Education, Reading Disorders Reading Disabilities

Education, Reading Disorders

Reading disabilities in Arab students attending non-Arabic schools

Reading disabilities pose one of the greatest threats to a child's learning, since all other subjects become reliant on comprehension as education progresses. English as a second language (ESL) students have additional needs, since their knowledge of language has been shaped differently than children who speak English as their native language. Arabic children in particular may struggle in the English-speaking classroom because of the drastically different systems of speech, reading, and learning in English and Arabic language. Further, some evidence exists that Arabic children suffer from reading disabilities more often than other children due to consanguineous marriages. Due to these possible genetic issues, cultural and language differences, and the struggles inherent in all ESL students, Arabic children attending non-Arabic schools may be more likely to struggle with reading disabilities than other children. This paper intends to investigate these factors and how they might contribute to learning disabilities in Arab students attending non-Arabic schools.

To address this topic, this paper will first address the necessary background information. Research and information concerning reading disabilities are provided to create a base knowledge and consider how these fit into the individual focus of this paper. Discussion of the problems and challenges posed by teaching ESL students, whether Arabic-speaking or otherwise, is discussed. Finally, research specific to Arabic-speaking children in non-Arabic schools will be evaluated. Please note that ESL (English as a Second Language) should be considered synonymous with English Language Learner (ELL) and other terms frequently used to describe children whose native language is any language other than English.

Background: What we know about reading disabilities number of learning disabilities exist that can affect a child's ability to read. For the needs of this paper, a reading disability is considered to be a rough term for developmental dyslexia. A common misconception is that individuals with dyslexia words reversed or mixed up on the page (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007). This is untrue; developmental dyslexia is a neuro-biological problem that causes individuals to have poor word decoding skills and inaccurate word recognition. As a result, reading and spelling are heavily affected. While developmental dyslexia is not caused by poverty, learning English as a second language, or speech/hearing impairment, those issues can exacerbate the problem. What is known about causes of dyslexia is that there is a positive genetic link, meaning that it can run in families (Davis, Lindo, & Compton, 2007; Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007; Abu-Rabia & Maroun, 2005). Additionally, because it is a physical problem located in the brain it is not curable and children do not "grow out of it." It is estimated that 2.8 million school-aged children in the United States suffer from developmental dyslexia (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007).

Developmental dyslexia is one of the most common reasons for a child to be diagnosed with a learning disability. It affects 80% of those considered learning disabled (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007). While teachers are increasingly trained to handle some of the issues inherent in teaching students with learning disabilities, reading difficulty caused by developmental dyslexia can be frustrating for both teachers and students (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005). This is due in part to the intensive reliance that all other classroom studies have on reading as children progress to upper grade levels. This fact makes it crucially important that children with developmental dyslexia be diagnosed as early as possible (Davis, Lindo, & Compton, 2007; Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007).

Diagnosing children early is key to ensuring their academic success. Studies to establish brain imaging to positively identify developmentally disabled individuals have been met with mixed results; too many false negatives or false positives were indicated in a number of studies (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007). Even if methods were perfected, the MRI technology necessary would be costly and trained staff would be needed to interpret results. Despite these frustrations, a number of the studies on brain imaging have made it possible to study some of the differences between the brains of average learners and those of individuals developmental dyslexia (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007).

In the absence of a medical test, teachers and researchers look for other signs that students may have developmental dyslexia (Abu-Rabia & Maroun, 2005). Children with reading disabilities often exhibit two difficulties. First, they cannot read or recognize as many words as are expected for their age level. Second, they have difficulty decoding words and often experience a number of decoding errors during reading (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007). Due to decoding errors, reading becomes painfully slow and laborious. Children are often unable to gather contextual information or answer content information, even from short, age-appropriate passages because so much time is spent decoding individual words that meaning is lost (David, Lindo, & Compton, 2007; Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007).

The impact that a reading disability has on students and teachers is significant (Davis, Lindo, & Compton, 2007). Without identification, students who are unable to progress often act out or fall behind other students in their grade level. Even when children are identified as having a reading disability, resources may not be available to give them the attention they need to manage their disability effectively. This is especially true in crowded classrooms or classrooms with multiple learning disabled or ESL children. Additionally, children with a reading disability may suffer from other disorders, including Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. These issues may make identification more difficult (David, Lindo, & Compton, 2007; Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007).

Once identified, children with developmental dyslexia need "explicit, intense, systematic instruction in the sound structure of language (phonemic awareness)" including phonics (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007, p.512). Motivation and encouragement are also important, as children with reading disabilities must work very hard to reach normal levels of reading. Teachers working with reading disabled children are encouraged to assess individual language processing for those children in order to identify weaknesses and apply appropriate instruction. Keeping students engaged in classroom activities in additionally important to foster participation rather than loss of attention, apathy, and failure due to disinterest (Hudson, High, & Al Otaiba, 2007).

