The Foundations of Arabic Word Reading: Evidence from a 2-Year Longitudinal Study

Purpose Given the limited longitudinal research on Arabic reading development, this study examined cognitive and linguistic predictors of Arabic word reading using two year longitudinal data from kindergarten to grade 2.Method 142 Arabic speaking Palestinian children (Mean age = 67 months, SD = 4.0 months) were assessed in kindergarten on letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), morphological awareness, and working memory. At the end of grade 2, word reading was measured through word reading efficiency, syllable reading efficiency, and pseudoword reading accuracy.Results Structural equation modeling revealed that the letter knowledge–RAN latent variable strongly predicted grade 2 word reading. Working memory was indirectly related to later reading through this latent variable, which fully mediated their relationship. Phonological and morphological awareness were not independently related to word reading.Conclusion Findings highlight the central role of letter knowledge and RAN, and the indirect contribution of working memory in Arabic word reading development. Results are discussed in relation to theoretical models.