Miqyas Al Dhad Completes Arab World's Largest Field Survey Ahead of Launching First Comprehensive Scientific Framework to Assess Arabic Literacy
In a significant milestone towards enhancing Arabic reading proficiency among native students, Arabic Scale – known as 'Miqyas Al Dhad' has successfully concluded the final phase of its comprehensive field survey. This achievement paves the way for the official launch of the Arabic reading scale in the third quarter of this year, following an intensive research effort grounded in advanced scientific methodologies. The field survey was carried out in collaboration with Ministries of Education and school chains across the Arab world and involved the active participation of hundreds of educators and language experts.
The field survey encompassed over 110,000 students from 204 schools across 70 rural and urban areas in nine Arab countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Sultanate of Oman, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Morocco, the State of Libya, the Lebanese Republic, and the Republic of Iraq, reflecting the initiative's scope and scale. The field survey was administered digitally using tablets, desktops, and computer labs. Rigorous proctoring was followed to ensure security of survey administration.
In developing the field survey items, several reading frameworks and standards were reviewed and the socio-cognitive framework for reading (Khalifa & Weir, 2009) was utilized. It should be noted that the sociocognitive framework for reading has been used by reputable examination boards such as Cambridge. The key components of the sociocognitive framework for reading comprehension are linguistic knowledge, cognitive processing, background knowledge, and metacognitive strategies. In building the reading items for the survey, a rigorous methodology was followed in terms of recruiting, inducting, training, monitoring and evaluating item writers to ensure the highest standards of item quality.
The Arabic Scale is developed using triangulation scientific research methodology that integrates both quantitative and qualitative analyses of multiple data sources. In addition to data gathered from the field survey on students' reading proficiency, the second data source involved the creation of a large Arabic corpus featuring over 70 million structures and words, derived from more than 8,000 carefully curated Arabic texts from various subject areas, fields and topics reflecting the language's richness, culture, heritage and diversity.
The third data source was via conducting a pairwise comparative study with participation from over 450 Arabic language experts and educators from 18 Arab countries. In this study, participants were given two passages and had to identify which one was more difficult. The data collected from this study was used to create rankings of difficulty for 2,000 passages. These were the basis for the machine learning algorithms of Miqyas Al Dhad readability formulae. Pairwise study is a known methodology in the machine learning field.
Smart and Comprehensive Services / Innovative and Large-scale Solutions:
Miqyas Al Dhad offers a comprehensive suite of smart tools and services designed to elevate Arabic reading proficiency and enable accurate assessment of reading ability and text readability. At the Centre of it all is the Reading Scale, an innovative tool that evaluates reading comprehension, empowering educators to assess student reading ability and pinpoint learning needs accurately.
Additional tools include: a validated item bank of reading items suitable for each school grade; a Smart Text Analyzer, an AI-powered tool for evaluating text complexity; and high frequency keyword lists offering a rich academic vocabulary database for every school grade. It also includes 'Find-a-Book', a smart digital hub that provides students, educators, and parents with measured texts and books suitable for their reading levels and interests. Miqyas Al Dhad further supports educators through its innovative Reading Growth Plan, a predictive system that monitors student reading development over time and delivers actionable insights to guide educational planning based on individual needs.
A Scientific Reference for Arabic Educational Development:
Miqyas Al Dhad marks a significant milestone in advancing Arabic literacy. By providing standardised, research-based tools, it enables the creation of more effective and responsive educational curricula tailored to the needs of educators. Additionally, it provides educational decision-makers and researchers with accurate data to understand linguistic challenges and devise sustainable solutions. The initiative aims to empower students to use Arabic confidently and efficiently across various academic and professional contexts, establishing new criteria for excellence in Arabic language learning.
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