Spot the dot: improving Arabic reading accuracy through visual attention span training
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: Visual Attention Span (VAS), defined as the capacity to process multiple visual elements in parallel, is a recognized contributor to reading development. While evidence supports its involvement across languages, its causal role in visually complex orthographies such as Arabic remains underexplored. Arabic’s high visual density and extensive letter similarity, due to diacritics, may amplify attentional demands during early literacy acquisition. This study evaluated Sayyadu-n-niqaat (“The Dots Hunter”), a classroom-based visual-search training designed to strengthen VAS through fine-grained processing of Arabic letter features. Seventy-eight second-grade Moroccan Arabic-speaking children participated in a quasi-experimental pre–post design with intact classrooms (intervention vs. business-as-usual control). Reading accuracy and speed were assessed in vowelized Modern Standard Arabic, and a subsample ( n = 54) completed computerized VAS and single-letter identification threshold (SLIT) measures in Arabic and Latin scripts. After controlling for baseline reading accuracy and key covariates (nonverbal reasoning, phonological awareness, and baseline SLIT), the intervention group showed significantly higher post-test reading accuracy than controls, with no reliable effect on reading speed. Mechanistic analyses identified VAS as the primary locus of change: robust gains were observed in Arabic VAS partial report, whereas improvements in single-letter identification did not differentiate groups. VAS gains were associated with reading accuracy gains. These findings provide converging evidence that strengthening multi-element visual-attentional processing through visual search can support early reading accuracy in Arabic. They further highlight the role of attentional constraints in visually complex orthographies and support VAS as a meaningful target for early reading interventions.
Source: Reading and Writing
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7162067333