Developmental Dyslexia and Reading in Spanish as a Foreign
Language
Dislexia evolutiva y lectura del español como lengua extranjera
Ana Ćavar
Universidad de Zágreb (Croacia)
acavar@ffzg.hr
Petra Segarić
petrasegaric@hotmail.com
RESUMEN
El presente trabajo trata de la dislexia evolutiva y de la influencia que ejercen las
dificultades de lectura en la adquisición de lenguas extranjeras, con énfasis en el
desarrollo de la competencia lectora en español como lengua extranjera. Tratando de
aclarar la etiología de la dislexia evolutiva, partimos de los procesos cognitivos activos en
la lectura y de las diversas manifestaciones de trastornos de lectura que dependen de las
características lingüísticas del idioma extranjero. Las dificultades de lectura se observan
también dentro del paradigma comunicativo como el enfoque didáctico más influyente. A
continuación y partiendo de los enfoques actuales en cuanto a trastornos de lectura, se
elaboran los ejemplos de actividades que sirven como el apoyo adicional de la conciencia
fonológica, morfológica, sintáctica y ortográfica de los estudiantes de español cuya
lengua materna es el croata.
Palabras clave: croata como lengua origen; comprensión lectora; dislexia evolutiva; español como
lengua meta; trastornos de lectura
ABSTRACT
This paper deals with developmental dyslexia and the influence reading disabilities exert
over the process of foreign language learning, placing a special emphasis on
development of reading skills in Spanish as a foreign language. While trying to explain
the aetiology of developmental dyslexia, one usually starts with cognitive reading
processes and various reading disorder manifestations which depend on the
characteristics of a foreign language. Reading disabilities are also observed in the context
of a predominant communication-oriented language teaching paradigm. Further, and
starting with the approaches to reading disorders applied nowadays, the elaborated
exercises are oriented towards an additional stimulation of phonological, morphological,
syntactic and orthographic awareness in learners of Spanish whose first language is
Croatian.
Keywords: Croatian as source language; developmental dyslexia; reading comprehension; reading
disorders; Spanish as a target language.
Fecha de recepción: 24/06/2016
Fecha de aprobación: 27/09/2017
1. INTRODUCCIÓN
The development of reading aptitude is one of the main purposes of the
contemporary teaching system. A well-developed skill is considered to be one of
the most important prerequisites in learning since it is by reading that we usually
acquire new information. Acquiring the reading skill1 in the first language and in
the foreign language is an arduous and a long-term process, which is even
harder for individuals with reading disabilities. Nowadays, developmental
dyslexia is probably one of the most renowned and researched reading
disabilities2. In a teaching context, the designation of developmental dyslexia is
generally related to reading skills and intellectual capacities, considering dyslexia
to be a disability in learning reading skills in children with at least an average
intelligence quotient (Pavlić-Cottiero 2005; Wolf 2007). The mentioned disorders
cannot be explained by sociological and economical, or motivational and
emotional factors (Galaburda and Cestnick 2003).
What makes dyslexia studies very complex is the absence of the unique
definition of dyslexia in the literature, which is usually explained by the fact that
this term in reality merges different symptoms at different levels of represented
symptoms (Pavlić-Cottiero 2005; Wolf 2007; Nijakowska 2010; Dehaene 2013).
The explanation of reading disabilities conditioned by developmental dyslexia, as
underlines Nijakowska (2010), necessarily includes three interrelated levels:
biological, cognitive and behavioural. In the classroom, dyslexia is usually
recognised during spelling, by insufficiently efficient word recognition and by a
slow and difficult reading that leads to comprehension difficulties. On a
behavioural level, the aforementioned difficulties are conditioned by the
characteristics of the dyslexic's language processing; it is usually the lack of
phonological processing that interferes with the efficiency of word recognition
and/or the insufficiently adjusted cognitive processes which disable the acquiring
of fluency in reading. On a biological level, divergences are explained by
anatomical and functional anomalies that are, for example, visible by an
insufficient activity in the left temporal lobe during reading, the asymmetry of
the cerebellum, the presence of ectopia in the grey matter, etc. (Dehaene 2013).
