Abstract:

This research represents a pioneering study in the Arab world, in which scientific data on children's language is still lacking, and this holds especially true for the development of narrative competence in early childhood. The goal of the present research was to measure the development of Arab children's narrative competence and to investigate whether its acquisition can be speeded up through the implementation of an intervention program based on the principles of the interactive approach. We assumed that the narrative competence of all children would increase with age, and further that improvements would take place in the research group due to the intervention program. The research form is an experiment; the experimental group was exposed to the intervention and another, control group was not. Measurements of narrative competence were taken in both groups before and after the intervention. The sample consisted of 124 children of the two ages 3-4 and 5-6 years. The sample was divided randomly into 60 children in the research and 64 in the control group. We used the "DO-BINE" program which assesses narrative competence, and "DO-FINE" intervention. The results show that the 5-6 year olds achieved higher scores than the 3-4 year olds in all three narrative competences. The findings of this study can help administrators and education-policy makers with the treatment of children in the development of spoken language skills and their emerging literacy in kindergarten. Moreover, serve for professionals in kindergarten for diagnosis, assessment and treatment of young children, including those with special needs.

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