First-year failure of German Gymnasium pupils is frequently the result of insufficient achievement in EFL (English as a foreign language); such failure has traditionally been attributed to a lack of talent and/or effort on the learner's part.
The poor statistical correlation between intelligence and EFL achievement does not adequately explain this failure. Although the proportion of failure in EFL has long been known, no basic changes in teaching approach have resulted.
Concepts of didactic models presented by Carroll, by Bloom, and by Harnischfeger and Wiley indicate that too little emphasis on active learning time, quality of instruction, and individualized teaching strategies may constitute sources of failure. Furthermore, the concept of learning hierarchies suggests that the cumulative effect of learning deficits will inhibit further learning.
In the absence of institutionalized remedial teaching in the German school system, a research project was planned; its aim was to identify factors responsible for learning difficulties, and to work remedially with failing pupils in order to ensure further learning in the normal classroom setting.
Both areas and sources of failure in first-year EFL and effective strategies are reported on. The possibility of monitoring and quantifying the effectiveness of remedial teaching is discussed in presenting multiple baselines as documentation of single-case experimental designs.