Learning difficulties and English acquisition obstacles and challenges

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What are some of the obstacles?

• Is there a language learning disability that is
  specific to additional language acquisition?
• The unique obstacles created by the English
  orthography (writing system).

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What are some of the challenges?

• Identifying potential students who will have
  difficulties acquiring EAL.
• Facilitating English acquisition for students
  that appear on the middle to weak side of the
  language continuum.
• Finding suitable intervention models for
  different schools.

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Language aptitude continuum a 4th grade class
(Hebrew L1) in the north (n 25) - started
studying English in 3rd grade
3 English speaking students either 1 or 2
English speaking parents or spent 3 years abroad
8 students - average L1 skills lacking
motivation
4 students - diagnosed LD including 1 with a
communication based disorder and 2 bilinguals.
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Is there such a thing as a learning disability in
an additional language if we have no evidence for
it in L1? ORIs failure in English a result of a
discrete language learning difficulty?

• May be other reasons - Spolskys conditions
  (1989)

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Linguistic Non-linguistic outcomes for the
learner
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connections between L1 (Hebrew or Arabic) and
additional language learning (English)
If we focus on language capabilities we need to
examine
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• Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis (Sparks
  Ganschow, 1991 1993)

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Connection between L1 additional language
learning
Foreign (Additional) Language (e.g. English)
First Language (Hebrew, Arabic) (phonological,
orthographic, semantic, morphological codes)
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The above theory accounts for students with
specific language difficulties which are measured
in L1 but which express themselves in any new
language acquired.

• We will now discuss another obstacle that all
  students acquiring English literacy have to deal
  with but this obstacle becomes particularly
  ominous for students on the weaker side of the
  language continuum

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Learning to read spell different writing systems
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• Shallow (transparent) orthography Direct
  relationship between sounds and symbols. For
  example Voweled Hebrew and Arabic. Readers can
  go directly from spelling to sound without
  referring to meaning in order to identify the
  word.

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English is an example of a deep orthography

• Deep (opaque) orthography More complex
  relationship between pronunciation and letters.
  Various different processing strategies are used
  to deal with the complex relations between print
  and pronunciation. For example knowledge of
  orthographic conventions or knowing your
  neighbors (silent e, c s before e, i or y),
  morphological knowledge sign, signature.

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Implications of English orthographic peculiarities

• When comparing elementary school children in 12
  European countries who were acquiring L1 reading
  and writing Seymour, Aro, Erskine (2004) found
  that English speaking children were 2 years
  behind the other European groups (after
  controlling for teaching methods and age of
  starting school).

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Years of reading instruction required to achieve
familiar word recognition
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How deviant is the English writing system?
(Spencer, 2000)

• PhR (Phoneme Representation) representation of
  a phoneme as a proportion of all representations
  of that phoneme. This shows significant
  correlations with spelling performance.
• Single representation of a phoneme
• All representations of that phoneme
• e.g. e 1
  
• ea, ee, e-e, e, ei, ie, -y , ey 8
  .125 (the closer to 1, the simpler the phoneme
  representation)

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• Examples of phoneme representation values for
  English reading and spelling acquisition
  (Spencer, 2000)
• long a a (nature), ay (day), a-e (cake), ai
  (rain), eigh (eight), ea (great) 1/6
• long e e, ee, e-e, ea, ei, ie (thief), -y, ey
  1/8
• long i i-e, y-e, -y, igh, i, ie 1/6
• long o o, o-e, oa, ow, oe 1/5
• long u u, u-e, ew, eu (Europe), ue 1/5
• ou ou, ow ½
• au au, aw, augh, ough ¼

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Only 4 years after the beginning of literacy
acquisition were the majority of this sample of
students without LLD reading try correctly
(Pilot study on 180 students Kahn-Horwitz
Goldstein, 2008)
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aw in a decontextualised word turns out to be
even more challenging for students without LLD
(Kahn-Horwitz Goldstein, 2008)
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Children using English as an educational medium
will be disadvantaged dyslexic children will be
greatly disadvantagedand the most disadvantaged
group of all may be dyslexic children for whom
English is an additional language.
Spencer, 2000.
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Who are the students we are talking about?

• Diagnosed (less so in elementary school, from JH
  this changes, differences between socio-economic
  areas)
• Undiagnosed any student who for whatever reason
  isnt succeeding in acquiring English.
• The continuum we need to pay attention to the
  weak to average side of the continuum.

