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The role of word reading and oral language skills in reading comprehension in Syrian refugee children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2020

Redab Al Janaideh Open the ORCID record for Redab Al Janaideh [Opens in a new window] ,
Alexandra Gottardo ,
Sana Tibi Open the ORCID record for Sana Tibi [Opens in a new window] ,
Johanne Paradis Open the ORCID record for Johanne Paradis [Opens in a new window]  and
Xi Chen
Redab Al Janaideh
Affiliation:
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Alexandra Gottardo
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
Sana Tibi
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Johanne Paradis
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Xi Chen*
Affiliation:
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: xi.chen.bumgardner@utoronto.ca
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Abstract

Canada has resettled more than 57,000 Syrian refugees since 2015 (Government of Canada, 2017). However, little is known about refugee children’s language and literacy development. The present study evaluated Syrian refugee children’s performance on language and literacy measures in English and Arabic, and examined whether the simple view of reading model is applicable in both of their languages. Participants consisted of 115 Syrian refugee children 6–13 years of age. They received a battery of language and literacy measures including word reading, vocabulary, oral narratives, and reading comprehension in both English and Arabic. Compared to the normative samples, refugee children performed poorly on English standardized measures. They also demonstrated difficulties in Arabic, as more than half of the children were not able to read in the language. Despite the relatively low performance, there was evidence to support the simple view of reading model in both languages. In addition, oral language skills played a larger role in English reading comprehension in the older group than the younger group. This age-group comparison was not carried out in Arabic due to reduced sample size. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords

oral narrativesreading comprehensionrefugee childrensimple view of reading
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 41 , Special Issue 6: The Language, Literacy and Social Integration of Refugee Children and Youth , November 2020 , pp. 1283 - 1304
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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