Article Archives

Language-sensitive SIM

The author: Barbara J. Ehren from the School District of Palm Beach County in Florida is a SIM Professional Developer. This article originally appeared in the February 1999 issue of Stratenotes, a newsletter for SIM Professional Developers.

"I have this kid who just doesn't seem to get it. He's frustrated, I'm frustrated, and I can't figure out how to help him."

Have you ever heard a comment like this from teachers that you are training as learning strategy teachers? If your experience is like that of other trainers, then you have heard teachers speak about students who have been unsuccessful with various aspects of strategy acquisition or use. The students may have had difficulty with learning strategies in general or in acquiring a specific strategy. They also may have had trouble with specific aspects of acquisition or use across strategies; for example, they may have trouble using verbal practice as a method of remembering strategy steps.

Is the problem related to general level of cognition, lack of background knowledge, or basic academic skills? Could it be lack of motivation? Or could the culprit be underlying difficulties with language processing or production?

How often have you considered the last possibility as you have tried to help teachers increase their success rates with teaching learning strategies to students?

If your answer to the last question is "Not often," your response is pretty typical. When most trainers encounter reports of difficulties with strategy acquisition or use, underlying language disorder is not usually the first hypothesis they generate about the source of the problem. Yet, it should be one of the first considerations in explaining poor performance of students. Better yet, language ability should be considered up front as a factor in all strategies intervention. Our understanding of language and its disorders should guide our training and teaching approaches with both the Learning Strategies Curriculum and the Content Enhancement Series.

The purpose of this article is to pique your interest in exploring ways in which attention to the language variable can enhance your effectiveness as a SIM Trainer, the effectiveness of teachers who teach Learning Strategies and use Content Enhancement Routines, and most importantly, the success of adolescents in the acquisition and use of strategic approaches.

This article is the first in a series dedicated to Language-Sensitive SIM, an approach to the training and implementation of strategies intervention that incorporates our knowledge of language in adolescents with the research-based practices of the Center for Research on Learning. Part 1 will provide the rationale for a language-sensitive approach in both the training of teachers and the teaching of adolescents. In it, we will do the following:

• Explain the relationship between language and learning disabilities
• Describe language disorders in adolescents
• List ways in which language disorders interfere with acquisition and use of Learning Strategies
• Pose key questions to address practical implications of the language variable

Although Part 1 will focus on Learning Strategies, the basic concepts presented are applicable to Content Enhancement as well. This is an introductory piece; subsequent parts will provide more in-depth information to assist you in your training and leadership efforts.

What is the relationship between language and learning disabilities?

That adolescents with learning disabilities often have serious language problems is not a new idea by any means, especially when we consider that the major definitions of learning disabilities specifically refer to difficulties in acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities. Practitioners, however, do not always understand:

1. The nature of the language disorders that often exist within the constellation of disorders known as learning disabilities
2. The relationship of language disorders to overall functioning of the person with learning disabilities

For most students with learning disabilities, language incompetence will be a major component underlying their profile (ASHA, 1982). In fact, as Wiig and Semel noted in 1984, "Of all the problems experienced by students with learning disabilities, language may be the most pervasive." Three different patterns of student performance emerge in this regard:

1. Students have a history of language disorders and the corresponding academic difficulties that persist into adolescence.
2. Students have a history of academic difficulties, but their problems have not been attributed to underlying language disorders. The language disorders were manifested in more subtle ways when they were younger and began to interfere seriously with academic success only in the secondary setting, as academic school demands required greater language competence. In some cases, their language problems may have been missed entirely when they were younger.
3. Students have performed satisfactorily in early grades, but they fail to develop higher-level language skills in adolescence. They begin to have serious academic problems in secondary schools when the academic content becomes significantly more difficult.
   (Ehren, 1994)

What kinds of language problems are involved?

There are a number of different ways to describe the language problems encountered by adolescents with language learning disabilities. One way is to describe difficulties at various language complexity levels; that is, at the word level, the phrase level, the sentence level, and the discourse/text level. These difficulties may be evident in both oral and written language, although the demand for written language tends to increase the task complexity and, therefore, the likelihood of breakdown.

Word meaning and relationships

• Gaps in vocabulary recognition or use for content that adolescents should typically know greatly interfere with acquisition of academic information. For example, not knowing what the word "investigate" means is daunting to a seventh-grade student studying science, when her textbook has a section in every chapter called "Let's Investigate."
• Lack of flexibility in interpreting multiple-meaning words can create misunderstanding in interpersonal communication and confusion in deciphering subject information. For example, a twelfth-grader has learned the word "rank" in the context of military standing during social studies but may not be able to attach a different meaning to the word to describe a rank odor encountered in chemistry.
• Mismatch of information given to information requested often results in incorrect responses when the student is asked to explain, describe, or compare information. For example, a sixth-grader answers "1492" to the question "Where did Columbus land?" or an eleventh-grade student states personal information about a character in literature (birthplace, career, interests, etc.) when he is asked to describe physical characteristics.
• Imprecise relationships among categories and the inability to use language to elucidate similarities, differences, and distinguishing features of concepts thwarts concept mastery and learning of subject knowledge. For example, an eighth-grader does poorly on a test when he cannot use language to explain how basic science and applied science are similar and different.
• Difficulty defining words negatively affects vocabulary learning and demonstration of vocabulary acquisition. The student may be able to use a word correctly and give information about meaning but not give a definition. For example, when a tenth-grader is asked on a test to define "plot," he might write, "The plot of a novel I read involved a soldier going to war and what happened to him."

