The Importance of Auditory Discrimination in the Acquisition of Mental Lexicon and Reading Automation in Arabic-Speaking Students in Kenitra (Morocco)

Abstract

Auditory discrimination is the ability to discriminate between words and sounds. Auditory discrimination can affect reading, spelling and writing. Several studies examined the correlation between auditory discrimination and reading performance. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the importance of auditory discrimination in the acquisition of mental lexicon and consequently the automation of reading in a sample of 101 students in their fourth year of primary education coming from four different schools in Kenitra (Morocco). The results analysis shows that reading scores correlated significantly with the auditory discrimination scores (r = 0.30, p < 0.01). This proves that the inability to discriminate words causes a disability to store them in the mental lexicon, which makes it difficult to identify these words at a later encounter. This conclusion is supported by the significant correlation between reading and auditory and visual lexical decision tasks. In this study we were able to emphasize the importance of having good acoustic discrimination capacities for language development. Students who were successful at the auditory discrimination task are more successful at reading. A remediation program based on improving auditory discrimination capacities using the language assessment battery LABBEL could see reading performance improvement in these students.