Arab Educational Information Network

The aims of the current research were, first, to assess the extent phonemic awareness development activities are included in first grade reading textbooks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1435-1436h); and Second, whether there are differences among those textbooks in terms of their inclusion of such activities. The methodology adopted was descriptive analysis, and particularly, content analysis methodology. Twenty five activities that are suggested to develop phonemic awareness skills were included in the content analysis instrument. The results of this research were as follow: %88 of the total suggested activities, 22 activities, were not included in the examined text books, %8 of the total activities, only 2 activities, were included in the examined text books, and their inclusion level was moderate, %4 of the total activities, only one activity, was included in the examined text books, On total, the average of activities included in the examined text books was %12 which is considered as ‘Not included’ according to the inclusion levels’ criteria, No significant differences were found among the examined text books regarding the level of inclusion of the phonemic awareness activities. These non-significant differences indicate that there is a high degree of similarity among the text books in regard to the phonemic awareness activities they address; although those books serve different pedagogical objectives. (Published abstract)