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The effects of multisensory structured language instruction on native language and foreign language aptitude skills of at-risk high school foreign language learners

Annals of Dyslexia volume 42, pages 25–53 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

Research findings suggest that most students who have foreign language learning problems have language-based difficulties and, in particular, phonological processing problems. Authors of the present study examined pre- and posttest scores on native language and foreign language aptitude tests of three groups of at-risk high school students enrolled in special, self-contained sections of first-year Spanish. Two groups were instructed using a multisensory structured language (MSL) approach. One of the groups was taught in both English and Spanish (MSL/ES), the other only in Spanish (MSL/S). The third group (NO-MSL) was instructed using more traditional second language teaching methodologies. Significant gains were made by the MSL-ES group on measures of native language phonology, vocabulary, and verbal memory and on a test of foreign language aptitude; the MSL/S group made significant gains on the test of foreign language aptitude. No significant gains on the native language or foreign language aptitude measures were made by the NO-MSL group. Implications for foreign language classroom instruction of at-risk students are discussed.

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Affiliations

  1. College of Mount St. Joseph, Cincinnati, Ohio

    Richard Sparks

  2. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio

    Leonore Ganschow & Sue Skinner

  3. Olympus Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

    Jane Pohlman

  4. Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky

    Marjorie Artzer

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  1. Richard Sparks
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  2. Leonore Ganschow
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  3. Jane Pohlman
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  4. Sue Skinner
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  5. Marjorie Artzer
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Sparks, R., Ganschow, L., Pohlman, J. et al. The effects of multisensory structured language instruction on native language and foreign language aptitude skills of at-risk high school foreign language learners. Annals of Dyslexia 42, 25–53 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02654937

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Keywords

  • Foreign Language
  • Proficiency Test
  • Poor Reader
  • Learning Disability
  • Dyslexia