The Impact and Effectiveness of the Syllablebased Reading Approach on Moroccan Pupils’ Reading Competency

Abstract

Morocco has recently introduced the syllable-based reading approach (SbA) in Arabic and French Curricula. Thus, this study aimed at measuring the impact and effectiveness of said approach on Moroccan pupils' Arabic reading competency as well as how teachers approach it based on the hermeneutic phenomenology theoretical framework. A quantitative survey questionnaire was distributed to 227 1 st and 2 nd grade teachers from all twelve regions of Morocco. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data through descriptive statistics and statistical hypothesis testing. The results showed that most Moroccan teachers advocate the use of the SbA as it positively impacts Arabic reading competency. They have, also, pointed out that time and demanding lesson planning are some of the SbA's drawbacks. Also, it was found that there are no differences in SbA's teaching practices and perceptions between female and male teachers except for the practice of assigning reading homework as female teachers tend to assign more reading homework. The results of the study are of significant importance to the MENA region as it evaluates field work regarding SbA.