Language Teaching Interventions for the Linguistic Support of Migrant Children with Specific Learning Differences: Evidence from a Resource Room
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: A growing body of literature within second language (L2) teaching has studied the effectiveness of certain language teaching activities to support L2 learners in their language acquisition. Such activities aim to draw learners’ attention to the target grammatical form while their attention is on meaning to establish new form-meaning connections. Although many of these techniques have been found to be effective, previous studies have mostly focused on typically developing groups of learners and language learners instructed in classroom contexts in their home countries. Consequently, less is known about the effectiveness of such interventions in atypical groups of learners, such as children with specific learning differences (SpLDs), let alone those who learn their L2 in migrant contexts. Meanwhile, research on the effectiveness of certain language interventions in children with SpLDs has mostly focused on clinical and therapeutical contexts (i.e., in speech and language therapy centers), and research on the design, implementation, and evaluation of language teaching interventions within (public) schools remains limited. Furthermore, most of the existing research on the language support of atypically developing students in schools focuses on the pedagogical implications of certain teaching methods and much less on evaluating their effectiveness. The present study aims to fill this gap by designing, implementing, and evaluating the effectiveness of two grammar teaching interventions in migrant school-aged children with SpLDs who acquire Greek as L2 and attend resource rooms in addition to the mainstream class. This population is understudied in research, and less is known about their linguistic and educational needs. The study applied two L2 teaching techniques (Processing Instruction and Running Dictation) to teach adjectival agreement and the use of the definite article with demonstrative pronouns. The protocols were modified to the needs of those children, and their effectiveness was evaluated by means of pre- and post-tests. Additionally, students’ emotions were explored by means of a questionnaire. The results revealed that both teaching protocols exhibited promising results since all participants exhibited learning gains from pre- to post-test. Furthermore, students experienced more positive than negative emotions, assigning the highest ratings to excitement during Processing Instruction and to pride during Running Dictation. The present findings are informative for educators, including (second) language and special education teachers, because they reflect that L2 teaching techniques used in mainstream language classrooms (i.e., FonF activities) are also beneficial to second language teaching in students with SpLDs when adapted to their needs.
Source: The Educational Review USA
Author: Anastasia Paspali
Institution: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4412504571