Word structure

• Failure to attend to morphological forms in listening and reading, or to use them in speaking and writing, can cause confusion in meaning. These forms may include tense markers on verbs, plural and possessive markers on nouns, "er" or "or" on verbs to make them nouns. For example, a ninth-grader may write "The train (for trainer) helped the athlete after the game." Another example is a high school student who listens to advice from the art teacher to "use a different shade" in reference to a painting and then comes into class the next day with a different pair of sunglasses (i.e. shades for shade).
• Imprecise use of word forms interferes with the communication of ideas in speaking and writing. For example, the ninth-grade student who describes the activities of our "democracy (for democratic) president" confuses her listeners.
• Incorrect use of words also can interfere with communication of ideas. Some instances can cause embarrassment to students. For example, a student of American Government says that the founding fathers were dedicated to the "prostitution (for Constitution) of the United States."
• Misdiscrimination of speech sounds may lead to misunderstanding of words and meaning. For example, a student puts his backpack on the ocean life display in the classroom instead of on the shelf because he interprets "shelf" as "shell." This problem also may be at the root of incorrect word use as in the prostitution for constitution example given previously.
• Lack of segmentation rule knowledge for analysis of words can lead to difficulty with decoding and spelling. For example, a student can't sound out words effectively when he reads because he doesn't know that they are made of syllables, individual sounds, and sound clusters.

Word retrieval

Trouble calling forth the exact word when needed can be exhibited as use of overly general words, circumlocution (i.e. talking around a concept), or use of neologisms (i.e. made-up words). Word finding difficulties, as they are sometimes called, can be related to ineffective storage of information or difficulty accessing a specific word at a given time. For example, a student who is relating an incident that occurred at home over the weekend and cannot use his sister's name in the story says, "uh, you know, my sister, she has a boyfriend..." He may also use a gesture, such as finger-snapping.

Phrase structure

• Lack of implicit or explicit knowledge of noun and verb phrase structure rules may be at the root of failure to make the linguistic predictions required to read fluently. For example, a middle school student who reads the phrase "the will" and doesn't realize that "will" in this case is not a future tense marker because it is preceded by "the" may lose time trying to close with a word to complete the future tense. (Please note that students with intact language skills will not necessarily be able to discuss this information metalinguistically; that is they will not articulate the rule, but they will know implicitly that "the" comes before a noun and will use that knowledge to assist with fluent reading.)
• Tendency to "lose" small or structural words in phrases leads to misinterpretation of discourse/text. For example, a student who fails to note the word "not" in a math lesson when the teacher says that "six is not a prime number" later gives "six" as an example of a prime number.

Sentence structure

• Difficulty using constructions to combine thoughts can lead to overly simple sentence constructions, especially in written work. For example, a middle school student in language arts writes, "I liked the book. It was about whales. The whales were orcas."
• Difficulty with comprehension and formulation of clauses, especially embedded clauses, can hinder interpretation and manipulation of complex thoughts. For example, an eleventh-grade student who reads in her history textbook the sentence "It was not until 1440, when Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type in Germany, that modern printing began in Europe" cannot answer the question "When did Gutenberg invent movable type?" She may be better able to answer "When did modern printing begin?"
• Inflexibility in constructions results in difficulty expressing an idea in more than one way. For example, a teacher accuses an eighth-grade student doing research for a social studies project of plagiarism because he copies text from the resource materials. Even though he can read the material, he can't put the ideas into his own words.
• Lack of comprehension of metaphors and idioms causes difficulty with content understanding in lectures and textbook reading as well as with understanding the language of instruction. For example, the high school student discussing a science fair project with the teacher fails to understand that her proposed project is not a suitable one when the teacher says, "You're barking up the wrong tree."

