Thesis Defense

Dyslexia in the EFL mainstreAm classroom

tHESIS DEFENSE

"Expecting all children the same age to learn from the same materials is like expecting all children the same age to wear the same size clothing"

Madeleine Hunter

Facultad de Educación y Psicología

Máster en Profesorado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, Bachillerato y FP.

Universidad de Navarra

Author: Paloma Plazas Bermejo

Especialidad en Enseñanza de Idiomas

June 2023

Campus de Pamplona

Tutored by: Ruth Breeze

Index

Study

Introduction

Methodology

Hypothesis and Goals

Results (Teachers)

Results (Students)

Theoretical Framework

Conclusions

Limitations and future research

Literature Review

Introduction

Learning English is challenging for Spanish students, but for students with dyslexia the challenge is even greater.

A B2 or even C1 in English is a prerequisite for admission to some degrees at university and a requirement for most qualified job offers.

Is the education system not failing to meet the needs of students with dyslexia?

Are we not jeopardising their future?

Hypothesis and Goals

Hypothesis

Goals

Teachers in Primary and Secondary have enough knowledge about what dyslexia is and, they are aware of the difficulties students with dyslexia experience when learning English.

To learn how much knowledge about dyslexia and the difficulties it entails have teachers or English.

To learn students’ perceptions about their learning of English, the strategies and methodologies that suit them better, and their feelings towards their English teachers.

Students with dyslexia face difficulties when learning English.

Theoretical Framework

Are 1 eur coins the only valid coins to buy a coffe?

Why do we assume our brains have only one way of learning?

Theoretical Framework

Dyslexia as a Specific Learning Difference (SLD)

Dyslexia is neurological in origin

It is characterized by literacy difficulties

Other consequences may be problems in reading comprehension, growth of vocabulary and background knowlege.

Theoretical Framework

How dyslexia affects English learning?

Oral an written problems in L1 will affect the learning of a L2

• Deficits in phonological awareness
• word recognition problems
• smaller range of vocabulary

• Non-linguistic problems
• smaller working memory space
• problems maintining the concentration
• Specific English reading difficulties
• difficulties in establishing the letter-sound relationship

Literature Review

About teachers' perceptions

About students' perceptions

Kata Csizér, Judit Kormos, and Agnes Sarkadi (2009)

Joanna Nijakowska and Judit Kormos - project DysTEFL (2013):

1. Students shouldn't be exempted from learning a L2.
2. More class support to help them to succeed
3. Lack of understanding on the part of the teacher of the difficulties.
4. No matter how hard they try it, they never get the results expected.

1. Teachers encounter dyslexia in their classroom.
2. Teachers demand more training.
3. Although 70% are aware of the difficulties, only 20% implemented learning strategies.
4. Identified it only with problems with reading, but not with writing and phonological processes.

Methodology

About teachers' perceptions

About students' perceptions

Reference: questionnaire from DysTEFL project

Reference: Magdalena Szaszkiewicz's thesis.

Cuantitative methodoly

Cualitative methodology.

Online questionnaire: CP San Miguel, Jesuitinas, Facebook (Estudios Ingleses) and Instagram

Semi-structure interview.

Participants: four secondary school students from a charger school, a student from a state school and a young adult. All of them formally diagnosed with dyslexia.

Participants: 73 Primary and Secondary teachers from all over Spain answered the questionnaire.

The data were downloaded to an excel file and analysed using the "countif" function

Results

About teachers' perceptions

I learnt about dyslexia in my education.

1. At least 88% of participants deal yearly with dyslexia.
2. Of the 70% of participants who, in principle, know how to define the term dyslexia, only 14% had received training.
3. At least 81% of participants consider they need more information on appropriate methods of teaching English.

Results

About teachers' perceptions

1. More than half of participants don't know working memory is affected by dyslexia
2. But more than half of participants know dyslexia makes it difficult to learn new vocabulary and phonemes
3. An 89% of participants confirm that dyslexia makes spelling in English difficult
4. But only 47% among them don't assess spelling

Results

About students' perceptions

1. Learning English is important (travel, communication, job opportunities)
2. "I'm bad at English"
3. Problems in reading, writing, learning new words an pronunciation.
4. More teacher's support would be highly appreciate it
5. Demand for more dynamic and participatory activities
6. Preference for work in pairs or groups (projects)
7. Importance of the teacher's personality.

Conclusions

• Hypothesis about the teachers' knowledge of dyslexia has not been confirmed
• Hypothesis about the difficulties students with dyslexia face when learning English has been confirmed.
• Results in line with research published in Europe
• Teachers have experience dealing with students with dyslexia
• They are unaware of the difficulties associated with dyslexia.

• Students feel this lack of training.
• Teachers of English must to be trained to be able to detect dyslexia in their classes.
• Teachers focus mainly in adaptations in exams rather than on effective teaching methods.

Limitations and future research

Limitations

Future research

• The age range of the students in the questionnaire did not allow me to separate results for primary and secondary.

• As the questionnaire was anonymous, no data were collected on the place of residence of the teachers.
• Due to the low number of responses to the questionnaire, the data cannot be extrapolated to the total population of teachers
• Interviews carried out did not take into account the motivational factors

• In-depth study in both primary and secondary schools in Spain.
• In-depth interviews with students that also take into account the emotional factor.