AN INTRODUCTION TO DYSLEXIA IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

MODULE 4

Teaching reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar

We have finally arrived at the last unit of the course. Some of the difficulties
outlined here may occur with any language learner, but there are aspects of
learning reading, writing, vocabulary and grammar that might be particularly
challenging for students with a SpLD such as dyslexia. The same is true for the
methods and techniques described in this module; they may be useful to all
learners, but are especially beneficial for dyslexic students.

Reading

Teaching reading in classes which include learners with specific learning

differences like dyslexia should follow the procedure we are familiar with from
ELT methodology. However, we have to bear in mind the specific issues that
dyslexic learners have. The intervention in ​lower order decoding processes
(letter sound correspondence, words and their meanings, morphological and
syntactic structures) should precede the work on the ​higher order decoding
processes ​(understanding and evaluating information).

In practice this means that a teacher should provide scaffolding at a word level
before students begin to read texts. Teachers should introduce the words that
might be problematic for the learners, practise the pronunciation, draw the
student's attention to the letter sound correspondence, and explain the
meanings of the words clearly. Where we ask learners without SPLDs to predict
some of the words from the context, we could perhaps provide glossaries for
dyslexic learners.

Having done the work on the lower level processes the students can proceed to
the high order processing. Here the students with SPLDs should focus on

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developing reading strategies. Kormos, J., & Smith, A. M. (2012) emphasize
that dyslexic students greatly benefit from the ​explicit teaching of reading
strategies such as using prediction, looking for key pieces of information and
identifying the logic of the text and guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words
and linguistic constructions. Other specialists suggest using the "reciprocal
teaching" technique: children with comprehension problems are not always
aware that they are not really understanding and getting the full meaning from a
text. So, modelled by the teacher, students are shown how to stop and ask
questions like-- Why? What? Who? Where? Similarly, when there are breaks in
comprehension teachers can show them remedial strategies like re-reading or
generating inferences which will help students engage in deeper processing
and better understanding. This is undoubtedly beneficial to ALL learners in a
class.

When selecting reading texts for students with dyslexia or other SpLDs, several
considerations might need to be taken into account. Kormos, J., & Smith, A. M.
(2012) propose the following:

1. Contents of the text

● should be motivating to read

● should awaken learners’ curiosity in the information
● should create the need for reading
● should take the social and cultural context into consideration

2. The length

● should be appropriate for learners’ level

● should be increased gradually (short paragraphs first)
● long texts should be broken into smaller sections
● long texts should be dealt with in several stages of the lesson or over a
number of lessons

3. Language quality - vocabulary

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 ● the level of difficulty of the reading text should be in line with the learners'
level of proficiency
● the text should not contain a high number of unfamiliar words
● guessing the meaning from context can be challenging for learners with
dyslexia, so provide glossaries of words

4. Language quality -grammar

● the number of unfamiliar grammatical structures should be limited

● complex syntactic or morphological constructions should be reformulated

5. Text layout

● should be organized into short paragraphs

● the font and size of the letters should be appropriate (see Module 2)
● should be accompanied with illustrative pictures or visual images
● audio recording of the text is also useful for learners with SpLD.

Moreover, these authors state that although every language learner seems to
benefit from pre-reading activities, their use is particularly helpful for dyslexic
students. It is vital that they get sufficient support before they start reading in
order to get a sense of accomplishment and a successful reading experience.
Pre-reading activities then should always pre-teach vocabulary and help with
lower-order decoding (unknown words can be highlighted and colour-coded in
the text). Pre-reading tasks should motivate students to read the text, activate
their background knowledge of the topic and stimulate expectations.

While-reading ​tasks should be graded from global understanding to more

detail; teachers can demonstrate effective reading strategies and make
students reflect on them. The comprehension of the text can be checked by
using questions that require short answers or with the help of tables, diagrams
and flowcharts. The use of multi-sensory tasks to check comprehension
(illustrations for the reading or acting out the story ) are a great option, but do

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not make dyslexic learners read aloud and expected them to understand what
they read at the same time!

