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
sensitive to the perceptual features of text”. “L”-type learners “read in a hurried fashion and
produce many substantive errors (omission, additions, etc.)”. Some scholars define also “M”
(mixed) type who read slowly while making lots of mistakes.
Principles of accommodations in foreign language teaching
Even though reading is related to speaking, it is not as natural as speaking. “Our biology is
programmed to learn to speak and understand what is spoken to us. Reading, on the other hand,
must be carefully taught. Children have to spend many hours and years being taught to read.
Reading is primarily a process of decoding written symbols which stand for spoken
language. Once decoded, the child must construct these symbols into meaningful ideas”
(Nuttall & Nuttall, 2013, p. 9-10).
Foreign language learning can be extremely difficult for dyslexic learners. Reading and
writing difficulties along with the associated problems as short working memory and
problems with automaticity in language have a strong influence on their language learning.
Classroom accommodations are essential for dyslexic students. Barton (2013) stresses that
classroom accommodations are something the regular teacher does. She highlights that teacher
has to avoid humiliating this child by e.g. accidental revealing their weakness to their friends.
She suggests teachers shouldn’t ask dyslexic learners „to read out loud in class; make them
participate in spelling bee; have them come up to the board and write the answers to the
homework where they’ll see his spelling issues, and his handwriting issues and so on. The most
important thing for a teacher is to keep his struggles private. His academic struggles are nobody
else’s business but this, the parents, and the teachers”. Barton (ibid) adds that the other types of
accommodations that teachers should also provide (so the child can access the same curriculum
as everyone else) is e.g. “allow him to listen to his textbook on audio” (as he can’t read and write
at the grade level yet). Instead of written test the child should be allowed to do oral testing;
essays should be graded on content and the spelling should be ignored. Barton (ibid) points out
that such accommodations cost no money and do not “require changing the curriculum. They
just require an awareness by the teacher that these are necessary”.
There are many tips or pieces of advice how to assist or help students to enhance their
learning; the most frequently mentioned are:
Suggest and allow them to use pens with erasable ink or pencils – this means they can
delete/erase the incorrect or not well written text without crossing it and delivering
messy writing,
allow enough time to process question or task before answering,
do not ask dyslexic learners to read aloud in from of the whole class,
make sure the instructions/assignments are clear and appropriate, meets a particular
student’s needs, and students understand what they are expected to do,
if it is possible, have peer buddy – a classmate who can help the dyslexic learner (who e.g.
can sit next to him/her),
avoid gap-filling activities,
model exam/test-taking strategies,
use different learning channels simultaneously,
use e.g. colours or symbols along with the names of things, this would help them to work
more quickly and get organised more effectively as reading letters might be substituted by
“reading” colours or symbols,
concerning different activities, you may also use colours to support learning,
make sure your writing on board is well-spaced,
you may use different chalks for different lines in case there is a lot of information.
Nijakovska et al. (2013, see the project DysTEFL: Dyslexia for Teachers of English as
a Foreign Language at http://dystefl.eu/) propose a set of ways of accommodating learners with
dyslexia in the foreign language classrooms and these can be categorised into 7 groups:
43