This paper will examine the developmental dyslexia and some language-
processing characteristics conditioned by dyslexia, especially within cognitive
processes active in reading. Therefore, the processes included during reading
comprehension will be described first with a special emphasis on the reading in a
foreign language. Afterwards, some characteristics of the language processing
related to the developmental dyslexia will be described. In continuation, and
starting from the most common difficulties, the exercises which aim to improve
the learning of reading skills at the beginner's level of learning Spanish as a
foreign language will be elaborated.
2. READING AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES IN READING
Comprehensive reading in the first language is a common and an automated skill
for experienced readers. In the literature, reading is described as the ability of a
reader to outline the meaning of the structured three-level textual concept3.
Linguistic processes that are active during the formation of the first conceptual
level are called lower-level processes, and they are developed automatically if
the reader has no difficulties in reading and comprehension. Complex processes
of the text comprehension on the second and third level are linked with the
formation of the mental model of the text (Grabe and Stoller 2002).
The first level of perception is related to the linguistic processes of
decoding and word recognition, and also to syntactic analyses and semantic
constructions (ibid.). Decoding implies grapheme-to-phoneme conversion, while
word recognition is defined as the identification of a series of letters as words
and their relation with its corresponding meaning in the mental lexicon
(Verhoven and Perfetti 2011). In children with the correct language
development, the automation of the process of decoding and word recognition
stops in the third grade of elementary school or even before, depending mostly
on the transparency of the orthographic system4. Lexical recognition develops
very fast, and the experienced readers recognise more than five words per
second in average (Rayner and Pollatsek 1989 according to Alderson 2000). High
positive correlations are confirmed between speed and correctness in lexical
recognition and comprehension, which means that the readers who read faster
usually also understand the text better. Therefore, fluency, which is defined as
speed and precision of the word recognition (Čudina-Obradović 2014), alongside
with the reading comprehension, is considered to be one of the most reliable
predictors of the reading skill development. The syntactical analysis of a
sentence encompasses the process of abstracting the basic grammatical
information, connecting words into bigger units, combining them into sentences
and recognising the connections between sentences, while the process of forming
semantic propositions entails the combination of the word meaning and
structural information (Grabe and Stoller 2002). Automated linguistic lower-level
processes are a predictor for fluent reading. All abstracted information in lower-
level process is detained in the working memory. Only superficial codes are kept
in the working memory, while the long-term memory is important for the
formation of a textual and situational comprehension model (Rončević 2005),
which allows conceptualisation of the second and third levels of meaning
conceptions. Readers first form a textual comprehension model which contains
important explicit text information integrated in a net, and followed by a
situational model of interpretation which enables readers to elaborate their
interpretation of the text (Grabe and Stoller 2002). Good readers’ difficulties that
are detected in comprehension are usually related to a non-harmonized textual
and reader’s code, which means that they are visible during reading of more
complex texts, and that the readers do not previously dispose of useful
knowledge for the understanding of these texts.
2.1 Reading in a foreign language
The description of reading in a foreign language starts from the research done on
reading in the first language, which usually encompasses their similarities and
differences. Reading comprehension in a foreign language depends on the
development of the reading skill in the first language. When the reading skill is
acquired in the foreign language, most students have at least learned the basics
of writing in their first language (Grabe and Stoller 2002). In addition, the
reached level of reading ability in the first language is usually considered to be a
reliable predictor of the reading ability in the foreign language (Nijakowska
2010). In other words, a poorly developed reading skill in the first language will
most probably limit the development of reading skills in a foreign language.
When learning to read in a foreign language, the reader obviously uses the
competence and skills acquired mostly in the first language. This mainly refers to
the capacity of phonological processing where a very important role is assigned
to the phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is defined as “the
sensitivity to any segment of vocal structures” (Yopp and Yopp 2000 according to
Vanšac and Ivšac 2004: 105), and is recognised in the syllable identification,
recognition of rhyme forms, words' beginnings and endings, phoneme
segmentation and their manipulation at the beginning and ending, syllable
omission or recognition of the phoneme function in a word meaning (Yopp and
bin Yopp 2000; Etchepareborda and Habib 2001), as in words like pin and bin.
Some authors divide phonological awareness into syllabic level, which refers to
the ability to perceiving of syllables in words, intersyllabic level which
encompasses ability to notice beginnings and endings of words and rhyming
patterns, and into phonemic level as the most complex aspect of the
phonological awareness which includes the ability to identify connections
between a phoneme and a grapheme, and the ability of phoneme manipulation
(Čudina-Obradović 2014).
