The effectiveness of a listening awareness program on students with learning difficulties in arabic language reading in the schools of Irbid city in Jordan

Abstract

The perpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a listening awareness program on students with learning difficulties in Arabic language reading in the schools of Irbid city in Jordan as assessed using a multi phase evaluation and statistical analyses of three different tests. The population of the study consists of students with learning difficulties from the second, third and fourth grades whose ages range between 7-9 years old, and those enrolled in the resource rooms affiliated to the Jordanian Ministry of Education in Irbid Province. The sample of the study consists of 120 male and female students from the basic second, third and fourth grades enrolled in the resource rooms at Asma Bint Umays School in Irbid Province divided into two experimental and control groups. The study uses the comparative descriptive approach through identifying auditory perception skills for students with learning difficulties in resource rooms and the nature of differences of such skills for the sample according to the gender and age of the student. The independent variables were the training program, gender and age. The Dependent variables were the auditory perception which has three levels: auditory discrimination, auditory analysis skills and auditory memory capacity. The data collected was statistically analyzed using the T test, Arithmetic means and standard deviations, as well as unilateral contrast according to the study independent variables (groups, gender and age). The results revealed the existence of differences of statistical significance at the significance level of ( ≤ 0.05) attributed to the effect of the program in all skills and in the overall marks as the differences have been in favor of the experimental group on which the training program has been implemented. There has also been significant differencesattributed to age in favor of the 9 years old group (the older age) in the overall auditory perception skills. Finally, there were no significant differences attributed to the gender variable.