The influence of visual attention on letter recognition and reading acquisition in Arabic

Abstract

The present study sets out to explore the cognitive underpinnings of reading acquisition in Arabic. Previous studies have identified phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming as early predictors. However, the graphic complexity of Arabic letters imposes particular constraints on the visual system, which should mobilize visual attention. To test this hypothesis, 101 Arabic-speaking children who just began their formal reading instruction in Arabic were administered tests of syllable and word reading. Their nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming and letter knowledge were measured. Their visual attention was estimated through tasks of visual attention span. We found that phonological awareness, visual attention span and letter knowledge were associated with reading outcomes. However, regression analyses showed that the relationship between visual attention span and reading disappeared when letter knowledge was taken-into-account. We used structural equation modeling to examine the direct and indirect effects of visual attention span to reading. Results showed that phonological awareness and letter knowledge were significant and independent predictors of reading while visual attention span contributed only indirectly through its influence on letter knowledge. Our findings suggest that beginning readers rely on visual attention to identify and discriminate visually-complex Arabic letters. In turn, more efficient letter identification in children with higher visual attention facilitates reading acquisition. These findings support the cognitive models of word recognition that include visual attention as a component of the reading system. They open new perspectives for cross-language studies, suggesting that visual attention might contribute differently to reading depending on the orthographic system. They also provide a foundation for innovative teaching methodologies in Arabic language education.