Native Arabic Speakers Research Articles

Pragmatic Transfer in Advanced Saudi EFL Learners’ Refusals

The present study investigated pragmatic transfer in the refusals of advanced Saudi learners of English as a foreign language (SEFL) in terms of the frequency and content of the emantic formulas, and whether their refusals correspond more to those of Saudi native speakers of Arabic (NSA) or native speakers of English (NSE). A total of 45 female subjects participated in the study and were divided into three groups: advanced SEFL as the target group (n = 15), NSA as a baseline data group (n = 15), and NSE as a baseline data group (n = 15). The study employed a mixed-method data collection approach consisting of a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) and semi-structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using the chi-square test and descriptive statistics. The results of the study revealed that pragmatic transfer was evident in the refusals of the SEFL group in both the frequency and content of semantic formulas. Moreover, the SEFL group’s realization of the speech act of refusal corresponded more to the NSA group than the NSE group. The analysis revealed that the SEFL group’s use of the direct refusal strategies, indirect refusal strategies, and adjuncts to refusals either resembled or approximated the NSA group’s use of the strategies to refuse all of the four stimulus types: requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions. Both the SEFL and NSA groups used the direct refusal strategies in a similar pattern; they used the direct strategies significantly less with interlocutors of a lower and higher social status, and significantly more with interlocutors of an equal social status. Furthermore, the content of the semantic formulas used by the SEFL group corresponded more to the content of the semantic formulas used by the NSA group in terms of the degree of specificity and the choice of the type of specific excuses. The SEFL group significantly approximated the NSA group’s use of both specific and unspecific excuses; they used three categories of specific excuses in a similar frequency: family, health, and personal preferences or needs.

Minority status and 30-day readmission: a moderated mediation model of informal caregivers’ ensuring and explaining medical care during hospitalization and caregivers’ health literacy

Introduction: Studies have shown that informal caregivers help patients to understand informa¬tion during clinical encounters, adhere to discharge recommendations, and perform self-care tasks. There is also evidence that patients with informal caregiver have a lower risk of readmission compared with patients without an informal caregiver. Less is known about factors that may affect Informal Caregiver’s Ensuring and Explaining Medical Care (ICEEMC) during hospitalization and its impact on improved health outcomes, especially in different cultural groups. This study examined whether ICEEMC during hospitalization mediated the association between minority status of patients and 30-day readmissions. In addition, it was investigated whether levels of Health Literacy (HL) of caregivers moderated this mediated association.Methods: A prospective cohort study of 517 internal medicine patients, Hebrew (general population, coded as 0) and Russian, or Arabic native speakers (minority status, coded as 1), at a tertiary medical center in central Israel (2013 to 2014), who were accompanied by an informal caregiver. The in-hospital baseline questionnaire included sociodemographic, physical, mental, and functional health status [covariates]. In addition, it included questions about informal caregiver HL [moderator] and amount of ICEEMC (e.g., did he/she communicated with the health care team about the treatment; three items - 1: did not receive any help to 5: received help all the time) taken from the Informal Assistance and Support for Hospitalized Older Adults (ICHOA) instrument)) [mediator]. Information on 30-day readmissions [outcome], chronic conditions, and prior hospitalization [covariates] was retrieved from the healthcare organization’s data warehouse. Testing a moderated mediation model was conducted using Hayes PROCESS procedure, model 7.Results: A total of 95 patients (18.4%) were readmitted within 30 days. Logistic regression indicated that minority status was not associated with 30-day readmission when the mediator ICEEMC was not included (B=0.98; p>0.05). However, moderated mediation analysis indicated significant direct (B=-1.08; p=0.003) and inconsistent indirect effect of minority status on readmission through high ICEEMC during hospitalization among patients who had informal caregivers with high HL level (Mediated effect (ME)=−0.62; CI= -1.07 to -0.29) but not among ones with low HL level (ME= 0.37; CI=-0.24 to 1.06).Discussions: These findings suggest that high level of informal caregivers' HL may be an essential factor in improving ICEEMC among minorities, which in turn improves their health outcomes by reducing 30-day readmissions.Conclusions: The association between patients’ minority status and 30-day readmission is mediated by ICEEMC during hospitalization and depends on high level of informal caregiver HL.Lessons learned: Our findings suggest that identifying informal caregivers with high HL levels at time of admission to the hospital and encouraging their involvement during patients’ hospital stay might be a useful strategy to improve transitions and reducing 30-day readmission, especially among minority patients.Limitations: Generalizability may be limited due to characteristics of the Israeli society. Nonetheless, health practices and outcomes of minority patients are challenging in various healthcare systems worldwide.Suggestions for future research: Future studies should explore these findings as an intervention study aimed at improving health practices and outcomes of minority patients.