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Individual differences between high low
achievers, LD and ADHD L2 learnersSparks,
Humbach Javorsky, (2008). Learning and
Individual Differences

• 156 - L1 English speaking high school students
  studying L2 Spanish.
• Sparks and colleagues obtained L1 English
  elementary school grades for these students.

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L1 Literacy Results

• The high achievers had significantly higher
  scores for L1 reading and writing (measured in
  4th grade) than the low achieving and LD group.
• The high achievers and ADHD group did not
  significantly differ regarding L1 reading and
  writing scores.
• The ADHD group scored significantly higher than
  the LA and LD groups for L1 literacy.

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4 groups
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Language aptitude continuum a 4th grade class
(Hebrew L1) in the north (n 25) - started
studying English in 3rd grade
3 English speaking students either 1 or 2
English speaking parents or spent 3 years abroad
8 students - average L1 skills lacking
motivation
4 students - diagnosed LD including 1 with a
communication based disorder and 2 bilinguals.
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Results for Spanish proficiency tests, classroom
tests, lower level literacy tasks

• HA students performed significantly better than
  LA and LD students.
• Students who achieved higher scores in English L1
  reading and writing in 4th grade achieved
  significantly higher scores on Spanish L2
  measures several years later.

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• ADHD students scored similar results to the HA
  students on the Spanish proficiency test as well
  as the Spanish lower level literacy tasks.
• In other words, students with ADHD who do not
  have L1 difficulties may do well in L2 studies.

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FL grade results

• In spite of the above, HA students received
  higher L2 final grades as opposed to ADHD
  students.
• The LA and LD groups received similar grades over
  2 years of L2 study. Many of them failed the
  final L2 proficiency test. Many of these students
  passed quizzes and received grades for home-work
  and participation but could not read, write,
  speak or comprehend the L2 at an acceptable
  level.

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Sparks, Humbach Javorsky conclude

• Rather than relying on a students diagnosis (or
  lack of diagnosis) as LD (or ADHD), educators
  should investigate whether students with L2
  learning problems have a history of or current
  difficulties with L1 skills and then focus on the
  best method(s) for teaching the language skills
  involved in L2 learning to those students. (p.
  41)

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Can a student with L1 difficulties (medium to
severe) acquire an additional language?

• The ideal situation the case of N. (currently
  in 7th grade)
• Simmons case (Annals of Dyslexia, 2000)
• M. teaching English in a school for students
  with severe emotional difficulties (what a
  successful experience with English can do for
  individuals on the lower to average side of the
  continuum)

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Implementing EAL instruction for students with
learning difficulties can take place in numerous
settings

• 1. On a one to one basis (which is often
  considered a luxury possible only in private
  clinical settings).2. In smaller or larger
  relatively homogenous groups which may take place
  in various pull out frameworks.3. Within the
  framework of a relatively homogenous class of
  weaker students.4. Within the framework of an
  entire heterogeneous class.

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The need to learn from one another

• Some years ago Ellen Hoffenberg Sarfati
  documented her experience teaching weak high
  school EAL studentshttp//www.etni.org.il/etninew
  s/ldart.htm
• Tova Teitelbaum (2000) reported on an
  intervention implemented in an elementary school
  which appeared in the ETAI Forum English
  Teachers Journal.
• Secemski, Deutsch, Adoram, (2000). Structured
  multisensory teaching for second language
  learning in Israel. In L. Peer G. Reid (Eds.),
  Multilingualism, Literacy and Dyslexia A
  Challenge for Educators (pp. 235-242). London
  David Fulton.

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The need to learn from one another

• Today was a perfect example of this. ETAI
  provided the framework.
• And currently, the ETAI Forum (the official
  journal of the English Teachers Association of
  Israel) which will be published in the next few
  weeks will be a special LD edition with some
  documentation of successful intervention
  experiences.

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Finally, optimal policy should consider

• early diagnosis and intervention (Ofek Hadash?)
• professional on every school staff to facilitate
  the above
• sound literacy instruction in the elementary
  school grades (window of opportunity) in a way
  that maximizes the chances of the majority.

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We all need to continue relating very seriously
to ways of overcoming obstacles and dealing with
the challenges facing the significant percentage
of weak to average L1 students who experience
extraordinary difficulties in acquiring and
progressing in English as an additional
language.There are no magic recipes which will
enable these students to become linguistically
proficient but through thorough, direct,
structured instruction we can facilitate an
empowering English experience which will improve
their understanding of English and their feelings
about themselves.
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• Thank you for your attention!
• horwitz_at_netvision.net.il