Page 33 - ELG2404 April Issue 489

REVIEWS

Teaching Languages to Students with Specific
Learning Differences (2024) (2nd edition)
MM Textbooks
By Judit Kormos and Anne Margaret Smith
ISBN: 978-1-80041-860-8
or most people, language learning
comes easily and effortlessly; for
many others wishing to acquire an
Fadditional language, however, it is a
constant struggle. Until quite recently, the
latter were politely described as deficient
and perhaps as having a disability, while less
sensitive terms included ‘educationally sub-
normal’. The authors of this enlightening
title encourage us to perceive students with
specific Learning differences (SpLD) as just,
well, ‘different’.
The preface alone is worth reading in
detail, as here the authors explain that
around 10% of students exhibit learning
differences. Considering this statistic, in every
group of twenty students we are likely to
find at least two learners who have a SpLD.
These include autism – with which learners
have issues interacting socially – ADHD
(attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder),
dyslexia (comprehending texts), dyscalculia
(comprehending numbers) and dyspraxia (the
coordination of movement).
Early chapters cover discourses of
disability, particularly in relation to dyslexia,
a term coined in the 1880s by Rudolph
Berlin, a German ophthalmologist, which
comes from the Greek words for ‘difficulty’
and ‘word’. While the medical discourse
expresses disability as an abnormality which
requires intervention of a medical nature,
the legal discourse attempts to improve the
rights of disadvantaged individuals. With
the current advent of a more inclusive
discourse and the acknowledgement of what
is now termed ‘neurodiversity’, thankfully,
long gone are incidents where learners
are likely to receive a smack around the
head for inadvertently not keeping up with
the lesson.

There is a wealth of
information in this title
in every hundred now meets the criteria with an interest to pursue research into the
Later chapters are also enlightening as for the diagnosis of ASD, whereas in 1981 area. Readers will come away with a much
they review the debates around definitions of this figure was 1 or 2 in every 1,000. And, greater understanding of not only how SpLD
SpLDs and give an overview of their recent according to research, ASD also occurs may reveal themselves in learners’ behaviour,
classifications. They then list features that approximately four times more frequently but also a clearer notion of how they may
identify ADHD and autism spectrum disorder in males than females and is largely be managed and, in many cases, overcome.
(ASD), both of which can have a huge genetic. Learners with ASD tend to exhibit I would recommend tutors on all entry-level
impact on the process of L2 learning. If – as a resistance towards changes in daily routine, courses encourage participants to read at least
busy language teacher interested in this area and demonstrate hypersensitivity to sensory the first two chapters.
but with limited time – I suggest you look at stimuli, such as being often disturbed by
the lists on pages 23 to 26. Reflecting on my even slight noise or mild smells. Previously,
own many classes of language learners down such persons would be labelled ‘fussy’, or
the years, I can now more easily identify how ‘awkward’, but providing routine activities Wayne Trotman is
some struggled to cope; unfortunately, at the that encourage quiet cooperation instead a teacher educator
time I did not have the relevant knowledge to of the hustle and bustle of competition are at Izmir Katip
deal with their angst. suggested as therapy for language learners Çelebi University,
The section devoted to ASD on page 23 with ASD. Izmir, Turkey.
provides illuminating details such as how There is a wealth of information in this
due to modern-day awareness, one child title, one which would surely encourage those
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