Teaching foreign language grammar to primary-school children with developmental language disorder: A classroom-based...

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education

Background:

• Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) face challenges in foreign language acquisition, particularly in English as a foreign language (EFL).
• Existing research offers limited insight into effective classroom support for these students.
• Early intervention is crucial for improving language learning outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of a novel, tailored teaching method (CodeTaal) versus a standard curriculum for pupils with DLD learning EFL.
• To assess the impact of the intervention on both foreign language (English) and school language (Dutch) proficiency.

Main Methods:

• A pre- to post-test design was employed with 75 primary school pupils with DLD in the Netherlands.
• The intervention group (n=41) received 12 CodeTaal lessons focusing on metalinguistic, cross-linguistic, and multimodal instruction.
• The control group (n=34) received regular EFL instruction. Performance was measured using a Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT) and narrative tasks.

Main Results:

• The intervention group demonstrated significant improvement in identifying English grammatical errors and generalizing rules.
• While English narrative accuracy did not significantly decrease in either group, the intervention group showed improved Dutch narrative accuracy.
• The study noted small effect sizes and considerable individual variability in response to the intervention.

Conclusions:

• Pupils with DLD can achieve progress in foreign language learning within a classroom setting when provided with appropriate, specialized support.
• The CodeTaal approach shows promise in enhancing language skills for students with DLD.
• Further research is needed to optimize interventions and understand individual differences in learning trajectories.