Text classification and gradation in Arabic textbooks

Abstract

Text classification and text gradation are important for language teachers. Profiling and readability studies examine textual and linguistic features that determine text difficulty. Arabic, as an under-resourced language, suffers from a lack of such studies which results in material developers and textbook writers relying on their intuitions and experiences in selecting appropriate texts. At the classroom level, teachers often supplement or adapt the texts they use to suit their students’ developmental stages. However, they often do this based on their intuition and experience as well. This study aims to sensitise material developers and particularly teachers to a range of textual, linguistic and contextual features that affect text difficulty so, they can make informed decisions about the suitability of the texts they use and how to adapt and/or supplement them. Although this is most important for teachers of under-resourced languages such as Arabic; the study will be useful for teachers of resource-rich languages as well since research shows that even with systematically classified texts, discrepancies exist between texts and their assumed level.