The development of phonological awareness in foreign language learning is
important because it is considered that phonological awareness does not develop
again in foreign languages an individual learns, but it is in this segment of
mastering a foreign language that we rely on the transfer from the first language
(Nijakowska 2010). In languages that use alphabetical orthography the function
of the phonemic awareness is important, as is the under-skill of the phonological
awareness, which encompasses the ability to divide the words in phonemes
(Yopp and Yopp 2000; Dehaene 2013).
Even if in the learning of reading in a foreign language we always rely to a
certain level on the skills developed in the first language, the differences in
lexical, grammatical and discursive competence clearly influence the speed and
course of reading competence in a foreign language. During comprehensive
reading, the most obvious differences are noted between the expansion of the
vocabulary in the beginner’s reading detected in the first and the foreign
language. It is estimated that reading beginners know somewhere around 5,000
to 7,000 words in their mother tongue (Grabe and Stoller 2002). In the
beginning stages of reading in a foreign language, readers cannot rely on the
extension of the known vocabulary, only perhaps on the transfer from the first or
any other foreign language.
Apart from the vocabulary extension, the differences are also present in
the degree of the metalinguistic awareness. Metalinguistic awareness in a foreign
language usually tends to be more emphasised than in the mother tongue
because in a foreign language learning students are focused on the conscious
learning of grammatical and vocabulary competences (Grabe and Stoller 2002).
Simultaneously, a more articulated metalinguistic awareness can facilitate
development of reading strategies in a foreign language, even if in the
application of reading strategies in a foreign language we mostly rely on the
previously developed reading strategies from the first language.
As the process of acquiring of the reading skill in a foreign language is
demanding and long-lasting, so are many discrepancies detected in reading as
well. The most common mistakes identified by Preilowski and Matute (2011) are
slow reading, a slow start in reading, long pauses, stutter, letter omission,
incorrect word accentuation, changing the word order in the sentence or letters
in words.
3. DYSLEXIA AND READING
The absence of a generally accepted, unique definition of dyslexia sometimes
prolongs the connection of reading-induced difficulties linked with dyslexia, i.e.,
it prolongs a clear differentiation of difficulties resulting in language processing
shortcomings caused by an insufficiently developed reading skill that is mostly
generated by a poor exposure to written texts or teaching methods. Still, in
reading disorders, reading and comprehension problems are connected with the
difficulties in the phonological processing and increasingly with the lack of
automated reading processes (Wolf 2007; Nijakowska 2010; Dehaene 2013). In
the research where the reading problems in English as the first language were
connected with the most common explanations of dyslexia on a cognitive level,
Wolf and Bowers (1999 according to Wolf 2007) established that in 25% of the
cases the phonological processing are determined by the reading difficulties, and
in 20% of the cases by the processing speed difficulties. The most numerous
group of questioned individuals had difficulties in the phonological processing and
reading speed (the so-called double deficit), whilst the reading shortcomings in
10% of the cases could not be connected neither with the phonological
processing nor with the automated reading process.
3.1 Phonological processing difficulties
Reading disorders in languages that use an alphabetic orthography are usually
justified by phonological processing, respectively by decoding disorders (Pavlić-
Cottiero 2005; Nijakowska 2010; Dehaene 2013). Phonological processing is one
of the basic components of reading because the processes of phonological
processing in different languages play a crucial role in word recognition
(Nijakowska 2010). Weaknesses in the phonological processing are connected
with the lack of phonological development, especially with phonological
awareness. According to Dehaene (2013), a limitation of the phonological
awareness is usually related to dyslexia. The development of phonological
awareness is directly connected with the alphabetic code learning. Actually,
literacy in languages with the orthographic system, which is based on the
observation that each grapheme is connected with a specific phoneme,
necessarily includes development of awareness that words are composed of
sounds. This is very important during reading disorders treatment because, until
now, it revealed that the most efficient methods are the treatments that included
some form of stimulation of development of phonological awareness (Wolf 2007).
