Learning grammar in a suitable way : a look at how children with autism and SLi could potentially learn to identify the gender of Icelandic nouns

• Main Author: Karen Kristín Ralston 1969-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Þroskaþjálfafræði; Einhverfa; Málþroskaröskun; Grunnskólanemar; Málfræðikennsla; Málnotkun; Autism; Specific language impairment (SLI); Elementary students; Grammar; Teaching; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/16363

The goal of this multiple baseline study was to look at the effect of a teaching technique that combines methods from second language learning and behavioral science on the abilities of children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) in identifying the gender of Icelandic nouns that have both regular and irregular endings. The participants were three Icelandic children of the ages 7, 9 and 14 years. All participants had been identified as using gender incorrectly in their daily speech. One child had been diagnosed with SLI, and the other two children were diagnosed with autism and SLI. The teaching method used in this study has been used with students studying Icelandic as a second language at the University of Iceland. A single-subject multiple baseline design over participants showed that all participants learned to identify the gender of Icelandic nouns with regular endings. However, this study also showed evidence for the process of learning the gender of nouns with irregular endings as being a potentially longer learning process. This points to a possible need in Icelandic schools for teaching methods that are designed to build-up knowledge about nouns in both regular and irregular forms. The results also point to the need for individualized teaching methods which emphasize generalizing grammatical skills into both written and spoken forms.