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The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic
Learners and readers of Arabic, especially Heritage Language Learners, suffer more than ever from the lack of focus while reading online texts. This becomes a challenge that negatively impacts their overall learning process. This paper explores the influence of one salience feature - bolded keywords...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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AUC Knowledge Fountain
2023
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| _version_ | 1867613422955266048 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Khost AlJarkas, Marwah |
| author_browse | Khost AlJarkas, Marwah |
| author_facet | Khost AlJarkas, Marwah |
| author_sort | Khost AlJarkas, Marwah |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Learners and readers of Arabic, especially Heritage Language Learners, suffer more than ever from the lack of focus while reading online texts. This becomes a challenge that negatively impacts their overall learning process. This paper explores the influence of one salience feature - bolded keywords - over reading speed and comprehension amongst Heritage+ Learners of Arabic. Heritage+ refers to Arabs living in the Arab world, but who have minimum exposure to the language. Thirty-two students, who are Heritage+ Learners of Arabic, currently studying at the American University in Cairo and belong to Generation Z (18-25 years), participated in the study. Each participant was requested to read two articles; one text with bolded keywords and the other one without, followed by two multiple choice questions per article, and two open-ended questions. The study used a mixed approach to explore the influence on reading speed, comprehension, and individual preferences. Based on the non-parametric tests conducted to analyze the abnormally distributed data, there is no significant difference between the two text formats on reading speed and comprehension. However, it is clear from qualitative data gathered that participants prefer to read texts with bolded keywords for better comprehension, focus and engagement with text. Based on students’ perceptions, bolding keywords can be amplified in pedagogical practices in language teaching classrooms to help maintain engagement with learning materials. However further research is needed to verify the effect of bolded keywords on reading speed and comprehension. Furthermore more research is recommended to explore this feature amongst other groups including foreign learners, Arabic native speakers and people with reading difficulties. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3185 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:54.296Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3185 The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic Khost AlJarkas, Marwah Learners and readers of Arabic, especially Heritage Language Learners, suffer more than ever from the lack of focus while reading online texts. This becomes a challenge that negatively impacts their overall learning process. This paper explores the influence of one salience feature - bolded keywords - over reading speed and comprehension amongst Heritage+ Learners of Arabic. Heritage+ refers to Arabs living in the Arab world, but who have minimum exposure to the language. Thirty-two students, who are Heritage+ Learners of Arabic, currently studying at the American University in Cairo and belong to Generation Z (18-25 years), participated in the study. Each participant was requested to read two articles; one text with bolded keywords and the other one without, followed by two multiple choice questions per article, and two open-ended questions. The study used a mixed approach to explore the influence on reading speed, comprehension, and individual preferences. Based on the non-parametric tests conducted to analyze the abnormally distributed data, there is no significant difference between the two text formats on reading speed and comprehension. However, it is clear from qualitative data gathered that participants prefer to read texts with bolded keywords for better comprehension, focus and engagement with text. Based on students’ perceptions, bolding keywords can be amplified in pedagogical practices in language teaching classrooms to help maintain engagement with learning materials. However further research is needed to verify the effect of bolded keywords on reading speed and comprehension. Furthermore more research is recommended to explore this feature amongst other groups including foreign learners, Arabic native speakers and people with reading difficulties. 2023-06-15T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2145 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3185/viewcontent/marwah_khost_thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Boldface highlighting salience feature reading comprehension reading speed heritage+ learners Arabic Studies Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Language and Literacy Education Reading and Language |
| spellingShingle | Boldface highlighting salience feature reading comprehension reading speed heritage+ learners Arabic Studies Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Language and Literacy Education Reading and Language Khost AlJarkas, Marwah The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic |
| title | The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic |
| title_full | The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic |
| title_fullStr | The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic |
| title_short | The Influence of Bolded Keywords in Online News Texts on Reading Speed and Comprehension for Heritage+ Learners of Arabic |
| title_sort | influence of bolded keywords in online news texts on reading speed and comprehension for heritage learners of arabic |
| topic | Boldface highlighting salience feature reading comprehension reading speed heritage+ learners Arabic Studies Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Language and Literacy Education Reading and Language |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2145 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3185/viewcontent/marwah_khost_thesis.pdf |
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