Difficulties in Learning English As a Second Or Foreign Language

Getting Through 
To helpers learners with LLD and their instructors, Schwarz and Terrill (2000) 
suggested a number instructional methods and materials gleaned from previous 
research (Almanza, Singleton, & Terrill, 1996; Baca & Cervantes, 1991; Ganschow 
& Sparks, 1993; Riviere, 1996, as cited in Schwarz & Terrill, 2000) that rely on 
structured and predictable activities and reinforce previous teaching and incorporate a 
multisensory approach. Along with the recommendation for intensified efforts such 
as funding for research and teacher training, the authors indicated that assistive 
technology, and computers specifically, have proven effective in helping adult ESL 
learners with LLD. Many researchers, including Christison and Kennedy (1999), 
Comstock and Kamara (2003), Downey and Snyder (2000), and Schwarz and Terrill 
(2000) point to the need to teach to learners’ strengths and to multiple intelligences. 
Downey and Snyder (2000) reported great success in the Foreign Language 
Modification Program, which began in 1990 at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The then-typical accommodation of substituting culture-related courses for FL 
courses for students who had been diagnosed with LLD; scored in the 10th percentile 
or below on the MLAT (Carroll & Sapon, 1959, as cited in Downey and Snyder); 

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29 
and, had made serious effort to learn a FL at the college level. Shortly after initiation 
of the program, a modified Latin class was added as an accommodation for students 
with LD and later Spanish and Italian were added.
Downey and Snyder (2000) found that students with LLD could: (a) acquire 
FL skills, (b) achieve at levels that match their peers in regular FL classes, and (c) 
satisfy university FL requirements by participation in the modified FL classes with 
proper instruction and accommodation. The researchers established that most 
students with LLD can acquire FL proficiency in classes modified to meet their 
needs. The use of accommodations, such as extensive pretest preparation, extra time 
for tests and quizzes, a smaller amount of content, smaller class sizes and a low 
pressure, safe classroom environment helped students perform better and develop 
greater confidence.
The instructors in the program were carefully selected and combined visual, 
auditory and kinesthetic learning techniques and anxiety minimizing techniques 
(Downey & Snyder, 2000). They developed creative materials for use in the 
classroom while their focus was on building the skills and confidence levels of 
students, who were not called on in these highly structured classes but responded 
voluntarily in verbal exercises.
Downey and Snyder (2000) suggested that the most important aspect of 
instruction was the “explicit and direct teaching of phonology and orthography of the 
new sound-symbol system” (p. 90) and emphasized that the reasonable 
accommodations of the modified classes genuinely allowed students with LLD equal 
access to education and the opportunity to be evaluated on their abilities and not on 

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30 
their disabilities. Christison and Kennedy (1999) recommended the effectiveness of 
incorporating Multiple Intelligence (MI; Gardner, 1983, as cited in Christison & 
Kennedy) theory in the adult ESL classroom to address multiple ways of learning and 
knowing (Christison, 1999b, as cited in Christison & Kennedy). While it does not 
explicitly target adults with LLD, application of MI theory is an aim to help students 
“develop a better understanding and appreciation of their own strengths and learning 
preferences” (p. 2) and can help transfer some of the control of the learning 
experience and the demonstration of that learning from the teacher to the students 
(Christison & Kennedy, 1999). 
Chapter Summary 
While differences, difficulties, and disability in second language learning are 
varied and challenging to both learners and instructors, these problems take on a 
greater level of severity for immigrants who learn ESL, whose livelihood, social 
identity, and sense of community are threatened by often subtle and obscure language 
learning disadvantages (Comstock & Kamara, 2003; Schwarz, 2003). Adult ESL 
instructors and program directors should explore reasons for students’ lack of 
expected progress and apply useful adjustments, accommodations, and teaching 
techniques to help ensure the success of a wider variety of learners, based on learning 
strengths and styles that have proven essential to successful second language learning 
and for ESL learners in particular. 
In Chapter 3, Methods, the specific goals and procedures of the explorative 
research design and phenomenological inquiry are detailed. 

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Chapter 3 
METHOD 
The purpose of the project was to explore and describe the experience of one 
adult female immigrant to the United States and her difficulties in learning English, 
first as a foreign language in her native Taiwan, then in the U.S. as a second 
language, or more accurately, as a third language, in the environment where it is 
spoken naturally. Information gathered from the available literature provided a 
foundation for understanding and helped to suggest a variety of reasons for the 
difficulties she has experienced. Interviews with her provided testimony and insight 
in this qualitative study.
Target Audience 
Those who would be interested in this project and its application would be 
ESL instructors and program directors. It is anticipated that the findings can inform 
ESL instructors of adult learners about the lived experience of a unique type of 
learner with unique challenges. Also, it may be possible to identify the reasons for 
the lack of progress in some students and provide recommendations for improvement 
and resolution.
Goals 
In this qualitative study, the author explored, analyzed, and described the 
English language learning experience of one woman immigrant to the U.S. as 

