No student left behind: dealing with learning difficulties in the EFL classroom

By Lic. Silvia Rovegno

Task 1 – True or False?

Learning disabilities are all the same

• What are learning difficulties?• LDs affect one or more of the ways that a

person takes in, stores, or uses information.• What types then?

Phonological processing

Memory and attention

Processing speed

Language processing

Perceptual-motor

procesing

Executive functions

Visual-spatial processing

More boys than girls are affected by learning disabilities

1 - 4

Learning difficulties and Attention Deficit Disorder only affect children.

Adults grow out of the disorders.

Learning disabilities are only academic in nature. They do not affect other areas of a person’s life.

Children with learning disabilities are identified in kindergarten and first grade.

School accommodations and Individual Education Plans (IEPs) give students with learning disabilities an unfair advantage over their peers

Learning disabilities can be cured or out-grown

Dyslexic children are gifted.

Left-handedness is a sign of dyslexia.

People with LDs shouldn’t learn a foreign language.

Common Types of Learning Disabilities

Dyslexia Difficulty reading Problems reading, writing, spelling, speaking

Dyscalculia Difficulty with math Problems doing math problems, understanding time,

using money

Dysgraphia  Difficulty with writing Problems with handwriting, spelling, organizing ideas

Dyspraxia (Sensory

Integration Disorder)

Difficulty with fine motor skills Problems with hand–eye coordination, balance, manual

dexterity

Dysphasia/Aphasia Difficulty with language Problems understanding spoken language, poor reading

comprehension

Auditory Processing

Disorder

Difficulty hearing differences between

sounds

Problems with reading, comprehension, language

Visual Processing Disorder Difficulty interpreting visual information Problems with reading, math, maps, charts, symbols,

pictures

What is dyslexia?

• Neurologically-based disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language.

• it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic.

• Dyslexia is not a result of lack of motivation, sensory impairment, inadequate instructional or environmental opportunities, or other limiting conditions, but may occur together with these conditions.

Central problems:recognizing phonemes making the connection between the sound

(phoneme) and the letter symbol (grapheme) for that sound

blending sounds into wordsrecognizing word meaning

Dyslexia: Early childhood

• Difficulty with fastening coat, shoe laces etc• Clumsiness• Difficulty with following a simple rhythm• Problems understanding directional prepositions (in/out, up/down,

under/over, etc.)• Confusion between right and left• Excessive spoonerisms, e.g. ‘par cark’, ‘beg and acon’• Difficulty carrying out more than one instruction• Difficulty naming objects• Difficulty remembering what day it is, their birthday, their address,

telephone number• Difficulty learning the months, days and time

Task 2 - In his own wordsPoor handwriting with many reversals and badly formed letters

Letters, syllables and words omitted,

Inconsistent spelling

Primary Years: Reading

• Missing out word(s) on a line or reading the same word(s) or line twice• Failure to recognise familiar words• Confusion between similar looking words (on/no, for/of/off/from,

ever/even/every)• Inability to blend letters together• Difficulty breaking down long words into syllables and putting the

syllables back into correct order (e.g. “frantic’for ‘fantastic’, ‘suspectible’ for ‘susceptible’ , ‘affectedly’ for ‘affectionately’ )

Primary Years: Writing and Spelling• Poor handwriting with many reversals and badly formed letters• Inability to copy accurately, particularly from the blackboard• Messy work with many crossings out and words tried several

times (e.g.sens, cens, sns, scens, sense)• Persistent confusion with similar looking letters (b/d, p/g, n/u,

m/w, s/z)• Letters, syllables and words omitted, inserted ir ub tge wrong

order• Lack of or indiscriminate use of punctuation• Indiscriminate use of capital letters ( e.g. raBBit )• Inability to stay close to the margin

Secondary School

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/

http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/

Dyslexia and EFL: main areas of difficulty• Maintaining the pace of the class• Unable to respond immediately when called upon

spontaneously• Comprehending spoken language especially when spoken

quickly or when sounds are too different from native language

• Breaking down words of more than one syllable (prefixes, suffixes and compounds)

• Understanding and applying grammatical rules• Hearing a word and recognizing it as the same word in

writing

How to help sts with learning difficulties?

Classroom Management

Assessment

Lesson Planning

Material Design

Classroom Management

Seating arrangement: sit sts with difficulties closer to you so as to quickly assist them during class

Timing: Allow extra time to complete tasks and tests

Use visual organizers: when writing on wb (colours, shapes, drawings)Divide instructions by action,

provide demonstration and examples

Block out extraneous stimuli

Lesson planning• Don’t change the content, change the

teaching method• Use ICT• Use multisensory strategies: See it, Hear it,

Say it, Write it, Type it, Draw it, Act it out!

Crombie, Thomson & McColl 2004http://www.languageswithoutlimits.co.uk/dyslexia.html

Explicit

Preview

SegmentSequence

Review

Material design: reading activities

• Include visual aids

http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

Visualization example Literature

• Segment text

• Types of tasks:– Prefer closed, short questions– matching -up – Banked cloze– avoid multiple-choice questions

• Provide key wordlists to promote comprehension• Don't ask sts to read aloud

Writing

• Provide guidelines for writing ( sample structure, key words, guiding questions)

• Provide words sts have difficulty with• Reduce copying tasks (eg, from wb)• Correct only TL

Vocabulary acquisition• Mnemonics• Flash cards• Picture dictionaries• Often-used words lists• Recycling, recycling, recycling

Assessment• Should reflect the type of tasks done in class• Structured and sequenced• Provide study guide • Only TL corrected (writing tasks)• Feedback for written work should be given

orally• Oral testing as far as possible

Last but not least..• Each child is different• What works for one may not work for another• Work with school psychologist• Ask for advice from former teachers

Thank you very much

for your attention!!

Silvia