On a behavioural level, difficulties in phonological processing are visible as
decoding difficulties. Considering the fact that comprehension – as a construction
of a textual and situational model – is the most common target of reading, the
impossibility of automation in establishing of the connection between grapheme
and phoneme puts decoding among processes where a high automation degree is
the prerequisite for comprehension. Good readers' lower-level linguistic
processes are so automated during reading of a text of an appropriate difficulty
in their first language that they are performed unconsciously, if there is such a
stimulus as a word or a sentence. In other words, in the major part of dyslexic
individuals the difficulties are displayed on the decoding level which represents
the key for the successful word recognition, and consequently, for the
comprehension. Therefore, the deficit on a lower level of reading causes
difficulties on a higher level, that is, in comprehension.
Furthermore, reading difficulties will not be expressed in a completely
equal way in all languages, depending mostly on the orthographic systems used
by the particular language (Wolf 2007; Nijakowska 2010; Knudsen 2012;
Dehaene 2013). The differences in language processing are partly justified by the
characteristics of the alphabetic and logographic orthography system. At the
same time, it is considered that different representations of the difficulties –
mostly connected with phonological processing in languages that use the
alphabetic orthography – are conditioned by the grade of orthographic depth
(Wolf 2007; Dehaene 2013). In other words, “[d]epending on what is
emphasized in any given language (fluency in German, visual spatial memory in
Chinese, phonological skills in English), there will be somewhat different
manifestations of dyslexia, as well as different predictors of reading difficulties”
(Wolf 2007: 190).
The orthographic depth hypothesis explains different representations and
different forms of reading difficulties in languages that use the alphabetic
orthography. The orthographic system of a language partly determines the grade
of the reading complexity. Following the regularity of the relation established
between the phoneme and grapheme, languages are divided in languages with a
shallow orthography and languages with a deep orthography (Katz and Frost
1992). In languages with a shallow orthography, the relation between the
grapheme and the phoneme is regular and predictable, unlike languages with an
orthographic system defined as deep, where the relation between grapheme and
phoneme is less regular and hardly predictable. Examples of languages with a
shallow orthography include Italian, Spanish and Croatian, whereas the most
common example for a deep orthography language is English. The regularity of
the orthographic system is also important in order to learn reading skills in the
first language. It has been demonstrated that an automated decoding and word
recognition in languages with shallow orthography occurs even one year earlier
than in languages with deep orthography (Seymour 2009; Dehaene 2013).
Furthermore, difficulties in the phonological processing are hardly
discernible in languages with a shallow orthography (Wolf 2007). Some studies
started with a perception that the frequency of dyslexia differs in different
languages (Paulesu et al. 2001). These studies proved that a minor presence of
dyslexia in languages with a shallow orthography can be explained by a more
correct orthographical system, where it is more difficult to distinguish the
weaknesses in phonological processing. However, comparative readings proved
that the differences in reading speed for dyslexic individuals remain regular in all
languages. Difficulties in comprehension are also partly conditioned by the
regularity of the orthographic system. Studies conducted in Spanish and Hebrew
indicate that the difficulties in language processing impede to a lesser extent
comprehension in these languages. In other words, more emphasized difficulties
in phonological processing and then in comprehension can be expected in deep
orthographies. This is usually explained by the grapheme-to-phoneme regularity
which "disburdens" complex phonological processing, and gives more time to
readers with phonological processing difficulties to focus on comprehension (Wolf
2007).
3.2 Reading speed
Nowadays, increasingly more studies connect some forms of dyslexia with the
processing speed conditioned by a lack of connected structures that interact in
reading, causing a lack of automated processes during reading. Even if this
explanation is not generally accepted in the literature5, it is however possible to
explain the causes of the divergence in dyslexia that cannot be explained by
means of a phonological deficit. This explanation of dyslexia starts from the fact
that the RAN test consisting of objects and number naming is one of the most
reliable elements used in the diagnosis of dyslexia in different languages, and is
also a pretty trustworthy predictor of reading difficulties in the early age
language period (Wolf 2007; Dehaene 2013; Čudina-Obradović 2014).
Regardless if it generates difficulties in reading, limitations in phonological
processing, incoherence in reading processes or the so-called double deficit,
dyslexia is linked with a deficit of the working memory (Pavlić-Cottiero 2005;
Wolf 2007; Nijakowska 2010), and connected with this, also with reading
processes which can be categorized as the so-called lower-level processes.
