Exploring cognitive processes in Arabic dictation: A study on writing challenges among dyslexic children

Cognitive processes have been extensively examined in the literature concerning normal students across different writing genres to identify how they process writing before producing the final output. However, little is known about children with dyslexia in dictation tasks involving a heritage language that presents challenges due to inconsistencies in orthographic and phonological systems. This study investigated how Arab children with dyslexia cognitively processed writing in Modern Standard Arabic during a dictation task. Thirteen children with dyslexia were recruited to write a text dictated by an instructor, and their cognitive processes (drafting and monitoring) were recorded using keystroke logging software (GGXlog2). The results indicated a high frequency of pauses, with an average duration (5 min, 13 s), suggesting significant hesitation and processing demands. Substantial instances of deletions and insertions were also identified, highlighting the cognitive challenges faced by children with dyslexia and their difficulties in mapping Arabic words that exhibit phonological-orthographic mismatches. Pedagogical implications are discussed.