Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade

Oman’s national curriculum is based on learning outcomes established by the Directorate General of Curriculum Development.⁷ Committees of consultants, experts, curriculum and assessment officers, supervisors, and experienced teachers determine learning outcomes and performance standards. Currently under development, these standards form a framework by which the performance of schools and individual teachers is evaluated and will help to establish the criteria for assessing students’ progress at each grade level. The Ministry of Education has the responsibility of approving the curricula of all private schools in Oman.

Reading Policy

Reading skill is associated with the Arabic language Cycle One curriculum. Teaching reading is the responsibility of Arabic language teachers during what is called the “language learning preparation” stage. Students learn how to read letters, syllables, words, and three word sentences, and by the end of Grade 1 are taught how to read texts of 50 or fewer words. By the end of Grade 2, students are expected to be able to read primarily narrative texts of different lengths and to participate in related activities that train them to master pronunciation, understand the meaning of words, and retrieve simple information.

During the second part of Cycle One (Grades 3 and 4), students practice reading and take part in activities that measure their understanding of what they have read in different school subjects. Students at these levels are encouraged to use the learning resource centers that have been established in all basic education Cycle One schools. Annually supplied with books in Arabic and English and supervised by teachers who control book lending, these centers are a major resource in learning reading.

Summary of National Curriculum

Development of Arabic language curricula was based on an improved curricula document that was published in 2007.⁸ This document specifies special and general objectives and states the scope and sequence for Grades 1 to 10. The document consists of five main chapters: “The Basic and General Objectives of the Curriculum,” “Arabic Language Skills and Techniques,” “Scope and Sequence for Grades 1 to 10,” “Evaluation of Students’ Performance for Grades 1 to 10,” and “Employment of Technology in Arabic Language Teaching Learning Process.”⁹

The Ministry of Education is working to reform the educational system. Because a major pillar of this reform is the setting of national standards for education, the project will involve the production of curricula documents for new courses in various subjects. Based on the national standards set by a Ministry team responsible for the development of Arabic language courses, students at the end of Grade 4 are expected to:^10,11

Adhere to good manners of listening
Identify voices, words, and sentences
Understand texts that they listen to
Enjoy and criticize texts they listen to
Adhere to good manners of talking to others
Select and organize the content of their speeches
Use various types of oral communication
Identify and pronounce written letters
Understand texts they read
Follow dictation rules when writing in Arabic
Write letters, words, and sentences using the “Naskh” type of handwriting
Select and organize the content of their writing
Use different kinds of expressions when they write
Imitate Arabic sentences and their combinations
Imitate lingual styles
Identify changes in word structure
Identify some literary forms
Analyze and enjoy literary texts