Content area
Abstract
The study attempted to determine the effect of instruction in reading, writing and pronouncing Hebrew on reading, writing and spelling English among children who are slow readers studying Hebrew as a foreign language. Because Hebrew is a language which differs from these children's native language in its pronunciation, writing characteristics, and direction of eye-hand movement in reading and writing, these children might experience difficulties learning Hebrew as a foreign language, in addition to their difficulties in learning their native language. However, the phonetic regularity of the Hebrew language might help these children learn a system and better understanding of reading. Subjects were 18 third to seventh grade children whose native language is English, selected from the available population of two Jewish schools. A comparison of pre- and posttreatment functioning in Hebrew reading and spelling, English reading and spelling and in visual-motor integration revealed that the experimental group showed significant improvement in Hebrew reading and significant gain in writing Hebrew words from dictation. Hebrew instruction was found not to interfere with English reading and spelling of slow readers. Directionality training was found not to have a significant effect on Hebrew and English reading and spelling. Visual-motor integration skills were improved significantly within two groups of Hebrew learners. However, no significant differences were found among these two groups of Hebrew students and their control on the post test of visual-motor integration.
