Emergent writing of young children in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

We report results of writing samples of six Emirati children aged four to four and a half years collected at monthly intervals over an eight month period (the kindergarten academic year). Three teachers and six parents were interviewed to triangulate the data that were collected in the classrooms. The grounded theory method was used to code and categorize the data, which were then compared with the literature on emergent writing. Findings of this longitudinal study revealed that few opportunities are provided at home and in kindergarten for the development of young children's emergent writing in Arabic and revealed other issues related to bilingualism and diglossia. Recommendations are provided for policy makers, teachers, and parents that would accelerate the development of young children's Arabic literacy, particularly emergent writing skills, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A human right to literacy education: Implications for serving Syrian refugee children

“…Early vocabulary and letter naming skills of Arabic-speaking children in kindergarten were correlated with home literacy activities, with joint writing being a significant contributor to first grade reading achievement (Aram, Korat, & Hassunah-Arafat, 2013). In the absence of Arabic-language books, parents with a range of literacy skills can engage in creating their own literacy materials for a shared writing experience with tasks as simple as drawing, writing approximations, making lists, and writing names (Tibi, Joshi, & McLeod, 2013). Promoting shared reading and writing among Syrian parents and their children can help to bridge the gap between home and school practices.…”

“…Korat et al (2012) cited several other examples of parent mediation strategies, such as relating to illustrations, orally telling a story, connecting story content to child experiences, and discussing written text, all of which can be used alongside paraphrasing to promote children's understanding and to hone oral language skills. Educators and SLPs should exercise sensitivity to parents' decisions regarding their roles as Arabic-language teachers of their children, especially in the practice of standard Arabic (Tibi et al, 2013), and encourage parents to engage their children in oral language or literacy activities that will be sustainable and naturally occurring in their homes without imposing prevailing ideas about education onto resettled families.…”

Home Literacy and Numeracy Environments in Asia

“…However, parents in some studies appear to view their responsibilities as relatively small in their children’s early formal learning. For example, in a study involving six parents in the United Arab Emirates, the parents showed little awareness of the importance of parent-child interactions and stimulating early home environments to support their children’s emergent writing skills ( Tibi et al, 2013 ). The Kazakhstani mother in a case study by Amantay (2017) also expressed the idea that literacy was “something special” (p. 31) and believed that parents had little to do at home to promote children’s literacy development.…”

Early Language Education in the United Arab Emirates

“…According to the Ministry of Education's policy, kindergarten teachers should use MSA in the classroom. However, a longitudinal observational study of three kindergarten classrooms by Tibi, Joshi, and McLeod (2013) found that only one of the teachers actually used standard forms, although all of them recognized that they were required to do so.…”

“…There are fewer published studies of early biliteracy development in languages where alphabets and directionality differ, such as Chinese and English (Yaden and Tsai 2012) (Zhang and Guo 2017). There are even fewer studies of Arabic-English biliteracy acquisition where linguistic distance also pertains, and these include studies by Saiegh-Haddad and Geva (2007) and in the UAE by Tibi, Joshi, and McLeod (2013).…”