title: Effects of direct instruction in Spanish phonology on the native-language skills and foreign-language aptitude of at-risk foreign-language learners.
abstract: This study examined the effect of an academic year of direct instruction in the phonology/orthography of Spanish on the native-language skills and foreign-language aptitude of high school women identified as at risk (n = 14) and not at risk (n = 19) for experiencing problems with learning a foreign language. At-risk students received a specialized teaching approach; not-at-risk students received traditional foreign-language instruction. Pre- and posttest results showed that both groups improved significantly on a foreign-language aptitude test, and the at-risk group made significant gains on native-language phonology/orthography measures. Pretest comparisons showed significant between-group differences on several phonological/orthographic measures and the foreign-language aptitude test. Posttest comparisons showed that the not-at-risk subjects still scored significantly higher than at-risk subjects on the foreign-language aptitude measure; no differences were noted on two native-language phonological/orthographic measures. Pre- and posttest comparisons between groups showed that the at-risk group made significantly greater gains than the not-at-risk group on phonological/orthographic measures. Implications for instruction are presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ganschow
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sparks
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001077:Aptitude Tests; D004519:Education, Special; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010700:Phonetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D014956:Writing