Post reading activities may include the use of texts for further language
practice (role plays, discussions, production of short pieces of writing such as
changing the ending of a story, composing a letter and so on). If students have
difficulties in L2 writing, writing activities can be replaced by oral tasks.
Vocabulary learning activities based on words that occurred in the reading also
help learners memorize words in context. It is important to use reading texts as
models for writing. The reading programme for students with a SpLD needs to
be carefully structured and should build up reading skills gradually and
cumulatively.

Writing

Kormos, J., & Smith, A. M. (2012) believe writing activities should be introduced
gradually, starting from very short sentence level tasks and tasks in which
students only need to fill in selected pieces of missing information before
moving to longer stretches of written discourse. Due to the fact that writing
might be especially difficult for learners with a SpLD, it is imperative that writing
tasks should be motivating and interesting and should provide a feeling of
success and sense of accomplishment.

Activities that precede the actual writing task and assist learners in planning the
content and the linguistic aspects of their text are vital in helping learners to
overcome their writing difficulties. The use of brainstorming activities and the
preparation of an outline for the text are strongly recommended (interactive
mindmapping and brainstorming tools are available on the Internet). In addition,
providing learners with a model text, writing frame or template might be useful
(See Figure 1).

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Figure.1: writing templates

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Furthermore, dyslexic learners might also benefit from colour-coding in these
models and templates because it gives them guidance on constructing
sentences. Students might also find it easier to organize their ideas through the
use and manipulation of shapes or colours that indicate different parts of the
paragraph (e.g. topic sentence – blue, supporting example – yellow) or the
essay (e.g. introduction – rectangle, body – circle, conclusion – triangle).
Pappa, A. (2019) proposes teaching the structure of the paragraph through the
“Tree paragraph technique”. The name ​tree is an acronym of the components of
a paragraph (​T​opic-​R​easons-​E​xamples-​E​nd). Depicting the tree paragraph as
shown in the photo (See Figure 2) “assists in transforming writing from an
abstract process into a non-abstract, memorable and joyful procedure”. The tree
paragraph is a mnemonic technique which helps develop writing skills and
memorization of the elements of a paragraph.

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Figure 2: The trunk is the topic, the basis and most important element for the coherence of the paragraph.
The branches represent reasons to support ideas and thoughts. The seeds on the branches serve as
examples to justify the arguments. The fallen seeds on the ground mirror the end of the paragraph or the
concluding sentence (Pappa, 2019).

The review of vocabulary and syntactic structures necessary for the writing task
also assists learners by activating the necessary linguistic items and
constructions in their memory, helping them retrieve these while writing.

Writing activities involving the use of modern technology such as writing blogs
and sharing and co-editing documents online might also be effective means for
enhancing the writing and reading skills of dyslexic students. These tasks are
more manageable than traditional writing activities ​as they can be easily edited
and commented on.

Writing tasks should be short, but if the construction of longer texts is required,
it is advised to introduce brief intervals in the writing process (e.g. students can
be asked to prepare illustrations for their writing in these breaks). Students with
a SpLD might require support from the teacher while writing and other assistive
devices such as laptops, electronic dictionaries and spell-checkers might also
aid learners in composing their text.

It is important that corrections in written work should not be overwhelming.

Seeing a large number of errors underlined might be very discouraging for the
students. When giving feedback it is advised to focus on just one aspect in
writing such as spelling and ignore other aspects like text organization.

Vocabulary

Students who have SpLDs may experience difficulties when learning vocabulary
and grammar in an additional language. Some of the main causes of problems
in these areas are likely to be the learner's limited phonological awareness and
difficulties with short term memory and sequencing. For both, vocabulary and
grammar, the four key principles underlying teaching should be an emphasis on

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introducing small ​manageable chunks of language​, providing ​explicit
instruction​, and the opportunity for lots of ​repetition ​and ​recycling​.

Multi-sensory activities should be used for both presentation and practice of

vocabulary. Learning new lexical items involves a complex process of
combining information about the sound, pronunciation, meaning, and spelling,
as well as pragmatic information relating to how the new items can be used in
context. It's usually best to limit the number of items to be learned—not more
than 6-8 words per lesson -- and to focus explicitly on attaching the
pronunciation to the meaning before moving on to the spelling and other
aspects of the item.

New items should be presented in a context that is familiar to learners. It is also

a good idea not to teach items that are too similar in any aspect in one lesson.
For example, “who”/“how” or “when”/”where” because of the phonological and
syntactic similarities.

