors. These findings were discussed in relation to reading disability subtypes and their clinical implications.

Statistical learning and orthographic preferences among native Arab kindergarten and first graders

ABSTRACT The current study investigated the effect of the dominant Arabic orthographic features on children’s orthographic preferences. Forty first grade and 40 kindergarten native Arab children were tested. The results revealed that for the first grade group, high accuracy levels for acceptance of real words and rejection of pseudo-orthographic patterns were found. In addition, the first grade group showed significant preferences for accepting the connected patterns compared to the non-connected patterns as real words. For the kindergarten group, the participants showed higher tendency to accept the connected pseudo-orthographic patterns as real words than the non-connected patters. These findings were explained in light of the fact that in Arabic orthography there are high proportions of full-connected rather than non-connected patterns and this might affect the orthographic preferences of first grade and pre-school children. The statistical learning point of view was the main framework of discussing the results.

How Does the Linguistic Distance Between Spoken and Standard Language in Arabic Affect Recall and Recognition Performances During Verbal Memory Examination

The current research examined how Arabic diglossia affects verbal learning memory. Thirty native Arab college students were tested using auditory verbal memory test that was adapted according to the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and developed in three versions: Pure spoken language version (SL), pure standard language version (SA), and phonologically similar version (PS). The result showed that for immediate free-recall, the performances were better for the SL and the PS conditions compared to the SA one. However, for the parts of delayed recall and recognition, the results did not reveal any significant consistent effect of diglossia. Accordingly, it was suggested that diglossia has a significant effect on the storage and short term memory functions but not on long term memory functions. The results were discussed in light of different approaches in the field of bilingual memory.

Poor Executive Functions among Children with Moderate-into-Severe Asthma: Evidence from WCST Performance

Executive functions (EFs) measures of 27 asthmatic children, with general learning difficulties, were tested by using the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), and were compared to the performances of 30 non-asthmatic children with general learning difficulties. The results revealed that the asthmatic group has poor performance through all the WCST psychometric parameters and especially the perseverative errors one. The results were discussed in light of the postulation that poor EFs could be associated with the learning difficulties of asthmatic children. Neurophysiological framework has been suggested to explain the etiology of poor EFs among children with moderate into severe asthma.

The Development of Reading and Spelling in Arabic Orthography: Two Parallel Processes?.

The parallels between reading and spelling skills in Arabic were tested. One-hundred forty-three native Arab students, with typical reading development, from second, fourth, and sixth grades were tested with reading, spelling and orthographic decision tasks. The results indicated a full parallel between the reading and spelling performances within the second and fourth graders where the performance in the orthographic decision task was significantly lag behind. For the sixth graders, full parallel was found between the spelling and the orthographic decision performances with significant superiority of both performances on the reading performance. The results were discussed in light of developmental course of the orthographic representations and the impact of the specific orthographic features of the Arabic orthography on reading and spelling.