Strategies for Teaching Hebrew to students with Learning Disabilities
Graduation Date
Spring 2007
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program Name
Education
Program Director
Madalienne F. Peters, EdD
Abstract
There are few research studies on foreign language acquisition for those who experience difficulties learning to read and write in their native language. Previous research investigated the relationship of native language processing and foreign language processing by students with learning disabilities. The consensus among researchers who examined the teaching of Latin-based languages is that there are benefits to using a multisensory approach. This approach a variety of strategies that are effective both for learning disabled and non-learning disabled students. (Non-Latin based researchers focused on teaching materials but did not examine the appropriate instructional strategies for teaching non Latin based languages.) This study examined the effects of an academic year of alternative instruction of Hebrew to high school students identified as learning disabled (LD). These LD students received a specialized teaching approach and results were compared with traditional foreign language instruction using pre and posttest assessment results. The results showed that the selected group of participants improved significantly on the foreign language test. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for the design of Hebrew instruction strategies for LD students.