Decoding difficulties, word recognition difficulties and eventually also difficulties
in the analysis of syntax and meaning conditioned by the working memory
deficits will necessarily influence comprehension, i.e., it will disturb the
construction of the textual and situational comprehension models.
3.3 Dyslexia and reading in a foreign language
Reading difficulties in the first language will appear to a certain extent in a
foreign language. Generally speaking, the connection of reading difficulties in the
first and foreign language is usually explained by the so-called linguistic coding
deficits hypothesis. With this in mind and starting from the assumption that the
foreign language learning is based on the skills developed in the first language,
Sparks and Ganschow (according to Ganschow et al. 1998) encompassed the
difficulties observable in less successful students of a foreign language.
Therefore, for the individuals whose phonological skills are less developed in the
first language, and regardless of the causes of the insufficiently developed
mentioned processes, the difficulties will be visible during the learning of a
foreign language. While the phonological coding affects the capacity for
discerning and differentiating between the sounds, and discerning the rules of
grapheme-to-phoneme connection, syntactic coding is connected with the use of
grammatical rules of a language system (Nijakowska 2010). Difficulties in
language processing usually complicate the semantic coding, that is,
comprehension.
In short, difficulties present in the first language will be manifested in the
foreign language learning.6 As typical deviations in reading, Pavlić-Cottiero
(2005: 41) mentions difficulties in grapheme-to-phoneme and sound-to-syllable
connection, letter replacement or addition, graphical and phonological confusion
of similar letters, changing of syllables and words and finally, memorized
reading.
Dyslexia represents a continuous difficulty which is not possible to
overcome completely. However, by different approaches and procedures in the
classroom, it is possible to influence the difficulties detected in reading. Although
we, as already mentioned, rely on the skills and strategies developed in the first
language during reading in a foreign language, the limitations in language
processing will cause difficulties for dyslexic individuals, regardless of the degree
of literacy and the developed compensatory strategies from the first language. In
doing so, difficulties in individuals with phonological processing disabilities can be
expected even in languages with coherent orthographic systems such as Croatian
or Spanish. Moreover, reading makes the amount of vocabulary in foreign
language even more difficult. It is well-known that during reading, dyslexic
individuals use a series of strategies to compensate the weaknesses in language
processing. One of the more utilized strategies is the one of deducing the
meaning of words based on the surrounding context (Davis 2011; Pavlić-Cottiero
2005; Knudsen 2012). However, in the development of reading skills in a foreign
language, at least in the beginning stages of learning, it is not efficient to rely on
the context due to reduced vocabulary which additionally sets back
comprehension. Moreover, according to Knudsen (2012), even when using
reading strategies, it is not always possible to rely on the positive transfer. Some
of the reading strategies that individuals with reading difficulties use in the first
language need to be acquired anew in the foreign language.
Even if reading difficulties, conditioned by weaknesses in language
processing, are visible in all teaching subjects, particularly emphasised difficulties
can be manifested in foreign language classrooms more frequently due to various
issues. These difficulties are not only ascribed to a limited success of the
language processing, on which reading depends, but also to the methods of the
foreign language teaching (Schneider 2009 according to Knudsen, 2012). In the
next section of this study, some of these difficulties will be analysed in the
context of modern foreign language teaching.
4. FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND READING DIFFICULTIES
Nowadays, a communicative approach to teaching is probably one of the most
represented ways of teaching foreign languages. The fundamental aim of this
teaching approach is the development of a communicative competence, which
can be accomplished by developing language activities focused on reading,
writing, listening, talking and language mediation.
However, as has been noted (Nijakowska 2010; Knudsen 2012), teaching
methods concerning some language contents in a foreign language classroom –
which, in individuals with reading disorders, remain problematic even in the first
language – additionally aggravate an already complicated reading skill
development process. This mostly refers to the contents connected with
phonological competence. In the communication-oriented classroom, especially
in languages with shallow orthographic systems, phonological knowledge is not
taught equally: users are expected to make a letter-to-sound connection by
exposing themselves to conversation and writing. Moreover, the largest
difficulties in foreign language learning can be expected when it is required from
individuals with difficulties in phonological processing to discern the grapheme-
to-phoneme connection by themselves (Wolf 2007). As this particular difficulty is
usually associated with dyslexia, a direct teaching of grapheme-to-phoneme
connection, i.e., an aimed stimulation of phonemic awareness can facilitate
development of reading competence. Moreover, the most successful dyslexia
treatments are considered to be those that encourage the development of the
phonemic awareness and decoding (ibid.).
