Developing Readability Computational Formula for Arabic Reading Materials Among Non-native Students in Malaysia

Efficient measures on the readability of Arabic reading materials are important in ensuring quality text to be used. However, there are limited tools in assessing readability of Arabic reading materials. Thus, the lack of measuring tools to assess the suitability of textbooks amongst non-native speakers is a constraint which led to this study. In this regard, this paper discusses the efforts to develop a readability formula for Arabic reading materials in Malaysia. This study involved 313 samples of population from thirteen Arabic textbooks used in religious secondary schools in Malaysia. A linguistic analysis is performed as well as an inference analysis to see the strength of the relationship of each linguistic pattern with the level of readability. The findings show that the relationship between the linguistic features that is being analysed is not strong. But this finding can be used as the basic formula for improvement. This is because the textbooks that have been sampled do not have good writing features. Thus, a comprehensive effort is needed to ensure the preparation of Arabic language textbook is of good quality for non-native students.