The effect of diglossia on vocabulary acquisition in Arabic of Lebanese bilingual students in a private school in Kfarshima. (c2010)

Abstract

The Arabic language is a difficult language to study due to the existence of two varieties within the same language; that is, its diglossic nature. Consequently, vocabulary acquisition in Arabic seems to suffer because both varieties known as standard Arabic and colloquial Arabic are acquired in different ways and are linguistically distant. Only a few vocabulary words are shared by both varieties while all the other vocabulary words of standard Arabic need to be taught in school. Hence, the distance between the two varieties of Arabic affects vocabulary acquisition of the language. No formal studies exist on the relationship between diglossia and vocabulary acquisition. This study includes two objectives. The first objective of this study is to investigate the effect of diglossia on vocabulary acquisition of bilingual Lebanese students in Arabic. The second objective is to determine which vocabulary (Arabic vs. English) students have a preference for. Students' picture vocabulary acquisition was tested in Arabic and English. A correlation design based on a two stage random sample was used. The participants (n = 100) answered orally and in writing, depending on their age level, a subset of the Woodcock Johnson-III Tests of Achievement (Picture Vocabulary). On a second task, they identified orally and in writing, depending on their age level, the names of the different body parts by looking at a drawing of a human figure. The results showed a significant relationship between diglossia and vocabulary acquisition in Lebanese bilingual students. The students showed more confidence in using the English language over Arabic. These findings suggest that teachers need to use different research-based vocabulary strategies to try to tailor to the students' needs and to try to overcome the diglossia challenge related to the Arabic language.