A dissertation completed at
The Center for Education, Widener University,
One University Place, Chester, PA 19013 		 
THE LANGUAGE ARTS IMPACT OF TEACHING LATIN TO EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS
Jean Atkin Gool, Ed. D.
May, 2000

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edited 01/03/01

 


ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a Latin program on the language arts skills of eighth grade students. Latin study as a means of improving English skills is not new in education (Zais, 1976). The historical backgrounds of Latin education, as well as the reasons for the deletion of Latin from the curriculum are documented through the loss of programs in public education. The deletion lead to a lack of current research on Latin programs in the middle level grades. The use of Latin instruction with eighth grade students to improve English scores on a standardized test was the focus of this research.

Students on eighth grade teams have a thirty-six day, forty-five minute period, block of time called Research Exploration in their related arts schedule. During this time, team (or core) teachers offer a variety of special projects. One team, Eight White, taught Latin during this time to all of their students. The design of this study included two treatment groups: one with a Latin program(Eight White) and one a control group with no Latin instruction(Eight Red). The control group, Eight Red, taught an enriched history project during their Research Exploration time. All 260 students in this study participated in the district standardized testing program, which used the 1996 Stanford Achievement test in the Spring of 1998. Students were again tested on the language arts portion of the same instrument in the Spring of 1999. Information from the language arts portion of both tests was used to make comparisons across the two groups in the study, as well as within each group.

The findings of this study were used to evaluate the effects of the Latin instruction during the Research Exploration period on language arts skills. Two additional factors that were measured are the effects of gender and of musical training. The issue of gender alone and growth in language arts skills with the addition of Latin was also measured to determine any differences. Gardner's theory of musical intelligence was examined in relation to the effect of musical training on the acquisition of language skills (Gardner, 1983). Involvement in band and/or chorus were the criteria used to measure musical training to investigate their effect on the growth of language arts skills.

The first question was the extent the teaching of Latin correlates with improved language arts scores of eighth grade students on a standardized test. My research indicates there was no significant interaction. The question of differential effects of gender on the language arts scores of eighth grade students with Latin also showed no significant interaction. An incidental finding of the interaction of gender and language arts growth showed an effect. Females exceeded males in language arts score growth both in seventh and in eighth grade on the Sanford Achievement Test. The final question was the correlation that arises between musical training, as evidenced by participation in band or chorus or both, and language arts scores within the group that receives Latin instruction. There was no significant main effect as evidenced by the data presented in this study.

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