Teaching English to Greek Dyslexic Learners

The aim of this article is to present readers with a brief overview of the key main concepts related to this article, that is to say specific learning difficulty/dyslexia and teaching foreign languages to dyslexic learners, and to suggest different dyslexia friendly methods and techniques which could alleviate ‘the problem’ and help Greek dyslexic learners learn English as a foreign language.

Dyslexia

According to the British Dyslexia Association:

 Dyslexia is a combination of abilities and difficulties which affect the learning process in reading, spelling, writing and sometimes numeracy.  Dyslexic people frequently have weaknesses in short-term memory, sequencing, and the speed at which they process information-skills everyone needs to learn effectively in a busy classroom.  Learning difficulties arise if dyslexia is unrecognized and the teaching is inappropriate ( www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk).

Teaching Foreign Languages to the Dyslexic Learner

Teaching a foreign language to dyslexics has been a comparatively recent area for research.   What dyslexic specialists point out is that dyslexic children should be given an opportunity to learn a foreign language.  However, they strongly emphasize that more children are successful when taught using dyslexia friendly teaching methods-and while dyslexia friendly techniques can be applied to children who are not dyslexic, this does not work the other way around (www.bda-dylsexia.org.uk).

Greek dyslexics, in particular, are hampered in their learning of English as a foreign language at all levels (phonological, lexical, syntactical and grammatical) mainly because of the striking differences between Greek and English.  These are outlined below:

·         It may be difficult for them to pronounce sounds that are not used in Greek, such as the /s/ in words like shop/shoe, or the schwa sound in words like about.

·         Learning and remembering vocabulary is difficult.  Due to short-term memory shortcoming, vocabulary has to be presented and revised in different ways before it is assimilated and stored in the long-term memory.

·         Greek is a transparent language, in other words the grapheme matches with the phoneme, and words are pronounced similarly to how they appear in the written form, whereas, in English, frequently they do not.  Greek dyslexics face great problem with the English spelling.

·         English grammar is very different from the Greek one.  Word order in English  (subject +verb +object) is fixed, whereas in Greek it is not.  Verb usage causes a great headache to Greek dyslexics because some grammatical concepts can have a different connotation in both languages.

·         Homophones:  words that sound and look the same but have a different meaning, for example, sympathetic and συμπαθητικός /sympathitikos/  (in English and in Greek).  In English, sympathetic means feeling showing or resulting from sympathy.  In Greek, συμπαθητικός /sympthitikos/ means likeable.

Recommendations for teachers

English language teachers should be aware of some basic principles which have to be taken into account when they are going to teach English as a foreign language to Greek dyslexics.

As Ganschow et al (1995) point out teaching foreign languages to dyslexic students should be multisensory.  The use of multisensory input can activate learners’ all senses thus making input more comprehensible and scaffolding their effort.

Research has also shown that the deductive way, using knowledge about things that are generally true in order to think about and understand particular situations or problems (Hornby, 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.

 Assessing students’ learning styles, put simply the way one learns, in the first place, teaching them at all stages according to their preferred styles, and supporting them with activities, which also tap Multiple Intelligences  (Gardner’s theory  (1984)  according to which the human brain possesses a number of intelligence centres which can be enriched through learning experiences) is of the utmost importance. 

Moreover, movement between different activities can have a beneficial effect on students’ attitude towards learning.

 ‘Learning how to Learn’ should take place at the end of the learning experience and could aim to help students meditate on the learning process. 

Finally, emotionally speaking building up students’ shaken self- esteem and confidence and motivating students to learning at the same time can be seen as one of the prime features that teachers should concentrate on. 

Bibliography

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

Gardner, H., 1984, Frames of Mind:  the theory of multiple intelligences, London: Heinemann

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

Tips for secondary school teachers, 2004 [Online] Available: http://www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk, [2004, June 10]