English for Special Needs: Teaching EFL to Students with Dyslexia

Dyslexia has received little attention for decades, but now it attracts the interest of the media and general public but, more importantly, the interest of teachers and researchers. The significant increasing number of students with dyslexia shows how important it is that language teachers know about dyslexia and how to assist dyslexic students in the classroom. As English is known as an orthographically deep language, the translation between oral and written English is a notoriously unpredictable process and this inconsistency impact both spelling and reading respectively. In our study, we will outline language teaching methods that can enhance the success of language learning of students with dyslexia, in EFL settings. The methods and techniques we describe include the so-called multi-sensory structured learning (Sparks et al.1991; Nijakowska 2010). Besides, we will propose a Narrative-Based Approach to teaching EFL to students with dyslexia. Narrative approaches are presented in many publications on dyslexia (cf. Guaraldi, Peroni e Moretti Fantera 2010), but our innovative proposal refers to the transposition of narrative-based medicine techniques in foreign language teaching. Medical aims become school-oriented and learning aims in our perspective, fostering a positive and empathetic relationship between learner and teacher. Moreover, we will also present some cognitive-based activities using technologies, such as Brain Computer Interface (BCI) devices to enhance attention skills in students. On the one hand, technology enables language teachers to act as designers, coaches, guides, facilitators. On the other hand, students get more engaged in the learning process as active learners, team builders, collaborators, and discoverers.