Reading disabilities and the ESL learner

ESL learners, unlike children with reading disabilities, struggle because they are adapting to the use of a new language. Unless they also have a learning disability, ESL students do not have a physical problem preventing them from achieving in the classroom. This being said, ESL require specific tools in order to transition from their native language into becoming fluent readers and speakers of English (Drucker, 2003). Drucker (2003) suggests the incorporation of tools that are geared for ESL students but provide substantial learning opportunities for native English speakers as well.

ESL learners come to the English classroom with a wide range of ability and English experience. Some students speak no English at all. Others manage orally but struggle with reading and writing in English. Wide debate exists as to what approaches should be used to address the needs of these students (Drucker, 2003). Many studies have also been conducted in order to identify the best ways to proceed. The bulk of available research in the United States focuses on Spanish-speaking children, due to the high number entering schools across the country. The issue of ESL learners is much larger than Spanish speakers, however; in urban areas teachers are increasingly reporting classrooms with four or five different native languages spoken. This poses a problem not only in terms of attention to ESL needs but to developing curriculums that can reach over a number of cultural barriers (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005; Drucker 2003).

Children with limited English language skills often experience confusion and frustration in the English-speaking classroom. In classrooms with a small number of ESL students, children are keenly aware of their minority status and may be reluctant to participate or ask for help when they need it. They may be shy or self-conscious, causing them to make anxiety-related mistakes. Obvious issues also exist where children simply do not understand instructions and information when given in English (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005; Drucker 2003). Alternately, in classrooms that are heavily populated with ESL students, children may feel no pressure to learn English language skills. Since others who speak their native language surround them, children may not develop the English vocabulary and speaking practice necessary to succeed academically.

Vocabulary is one of the largest challenges for ESL students (Drucker, 2003). Students who begin school with almost no exposure to the English language are likely to do poorly in areas of working vocabulary, syntactic testing, and verbal memory testing (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005). Children build an early vocabulary based on words they hear and use in conversation. Most ESL students have limited English language vocabularies, though their native language vocabulary may be strong. Others do not have a strong vocabulary even in their native language, posing additional challenges because teachers have difficulty explaining relations using their native language. In order to build an age-appropriate vocabulary in the English language, ESL students must learn words at a faster rate than normal (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005; Drucker 2003). This results in a widening gap between the reading and comprehension levels of ESL and non-ESL students if the needs of ESL students are not addressed (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005).

Some ESL students come from a native language that poses more difficulties than others. For example, Russian and Arabic have alphabets that look very different from the English alphabet. Children must learn an entirely new coding system in order to proceed (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005). Even when the alphabet is similar, the English language is difficult to learn due to the many inconsistencies in tense and individual word use. Because they may not be conversationally fluent, subtleties of the English language may take some time to master (Palmer, El_Ashry, Leclere, & Chang, 2007). Drucker (2003) cites that students are proficient in "peer-appropriate conversation skills" in about two years after immersion into English, while academic proficiency takes even longer (p.23).

Cultural understanding is another challenge for ESL students. Barriers in culture can negatively impact reading comprehension (Drucker, 2003). Reading samples may be culturally appropriate for American students, but some subject matter does not bridge the cultural gap. In such instances, children can normally answer questions that have answers directly found in the text. However, they often struggle with contextual questions, including why things occurred, or what is likely to happen next. The clues that exist in the text are culturally charged and are only intuitively recognized by children with common experiences (Drucker, 2003).

Language barrier may additionally mask learning disabilities that do exist in ESL students. Teachers may consider struggling ESL readers as unable to grapple with the language barrier when in fact they have developmental dyslexia. Parents may also miss clues to a learning disability since they may also account for their child's struggling as normal learning challenges. Parents and teachers may not adequately address these issues if there is an additional language barrier between parents and teachers (if parents speak limited English themselves) (Drucker, 2003). One clue to look for when considering whether an ESL student has a reading disability is whether they excel in their own language. If children are struggling to learn to read in both English and their native language, despite effort and interest to do so, children may have a disability. However, if children come from a limited reading home or have not spent much effort attempting to master their own language, they may simply be struggling with the normal learning process. Alternately, if they read well in their own language but are struggling to learn English, it is unlikely that they have a reading disability, as they obviously possess the necessary decoding skills to read (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005).

A number of strategies exist for teaching ESL students in the classroom. These same strategies appear to help with ESL students who also have a reading disability, though extra time is normally taken to help those students. Research indicates that phonological processing is the most significant cognitive process necessary for the acquisition of English language reading skills (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005). A strong phonics curriculum is necessary to develop these skills in both ESL and non-ESL readers. However, ESL readers will likely need more time to transition, depending on their native language (Drucker, 2003). Reading aloud to the class (teachers), pairing children in reading groups, or listening to an audio book while children follow along in the text are all methods used to develop phonics and reading comprehension skills. Teachers may also want to ask questions before children read sample passages so that children know what to look for in the text as they read (Drucker, 2003).