Discourse/text

• Tendency to process ambiguities at the sentence level only is often associated with difficulty using context to decode ambiguities. For example, if a student is reading a long chapter in a novel involving two characters, both of whom are female, he may become confused as to the referents for pronouns "she" and "her" if the name is not in the sentence.
• Lack of flexibility in manipulating text often results in single interpretations and literal interpretations. For example, as a social studies textbook addresses the events that led up to the Civil War, the student may understand the immediate causes stated in chronological order but may not understand the more subtle aspects of remote or underlying causes that also are discussed.
• Difficulty synthesizing information to obtain a central message is often the reason a student has difficulty identifying a main idea. He may tend to zero in on details as opposed to global meaning. For example, if a high school student is taking notes from a lecture, she may write down little pieces of information without writing down the key concept presented by the teacher.
• Poor topic elaboration will adversely affect fluency of expression. For example, a tenth-grade student asked to write an essay on the genre of fiction may write just a short paragraph.
• Poor topic maintenance often results in hard to follow speech and writing. The student may go around the topic or insert irrelevant information. For example, a student who is asked to make a presentation on the effects of smoking on health digresses to talk about his mother, who smokes.
• Inadequate information supplied to the listener/audience promotes confusion in understanding the message. In speaking, this is often associated with the use of overly general words such as "thing" or "stuff" or with the use of fillers such as "you know." For example, the dean asks a student to explain a problem encountered on the school bus, and the student supplies sparse information, perhaps in confusing sequence, with a lot of "you knows." The dean has to ask someone else for the story.
  (Ehren, 1994)

Although this is not an exhaustive list of all the language difficulties encountered by adolescents, this summary should contribute to your understanding of language problems encountered by adolescents with learning disabilities.

How may language disorders interfere with strategy acquisition and use?

The language problems described in the previous section may interfere with strategy acquisition and use in a variety of ways. Students may have difficulty with the following:

• Understanding the language of instruction
  They may lack understanding of the vocabulary or the language structures the teacher uses to teach the strategies. For example, the teacher may use complex constructions with embedded clauses in his or her presentations to students: "I have knowledge of the Paraphrasing Strategy and I have taught it to several other students who, as a result of mastering the strategy, have achieved the kinds of success you seek."
• Understanding the strategy steps
  They may have trouble interpreting the words used to describe steps or in translating the meaning of the words to actions in that particular context. For example, in the Self-Questioning Strategy, Step 3 is "Keep predictions in mind." A student with a language disorder may not be clear on the meaning of the word "predictions" in general or in this context.
• Benefiting from a model of strategy use
  They may not be successful in using oral models alone, especially if presented in large segments. For example, in the Model Stage of the Error Monitoring Strategy, when the teacher is thinking aloud while demonstrating the strategy, the demonstration may contain too much oral language to process at once for the student to get a good idea of how the strategy works.
• Remembering the strategy steps
  Verbal practice alone may not assist students in memorizing the strategy steps. For example, students who are not comfortable with their language abilities may get lost and discouraged with trying to learn the seven steps of the Test-Taking Strategy by repetition alone.
• Executing the strategy
  They may not be able to perform the complex language manipulation and production required to actually use the strategy. For example, the Paraphrasing Strategy calls for students to "Ask yourself, 'What were the main idea and details in this paragraph?'" Students who have difficulty synthesizing ideas into a cohesive whole may not be able to use this approach to reading comprehension in exactly the way the steps are described.
• Using practice materials
  They may encounter difficulties in reading and understanding materials written at a particular grade level, used for controlled and advanced practice, especially if the material may be more linguistically complex than the student can handle. For example, a history textbook containing metaphors and idioms may be more difficult to use to practice the Paired Associates Strategy than a science book with more literal language.
• Generalizing the use of the strategy
  They may not understand other situations and contexts sufficiently to apply a strategy successfully, especially if the situation or context is heavily weighted with linguistic information. For example, in trying to use the Word Identification Strategy to assist in conducting research for a project, a student may be thrown by the language complexity of the reference material. This reaction may confound his attempt at using the strategy.

What are the key questions to be addressed?

As stated in the introduction, there are many reasons why students may have difficulty in learning or using strategies. The interrelationship of language and metacognition is intricate, to be sure. We could engage in "chicken or egg" discussions of language deficits and cognitive/metacognitive deficits, but it is probably not productive for trainers and practitioners to do so. "Which came first?" is not a question that will necessarily yield fruitful directions for intervention. If a student has a language disorder and is not an effective learner, we need to ask questions that will guide our training and teaching of learning strategies. Subsequent parts of this series will address the questions whose answers have practical implications for the implementation of a Language-Sensitive SIM approach to training and teaching.

What would Language-Sensitive SIM entail?

You may be wondering how this information may actually affect the way you train. Are we suggesting that you totally restructure your training? No. Are we asking you to consider enhancing your training approach by viewing strategies intervention through a language lens? Yes.

References

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) (1982). Position statement on language learning disorders. Asha, 24, 937-944.
• Ehren, B. (1994). New directions for meeting the academic needs of adolescents with language learning disabilities in G. Wallach & K. Butler (Eds.) Language learning disabilities in school-age children and adolescents. New York: Merrill/Macmillan.
• Wiig, E. & Semel, E. (1984). Language assessment and intervention for the learning disabled (2nd ed.) New York: Merrill/Macmillan.

Return to Article Archive