Welcome to Dyslang

Dyslexia is a difficulty in the acquisition of reading and writing that affects 10% of the population across Europe, irrespective of language. Without appropriate intervention and support, dyslexic pupils fail to develop the literacy skills necessary to access the curriculum in all subjects and to achieve academic success.

Until recently, the support of the multilingual dyslexic individual has been considered problematic due to the diversity of individual linguistic backgrounds and the apparent complexity of the identification process. However, a shift in the education paradigm, from an attempt to label the child as dyslexic to one of supporting the difficulties irrespective of the underlying issues, has opened the potential to providing appropriate intervention and support regardless of labels.

The aim of Dyslang is to support the multilingual dyslexic individual in learning an additional curriculum language.

Understanding dyslexia

What is dyslexia

There are various definitions of dyslexia. In some countries dyslexia refers to difficulties in reading and writing whereas others use the term only for reading difficulties. However, it is generally agreed that dyslexia is related to literacy acquisition but has many associated difficulties beyond literacy. We intend to clarify the issues of dyslexia and language learning, and describe how they vary in different cultures, languages and contexts, and show that there is no typical dyslexic. Every individual has to be understood with respect to their strengths and weaknesses, abilities and disabilities. Dyslexia is not an excuse for low ability, nor the product of poor teaching, but a real problem that affects the learning of many individuals.

Dyslexia and language learning

Dyslexia can affect literacy acquisition in an individual’s first and subsequent languages. Awareness of these problems is relevant for both teachers of the language of schooling and foreign language teachers. The purpose of this project is to provide teachers with tools and strategies to help students cope with these problems.

Dyslexia and Multilingualism     What does multilingualism mean ?

  Bulgaria
Individuals with Bulgarian origin constitute 84.8% of the population, individuals with Turkish origin 8.8% of the population and individuals with Gipsy origin 4.9% of the population (for at least 25-30% of them Turkish is mother tongue). Read more

  Czech Republic
Total number of all pupils and students in the Czech Republic was 2 086 163, foreigners accounted for 2.9% of them. The biggest group are pupils coming from Vietnam, Ukraine and Slovakia. Read more

  Italy
In the school year 2010/2011 there were 710 263 students with non-Italian citizenship. Compare to the previous school year, there was an increase of 5,4%. The most highly represented foreign nationality is Romanian. Read more

  Switzerland
In the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, children learn at school 3 additional languages: French, German and English. In School Year 2009‐2010 the percentage of immigrant students in primary schools, considering their mother tongue, was about 21%. Read more

  Turkey
Approximately 85% of the population in Turkey reports Turkish as the native language, followed by Kurdish (12%), Arabic (1%) and Zaza (1%). Read more

  United Kingdom
There are more than a million children between 5-18 years old in UK schools who speak in excess of 360 languages between them. Read more

  Wales
Wales is a country where English is the main language but close to 25% of the population also speak the indigenous language, Welsh. Read more

What does multilingualism mean ?

Researchers often define as 'bilingual' those people who are able to communicate in two languages, and as 'multilingual' those who are able to communicate in three or more languages. In this project the terms 'bilingual' and 'multilingual' will be used interchangeably to refer to all those who can communicate with a good level of competence in more than one language.

Good practice

All Dyslang course participants are invited to send us their examples of good practice.

What methods and approaches have you found effective when working with dyslexic multilingual learners? What supporting tools have you found useful in your teaching practice? We would like to publish your examples here so we can develop an online community of good practice.

We request you to send your contributions to the relevant project partner:JillF@bdadyslexia.org.uk

	Useful Websites and Publications Click here to find discussions about language learning, information about other dyslexia-related projects and opportunities for practising languages.
	Useful contacts Click here to find out about the role of the Associated Partners in the Dyslang Project.

Project information

Project title: Dyslexia and Additional Academic Language Learning (DYSLANG)

Proposal number: 518969-LLP-1-2011-1-UK-KA2-KA2MP

Applicant organization: British Dyslexia Association

The aim of this project is to develop a guide and e-learning course for teachers and parents to support the multilingual dyslexic individual in learning an additional curriculum language. That is, for example, in the UK a child may have Welsh as their first language, use English in the classroom, but also have to learn French. In terms of the Call for Proposals, it addresses:

• Awareness raising activities, e.g.: promotion of languages; information about language learning opportunities; improvement of access to language learning facilities. The main target group is people with little or no experience of language learning, or who are reluctant language learners. Projects that address this area, either wholly or partly, must therefore give people the information, the motivation and the support they need to go and learn a language. Projects should also include partners who are capable of reaching a broad and often reluctant target audience and convincing them of the benefits of language learning.
• Development and dissemination of language learning materials, e.g.: creating, adapting, refining or exchanging one or more of the following products: educational media/materials for foreign language teaching; methods and tools designed to recognize/evaluate language skills; curricula and language learning methodologies.

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