Reading passages should be considered carefully in the ESL classroom (Drucker, 2003). Some teachers incorporate narrow reading, the incorporation of many different texts all on the same subject. Narrow reading allows children to gain vocabulary and understand the reading even when the context in one passage is difficult for them to grasp (Drucker, 2003). Teachers should choose reading texts with cultural considerations in mind; students who are learning the language will appreciate and relate with familiar topics, while native English speakers will enjoy the variety of learning about cultural differences. To this end, teachers should make sure that texts are not stereotypical when they choose books that depict other cultures. Such books may make students uncomfortable or the subject of ridicule (Drucker, 2003).

To succeed as English readers, ESL students must spend time fostering reading proficiency in their native language (Drucker, 2003). Children who are accomplished readers in their own language can usually incorporate many of the same learning and reading tools into their new language. Children who are given instruction in their native language at least a few hours a week are able to transfer native language proficiency to English proficiency in many cases. Since public school tutoring is not always available or adequate, parents should also be encouraged to read to children and work with children on reading in their native language. Parents often neglect to do this because they are under the assumption that it will hinder learning in English (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovik, 2005).

Issues specific to Arabic-speaking learners

Arabic-speaking children in English speaking schools encounter problems common to all ESL learners as well as some specific to the Arabic to English transition. Challenges exist where Arabic and English differ, including vowel use and grapheme-phoneme correspondence (Palmer, et al., 2007). Similarities, such as phoneme-grapheme correspondences and expressed verb tense, may help children learn in the new language environment. Culturally, Arab students may face more challenges in understanding examples and reading in the English classroom -- more so than many other language transitions. Some evidence additionally suggests that there is a strong genetic link between some Arab families and developmental dyslexia (Abu-Rabia & Maroun, 2005).

Native Arabic speakers in the English-speaking classroom face a number of challenges common to the ESL student. Firstly, most teachers with knowledge of the ESL classroom have been prepared to deal with native Spanish speakers. As such, their methods may not be appealing or effective for Arabic-speaking children, particularly when efforts were made to make subjects more culturally relevant. Arabic has more predictable patterns of grapheme-phoneme correspondence when compared to English (Lipka, Siegel, and Vukovic, 2005). Like many ESL students, Arabic speakers must adapt to the numerous English rules that apply only in certain circumstances or for individual words. This is a confusing concept, especially when someone does not have internal verbal cues to correct themselves in English (Lipka, Siegel, and Vukovic, 2005).

When help is provided, Arabic students handle the language transition well. Arabic and English phonological processing skills appeared to be closely related when students were encouraged to develop strong language skills in their native Arabic; providing 3 hours a week of instruction in Arabic allowed students to successfully gain reading skills that could transcend the language barrier (Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005). Conversely, if children are not encouraged to progress in reading their native language, they may continue to have confusion over the English language. This is due in part to their partial understanding of their own language and is particularly true of Arabic (Palmer et al., 2007).

Arabic speakers must be aware of three forms of the language to become fluent speakers and readers (Palmer et al., 2007). The Arabic that children learn to speak is dissimilar to print Arabic, or Modern Standard Arabic. Additionally, children learn to read using print Arabic that contains vowels. Once children have gained competency in reading, they can read vowel-less Arabic texts. In these "adult" texts, words with different meanings may appear the same without their vowels, and so children must develop the decoding skills adequately in order to read as an adult (Palmer et al., 2007).

Perhaps unexpectedly to those unfamiliar with the language, Arabic has a number of similarities to English (Palmer et al., 2007). Both languages express verb tenses. Also, both English and Arabic have alphabetic organization and are based on phoneme-grapheme correspondences. English correspondences are more complex. Yet, sometimes children can transfer skills across languages when they make a connection based on similarities (Palmer et al., 2007).

There are a number of differences between Arabic and English that make it difficult for Arabic-speakers to transition to the English language (Palmer et al., 2007). Firstly, Arabic text reads from right to left rather than left to right. Young children in particular are confused by this change in direction. Second, all English sentences contain a verb, whereas that is not always the case in Arabic. Individual letters also look very different, with Arabic letter appearing similar while English language letters are quite different from one another. Finally, one of the major hurtles for Arabic-speaking students in the grasping of phonics in the English language is the fact that English phonemes are often made up of multiple letters. Arabic phonemes are not, and so are more predictable (Palmer et al., 2007).

In addition to the many language differences, there may be a larger cultural gap for Arabic-speaking students when compared to other ESL students in American, English-speaking classrooms (Palmer et al., 2007; Lipka, Siegel, & Vukovic, 2005). Teachers may no little or nothing about the countries that Arabic students originated from. Even worse, some teachers and administrators may have unfortunate stereotypes about Arabic-speaking countries, imposing poor associations on children who are already struggling. Relationships built on such stereotypes may make it more difficult for parents and teachers to connect and work on a child's needs (Palmer et al., 2007; Lipka, Siegel & Vukovic, 2005).