Page 32 - ELG1911 Nov Issue 467

El•Gazette 467.qxp_El•Gazette 467 23/10/2019 13:10 Page 32

THOUGHT LEADER .

The woman who wants

EFL to include everyone

Ron Ragsdale in conversation with Judit Kormos

or us, You are a thought leader You are particularly known for your work
partly because, as a Hungarian on dyslexia in second language learning
working at the University of – a subject for which Lancaster, and not
FLancaster, you represent a new just the university, seems to have
kind of ELT influencer – not only a become a world centre. How did you
woman, but a non-native speaker and an first become interested?
EU citizen working in Brexit Britain. Have
you found this to be an advantage, or a I became interested in specific learning
disadvantage, in your career? difficulties about 20 years ago when one of my
Masters students asked me if I knew anything
Being a non-native speaker in an English- about dyslexia. He assumed that because I
speaking environment is almost always a taught psycholinguistics, I would be an expert
challenge, and I have often perceived myself on the topic and that I could supervise his I like solving
to be lacking the competence of native dissertation. I had to frankly admit that other
speakers. In the UK, however, I soon realised than knowing what the word meant, I had problems related to
that it was only my perception – in fact, I am very little knowledge about dyslexia. So, we language learning and
just as legitimate a participant in any learned together!
conversation as anybody else. He was followed by another very teaching and most of
I have been helped by the growing enthusiastic MA student, Ágnes Sarkadi, who my research questions
recognition that non-native speakers are not was dyslexic herself and who was already a
deficient, and their multilingual competence strong advocate of rights for dyslexic students originate from
is something to be celebrated. in Hungary. After she finished her
Lancaster University has a large proportion dissertation, we won a major grant to start a classroom practice.
of international staff and students. So, being comprehensive research programme on equal
an international lecturer and researcher in rights in language education, complemented
Lancaster gives me different perspectives and with a clear focus on teacher education. I What is the most important thing about
helps me better understand the challenges our have been working in this area continuously learners with Specific Learning that
students face. I also speak several languages, ever since. teachers need to know?
and these multilingual skills have allowed me
to co-operate with colleagues from a wide Why has it taken so long for the EFL It is difficult, but perhaps what I would
range of backgrounds. profession to put it on the agenda? highlight is that student-centred language
I have recently been working in an EU- teaching that uses multi-sensory teaching
funded project designed to foster inclusive I think one of the reasons is that very little methods, guided discovery activities, frequent
language education in German. research has been available on dyslexic revision and recycling is very helpful for
Unfortunately, Brexit threatens some of these language learners prior to 2000, and most of dyslexic learners.
collaborative ties, and I am deeply concerned that research was conducted in the USA. In fact, inclusive language teaching that
how we will be able to continue our work in When I proposed our first edited collection recognises the different strengths and
the area of dyslexia and language teaching. on this topic to major international weaknesses of each student, applies
publishers, after some initial enthusiasm, they differentiation techniques, trains students to
And what was the biggest culture shock said dyslexia affects a relatively small apply language learning strategies and pays
you experienced? proportion of students and there was not a big attention to the varying needs of students,
enough market for such a book. benefits all students, not just those who have
One of the biggest culture shocks was that It was Multilingual Matters, a small family- specific learning difficulties.
people use so many acronyms. Half the time I owned publisher in the UK, which recognised
had no clue what was being discussed. But the niche and the social relevance of the In collaboration with Bimali Indrarathne,
now I am probably also guilty of using too topic and in the end published our edited you have done three recent studies on
many myself! collection, and later our book with Anne explicit and implicit learning. How did
However, I have enjoyed a lot of things Margaret Smith on teaching languages to you become interested in this area?
from the moment I arrived. The most notable students with specific learning differences.
was the abundance of resources available in The publication of the book, and then a My interest in explicit instruction is also
terms of teaching and research. In Hungary, I follow-up EU-funded teacher training project, linked to the theme of dyslexia and language
had to buy copier paper and toner myself, and which won an ELTon award, helped to put learning. It is generally recommended that
had very limited access to journals, books and inclusive language teaching at the forefront of dyslexic students should be given explicit
funding. the ELT agenda. Now it has become such a explanations of different language structures
I also enjoyed that finally I could put prominent topic that in the past three years because they find implicit learning
students at the centre of my teaching, and I almost every major English language teaching challenging.
did not have to make compromises to meet organization has dedicated at least one Most of my language teaching experience,
my students’ learning needs. conference to this theme. which I gained in the early years of my career,
32 November 2019