An Arabic Translation of the Computer System Usability Questionnaire (CSUQ) with Psychometric Evaluation Using Kuwait University Portal

ABSTRACT Computer System Usability Questionnaire (CSUQ) is one of the popular standardized usability tools that measures perceived user satisfaction of a system. This research aims to translate CSUQ to the Arabic language in hope that it would be used as a standard usability measuring tool on native Arabic speakers. The process of the translation followed a rigorous step by step approach. The result of the translation – the Arabic-Computer System Usability Questionnaire (A-CSUQ-19 and A-CSUQ-16) – is then applied on an information system used by Kuwait University students. A psychometric evaluation was performed to measure the reliability and validity of A-CSUQ. The results yielded an acceptable level of reliability with overall Cronbach’s Alpha for the 19-item and 16-item versions at 0.97 and 0.964, respectively. As for construct validity and face validity, the results obtained were highly satisfactory.

Influence of Social Power and Distance on Request Strategies in Saudi Arabic

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of social power and distance on the strategies involved in performing the speech act of request by native speakers of Saudi Arabic. The participants of this study are 26 males and 8 females; all are undergraduate students enrolled in different disciplines at Taif University, Saudi Arabia. Data for this study was collected through the use of a Discourse Completion Task (DCT). The results revealed that the direct strategy is the most preferred strategy employed in making requests by Saudi Arabic native speakers and the nonconventional indirect strategy is the least strategy. It is hoped that this study will facilitate the acquisition of Saudi Arabic pragmatics by non-native speakers in a way to eliminate the miscommunications they may encounter in relation to the sociocultural norms.

A contrastive study on thanking in Arabic dialects and English

Cross-Cultural Pragmatics (CCP) is a field of study that focuses on the interaction of people from various cultures. It is to clarify cultural distinctions between languages that acquire meaning through context and sociocultural embedding, resulting in a pragmatic communication failure. This study determines whether the Arabic language, because of dialectical variation, contains more thanking methods than English. Additionally, it aims to investigate the face-threatening strategies used by Arabs and native English speakers. Besides, it aims to determine whether contextual variables affect thanking expressions. The data collection instrument was an open-ended questionnaire in two versions Arabic and English. The results were then analyzed quantitatively using SPSS software version 26.0, following Cheng's classification of thanking. The findings indicate that dialectical diversity is not associated with an increase in thanking strategies that are more prevalent in English. Additionally, religion affects the Arabs speaking, their manner of thanking does not exclude religious expressions, which are their preferred method of expressing their politeness and gratitude. In terms of face-threatening strategies, both native Arabic and English speakers preferred negative politeness to positive politeness, which focuses on minimizing the FTA's particular imposition. Concerning contextual variables such as familiarity and social status, both affect how the thanking speech act is performed. It will be worthwhile to investigate thanking in Arabic and English with a specific factor such as social distance. Additionally, it is beneficial to examine thanking in Arabic dialects regarding civilization's cultural influence and the dialect's proximity to standard Arabic.

THE PERCEPTION OF ARABIC VOWEL DURATION BY L1 HEBREW SPEAKERS

AbstractThe acquisition of a second language (L2) may be challenging in adulthood, as the phonological system of the native language (L1) can sometimes limit the perception of phonological contrasts in L2. The present study aimed to (a) examine the influence of an L1 (Hebrew) that lacks a phonemic contrast for vowel length on the ability to discriminate between short and long vowels in L2 (Arabic); and (b) assess the effect of a short training on the participants’ discrimination performance. A total of 60 participants, 20 native Arabic speakers and 40 native Hebrew speakers, were tested using the ABX procedure in two sessions that were 10 days apart. A single training session was provided for half of the Hebrew speakers (n = 20) approximately 2–3 days after the first (pretraining) testing session. The results indicated that the trained Hebrew participants’ discrimination levels (measured by accuracy and reaction times) were above chance level but were nevertheless lower in comparison to the Arabic speakers. However, a short training session was sufficient to yield a nativelike performance that generalized to untrained nonwords. These findings support the theoretical models that predict a reserved ability to acquire new phonetic/phonological cues in L2 and have important practical implications for the process of learning a new phonological system in adulthood.

