Teaching Foreign Languages to the Dyslexic Learner

Recommendations for teachers

As a basic principle, Crombie  (2000) believes that:

It is important to teach children the skills they will require to survive and communicate effectively in a foreign country  (P.120).

She suggests different ways which might help dyslexic students catch up with foreign languages:

·        Phonemic awareness

Teachers should cultivate dyslexic students’ phonemic awareness in the foreign language.  This can be achieved by focussing on listening for sounds and identifying them in words that would be reinforced by the use of visual clues as it is done in teaching English as a native language.

·        Delivery at a slower pace

The delivery of the presented language should be at a slow pace since dyslexics need time to process language.

·        Differentiation

Crombie claims that differentiating material for dyslexic students can greatly help them cope with the foreign language. 

According to her, differentiation can take various forms as far as classroom work and homework are concerned.  However, teachers should not differentiate all the time, but they can use differentiation and multisensory teaching interchangeably.

Bibliography

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

Mikelis T.  2004, A Mind-Friendly Framework for Teaching English to Greek Dyslexic Learners,Bangor: M.Ed Dissertation