Spoken and written language skills of Arabic-speaking children with developmental language disorder
Supervisor Name
Juhayna Taha
Supervisor Email
qtnzjt0@ucl.ac.uk
University
University College London
Research field
Education
Bio
Dr Juhayna Taha is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Language and Literacy in the Department of Psychology and Human Development, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Language, Literacy and Numeracy: Research and Practice. She has cross-disciplinary training in Speech and Language Therapy (Birzeit University, Palestine), Psycholinguistics (The University of Edinburgh, Scotland), Clinical Language Sciences (University of Reading, England), and Developmental Psychology (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy). Juhayna is the co-director of the Language Development Across Contexts research lab (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-and-centres/psychology-and-human-development/research/language-development-across-contexts-ldac-lab). Her research spans multiple languages and explores the underlying mechanisms of language and reading development in typically developing children and those with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and dyslexia. Her interests also include evaluating the quality of oral language provision in early years classrooms, especially in the Arab region, and examining its relationship with children’s language and literacy outcomes. Juhayna is passionate about science communication and public engagement. She regularly shares her research with parents, educators, and SLTs through talks, webinars, and workshops. She co-founded the Arabic DLD Platform (www.dldisorderar.com) to raise awareness and provide resources on DLD in the Arab world.
Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) affects approximately two children in every classroom. It refers to persistent difficulties in understanding and/or using spoken language, which can significantly affect children’s learning, social relationships, and emotional well-being. In Palestine, public awareness of DLD remains low, and there is a shortage of culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment tools to support accurate diagnosis. Existing studies on DLD in Arabic have focused mainly on preschool-aged children; however, we know very little about the symptoms of DLD in school-aged children and how these difficulties affect their language and writing skills (both of which are essential for academic success). This project aims to identify the linguistic features of DLD in Arabic-speaking primary school children in Palestine. The project is led by Dr Juhayna Taha from University College London. We are seeking a Research Assistant to support a UCL-led project that investigates spoken and written language skills in Arabic-speaking children with typical development and those with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). The study involves administering a set of experimental language tasks (e.g., non-verbal reasoning, vocabulary, sentence repetition, nonword repetition, and storytelling) and written tasks (e.g., asking the child to write a short essay on a given topic). Children with DLD will be assessed in speech and language clinics, while typically developing children will be assessed in schools. This project is only suitable for undergraduate students enrolled in a Speech and Language Therapy degree. It offers an opportunity not only to develop research skills but also to gain practical, clinically relevant experience. The student will receive training and hands-on experience in administering and scoring language assessments, becoming competent in evaluating children’s spoken language skills. There will also be an optional opportunity for the student to use part of the collected dataset for their undergraduate research seminar project and to be involved in a future research publication arising from the study. This project received ethical approval from University College London and Birzeit University.
