Investigating Parallel English-Arabic Corpora to Enhance Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension Among Arab ESL Learners
Keywords:
Arabic-English, bilingual comprehension, corpus linguistics, ESL, parallel corpora, reading strategiesAbstract
The study examines how Arab students benefit from reading texts that present both English and Arabic versions concurrently. It addresses the issue of instructing solely in one language by incorporating dual-text possibilities for acquiring vocabulary, grammar, and language application. A digital corpus of English and Arabic texts was created, segmenting each text into sentences and attaching grammatical, lexical, and morphological information to them. The researcher matched pre-existing data with newly collected qualitative information after the intervention to conduct the study. Before and after the intervention, the researcher administered reading assessments in both English and Arabic to the students. Each assessment had three reading passages accompanied by six to eight questions, and a similar group of students tried the test to evaluate comprehension and difficulty. Students were assessed on vocabulary through both scheduled examinations and impromptu quizzes about the main words identified in weekly reading materials. A Likert scale survey was employed to evaluate students’ perceptions regarding the efficacy of the parallel corpus in enhancing their reading skills. The parallel corpus facilitated students’ comprehension of reading materials and enhanced their vocabulary. This study enhances bilingual education for students in ESL instruction and promotes bilingual instruction through the use of technology.
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