Why Are Arabic Adult Learners in Kuwait Afraid of Making Mistakes in Their English Classroom?

The English language is a second language in Kuwait, and English has been added to the school curriculum with the aim that when students graduate, they will be bilingual in Arabic and English. However, although Arabic adult learners graduate to be fluent in their first language, they struggle in English. This paradox led us to consider specific factors that may inhibit Arabic adult learners from becoming proficient in English when they graduate from high school. One such factor is an unwillingness to speak English in the classroom. The focus of this study, therefore, is to investigate fear of making mistakes as one of factors underlying this unwillingness. Since the study was created during the pandemic, classes in Kuwait, at the time, were taught online only. A questionnaire was given to 210 female Arabic native speakers taking the English foundation course at the College of Basic Education at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. The questionnaire focused on factors that might induce a fear of making mistakes when speaking English in the classroom. The results of the study indicated that the most significant factor in this regard was students’ previous experience with English teachers who ridiculed them when they made mistakes in their classes. The findings suggest that when teachers do not take the appropriate approach to motivate students when they make mistakes, this can negatively affect the student’s language learning process.

Qualitative Focus Group Study Examining Perceptions of the Community's Important Health Issues, Health Care Needs and Perceived Barriers to Access Among Arabic Speaking Primary Care Clients in the State of Qatar.

ObjectiveThis study is a part of the Primary Health Care Corporation’s (PHCC) Health Needs Assessment (HNA) Initiative. It focuses on identifying perceptions of Arabic speaking primary care clients regarding community’s major health issues, their experiences in utilizing health services, and the barriers that limit their access to health care in the State of Qatar.Study Setting and DesignA total of 10 focus groups sessions were conducted at different PHCC’s health centers between October of 2019 and March of 2020. Sessions were distributed to cover all PHCC’s three geographical regions. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.ParticipantsA total of 89 adult Arabic speaking individuals were recruited. Participants included were in the age groups (18–69), native Arabic speaker, and registered at one of the PHCC’s health centers with a valid health card at time of recruitment.ResultsAreas investigated included perceptions of the community’s health issues, needed health services, and perceived barriers to health care. Priority health issues identified were chronic non-communicable diseases, mental health, timely access to care, cultural competency of delivered services, and integration and coordination across health care settings and sectors. Participants were able to identify socioeconomic and environmental factors such as the need for health and wellness interventions at schools that affects the health of the individual and the community. The importance of raising the community’s awareness about health-related issues and availability of health services was highlighted by study participants.ConclusionCollecting qualitative data provides an opportunity to examine people’s perceptions, and motivations and engage the whole community. This process is very important for strategic planning of health services. The study attempts to fill the knowledge gap and should be linked to health policy and the development of socially and culturally appropriate health programs.

Learner Autonomy: Learners’ Perceptions on Strategies to Achieve Autonomy in an EFL Classroom

Learner autonomy is considered as one of the most important factors contributing to lifelong learning for language learners studying at university. This is primarily because learners were likely to feel motivated and engaged when they were given the freedom to take charge of their learning. Higher Education in Oman has been relatively a recent phenomenon that was introduced three decades before. Ministry of Higher Education in Oman emphasis developing lifelong learning and self-study skills in learners studying at a higher educational institution in Oman. Most of the learners studying at higher educational institutions were taught by the native Arab speakers in schools, and they were mostly dependent on their teachers for the completion of different academic tasks in schools. Learner autonomy is now not desired but the obligatory aspect of learning under the current unprecedented circumstances where learners were required to take control of their learning, complete their tasks, assignments and projects on their own and where teacher intervention is minimal due to ‘remote teaching’ situation. The prevalent situation where technology has now taken the pivotal role in shaping the 21st century teaching and learning process, it is high need for the EFL learners studying at tertiary level at the university should be autonomous and critical thinkers who can control of their learning process and aware of the necessities of learning. Therefore, considering the learners’ spoon-feeding learning attitude at school and fast-changing learning requirement, the researcher aimed at identifying learners’ understanding and perceptions to achieve autonomy in learning in an EFL Context. This study also aims at finding out learners’ belief on the role of peers, teachers and social media in achieving autonomy in learning. By using mixed method approach, the researcher designed a 35-items Likert scale questionnaire and semi-structured interview questions to record the perceptions of 135 EFL learners studying at tertiary level in a private university in Oman. The results of the current study revealed that students were aware of the concept of learner autonomy and they believe that teacher’s scaffolding, peer intervention and use of social media platforms can not only help them to foster autonomy in them but also to gain confidence, motivation, self-esteem, sense of responsibility and self-determination in an EFL language learning environment. The implications of this research will assist the EFL teachers and the administration to consider EFL learners learning needs and learners’ self-efficacy and attitude towards their own learning.

