Using Matching-to-Sample Tasks to Teach English Words to Two Japanese Students With Specific Learning Difficulties: Consideration of Their Cognitive Functions

(cid:633)(cid:633) The purpose of the present study was to examine effects of instruction that considered individual students’ cognitive functions on the students’ learning of English words. The participants were 2 Japanese students, student A (14 years old, junior high school) and student B (16 years old, high school), both of whom had specifıc diffıculties learning English. Their intellectual levels were below average and average, respectively, and their test results suggested cognitive weaknesses, specifıcally with planning ability and the visual analysis of details. On the other hand, student A’s cognitive strengths included working memory and successive processes, and student B’s, verbal comprehension and expression. The instruction focused on the reading and semantics of English words. Flash cards and matching-to-sample tasks were used to teach phonetic and semantic aspects of English words, respectively. Both instructional methods were constructed based on stimulus equivalence. The 2 participants were taught individually; the instruction sessions were held 10 times, once a week, for 20-40 minutes each time. Student A was taught 64 words; student B, 63. The effects of the instruction were evaluated with a 70-word English vocabulary test. The students took the English vocabulary test 3 times: before instruction (pre-test), immediately following completion of the 10 training sessions (post-test 1), and 4-7 months after instruction (post-test 2). On the pre-test, the students answered 8% and 10% of the items correctly, respectively, whereas on the post-test that they took immediately after the fınal instruction session, they answered 77% and 97% of the items correctly, respectively. Their performance on both post-tests showed great improvement compared with their pre-test scores. These results suggest the educational effectiveness of instruction that takes individual students’ cognitive function into account.