MFL & INCLUSION | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DYSLEXIA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This page is hosted by Dr Margaret Crombie, Quality Improvement Officer for Highland Council, Scotland. | ||
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Margaret is an experienced teacher and lecturer. She has considerable experience in the assessment, teaching and support of dyslexic children and adults, and has conducted research into the learning of foreign languages in school. She is a former trustee of the Scottish Dyslexia Trust, served as a director of Dyslexia Scotland for several years until recently, and is a patron of Dyslexia Scotwest. She has lectured throughout the UK on a variety of aspects of dyslexia. She was on the steering group for the First International Conference on Multilingualism and Dyslexia held in Manchester in 1999. Margaret has contributed to many other publications and taken part in a number of working groups considering various aspects of dyslexia. One of the most recent of these is the Count Me In: Responding to Dyslexia project. This is a joint initiative consisting of The Scottish Dyslexia Trust, the Universities of Strathclyde and Edinburgh, The Dylexia Institute, Education Authority personnel and a parent. | ||
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My research into foreign language learning in schools took place mainly in the early nineties when modern foreign language learning was becoming compulsory for all children in the first four years of secondary school. At that time I was teaching dyslexic children full time, and parents were frequently asking me if their children should not be taken out of language learning. Statements such as, “Well, if they can't learn to read and write in their own language, how will they ever cope with learning French, German or whatever?” I did not know the answer to this question and sought to find it. All searches in the UK were negative and it appeared that any recommendations that were being made in Scotland had no genuine research foundation. Further investigation led me to two researchers in the United States - Le Ganschow and Richard Sparks, and Le was good enough to send me some details of the work which they had done on the other side of the Atlantic. This was a start, but as their research did not relate directly to school learning, I decided that this should be the topic for my Masters degree which I was about to embark upon. Findings were very revealing and contrary to advice which was being given that speaking and listening should pose no problems for dyslexic pupils, I found that those areas did pose considerable difficulties for most dyslexic youngsters. Further information on my research is published in Dyslexia Journal 1996. However, this did not convince me that dyslexic pupils should not study another language. It did however make it all the more important that the right methods of teaching were in place, and since then I have spent considerable time and effort in identifying the strategies that are most likely to meet with success. | |||
| My findings are summarised in this article | |||
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| Here are some tips to help support dyslexic students | ||
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| Links to other websites and to information about software that may help dyslexic learners | ||
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| My contribution to the EU report 'SEN in Europe: The Teaching and Learning of Languages | ||||
| Research and publications | ||||
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If there is anything here that you would like to discuss or comment on, contact me. | ||
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NOTICE BOARD | ||
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New | DYSLEXIA AND MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES Moira Thomson, an experienced teacher and manager with considerable knowledge of dyslexia, has taken a vast amount of current thinking and up-to-date research and put together easy-to-follow guides. Whatever their current or previous level of knowledge, all will be able to find something that will enable them to help pupils cope with the various subjects in the best ways possible. http://www.dyslexiascotland.org.uk/documents/2_7ForeignLanguages.pdf The material will be published in book form by Routledge in Summer 2008. | |||
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MAXIMISING POTENTIAL: a resource for teachers to support inclusion in modern languages Unit 2 of this programme uses support for dyslexic students as an example of planning to meet a wide range of learning needs. Find the programme at: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/maximisingpotential/ See also Workshop 1 on this site, from which this Unit is derived. | ||
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SUPPORTING DYSLEXIC LEARNERS IN MODERN LANGUAGES This training event was held at the A K Bell Library in Perth on Saturday 27th August 2005. It was open to teachers of modern languages and to teachers who support dyslexic learners in modern languages. FOLLOW-UP for those who attended.
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BOOKS ON DYSLEXIA AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING Multilingualism, Literacy and Dyslexia Dyslexia - Successful Inclusion in the Secondary School Dyslexia and Foreign Language Learning | ||
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PHONIC AWARENESS | ||
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A paper on language immersion amongst the 5-14 resources. From page two there are some ideas on how to teach phonics in French and German. The only other UK teaching resource we've found so far to support teaching of 'foreign' phonics is the Glasgow 5-14 pack. Some examples pf sounds/spelling are included in each unit, and the resources on the disc provide a compilation. A search for authentic teaching materials used with French youngsters is in hand and results will be posted. The French website Phonétique provides lots of practice in linking sounds and spelling. It may be of interest to dyslexic students of French and their teachers: http://phonetique.free.fr Here is an abstract from a study done in Finland, so it's about learning English as a foreign language, but it's quite short and very interesting: Another short piece on Using Phonemic Awareness with ESL Students which concludes that, by failing to teach phonics we're condemning all but the brightest learners (who will pick up the system anyway) to reading AS IF they were dyslexic... A new book just published by CILT deals with phonics, vocabulary learning and grammatical awareness. See Patterns and Procedures: focus on phonics and grammar by Heather Rendall. Heather maintains that current practice often leaves learners with no option but to stuggle with the foreign language in ways similar to the difficulties that dyslexic students experience in learning and using English. She offers practical advice on how to present and practise new vocabulary and grammar in the early stages so that that learners become competent and self-sufficient and above all literate in their new language. Find further details here: http://www.cilt.org.uk/publications/cpf6.htm | ||||
| Download: Lynn Erler's article | ||||
Here are some more extracts from 'Francophonie', this time from Llewelin Siddon's article Practical reflections on the sound/spelling link. The complete article was published in 'Francophonie', Spring 2001, No 23, pages 10-14. Extracts reproduced here with permission. | ||||
| Llewelin Siddon's article | ||||
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OTHER SOURCES OF ADVICE | ||
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Extract from The Sixth BDA International Conference: Modern Foreign Language Learning. | ||
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Download from from the British Dyslexia Association's website: Modern Foreign Languages and Dyslexia: A survivors' guide to Languages and the National Curriculum This information sheet is designed to help dyslexic students get the most out of learning a foreign language. It is aimed at parents and students but it also aims to help teachers understand the needs of their students. | ||
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Dyslexia in Different Languages, ed. Nata Goulandris, published by Whurr 2003. The languages researched are German, Dutch, Greek, Polish, Russian, Swedish, French, Norwegian, Hebrew, Indian languages, Japanese languages and Chinese, as well as difficulties faced by bilingual children. (Source: Dyslexia On-line Journal) | ||
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Links to Hull University's website where potential students with dyslexia can find advice on studying Modern Languages, and some case studies: | ||
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A website for classroom assistants | ||
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'Dyslexics excell at Japanese' | ||
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Resources | ||
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This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence. | ||
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Page last updated: 2.5.08 | ||||
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