Effectiveness of Arabic Morphological Training on Morphological Skills and Reading Comprehension of Fourth Grade Students with Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a neurological-based learning disability that impairs the development of accurate and fluent word recognition and decoding. Arabic-speaking children with dyslexia face compounded challenges due to the morphological complexity of Arabic. This study evaluates the effectiveness of morphological awareness (MA) training in improving morphological skills and reading comprehension among fourth-grade students with dyslexia. A quasi-experimental design was used with 168 fourth-grade students with dyslexia in Oman, randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. The experimental group received a 15-week Arabic morphological training program. Pre- and post-tests assessed morphological awareness, reading comprehension, and vocabulary using adapted standardized tools. Repeated measures MANOVA showed significant time-by-group interactions favoring the experimental group across all measures (morphological skills, reading comprehension, and vocabulary), with large effect sizes (η2 = 0.382, 0.172, and 0.150, respectively). These results highlight the intervention’s effectiveness in enhancing key reading-related skills. Morphological training significantly benefits Arabic-speaking dyslexic students by enhancing decoding, vocabulary breadth, and reading comprehension. The intervention is particularly valuable in the Arabic language context, where root-pattern morphology plays a central role in literacy development.