The effects of peer-mediated repeated reading on reading fluency and comprehension for students with reading difficulties

Reading skills are considered an essential task for individuals across numerous languages. Particularly, various studies in Arabic highlight the importance of reading fluency and comprehension and its impact on individuals’ learning acquisition. However, previous research in Arabic illustrates the challenges of mastering Arabic orthography and its impact on learning progress for individuals. Additionally, there is a distinction between the spoken and written language in Arabic, which affects readers’ progress when they read less familiar words in the written language. However, numerous studies have examined the effects of repeated reading on reading fluency and comprehension for students with reading difficulties in English, whereas there are limited number of studies in Arabic investigating effective reading interventions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of peer-mediated repeated reading on reading fluency and comprehension for students with reading difficulties in Arabic. The study consisted of examining other reading measures, such as letter sounds, syllable names, nonwords, and listening comprehension. The researcher recruited 44 students with reading difficulties from third-and fourth-grade who learn and read in Arabic. Students were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group. The findings show that peer-mediated repeated reading was not an effective strategy to improve reading fluency and comprehension for students with reading difficulties who learn and read in Arabic. However, students in the repeated reading group had an improvement in the nonwords variable.