Foreign language learning in children with language impairments

Matić, Marija. (2014). Foreign language learning in children with language impairments. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Zovko Dinković, Irena].

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Abstract

Language impairments seem to be widely discussed and researched nowadays, and that is not surprising since more and more children get diagnosed with them. However, there are not many studies that deal with foreign language learning in children with language impairments and that was the main motive for this study. Ten participants with learning disabilities and ten participants from the control group were tested in both the Croatian and the English language to prove or dismiss three hypotheses. All three hypotheses were proven – children with language impairments make more mistakes in both tests; children with language impairments have more mistakes in the English language than in Croatian; younger and older children with language impairments made similar mistakes and took the same amount of time to solve the tests. The differences between the Croatian and the English language seem to be the reason for antagonism towards the English language and subsequently for making more mistakes. Issues dealing with language impairments have been discussed and described, and the results illustrated the difficulties children with language impairments face in their school environment. One of the most important issues seems to be the amount of time these children need to solve a particular task. Studies like this are therefore necessary to raise awareness about these issues and to help both teachers and parents. Children with language impairments require specialised instruction in schools and sometimes even therapy to help them minimise the errors and difficulties they face in school, as well as in their everyday life.

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