Current Practice of Grammar Interventions for Children With Language Disorders in Resource Rooms in Tokyo

In order to obtain detailed information on the current practice of grammar intervention for children with language disorders in Tokyo, an online questionnaire survey was conducted of 78 elementary schools with language resource rooms. Valid responses were obtained from 51 schools (65.4％) from one teacher representing each school’s resource room. The questions related to the grade level and medical diagnosis of the children, frequency and duration of interventions, intervention contexts, grammatical items taught, intervention procedures, activities and materials, recipients of advice and instruction other than the children, and method of measurement of outcomes. The results indicated that children with language disorders across all grade levels were less likely to receive grammar interventions. For intervention procedures, the teachers preferred implicit approaches such as recasting and modeling in a natural and communicative context, and explicit approaches that focused on target grammar were used less often. The results also suggested that the teachers recognized the need for greater frequency and longer duration of interventions. Furthermore, the findings indicated that in addition to understanding the importance of one-on-one intervention, the teachers also recognized the need for grammar instruction based on the contexts of the children’s school life.