Females ’ Superiority on Phonological and Lexical Processing

_____________ Gender differences in Arabic spelling accuracy of 288 Arabic speaking students from grade 1 to grade 9 were assessed. The spelling errors of these students were analyzed according to the paradigm of Abu-Rabia and Taha (2004). The results showed that generally across all ages/grades girls made fewer spelling errors, especially in the phonological and semiphonological spelling errors categories. The results are discussed in light of the international language research findings. ______________ Introduction Cognitive gender differences have attracted the attention of psychological scholars. Many studies have tested the specific differences between males and females, and the first comprehensive literature review was published by Maccoby and Jacklin (1974). They focused in their review on three major differences between males and females: a) females have better verbal skills, b) males have better mathematical abilities, c) males have better spatial skills. Since the review of Maccoby and Jacklin (1974), many studies conducted to test cognitive abilities and gender have indicated differences on verbal performance and verbal cognitive processing (Halpern, 1992; Emanuelsson & Svensson, 1990). The current study tested the spelling ability of students in grades 1 to 9 students. The purpose was to test gender differences in phonological and lexical processing across grades through spelling and spelling error categories. The spelling method of Abu-Rabia and Taha (2004) was used to test phonological and lexical gender differences in spelling. Literature Review Verbal abilities are expressed in different verbal skills, basic academic skills, reading and writing. Wagemaker (1996) found that girls performed significantly better than boys on reading. The subjects were 9-14 years of age. These results were consistent in different countries. This superiority of females in verbal skills was also evident in dyslexic populations. In Miles, Haslum and Wheeler’s (1998) sample of 269 dyslexic readers, 223 were males and only 46 were females, a 4.51 to 1 ratio favoring females. Many scholars argue that the acquisition of reading is related to efficient phonological processing and that processing deficits are the basis of reading disability (Olson, 1994; Snowling, 2001). Thus we can argue that superiority of females over males in verbal skills means that they are better phonological processors than males. Norrelgen, Lacerda and Forssberg (2000) did not find significant differences between males and females on phonological processing.