Preparing Pre-service Teachers in The Use of Strategies as Applied to Students With Disabilities learning a foreign language

Lorraine Cleeton and Lois Grollitsch, USA

Dr. Lorraine Cleeton, M.Sc. in Special Education, Ph.D. in Education, is an online mentor for Northcentral University and researcher in special education and online education in American and British education. Current research interests are in the following: critical path analysis and cognitive styles; mind models and disability; learning strategies, cognitive style and language fluency; working memory, learning strategies and problem solving skills of students with dyslexia and dyscalculia; learning barriers and cognitive style in online learning. She has presented papers at international and national conferences including the University of Rome and University of Montreal. She has published several articles and three books, 'A Pocket Guide for Student Teachers' (2004),' Differences in Learning Strategies and External Representations' (2009) and 'Controlling the Levees of your Mind' (2010). She is currently a reviewer for ELSIN and IARIA, and serves on the board of directors for the ARC in South Carolina. E-mail: lcleeton@hotmail.com

Lois A.Grollitsch, M. A.. A.B.D. Assistant Professor D’Youville College; author of several articles on classroom management and urban education; author of “A Pacing Guide for LOTE Teachers Buffalo Schools (2007) and a “Handbook of Classroom Management for LOTE Teachers” (2006); retired 30 year French and Spanish teacher Buffalo School District; mentor for foreign language teachers, Buffalo School System; adjunct professor of French, Niagara University; Buffalo, New York; frequent presenter on literacy, content-based language teaching, classroom management, and succeeding with special needs students most recently at the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages Convention in Denver, Colorado in 2011. E-mail: lgrollitsch@gmail.com

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Background
The problem
The purpose
Primary and secondary symptoms …
Role of the pre-service TESOL teacher
‘Learning a Foreign Language Questionnaire’ for students with a learning disability
Data collection methods
Data analysis approaches and findings
Implications for social change
References

Background

A small private US college offering courses in Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) invited ideas at a faculty meeting to help bridge the learning gap of TESOL teachers in their teaching preparation to meet the language learning needs of students with a disability. Teacher's ranking of strategies used in foreign language classes with students having a disability were examined in the areas of practicality and innovation.

The problem

Pre-service teachers taking courses in TESOL will be faced with students with different disabilities e.g. dyslexia. Presently, there is no course in the TESOL sequence of courses which focuses on the strategies to address the learning needs of these students. In order to acquire appropriate strategies to include in such a course, a preliminary review of the literature and a survey to veteran teachers of the subject were conducted.

The purpose

The purpose of this study is to ascertain how veteran teachers of foreign language to students with a learning disability rank learning strategies for effectiveness in teaching them vocabulary. The results of the survey will be evaluated to determine ways to prioritize the teaching of learning strategies as an instructional tool and type of intervention to help improve test scores for students with learning disabilities.

Primary and secondary symptoms …

Schneider et al. (2003) recognized the following primary weaknesses: poor pronunciation, poor vocabulary, slow reading with incorrect decoding, poor understanding of grammar and poor comprehension. Secondary weaknesses included: anxiety, short attention span, difficulties performing with or in front of peers, difficult completing homework assignments, assessment of letter-sound awareness, assessment of syntactic understanding and assessment of vocabulary.

Role of the pre-service TESOL teacher

It is imperative to sensitize the pre-service teacher to the learning needs of ELL learners with a disability. They need to be able to possess a clear understanding of the language demands placed on the learner based on the learner's cognitive and social abilities.

According to Schwarz (1997) the language deficits were mainly based upon deficiencies in phonological awareness, that is they have trouble with the basic sound units of language, phonemes, and do not recognized or otherwise manipulate these basic units of sound efficiently. This might result in the learner having difficulty with the actual perception and production of language required for basic comprehension, speaking and spelling.

‘Learning a Foreign Language Questionnaire’ for students with a learning disability

The following questionnaire was primarily developed to find out the order in which learning strategies were used by veteran teachers to instruct students with a learning disability. Secondarily, the open-ended questions were added to explore an innovative ways to instruct these students:

Data collection methods

The "Learning a Foreign Language Questionnaire for Students with a Learning Disability". The questionnaire was sent to 30 veteran teachers of a foreign language to special education students with more than 20 years experience and 25 were returned.

Data analysis approaches and findings

Through the use of descriptive statistics the following results were obtained in order of most used to least used :

1. manipulatives
2. modeling
3. visuals
4. modified lesson plan
5. proximity
6. peer tutoring
7. graphic organizers
8. group work
9. song
10. role play
11. color
12. projects
13. advanced organizers
14. worksheets
15. internet
16. enlarged text

These strategies were classified into categories of visual, kinesthetic, and cooperative learning. The three most popular strategies were "manipulatives", "modeling" and "visuals" and the least popular were "enlarged text", "internet" and "worksheets." Finamore (1993) reported that manipulatives such as bingo chips are used in teaching, number, letter, or word recognition to students with special needs.

According to Bickley and Daniel (1999) visual strategies assist all children in becoming independent and self-confident, including students with disabilities. In a study by Leons et al. (2009) students with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ranked "visuals" as the strategy that helped them the most.

In order to learn how to model behaviors and interact with special education students learning a foreign language, special education professors will need current in-service support according to Durgunoglu & Hughes (2010). This will also enable them to be aware of research based strategies to improve the learning of foreign language and enable more effective mentoring of pre-service teachers.

Cooperative Learning (group work) was ranked as the eighth most popular strategy.

Finamore (1993) also noted that cooperative learning is a recognized strategy in Special Education and Foreign Language Learning. By grouping a stronger student with a weaker one, teaching and learning take place. It might be necessary to regroup students when a new skill is introduced to match expertise.

Using enlarged text and the internet were the two least popular strategies and possibly attributed to the inaccessibility of computers in some classrooms and also lack of knowledge in the ability to enlarge text using Microsoft Accessibility Options. Also, the use of worksheets, was noted as a repetitive task, that did not motivate the students.

The analysis of the open-ended questions revealed that "proximity" kept students focused.

Combinations of strategies that were effective were the following: repetition, small groups or 1-1 teaching which was free of distractions, praise and reinforcement, and modeling. Another combination was teacher movement, gestures, voice inflection, props and pictures, and making the auditory function connect with speech production. Two unique strategies were uncovered e.g. presenting a student with a story by emphasizing key vocabulary words and having the student retell the story without looking at the script; and using pointillism to reinforce vocabulary words related to the foreign language being studied e.g. flag.

Implications for social change

This small private college is encountering social change from the perspective that the feeder schools to the college are experiencing a rise in the number students with special needs and trying to learn a foreign language and also ELL students with special needs. The pre-service teacher of TESOL and special education both need to be aware of the most effective learning strategies to use in the classroom when teaching a student a foreign language who has a disability.

References

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