The Role of Vowelization in Reading Comprehension of Different Arabic Genres

Abstract

The present study explored the influence of short vowelization in Arabic orthography on reading comprehension of different texts, different genres and on different levels, among students of different ages. It explored the influence of short vowelization in Arabic orthography on reading comprehension of texts from the Koran, informative texts, newspaper articles and poetry, by examining the influence of short vowelization on different levels of understanding among students from three cities and three Arab villages in the northern district of Israel. The results from the mixed design indicated that short vowelization improved the level of reading comprehension among the readers in each level of understanding and for each kind of text. The results indicated a greater improvement in reading comprehension among the young readers as compared to the older readers. The findings also showed that short vowelization improved the performance of the fifth graders, more so than for ninth graders. Furthermore, short vowelization did not influence the performance of the seventh graders.

Keywords: Arabic orthography; Arabic short vowelization; Different genres; Different levels of understanding; Reading comprehension.