文章基本信息

标题：Reading Difficulty and Language Features in an Arabic Physics Text
本地全文：下载
作者：Nouf Albadi ; John Mitchell O’Toole ; Jean Harkins 等
期刊名称：The Electronic Journal of Science Education
印刷版ISSN：1087-3430
电子版ISSN：1087-3430
出版年度：2017
卷号：21
期号：8
语种：English
出版社：Southwestern University
摘要：Reading research in K-12 English-speaking contexts reveals that inferential and expository texts cause substantial difficulty for students but less such research exists regarding other languages. It was the purpose of this quantitative cloze-based study to expose any relationship between student difficulty and particular features of the Arabic used in a mandatory Saudi Year 10 Physics textbook. Findings reveal that: (a) These 360 female students appear to be having significant difficulty understanding their textbook. (b) Nouns seem to cause the greatest difficulty, followed by technical- and semi-technical words; adjectives and grammatical particles. (c) Prior knowledge did not appear to reduce reading difficulties. This textbook may present difficulties for such students that go beyond the obvious issues of technicality in Physics text. This is significant because it suggests that the broader language difficulties that seem to characterise science text in English may also be emerging in specialist Arabic.
关键词：Arabic; Physics; Language; Reading; Cloze