Abstract:

Arabic is the fourth most common language, spoken by over 400 million native speakers. Results of international assessments indicate that literacy development remains a critical need, with most of the participating Arab countries near the bottom of achievement levels. A necessary first step towards improving literacy achievement is the development of instructional programming and assessments that:
1) are aligned with the construct of reading,
2) can inform instruction, and
3) can identify students at-risk for poor outcomes.

To address this need, a multi-national research effort has been launched to develop (TEALS), a standardized measure of early literacy skills for students in grades 1, 2 and 3.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Test of Early Arabic Literacy Skills the (TEALS), a standardized measure of early literacy skills for students in grades 1, 2 and 3, using a random sample of students in grades 1, 2, and 3 (n= 1098). The psychometric properties assessed were internal consistency reliability, multitrait scaling analysis, construct validity and known-groups comparison method. 44.0% of the students were in grade 2, 31.6% in grade 3 and 24.4% in grade 1. The majority were males (59.7%) and Qatari (61.7%). All TEALS scales and subscales had Cronbach’s alpha coefficients higher than set value of 0.7. Multitrait scaling analysis showed that a high percentage (89%) of the item-scale correlation coefficients (corrected for overlap) across all TEALS subscales met the set value of 0.4 indicating satisfactory convergent validity with the exception of items of MD (memory of digits) (45%). Also, discriminant validity was supported for twelve of the fourteen subscales. Known-groups comparison results showed that TEALS subscales discriminated significantly between the subgroups of gender, nationality and among the subgroups of grade level. The data indicated that the TEALS is a reliable and valid instrument that can be used to assess the students’ early Arabic literacy skills.

Keywords:

Arabic, word reading, literacy development, students at-risk, standardized assessment, inclusive education.