to Learners with Special Educational Needs

Pokrivčáková, S. et al. (2015). Teaching Foreign Languages to Learners with Special Educational Needs:
e-textbook for foreign language teachers. Nitra: Constantine the Philosopher University. 128 p.
ISBN 978-80-558-0941-0
weakness within the language system, specifically at the level of the phonologic module”
(Shaywitz, 2008, p. 772-775). Davis and Braun (1997) suggest that “dyslexics have little or no
internal monologue, so they do not hear what they are reading unless they are reading aloud.
Instead, they are composing a mental picture by adding the meaning—or image of the
meaning—of each new word as it is encountered”. This is also why many dyslexic pupils say
words (while reading) quietly to themselves. This is called subvocalization.
There are several ways how to identify/suspect dyslexia, as e.g. observation (parent, teacher),
self-report questionnaire, screening, diagnostic interviews.
Pollock, Waller and Politt (2004, in Mortimere, 2008, p. 59) provide a helpful guide to this
kind of diagnostic approach. In general, if the answer to three or more of the following questions
is ‘yes’, further investigation is definitely warranted.
Does a seemingly able and frequently articulate student:
1. have difficulties with expressing themselves on paper – poor and sometimes bizarre
spelling, slow or poorly formed handwriting, untidy presentation?
2. seem resistant to or need extra time for written work?
3. have unexpected difficulties with reading or maths?
4. frequently seem worried, switched off or lagging behind?
5. have difficulties with organisation within time and space?
6. have difficulties with situations that involve memory (bringing the right equipment on the
right day, remembering spoken instructions, remembering phone numbers, learning
multiplication tables)?
7. use inappropriate behaviour to avoid classroom situations in which dyslexic-type learning
difficulties might be revealed in public?
Ranaldi (2003, p. 14-16) summarises some of the areas that highlight the variation of
difficulties associated with dyslexia:
Possible difficulties
• reading hesitantly;
• misreading, making understanding difficult;
• difficulty with sequences, e.g. getting dates in order;
• poor organisation or time management;
• difficulty organising thoughts clearly;
• erratic spelling;
• processing at speed;
• misunderstanding complicated questions, though knowing the answer;
• finding the holding of a list of instructions in the memory difficult, though able to perform all
the tasks;
• remembering people, places and names of objects;
• tiring more quickly than a non-dyslexic person – far greater concentration is required;
• deciphering a passage correctly yet not getting the sense of it;
• great difficulty with figures (e.g. learning tables), reading music or anything which entails
interpreting symbols;
• learning foreign languages;
• inconsistent in performance;
• may omit a word or words, or write one twice;
• very likely to suffer from constant nagging uncertainty;
• great difficulty in taking good notes because cannot listen and write at the same time;
• when looking away from a book they are reading or a blackboard from which they are
copying, they may have great difficulty in finding their place again;
• works slowly because of difficulties, so is always under pressure of time.
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