Cultural Adaptation of Health Literacy Measures: Translation Validation of the Newest Vital Sign in Arabic-Speaking Parents of Children With Type 1 Diabetes in Kuwait.

The purpose of the study was to assess the feasibility of use and reliability of the Arabic version of the Newest Vital Sign (NVS-Ar) in parents of children with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The final translated version of NVS-Ar was administered to 175 adult caregivers of children with T1D who are native Arabic speakers. The association between NVS-Ar scores for the parents/legal guardians and A1C for their children was assessed. The internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's α, and reliability was assessed by test-retest method. The median (interquartile range) score was 4.0 (3-5). The internal consistency of the NVS-Ar was moderate (α = .58). The intraclass correlation coefficient was .61. There was no correlation between NVS-Ar score and A1C (Spearman's ρ = .055; P = .62). Furthermore, there was significant inverse association between adequate health literacy and optimal glycemic control among the children, which remained evident even after adjusting for the duration of T1D, age, or education of the parents/guardians. However, it lost statistical significance after adjustment for treatment regimen. Study findings indicate that the NVS is unlikely to be a predictive tool for functional health literacy in Arabic settings and that there is a need to properly translate and validate other tools such as the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults or, alternatively, to develop a reliable tool.

Boys Are Boys: A Contrastive Study of Nominal Tautology Between L1 English and L1 Arabic

This study aims to examine nominal tautology functioned as human nature based on the assumptions by Wierzbicka (1987). It compares English and Arabic tautology on construction like Boys are boys. This study integrates Miki’s evocation function with two other core concepts namely a macro-frame and a micro-frame. In addition, the role of the context is closely investigated as it forms an essential component in the realization of nominal tautology as proposed by Gibbs and McCarrell (1990). All these notions are merged into one solid framework to comprehend the mechanism of tautology in the brain of the speakers/hearer in any given language. Acceptability Judgment Task is used as an instrument to elicit participants’ acceptable judgments and interpretations on human nature tautology. The study includes two groups; English native speakers (51 participants) and Arabic native speakers (34 participants). According to the analyses, the results show no difference between the study groups, in the realization of nominal tautology related to human nature at the level of the acceptability and the interpretation.

Developing fMRI protocol for clinical use Comparison of 6 Arabic paradigms for brain language mapping in native Arabic speakers.

Objectives:To assess a baseline assessment using developed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language paradigms for Arabic-speakers.Methods:24-healthy right-handed volunteers scanned on a 3.0 Tesla MRI machine. For fMRI, a BOLD-sensitive sequence used to measure signals over time across 6 language paradigms: rhyming (RH), semantic category generations (SCG), silent word generation (SWG), verb generation picture (VGp), verb generation word (VGw), and verb generation audio (VGa). fMRI data was analyzed using FMRIB Software Library (FSL).Results:We found that VGa, SWG, VGw and VGp robustly activated language-related regions in the dominant hemisphere. RH and SCG failed to adequately define these activation regions but this may be related to the study’s preliminary nature and limitations. After assessment of their validity, considerable activation of the inferior frontal gyrus during VGa, SWG, VGw and VGp suggests that these paradigms have the potential for localizing of Broca’s area in native Arabic speakers.Conclusion:Set of well adapted, and evidence-based, fMRI paradigms were established for Arabic-speakers to enable accurate and sufficient localization and lateralization of the language area. After validation, these paradigms may provide sequences for accurate localization of brain language areas, and could be used as a presurgical evaluation tool.