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32 
perceived by the learner. This researcher will attempt to develop an in-depth 
understanding of the individual’s learning experience as an immigrant and the 
culturally overlapping experience that Rosaldo (1989 as cited in Lim & Wieling, 
2004, p. 148) referred to as the “cultural borderlands” as well as the role that her 
personality plays in the learning equation and what it means to her (Merriam, 2002).
An associated objective was to illustrate as accurately as possible the complex 
social, emotional, and psychological fabric that makes up the whole of her experience 
and, thereby, illuminate for the reader and interested parties the collective difficulty 
she has experienced in learning English and the results of the lack of progress in her 
language ability. If “the limit of my language means the limit of my world” 
(Wittgenstein, 2001, as quoted in Curzon, 2005, p. 105), it was this researcher’s 
ambition to provide a rich and holistic description of the learner’s thoughts, feelings, 
desires and motivations as she relates her experiences in trying to learn English as a 
second and very foreign language and how that experience influences her sense of 
“place” or lack thereof, in the new culture (Elbaz-Luwisch, 2004, p. 388).
Ideally, the purpose of phenomenological inquiry is to emphasize the 
authenticity of the individual’s experience (Merriam, 2002) without immediate 
concerns of generalizability. This researcher strived to honor the authenticity of the 
qualitative research design and the learner’s experience and took great care to prevent 
or restrict personal biases inherent in this type of case study (Merriam, 1998). 

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33 
Procedures 
The procedures used in the implementation of the phenomenological inquiry 
were based on Groenewald’s (2004) illustrated design. The interview was the primary 
method of data collection, and the interviewee’s responses were the primary unit of 
analysis. The interview questions were designed and ordered carefully to avoid 
leading the interviewee to any beliefs or conclusions. The interview process was 
recorded with an audio recorder with permission of the interviewee, and the 
interviewee’s confidentiality, voluntary status, and right to stop at any time were 
explained and protected. These and other protections were interpreted from Bailey 
(1996, as cited in Groenewald) and drafted into an informed consent agreement 
between interviewer and interviewee. The interview setting and time were chosen to 
maintain an environment free from noise and interruptions (Groenewald).
The interviewer kept observational and methodological notes in order to 
properly conduct the interview and gather as much information and data as were 
available, including nuance, mood, and perceivable emotions of the interviewee. As 
well, the interviewer kept theoretical notes and analytical memos in order to derive 
and capture meaning from the interview. After listening to the recorded interview a 
number of times in order to immerse himself in the words and thoughts of the 
interviewee, the interviewer conducted a follow-up interview in order to clarify, 
check for validity, or further draw out the interviewee’s insights, opinions, and 
experiences (Groenewald, 2004; Merriam, 1998).

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Chapter Summary 
The findings from this qualitative case study provided insight into one 
woman’s experience of learning ESL as an immigrant to the U.S. The richness of the 
learner’s experience helped to shed light on the kinds of difficulties that some ESL 
learners might experience and can inform ESL instructors and program directors as to 
why some learners have difficulties and how these difficulties can be addressed. The 
data collected in the interview process provided direct access to the learner’s thoughts 
and feelings about the experience and the potential for a rich and holistic portrayal of 
the lived experience as well as a deeper understanding of her experience. 
In Chapter 4, the Results of the phenomenological case study are presented.
In Chapter 5, the Discussion, the findings are interpreted, the research questions are 
answered, and the study is summarized. 

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Chapter 4 
RESULTS 
The primary goal of this case study was to examine and describe the 
experience of one Taiwanese-Chinese woman immigrant to the United States in order 
to uncover and understand the reason or reasons for her limited progress in English 
language ability. This author wanted to explore this learner’s experience and 
impressions of her experience in the hope that a descriptive telling of her story might 
assist the understanding of the needs of learners like her and guide adult educators 
and teachers of English as a second language (ESL) to better respond to the needs of 
similarly challenged learners. It was this author’s intent that the telling of much of 
the participant’s story in her own words would add depth and texture to the case study 
and inspire a greater understanding, on the part of the reader, for the participant and 
her experience.
Formal Interview 
The primary method of data collection was the interview. Due to the luxury 
of having regular access to the participant, the majority of the detailed background 
information came from a series of informal interviews in the participant’s native 
language and personal observation by the researcher author. Similarly, this author 
was at liberty to request clarifications and elaboration on the one formal, taped, and 
transcribed interview. The formal interview was conducted in English, and its 
inclusion here is useful in showing the learner’s use of English vocabulary, tense, and 

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36 
sentence structure, and in helping to establish patterns in her life and learning 
experience. Its more significant usefulness is, in the phenomenological tradition, to 
help the author depict the learner’s feelings and impressions about her experience, in 
her own words. 
Prior to the interview, the participant was given a description of the 
interview’s research purpose and subject matter, the researcher’s intent to share the 
results, as well as assurances that she could stop the interview at any time and that her 
name and identity would not be shared without her permission. Also, she was given 
the freedom to choose the time, place, and to appoint environmental comforts to 
encourage her frank participation and prevention from interruption.
As the interview began, the participant was clearly enthusiastic about sharing 
her experience and grew more and more animated throughout, both in facial and 
vocal expression. She seemed quite glad to share her story. In order to reflect the 
participant’s actual usage and pronunciation, many mistakes are transcribed as they 
were spoken, and words are spelled out to approximate the way in which the learner 
said them. The participant is interchangeably referred to as the learner.