Abstract
Developing Dyslexic students’ grammatical competence through blended learning
Dyslexia is defined by the International Dyslexia Association as “a specific language disorder where the brain is unable to distinguish, process and codify coherently”. In other words, dyslexics have poor language processing. The four components constituting a language are phonology, semantics, grammar and pragmatics (Snowling, 2006) but dyslexics don’t process them all at the same level of strength (Knudsen, 2012). According to Marion Rondot-Hay, dyslexic students will suffer in acquiring a second language as much as they do in their first language. Despite those difficulties, dyslexic students can acquire a second language, but using certain teaching techniques and accommodations to achieve the targeted results.
Dyslexic students learning a foreign language face some difficulties while acquiring grammar, such as word order and parts of speech recognition (Rondot-Hay, 2012). Furthermore, dyslexics find difficulty in learning new syntax, such as the past, present, and future tenses (Knudsen, 2012). Moreover, The British Dyslexia Association states that common difficulties dyslexic students face are manifested in information processing, memory, sequencing, concentration, and visual perception.
Online teaching facilitates learning a second language for dyslexic students. It provides a learning environment that accommodates every student’s personal learning style (Marsh, 2012). This allows students to work with their own pace without time or place restriction (Marsh, 2012). However, in class instructions are indispensable for dyslexic students as they need multisensory teaching which can only be achieved through face to face contact. Consequently, blended learning is considered the ideal option when teaching a foreign language to dyslexic students as the core concept behind blended learning is introducing online teaching along with recognizing the importance of keeping face to face instructions (Janet, 2008).
The recommended pedagogy for teaching grammar to dyslexic students is to focus on different components of language, creating what is called “grammatical awareness” (Nijakowska, 2010). The objectives when teaching a grammatical structure should be teaching students its “constituent elements”, “proper order”, and “meaning”; in other words, dealing with grammar as a means for learning the language and not an end in itself. Ganshow and other researchers have agreed that the “multi-sensory approach”, “communicative”, and “total physical response” are the best techniques to teach grammar to dyslexic students learning a foreign language.
Accordingly, this presentation will focus on applying those techniques through blended learning with dyslexic students to facilitate Arabic grammar acquisition as a second language.
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