Effects of Habitual Scanning on the Pattern of the Lateralisation of Colour Categorical Perception

Lateralisation of colour categorical perception has been investigated in a variety of studies, and the pattern of how the colour categorical perception lateralised is still being debated. It is possible that habitual scanning can help with this debate. The purpose of this study was to look into the effect of reading direction on the pattern of colour categorical perception. The study included sixteen right-to-left readers, all native Arabic speakers, 6 females and 10 males, ranging in age from 20 to 34 years old, with a mean age of 28.19 years (SD = 3.97). Lateralisation of colour categorical perception was tested using a target detection task with an eye-movement measure to a fixation point. Each participant’s eye movement timing from target onset to a fixation point was calculated in each hemisphere (left-right) and category (within-between). Anova 2 ways repeated measure was applied. This study did not replicate the pattern of lateralisation colour categorical perception demonstrated by left to right readers. Right to left readers did not support the left hemisphere lateralisation for colour categorical perception. This result raises the question of whether reading direction plays a role in the lateralisation of colour categorical perception.

Processing Printed Words in Literary Arabic and Spoken Arabic: An fNIRS Study

Diglossia refers to a socio-linguistic situation in which two varieties of the same language are used for distinct purposes in everyday life. In Arabic, Spoken Arabic (SA) is the firstly acquired dialect used for oral and informal communication in everyday conversations. Literary Arabic (LA), acquired later in life through formal education, is used for reading and writing and by literate individuals in formal settings such as the media and official speeches. Because of the linguistic distance between the two Arabic varieties, some authors have suggested that SA and LA might cognitively function as first (L1) and second language (L2). Up to now, very few studies using imaging techniques had addressed the question of the neural basis of diglossia in Arabic native speakers. In this study, we sought to test whether or not the visual processing of high (LA-HF), low frequency LA words (LA-LF), and SA-HF words induce detectable differences in the brain responses collected by functional Near-Infra Red Spectroscopy (fNIRS). For this aim, a semantic categorization task, previously assessed in fMRI studies. Based on previous observations, it was predicted that LA words, will be processed faster and more accurately than SA ones. Furthermore, it was predicted that a modulation of the responses (by language conditions) will be found in the left frontal areas. At the behavioral level, the analysis of RTs revealed an effect of language variety in individual response variance and accuracy showed a clear advantage for LA-HF words over LA-LF and SA-HF ones. The analysis of oxygenation level revealed a significant response modulation in frontal and posterior areas by language variety. These results are discussed in the context of diglossia and the advantages/limitations of this new imaging methodology and its use to assess language processing in the brain.

Contrasting the Request Act Used by EFL\ ESL Native-Arabic Speakers in Arabic and English Situations

Contrasting the Request Act Used by EFL\ ESL Native-Arabic Speakers in Arabic and English Situations

On the perceptual accuracy of non-native phonemic contrasts: A case study of Native Arabic Speakers

Research on native Arabic speakers’ perception of non-native English phonemic contrasts has manifested various conclusions. Some studies have revealed that native Arabic speakers experience difficulty in the perception of non-native English phonemic contrasts, where others have concluded that they largely do not experience such difficulty. Due to this discrepancy, the current study aimed to examine the overall perceptual accuracy of only the English labial categories /p, b, f, and v/ in onset positions performed by native Arabic speakers. The study also examined the potential effects of the phonetic contexts and the familiarity of the stimuli being tested on the participants’ perceptual performance. Twenty-four Saudi male participants completed consonantal phoneme identification and discrimination tasks. The findings revealed that the participants experienced difficulty in the perception of the categories /p/ and /v/, confusing them with their counterparts /b/ and /f/. The findings also revealed that neither phonetic context nor familiarity had any effect on the participants’ perceptual accuracy of all of the categories in question, except in the context in which the category /v/ was followed by back vowels. In this specific context, the participants’ performance tended to be lower, which could be attributed to the influence of lip rounding, which results in coarticulation with the fricative noise associated with this category (/v/). Lastly, the results obtained in this study provide additional crucial insights into auditory phonetics and present additional explanation on how the human auditory system recognizes speech sounds.

