Dyslexia Friendly Approaches to Teaching English to Greek Dyslexic Learners

Students who have oral and/or written language learning difficulties in their mother tongue may have problems learning another language in school.  This does not mean they should avoid the study of a new language.  With the appropriate instruction most students can experience success. 

In specific, teaching English to Greek dyslexic learners can be an onerous task to both teachers and students alike. The former do not know how to approach their students, whereas the latter may feel like “fish out of water” in class since being unable to follow, they may become uninterested in the process of learning English.

 Ιn this series of  articles, we shall discuss the feasibility of employing effective methods of teaching English to dyslexic pupils as well as all the others in class. To begin with, the Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis will be discussed in brief. Secondly, friendly dyslexia strategies and approaches such as deductive instruction and the Multisensory Structured Language Approach (Part I) will be described.

The Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis

 Research has shown that dyslexic learners may be faced with difficulties in foreign    language learning.

Sparks and Ganschow  (1993) proposed the The Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis according to which:

Native language learning serves as a foundation for FL learning success; and students who experience FL learning problems have overt or subtle deficiencies in one or more of the linguistic codes- phonological, syntactic, and /or semantic.  Rote memory problems may exacerbate the linguistic coding problems (P.98).

In other words, an individual’s skill in native language components of linguistic coding –phonological, syntactic and semantic- constitutes the foundation of successful foreign language learning.  Consequently, problems in learning a foreign language could result from subtle or overt difficulties in it. The most noticeable deficit concerns phonemic awareness, which refers to the ability to isolate and manipulate consciously the sounds of the language and relate them to the appropriate written symbols.

Inductive or deductive instruction

As far as the foreign language teaching is concerned, Schneider (1999) suggests that natural approaches to teaching foreign languages are used in the foreign learning classroom.  That is to say, classes are instructed in authentic situational contexts where the target language is used as much as possible and students are supposed to respond spontaneously in a foreign language.  Vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and spelling patterns are said to be acquired inductively.  In other words, the teacher tries to elicit rules by directing students through focus questions and make students discover the rule themselves.

However, working inductively frustrates dyslexic learners, sets up barriers to their understanding resulting in finding the procedure boring so they can easily get distracted.  This, in its turn, can place them under negative stress.  For example, they can be embarrassed because they are unable to answer questions, they can perform poorly in a test, or they can feel incompetent because they think they are stupid since they do not understand how to complete tasks successfully.

Moreover, Sparks et al (1992c) and Crombie (2000) state that it is wrong to assume that dyslexics can learn a foreign language in the same way as they acquire their mother tongue.

 Therefore, dyslexic learners require explicit, structured and deductive instruction. Research has shown that the deductive way, using knowledge about things that are generally true in order to think about and understand particular situations or problems (Hornsby, 2000,) is the one that is appropriate for dyslexics’ needs, because everything has to be explained to them clearly and concisely so that they can build up gradually.

The Multisensory Structured Language Approach (Part I)

Ganshow et al (1995) point out that teaching foreign languages to dyslexic students should be multi-sensory, phonic, structured, cumulative and systematic.

Sparks and Miller  (2000) also suggest that the Multisensory Structured Language approach could be the appropriate one because it could pay off for students’-at-risk difficulties.

Their suggestion is based on the findings of surveys conducted by Sparks et al (1998), Sparks and Ganschow  (1993), Sparks et al  (1992c) which showed significant gains in native language phonological skills and Foreign Language Aptitude in both languages  (English and Spanish).

Furthermore, Sparks and Miller (2000) used the Multisensory Structured Language approach to teach transparent languages (the phoneme corresponds to the grapheme explicitly) to ‘at-risk students’ since MSL caters for all learning styles.

According to Sparks and Miller (2000) a typical lesson that aims to teach Spanish to native English speakers consists of:

·   oral warm-up drills(listening, speaking, vocabulary) 1-2 min

·   blackboard /writing drills of new and previously taught phoneme- grapheme correspondences) (phonology/ orthography) 10-12 min                                                          

·   grammar and meaning units (syntax, morphology) 10-15 min

·   vocabulary and dialogue( syntax, morphology, semantics) 10-15 min

·   reading/ communicative (phonology/ orthography, syntax, morphology, semantics)  10 min  (P. 130).

The article will be translated into Greek--Το  άρθρο θα μεταγλωττιστεί στα Ελληνικά

Bibliography

Crombie, M., 2000, ‘Dyslexia and the Learning of a Foreign Language in School:  Where Are We Going?’ DYSLEXIA, 6:2, 112-121.

Ganschow, L ., Sparks, R.  & Schneider E., 1995, ‘Learning a Foreign Language:  Challenges for Students with Language Learning Difficulties’, DYSLEXIA, 1:2, 75-95

Hornby, A.  S., 2000, Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary of Current English, 6^th edition, Oxford:  Oxford University Press.

 Sparks, R.  & Ganschow, L., 1993, ‘The effects of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction on Native Language and Foreign Language Aptitude Skills of At-Risk High School Foreign Language Learners:  A Replication and Follow-up Study’, Annals of Dyslexia, 43, 195-214.

Sparks, R., Ganschow, L., Pohlman, J., Skinner, S.  & Artzer, M., 1992c, ‘The Effects of Multisensory Structured Language Instruction on Native Language and Foreign Language Aptitude Skills of At-Risk High School Foreign Language Learners’, Annals of Dyslexia, 42, 25-53.

Sparks, R.  & Miller, K., 2000, ‘Teaching a Foreign Language using Multisensory Structured Language Techniques to At-Risk Learners:  A Review’, DYSLEXIA, 6:  2, 124-130.

Rania Mikelis is a psychologist and an English language teacher who has specialized in Special Learning Difficulty/Dyslexia. Theresa Mikelis is an MA TEFL and M.Ed holder(Specific Learning Difficulty/Dyslexiα).  They are mainly interested in helping dyslexic learners cope with their difficulties in English.