In presenting a new item it is useful to provide a kinesthetic or physical cue--

like a mime or a gesture-- as well as a visual cue to complement the
pronunciation. This helps to prompt retrieval of the word in other circumstances
when they hear or read it. Visual cues might take the form of a picture or sketch
and could be produced by the learners themselves to help reinforce the item in
their memories (See Figure 3).

Figure 3:​ ​Mnemonics from Pappa, 2019

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In learning the spelling of new items, it's useful to help learners notice any
familiar patterns in the words, as well as pointing out unusual phoneme
grapheme correspondences. Tracing the word using large arm motions-- or
what we call sky writing-- and then gradually reducing the scale to tracing the
letters on the page, can be useful in reinforcing the sequence of letters. And this
can be backed up with mnemonics. These are little stories or rhymes that the
learner can make up for him or herself, and they can use their first language if
they feel that helps. Pappa, A. (1019) proposes mnemonics in the words
“disease” and “woolen” (See Figure 4). The drawings inside and the stories
behind them as well as different use of color help learners remember both the
definition and spelling of the word.

Figure 4: Mnemonics​. ​By drawing a thermometer and a cup of tea with the letters of the word “disease”,
they can remember the definition and the difficult part of spelling. The story could be about someone who
got sick and drank his magic tea to get well. In the word “woollen”, a picture of a grandmother who is
knitting a woollen scarf can be imagined and the double “oo” transformed into glasses of the grandmother
who uses the knitting needles for her creations. The two needles help learners remember the use of
double ll in the word “woollen” (Pappa, 2019).

Ideally there should be several opportunities for the learner to hear and produce
the new items within the lesson they are presented in, as well as in subsequent
lessons. But they also need some form of practice between lessons. For this,
computer games are useful as they engage learners of all ages.

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But even simple techniques, such as building a pack of vocabulary cards can be
effective. The learner should write the target language items on one side, and
then equivalents in the first language or pictures that remind them of the
meaning on the other. Something similar could also be done with a mobile
phone or a voice recorder, where the learner reads out a list of target items with
a space between them, and then plays it back checking that they can give an
equivalent from their first language for each one.

Watch the video on teaching vocabulary to dyslexic learners: Video is

included in Module 4.

Grammar

When working on developing grammar, presenting the new constructions in a

familiar context is crucial to ensure fundamental understanding of the
appropriate use of the new structure. It should build on what students already
know and just one small development should be presented at a time. So for
example, if students have become comfortable with forming affirmative simple
present sentences, they may be ready to progress on to forming negative
simple present sentences. But forming questions in the present simple, may be
a further step for another session, another time.

The rules relating to the new construction need to be pointed out and made
explicit along with any common exceptions. Students may well be able to infer
the rules from exposure to the language just as well as any other student could,
but there is always a risk that dyslexic students may be making different
connections from those that most of us make. And therefore, they may build a
slightly different set of rules resulting in nonstandard usage, which unfortunately
often becomes fixed.

As with any new language point, students who have a SpLD will need a lot of
practice in order for it to become secure. Ideally, this would be in the form of
activities that allow all the sensory channels to be activated. Using colour to
indicate different parts of speech is an effective way to help learners see how

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sentences are formed. And using something tactile like Cuisenaire rods or
Lego bricks to build sentences adds a kinesthetic dimension (See Figure 5).
This also allows a way in to talking about the structure of the language without
adding the grammatical terminology like ​subject,​ ​verb,​ ​noun​, etc. which many
learners find confusing. This is really important because talking about the
structure of language and developing meta-cognitive strategies that learners
can draw on independently is immensely helpful. See this ​activity to teach
question forms using Cuisenaire rods and ​this activity for teaching connectives,
both by ​ELT Well​ (Also available as PDFs in Module 4).

Figure 5: Sensory activities for teaching grammar

Pappa A. (2019) suggests teaching the structure of the sentence using

color-coded Lego blocks (See Figure 6).

