Reading ability in ethiopian learners of hebrew: How important is phonemic awareness?

The study investigated reading errors made by Ethiopian learners of Hebrew (n = 34). These newcomers to Israel, unlike other groups such as the Russian Jews, typically have low literacy skills in their first language (Amharic). Their ability to read Hebrew, as judged on a reading comprehension test, was still poor after living in Israel for seven years. In this study they were asked to read aloud a list of selected words in Hebrew. Their reading errors were analysed, indicating a dominant phonological reading type of error. This result is discussed in the light of the firstlanguage skills, culture and social contact of the Ethiopian newcomers in Israel with the target language group.