Country Studied: Italy
Types of learning difficulties the Best Practice is supporting:
- Reading and writing difficulties.
- Social or emotional difficulties.
Aims and objectives of Best Practice
This best practice has the aim to provide professional guidance and development for educators, by giving a sort of compendium of strategies, techniques and activities that can be used when teaching a foreign language to students with learning difficulties. These guidelines contain in fact indications drawn from the most recent developments in scientific research (language teaching, inclusion, diverse classrooms) and the field experience of the working group that developed the paper. The information included is essential, as it completes and supports those just approaching the subject. It is designed from the point of view of the teacher and the questions they might ask in practice. The word “Vademecum” (from Latin “come with me”) was in fact chosen as title to indicate that the document wants to accompany the educator through all stages of the didactic processes.
Short description of Best Practice
The document is designed for all foreign language teachers at all school levels, teachers specialized in working with students with learning difficulties, linguistic mediators and such, so the setting and duration can vary, as well as the age of the final targets, the students, that ranges from primary school level (5-6 years old) to the upper secondary one (18-19 years old).
The content is organized in different sections:
- General premises – this part contains the legal references concerning the education system and learning difficulties, plus an overview on learning difficulties and their interaction with foreign languages;
- Teachers’ competences – this is the main section of the paper, that focuses on several aspect of the didactic practice: observation; building accessibility, motivation and a positive learning environment; implementation of language teaching through the development or the different skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking), plus vocabulary, grammar and phonological awareness; evaluation;
- INVALSI1 tests and final exam – this sections contains guidelines on how to face the INVALSI English test and the students’ participation to the final high school exam.
3 Key learning Principles that were used in this Best Practice to support learners with LD
1. Accessibility and class environment – accessibility can be fostered through: systematic approach, with clear lesson design, moments to repeat and consolidate contents, tasks organized with sub-tasks structure; multisensory learning; differentiation of tasks, talent valorization; adaptation of oral and written input considering length, vocabulary, pragmatics, text formatting. The class environment can be built by nurturing emotional and social aspects: maintaining motivation with original and skills-appropriate activities; aiming for autonomy and self-esteem; providing support in managing stress and anxiety; valuing cognitive diversity, also through advocacy and success stories; approaching students with empathy.
2. Implementation – several techniques can be helpful for the development of the different language skills. Reading/listening: cloze and jigsaw activities in several adaptations; meta-strategic approach, in order to make the student aware of the tools they can use to overcome obstacles; extensive comprehension with various techniques (skimming, scanning, transcodification, TPR, etc.). Writing/speaking: (auto)biography; storytelling; dramatization, chain dialogue, roleplay to strengthen interactional skills; integration of visual and linguistic information and contextualization; support in retrieving necessary linguistic competences and careful planning of the written text; possibility to use compensatory tools such as word processing, thesaurus. Phonological awareness: through formal and informal activities (targeted, multi-modal exercises vs. rhymes, songs and such). Vocabulary: contextualization; multi-sensory approach; diagrams, among others. Grammar: above all, inductive, playful, personalized and concrete approach.
3. Evaluation – importance of a first assessment to determine the starting point of the student; focus on a formative and holistic evaluation, rather than on a summative one, so as to frame the performance within the whole learning path and in relation to the progress made; importance of a clear definition of evaluation criteria, expectations and goals, also promoting exchange with the student and encouraging self-evaluation.
Strategies used as part of Best Practice
- Adapting instruction to various learning styles.
- Individualized Learning Plans.
- Guidance on creating and implementing individualized learning plans.
- Strategies for modifying or creating teaching materials to suit different abilities.
- Creating a positive and supportive classroom environment.
Results and impact
As already mentioned in the key learning principles section, evaluation in teaching foreign languages to students with learning difficulties should follow a holistic and formative approach, taking into consideration the learning path of the student as a whole, evaluating the progress made from the initially assessed starting point.
Assessment can be carried out collecting data both formally and informally: these two methods should be integrated, as they both provide valuable information.
Formal assessment consists of both written and oral tests. Accessibility is a central issue, that can be achieved in both formats adopting specific strategies. For the written part, among others: text formatting, clear instructions, exercises that test skills singularly and are gradual in difficulty, extra time and compensatory tools, test divided into smaller ones to reduce cognitive effort. As for the oral test, it is advised to plan it with enough advance to let the student prepare accordingly, to let them use compensatory tools (maps, prompts, schemes, etc.) and to adopt the following structure: warm-up phase, not evaluated, during which the student can reactivate their linguistic knowledge through free interaction; preparation phase, not evaluated, in which the teacher explains the task and the student can prepare, also consulting their compensatory tools; production phase, during which the student performs the task and can be helped through guiding questions. Extra time can be given for both written and oral evaluation and, in serious cases, the student can be exonerated from the written part.
Informal assessment is carried out through observation, guided by the following principles: focus-orientation; selection of specific activity to observe; selection of device where observation notes can be recorded.
Evidence as to why this was considered Good Practice
This document can be considered a good practice mainly thanks to the reliability and expertise of the project research group that contributed to its drafting. Namely, the involved subjects were: Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen – South Tyrol with its School Inclusion and Counseling Service of the Italian Education and Training Directorate; Erikson Centre; University of Parma.
The Bolzano academic and education institutions are renowned for their interest in linguistic research, being this area at the border with Austria characterized by largely diffused bilingualism and presence of linguistic minorities. The languages spoken are namely Italian, German and Ladin.
The Erikson Centre is an organization that is specialized in inclusion in the fields of education, teaching, social work, psychology and psychotherapy, speech therapy, and health since 1984. It publishes books and didactic games, runs a training centre and has a research group that collaborates with four Italian universities.
ELICom (Inclusive Linguistic Education and Communication) is a research group of the University of Parma, which deals with inclusivity in the field of communication and language education, with a special focus on learners experiencing language disadvantage, due for instance to a language or learning disorder, or to a context of socio-cultural and linguistic deprivation. ELICom is part of the Glottodidactics Laboratory of the University of Parma and has a longstanding partnership with the Erikson Centre.
Transferability
Since the best practices presented in the paper are targeting teachers from all school levels and other actors as well, their transferability can be considered not only as a sort of prerequisite, but also as an invitation from the researchers that produced this resource. The strategies, techniques and activities suggested are indeed flexible and can be easily adapted across different school grades and also in different contexts and countries, considered that they are mainly based on core educational principles (among others, individualized, communicative and inductive approach, empathy, inclusion, etc.).
Resources used as part of Best Practice
The best practice can be found at the following link:
The use of assistive technologies is proposed and mentioned in terms of compensatory tools that can support students with learning difficulties in performing certain tasks. The following examples are present: video writing, spellchecker, thesaurus, speech synthesis.
Critical issues
The document presents a large number of useful strategies for teaching foreign languages to students with learning difficulties, well-structured and organised thematically by skills and teaching phases, as well as up-to-date law reference and a summary of the national tests characterising the Italian school system. However, to further complete the overview offered, it would have been interesting to have had more information on assistive technologies and concrete examples in this regard.
Any additional learning that we can take from this Best Practice, example:
In foreign language teaching, flexibility and adaptive techniques are crucial in general, and even more for students with learning difficulties. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Teachers need to be adaptable, personalizing instruction to address individual strengths and weaknesses. This might involve using multisensory activities, breaking down complex grammar into smaller steps, or offering alternative assessment methods. By being flexible, teachers can create a supportive environment where all students can develop their language skills and confidence.
Any Additional Information or Resources
