Little research has been conducted on Arabic letter knowledge. This study investigates the nature of Arabic letter knowledge, its dimensionality, and the relative difficulty of letter knowledge items, all within an item response theory (IRT) framework. Three letter knowledge tests were administered to 142 native Arabic-speaking kindergarteners (mean age = 67 months). The letter recognition task was found to be multidimensional, containing two factors, whereas the allograph and syllable tasks were found to be unidimensional. Results showed that a two parameter model fit best for all three tasks, demonstrating that items varied in degree of difficulty and in discrimination. Findings provide a subset of letters that are most useful for quickly and precisely assessing children’s letter knowledge. Results are discussed in the context of orthographic and linguistic features of Arabic. Implications for assessment and instruction are discussed.

关于阿拉伯字母知识的研究很少。这项研究调查了阿拉伯字母知识的性质，维数以及字母知识项目的相对难度，这些都在项目响应理论（IRT）框架内进行。对142名讲阿拉伯语的本地幼儿园儿童（平均年龄= 67个月）进行了3次字母知识测试。字母识别任务被发现是多维的，包含两个因素，而同音异义和音节任务被发现是一维的。结果表明，两个参数模型最适合所有三个任务，表明项目的难度和辨别力各不相同。调查结果提供了一部分字母，这些字母对于快速准确地评估儿童的字母知识最有用。在阿拉伯语的拼写和语言特征的背景下讨论了结果。讨论了评估和指导的含义。