A Psycholinguistic Study on the Comprehension of Passive Voice by Children Native Speakers of Jordanian Arabic (Published)
This study aims at examining the influence of age and gender factors on the Jordanian children’s comprehension of passive voice. Thirty children who belong to five age group from 3; 0 – 7; 11 years old participated in this study. Each of these groups include six children with equal number of males and females chosen randomly from an elementary school in Jordan. A comprehension test was given to children using six pairs of pictures that illustrate the contrast between the active and passive sentences. The findings indicate the Jordanian children exhibit an awareness of passive construction at an early age; at around three years of age. The gender variable was found statistically insignificant in the comprehension of passive voice.
Keywords: Age, Arabic, Comprehension, Jordanian, Passive