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What Predicts Listening Comprehension in Standard Arabic? The Interdependence of Linguistic and Metalinguistic Skills in Spoken and Standard Arabic.

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Title: What Predicts Listening Comprehension in Standard Arabic? The Interdependence of Linguistic and Metalinguistic Skills in Spoken and Standard Arabic.
Authors: Haj, Lina1, Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor1,2 Elinor.Saiegh-Haddad@biu.ac.il, Ghawi-Dakwar, Ola1,3,4, Schiff, Rachel5
Source: Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research. Jan2026, Vol. 69 Issue 1, p200-216. 17p.
Subject Terms: *Communicative competence, *Listening, *Ability, *Auditory perception, *Vocabulary, *Language acquisition, *Training, *Cognition, *Children, Multilingualism in children, Pearson correlation (Statistics), Task performance, Research funding, Structural equation modeling, Descriptive statistics, Linguistics, Arabs, Phonetics, Data analysis software
Abstract: Purpose: All Arabic-speaking children grow up in diglossia. They use a Spoken Arabic (SpA) variety for everyday speech but Modern Standard Arabic (StA), a linguistically distant variety, for all literacy-related spheres of use including reading and writing. Given this sociofunctional complementarity, children are continuously required to shift between the spoken and standard varieties. The study tested the contribution of executive functions (EFs) and of linguistic and metalinguistic skills in SpA and StA to listening comprehension (LC) in StA among kindergarten children. Method: A total of 775 Palestinian Arabic-speaking children were tested on LC and sentence processing in StA, on EFs (inhibition, switching, memory), and on parallel linguistic (vocabulary and lexico-phonological representations) and metalinguistic (phonological and morphological awareness) skills in SpA and in StA independently. Results: Structural equation modeling showed that all three EF skills were indirectly related to LC via linguistic and metalinguistic skills in SpA and StA, yet working memory showed a direct contribution as well. With respect to linguistic and metalinguistic skills, the results showed that these were interrelated across the two language varieties. Moreover, SpA skills were related to LC indirectly, via their corresponding skills in the StA, yet importantly also directly. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the centrality of EFs in LC in StA. Furthermore, they underscore the interdependence of linguistic and metalinguistic skills in SpA and StA as well as the direct and indirect contribution of language and metalinguistic skills in the spoken variety to comprehension in StA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: What Predicts Listening Comprehension in Standard Arabic? The Interdependence of Linguistic and Metalinguistic Skills in Spoken and Standard Arabic.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Haj%2C+Lina%22">Haj, Lina</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Saiegh-Haddad%2C+Elinor%22">Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo><i> Elinor.Saiegh-Haddad@biu.ac.il</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ghawi-Dakwar%2C+Ola%22">Ghawi-Dakwar, Ola</searchLink><relatesTo>1,3,4</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Schiff%2C+Rachel%22">Schiff, Rachel</searchLink><relatesTo>5</relatesTo>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Speech%2C+Language+%26+Hearing+Research%22">Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research</searchLink>. Jan2026, Vol. 69 Issue 1, p200-216. 17p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Communicative+competence%22">Communicative competence</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Listening%22">Listening</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ability%22">Ability</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Auditory+perception%22">Auditory perception</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Vocabulary%22">Vocabulary</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+acquisition%22">Language acquisition</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Training%22">Training</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognition%22">Cognition</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children%22">Children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Multilingualism+in+children%22">Multilingualism in children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pearson+correlation+%28Statistics%29%22">Pearson correlation (Statistics)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Task+performance%22">Task performance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+funding%22">Research funding</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Structural+equation+modeling%22">Structural equation modeling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Descriptive+statistics%22">Descriptive statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Linguistics%22">Linguistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Arabs%22">Arabs</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Phonetics%22">Phonetics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis+software%22">Data analysis software</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Purpose: All Arabic-speaking children grow up in diglossia. They use a Spoken Arabic (SpA) variety for everyday speech but Modern Standard Arabic (StA), a linguistically distant variety, for all literacy-related spheres of use including reading and writing. Given this sociofunctional complementarity, children are continuously required to shift between the spoken and standard varieties. The study tested the contribution of executive functions (EFs) and of linguistic and metalinguistic skills in SpA and StA to listening comprehension (LC) in StA among kindergarten children. Method: A total of 775 Palestinian Arabic-speaking children were tested on LC and sentence processing in StA, on EFs (inhibition, switching, memory), and on parallel linguistic (vocabulary and lexico-phonological representations) and metalinguistic (phonological and morphological awareness) skills in SpA and in StA independently. Results: Structural equation modeling showed that all three EF skills were indirectly related to LC via linguistic and metalinguistic skills in SpA and StA, yet working memory showed a direct contribution as well. With respect to linguistic and metalinguistic skills, the results showed that these were interrelated across the two language varieties. Moreover, SpA skills were related to LC indirectly, via their corresponding skills in the StA, yet importantly also directly. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the centrality of EFs in LC in StA. Furthermore, they underscore the interdependence of linguistic and metalinguistic skills in SpA and StA as well as the direct and indirect contribution of language and metalinguistic skills in the spoken variety to comprehension in StA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00837
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 17
        StartPage: 200
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Communicative competence
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Listening
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Ability
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Auditory perception
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Vocabulary
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Language acquisition
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Training
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cognition
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Multilingualism in children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Pearson correlation (Statistics)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Task performance
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research funding
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      – SubjectFull: Structural equation modeling
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      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
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      – SubjectFull: Linguistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Arabs
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Phonetics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Data analysis software
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: What Predicts Listening Comprehension in Standard Arabic? The Interdependence of Linguistic and Metalinguistic Skills in Spoken and Standard Arabic.
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            NameFull: Haj, Lina
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            NameFull: Saiegh-Haddad, Elinor
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              Text: Jan2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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