Dyslexia and learning a foreign language: A personal experience

Annals of Dyslexia, 2000 by Simon, Charlann S

Individuals with dyslexia can expect to have difficulties learning a second language since second language learning builds on native language learning. The factors that have a negative impact on learning one's native language have a similar impact on learning a foreign language (eg., difficulties with phonemic awareness, retrieving and processing linguistic information, working memory, metalinguistic explanations, stabilizing sound-symbol relationships). This participant observer report provides (1) a brief review of research on how dyslexia complicates learning a second language; (2) a description of how dyslexia has affected my educational experiences; (3) a description of personal experiences learning a foreign language between 1992-1998; and (4) recommendations for individuals with dyslexia who are faced with fulfilling a foreign language requirement and for their foreign language instructors.

DYSLEXIA AND LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

This paper is written from my perspective as a speech-language professional with dyslexia. My purpose is to describe my personal experiences in learning a foreign language to educators, fellow dyslexics, and parents of children with dyslexia, and to recount strategies I employed to pass foreign language courses successfully. I believe that my 30 years of clinical experience as a speech-language pathologist combined with my experiences in researching relationships between intact communication skills and academic performance (Simon 1998a; 1995; 1994; 1991; 1987; 1984; Damico and Simon 1993), have been significant assets in helping me to analyze my learning difficulties and to compensate for linguistic barriers that otherwise might have impeded success.

Neither the descriptions of my academic challenges nor the specific types of problems I have experienced in completing foreign language courses should be interpreted as "typical." Dyslexia is a complicated language-based learning disorder. The reader should bear in mind that this report is a participant-- observer case study, based on the belief that reflections on personal experiences complement scientific investigations of how dyslexia affects linguistic pursuits. "Student voices" research provides unique insights that are a valuable addition to scientific data bases when creating strategies for mentoring others (Commeyras 1995; Dahl 1995; Fink 1998; Gerber 1994) and suggesting policy changes (Murphy 1992). Experimental research studies, looking for commonalties across individuals, provide balance to participant-observer reports. Research and personal experience can be powerful and compatible partners as we search for relevant assessment and intervention procedures that help people with dyslexia meet societal expectations with limited stress and maximum success.

DYSLEXIA AND LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Students with dyslexia frequently find they are unable to fulfill high school and college foreign language requirements (Cohen 1983; Ganschow and Sparks 1993; Ganschow, Sparks, and Schneider 1995; Pompian and Thum 1988). In a review of research on the characteristics of students who have difficulty learning foreign languages, Ganschow, Sparks, and Javorsky (1998) cite a number of studies (many of them their own) documenting how one's native language learning facility affects one's potential for learning a foreign language. In addition, they found similarities between the linguistic profiles of students who fell into the "high risk" category on foreign language aptitude tests and subsequently did poorly in foreign language courses, and students who had a history of language disabilities, including difficulty in learning to read. Both groups had difficulties making connections between phonology and orthography and remembering and applying spelling rules. The researchers concluded that students who did poorly in foreign languages had a collective profile of weaknesses similar to the profile typically described for students with dyslexia.

Students who have undue difficulties meeting foreign language requirements may not have been formally diagnosed as being dyslexic or learning disabled (LD), or possessed academic records marked by repeated failures. For example, Dinklage (1971) reported that certain students who had been accepted at Harvard and who obtained overall GPAs of 3.5 or higher had failed to fulfill their foreign language requirement at the university. However, in reviewing the educational histories of such students, he found that many had experienced learning difficulties in earlier grades that were similar to dyslexia (e.g., difficulties with learning to read and spell, letter/symbol reversals, sound confusion, poor discrimination of sounds and syllables in words, and poor verbal memory). Later, Dinklage (1987) noted that a high IQ and periodic remedial assistance had helped some students to compensate in earlier grades for their language disabilities. Levine (1987) suggested that some children with relatively mild-albeit significant-language disabilities may have learned to comprehend and express themselves in their native language because they had been overexposed to it. These same students, however, also may have encountered more noticeable difficulties when they attempted to master a second language.