Figure 6:​ Lego blocks used for teaching the sentence structure (​Pappa, 2019)

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Once students have had the opportunity to use the new structure orally, practice
activities can be added that incorporate the use of text. But ideally, these should
offer a supported framework. For example, students could be asked to complete
some sentences with some words missing or to rearrange individual word cards
to make a sentence. We need to make sure that there is not too sudden an
increase in the demands of the task, such as free writing might present.
Otherwise, the attention of the learner may be taken away from the grammar
point under consideration to tackle more fundamental issues of letter formation
or spelling. Eventually, of course, tasks may be presented that do require free
writing. But even at this point the topic should be familiar, and plenty of time
should be allowed for thinking through how to express the ideas.

As it can be seen from above, there are several challenges facing dyslexic
learners when they come to develop their vocabulary and grammar in an
additional language, mainly due to phonological processing, memory, and
sequencing constraints. However, for every challenge we can find a solution or
a strategy that will help learners make progress. It is important to keep in mind
that not all learners with a SpLD will experience the same challenges in the
same ways. The key is to offer a range of strategies and help learners discover
which ones work best for them.

Watch these videos on teaching grammar to dyslexic learners. Think of

ways you could adapt them to the grammar points you usually teach.

Video 1​: Using color coded foam cards for teaching sentence structure where
every part of speech is a different color.

Video 2​: Multisensory teaching of plurals.

Watch a third video on a multisensory task for teaching grammar on Module 4

(Video included in the module)

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Mind maps

Instructional advances have given way to some exciting learning strategies

which can be extremely beneficial to dyslexic students. One strategy in
particular is mind mapping, which is simply a diagram used to visually display
information. Mind maps break down complicated information into chunks, which
can be arranged into branches and sub branches making the information easier
to comprehend. With limited distractions when creating new ideas, mind maps
help dyslexic learners structure assignments and presentations visually (See
Figures 7 and 8)
Although many learners embrace mind mapping using pen and paper, there are
several software programs that can make the mind mapping process less
complicated and more engaging (In Module 3 some mind mapping software
has been suggested). It is advisable to revise the rules of mind mapping before
proposing activities with it. Watch these videos:

 ​Rules for Mind Mapping

 ​How to Make a Mind Map - The Basics.

Figure 7: Mind maps for grammar learning

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 Figure 8: Mind map based on a text about Shakespeare’s life and work (Pappa, 2019). See full text on
Module 4 Word document.

Module 4 Activity (optional)

Module 4 Activity 1: ​Watch an interview with an English teacher who has

experience teaching learners with dyslexia in her classes. She provides some
explanation on how to teach speaking and listening (Video is available in
Module 4)​.

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CONCLUSION

The techniques recommended in this course are beneficial not only to the
dyslexic learners but to all students in the classroom. Nevertheless, it is
important to bear in mind the attitudes of dyslexic students towards language
learning. Many of them have a negative attitude because of lack of success,
and, it is not uncommon that their former language teachers were indifferent
towards their struggles and difficulties. A change in attitude plus the
accommodations suggested here can indeed help them achieve success as
foreign language learners.

We hope this training course has had a positive effect on your teaching. Now,
how would you complete the speech bubble below?

Elaboración de Módulos I (parte B), II, III, IV : ​Prof. Melisa Bergese- Coord.
de Lenguas Extranjeras (DATP)- Ministerio de Educación de Tucumán.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

● Dyslexia and foreign language teaching MOOC. Available at:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/dyslexia
● Kormos, J., & Smith, A. M. (2012). Teaching foreign languages to
learners with specific learning differences. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Chapter 7
● Mindmaps. Retrieved from
https://www.matchware.com/download/Why-mind-mapping-is-helpful-for-
Dyslexic-learners-EN.pdf
● Nijakowska, J., Kormos, J., Hanusova, S., Jaroszewicz, B., Kálmos, B.,
Imrene Sarkadi, A., …Pižorn, K. (2015). DysTEFL2 – Dyslexia for
teachers of English as a foreign language. Self-study course.
● Pappa, A. 3Dlexia Paradigm Time Capsule Transformative & Inclusive
pedagogy for the 4th Industrial revolution to Support Equity in Education
in Tucuman Argentina. (2019)
● Video 1: Using color coded foam cards for teaching sentence structure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPXFGCMnO3U
● Video 2: Multisensory teaching of plurals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e1Koc0PEuw
● Rules for Mind Mapping:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Roy4E4ZbE
● Grammar activities by ELT Well:
http://eltwell.com/resources/inclusive-language-teaching/

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