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The Role of Diacritics in Word Recognition and Their Impact on Arabic The Role of Diacritics in Word Recognition and their Impact on Arabic L2 Learners’ Reading Speed, Accuracy, and Comprehension at Different Stages of Arabic L2 Acquisition by Ali Ahmed Al Midhwah A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Near Eastern Studies) in The University of Michigan 2018 Doctoral Committee: Professor Mohammad T. Alhawary, Chair Associate Professor Brahim Chakrani, Michigan State University Professor Nick C. Ellis Professor Emeritus Raji M. Rammuny Ali Al Midhwah [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5638-9295 © Ali Al Midhwah 2018 Acknowledgments First of all, I want to thank God for letting me write this final part of my dissertation and for putting all of the great people I will thank below into my life and into the story of my success. I have been blessed with a very loving and supportive family. My mom, Aisha Radeef , has been a constant source of loving optimism. From her, I learned how to take care of myself, be responsible, and how to protect and achieve my dreams. My dad, Ahmed Al Midhwah, has been another lifelong source of great optimism. From him, I learned to work hard, to stand up for myself, and to dissect an argument. I am grateful to them both for being wonderful role models, and I appreciate their patience while carrying the pain of missing their son during the long duration of my studies. As for my wife, Fawziah Al Midhwah, I find it difficult to express my gratefulness to her because it is so endless. She is an incredible wife, friend, and mother. She already knows all of the details because she has seen me through the ups and downs of this journey, and without her love and support, I would not have been able to achieve my enormous dreams. Therefore, it only seems right that I dedicate this dissertation to her. ii My son Aser Al Midhwah was born in the middle of this journey, and since then, he has colored my life and given me worlds of comfort and happiness. I hope to never forget how magical everything seems when I just play with him and can forget all of my pain, stress, and anxiety. I would like to thank my country, Saudi Arabia, for providing me with generous financial support throughout my doctoral studies. I would also like to thank King Saud University for supporting and encouraging me to study at one of the most important universities in the world — University of Michigan Ann Arbor. I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my advisor and committee chair, Professor Mohammad Alhwary, who opened the door to the discipline of Arabic applied linguistics; gave me unique courses that deeply related to Arabic applied linguistics, Arabic linguistics, and Arabic as a second language; assisted me in challenging and surpassing all of the obstacles that I encountered during my doctoral journey; and spent an enormous amount of effort and countless hours of his time enhancing my work and teaching me how to be a good researcher through his incredibly useful advice during seminars and independent study courses. He encouraged me to do my best to get the best, and to him I would like to say that without your guidance and persistent help, this dissertation would not have been possible. Additionally, I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Raji Rammuny and Professor Brahim Chacrani, whose assisted and encouraged me to do this work. I thank them for all of their support and encouragement. iii Special thanks go to Professor Nick Ellis who provided substantial assistance in experimental research that lit the way for me and directly contributed to my ability to complete this work. Great thanks go to my sisters, Manal Al Midhwah and Malak Al Midhwah, who assisted me in revising many pieces of this work and spent long hours ensuring that every part of it is perfect. Finally, thanks go to out to those great people, my colleagues, who took this same path and shared their journey with me. First, thanks go to Saeed Al Alaslaa, who started the program with me and shared many deep conversations about our dreams, obstacles, and memories; to Abdulazia Alqasem, who was constantly pushing me and encouraged me to complete this work and who was always opening his door for any help I might have needed; and finally, to Mohamad Alsheri, who were asking about me and checking in on my work progress from time to time. To all of you, I appreciate the great things you gave to me, more than you will ever know. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. ii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. xi LIST OF APPENDIXES.................................................................................................. xiv ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... xvii Chapter 1 Introuduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Diacritics Practices, Past and Present: A Historical Account ....................................... 2 1.3 Previous Studies on Diacritics ........................................................................................... 3 1.4 Objectives of the Dissertation ........................................................................................... 5 1.5 Outline of the Dissertation ................................................................................................. 7 Chapter 2 Literature Review.................................................................................................................8 2.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Arabic Language Background ........................................................................................... 9 2.3 A Historical Review of Diacritics ................................................................................... 12 2.3.1 Naqtˁ ʔal-ʔiʕrāb “Doting the Grammatical Endings” ....................................... 13 2.3.2 Naqtˁ ʔal-ʔiʕdʒām “Doting the Letters” .............................................................. 14 2.3.3 ħarakāt ʔaʃ-ʃakl “Diacritics” ................................................................................ 16 2.4 Deep and Shallow Orthography ...................................................................................... 18 v 2.5 Diacritics and Arabic Word Recognition ....................................................................... 21 2.6 Diacritics in the Curriculums of Arabic Samples from Arabic-Speaking Countries 24 2.7 Previous Studies Related to the Role of Arabic Diacritics .......................................... 27 2.7.1 Studies in Arabic as an L1 ..................................................................................... 28 2.7.2 Studies of Languages Similar to Arabic (e.g., Hebrew and Persian) .............. 41 2.7.3 Studies in Arabic as an L2 .................................................................................... 43 2.8 Summary .............................................................................................................................. 47 Chapter 3 Methodology ......................................................................................................................49 3.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 49 3.2 Participants ......................................................................................................................... 51 3.2.1 Criteria for Selecting Programs ........................................................................... 52 3.2.2 Criteria for Selecting Participants ....................................................................... 55 3.2.3 Participants Demographic Information ............................................................... 57 3.3 Materials ............................................................................................................................. 66 3.3.1 Lists of Isolated Words ......................................................................................... 67 3.3.2 Texts ........................................................................................................................ 79 3.4 Data Collection Procedures ............................................................................................. 93 3.5 Design, Measures, and Data Analysis ............................................................................ 96 3.5.1 Isolated Words Task .............................................................................................. 97 3.5.2 Texts Task ............................................................................................................ 101 3.6 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 104 Chapter 4 Findings............................................................................................................................106
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