Multi-Sensory Learning Strategies to Support Spelling Development: a Case Study of Second-Language Learners with Auditory Processing Difficulties

Research confirms the multifaceted nature of spelling development and emphasizes the importance of both cognitive and linguistic skills (such as working and long-term memory, phonological processing, rapid automatized naming, orthographic awareness, mental orthographic images, semantic knowledge and morphological awareness) that affect spelling development. This has clear implications for many second-language spellers (L2) with auditory processing difficulties because writing systems are graphic representations of spoken language, and literacy development involves learning the association between the printed and oral forms of language (also known as phonological awareness and processing). In the present investigation, the researchers sampled second-language spellers (n = 22) with significant auditory processing delays and implemented an intervention programme that utilized visual and tactile coding strategies as part of the multi-sensory intervention therapy programme (for a period of six months). Post-test results were very promising and showed that L2 English-language spellers significantly improved in both short-term memory processing, phonological awareness and spelling performances. Considering this investigation’s contribution to effectively supporting the spelling development of children with auditory processing delays, the researchers are confident that it will expand and improve existing theoretical accounts of literacy (and spelling) acquisition in the field of psycholinguistics, whilst also facilitating the academic success of the growing L2 learner population in South Africa (and internationally).