Minority status and readmissions: a moderated mediation model of caregivers’ health literacy

Family caregivers help patients to understand informa¬tion during clinical encounters. Less is known about factors that may affect family caregiver’s Ensuring and Explaining Medical Care (EEMC) during hospitalization and its impact on improved health outcomes. This study examined whether EEMC during hospitalization mediated the association between minority status of patients and 30-day-readmissions, and whether levels of Health Literacy (HL) of caregivers moderated this mediated association. A prospective cohort study of 517 internal medicine patients, Hebrew (general population, coded as 0) and Russian, or Arabic native speakers (minority status, coded as 1), at a tertiary medical center in central Israel, who were accompanied by an informal caregiver. EEMC and HL were patients’ self-reported. 30-day-readmissions were retrieved from the healthcare organization. Logistic regression indicated that minority status was not associated with 30-day readmission when the mediator ICEEMC was not included (B=0.98; p>0.05). However, moderated mediation analysis indicated significant direct (B=-1.08; p=0.003) and indirect effect of minority status on readmission through high ICEEMC during hospitalization among patients who had informal caregivers with high HL level (Mediated effect (ME)=−0.62; CI= -1.07 to -0.29) but not among ones with low HL level (ME= 0.37; CI=-0.24 to 1.06). These findings suggest that caregivers’ high HL may be an essential factor in improving EEMC among minorities. Identifying informal caregivers with high HL level at time of admission to the hospital, and encouraging their involvement during patients’ hospital stay, might be a useful strategy to improve transitions and reducing 30-day readmission, especially among minority patients.

Main peculiarities of Arabic-language content on the Internet

This article is dedicated to the trend that emerged in recent decades to transliterate Arabic text in the Internet comments and text messages, using the numbers for conveying the specificity of Arabic sounds. The object of this research is Arabizi – the macaronic jargon in electronic correspondence of Arabic native speakers, while subject is its specific characteristics. In the course of study, the author selected the microtexts posted by Arabic-speaking audience in the popular social networks Facebook and Twitter, YouTube video hosting, as well as private correspondence via such messengers as Viber and WhatsApp. The mandatory criterion was the affiliation of words to the common Arabic lexicon, as well as validation and similarity of the materials from different sources. Misprints and erratives were left out. The selected examples were classified by age (group 1 – 30 – 35 years old, group 2 – above 35 years old.) and nationality (from any Arab country) of their author. The scientific novelty is define by the fact that this article is first to examine the features that differentiate Arabizi from similar macaronic jargons, such as Denglish, Franglais, Spanglish, Ruglish. Possible ways for further development of language situation in the Arab world are proposed. The author determined that short messages in Arabizi virtually frame the written form that captures the specificity of oral dialect speech of the Arabic native speakers. The conclusion consists in formulation of distinctive characteristics of the indicated macaronic language that emerged as a result of interference due to familiarization of Arabs with the European languages, namely English.

Investigating Reading Experience of Dyslexic Children Through Dyslexia-Friendly Online Learning Environment

Dyslexia is one of the most common developmental disabilities; it is a disorder manifested by difficulty in learning to read despite conventional instruction, adequate intelligence, and sociocultural opportunity. The current study focuses on the potential benefits of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support children with dyslexia in reading. This paper addresses the need for dyslexia-friendly online text by introducing a dyslexia-friendly font for Arabic scripts called Arabolexia. An important question is asked which is ‘Is Arabolexia font an effective reading aid for children with dyslexia?' In this work, the author presents the first study that measures the impact of a dyslexia-friendly font for Arabic scripts on reading performance of native Arabic speakers. Fifty-two students aging between 8 and 26 years old were participated in this study. Descriptive and deductive statistical analysis showed that Arabolexia font has an impact on the reading accuracy of children with dyslexia.

Speech perception in deaf and hard of hearing Arabic-speaking children

The rate of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people is relatively large in native Arabic speakers in Israel. However, Arabic assessment tools are scarce. The present study reports the procedure of developing two speech perception assessment tools, which are used for hearing loss diagnosis, hearing aids fitting, cochlear implant mapping, and evaluation of progress following rehabilitation intervention. Our closed set test “Arabic Picture Speech Pattern Contrast” (ArPiSPAC), and word perception open-set test, “Arabic AB” (ArAB), were administered to 34 children with moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss, hearing aids users, aged between 4;5—8;11. In addition, the ArPiSPaC was administered to 38 hearing children, aged between 2;6-5;5 in order to obtain a developmental hierarchy. For DHH participants, the findings showed that vowel contrasts were better perceived than consonants, and articulation manner was better perceived than articulation place. The hearing participants' phonological perception hierarchy differed in some interesting features from that of the DHH children. The mean percent of phoneme perception by DHH was M = 60.53%, (SD = 23.87), and the mean percent of word perception was M = 18.5%, (SD = 15.68). Voicing and pharyngealization contrasts revealed the largest Pearson correlation for phoneme and word perception.