Difficulties in the phonological processing in the first language are a
trustworthy predictor of the difficulties in the phonological processing and
phonological competence in the foreign language, regardless of the regularity of
the orthographic system of the target language (Nijakowska 2010). Even if
somewhat difficult, decoding can be also expected in languages with a more
regular orthographic system, and the difficulties will be more accentuated in
languages with deep orthography. Therefore, it is advised when choosing a
foreign language one should consider the language capacities of the user, but
also some of the characteristics of the target language, such as phonological,
morphological and syntactical complexities. Results of studies conducted until
now indicate that students with reading difficulties easily learn a language with a
predictable grapheme-to-phoneme connection (Thes 2011).
Furthermore, in the communication methodology, compared to some other
teaching approaches, proportionally represented is the inductive method, which
usually does not satisfy the individuals with reading disabilities. Moreover,
regarding the grammatical contents in the classes adjusted to the learners with
reading difficulties the advantage should be given to a very gradual but direct
teaching of the grammatical structures with more repetitions and practice.
(Cimermanová 2015; Šifrar Kalan and Furlan 2015).
In addition, even if the communicative approach, as opposed to some
other approaches and methods, does not establish the order of language
activities' introduction in teaching, it has been demonstrated that listening
activities should be complemented with reading and writing activities (Sparks et
al. 1992 according to Nijakowska 2010). This demonstrated to be useful not only
to students with reading difficulties but also to students with a poorly developed
reading skill in their first language.
The necessity of adjusting the approach in the classroom to the students
with reading disabilities even partially has also been confirmed by analysing
individual classroom factors, more specifically, by studies analysing language
anxiety. The results of these studies indicate expectedly that language anxiety is
more present in groups of students with reading difficulties (Piecurska-Kuciel
2008 according to Nijakowska 2010). As reading remains one of the basic
components in a communicative-oriented classroom, and something upon which
the future mastering of new language contents greatly depends on, adjusting the
teaching approaches to the individuals with dyslexia is a question which needs
more attention due to a widespread presence of reading disorders7, and due to
the contemporary educational policy which encourages multilingualism.
4.1 The teaching approach to dyslexia
Even if dyslexia remains a life-long condition, its symptoms, and especially the
levels at which these symptoms are visible, obviously change. This change is
influenced by the learning and teaching approaches. In the last 50 years few
approaches were invented with the aim of adjusting language teaching to the
individuals with disorders. Even if dyslexic individuals cannot completely
overcome reading disabilities, the difficulties they have can be reduced with
suitable treatments (Nijakowska 2010; Knudsen 2012; Dehaene 2013).
Approaches which are applied in foreign language teaching are usually taken in
an adapted form from the first language approach to dyslexia8. Below are given
examples of the activities used to additionally stimulate phonological (Table 1),
orthographic (Table 2), morphologic (Table 3) and syntactic awareness (Figure 1)
in the beginner phase of the Spanish language learning9. Examples of exercises
which will be presented below rely on an approach based on the multisensory
structured learning approach. The multisensory structured learning approach is
one of the most represented language teaching approaches targeted at the
students with reading difficulties (Nijakowska 2010). The approach itself
originated from the works of Gillingham and Stillman, with the purpose of
reducing or removing learning disorders. It was first intended for individuals with
difficulties in reading and writing in the first language. In the next version, the
approach was adapted to foreign language learning. The multisensory structured
learning approach requires a direct and structured way of teaching complex
language contents to dyslexic individuals, such as grapheme-phoneme
correspondence, the training to manipulate phonemes into words, and also a
direct teaching of root and affix morphemes. The multisensory structured
learning approach is based on the application of various teaching techniques
which include auditory, visual and kinaesthetic components, with the aim of
additionally stimulating the management of new contents. Different studies
confirmed that it is possible to apply the multisensory structured learning
approach in the first and foreign language. Since the majority of studies dealing
with dyslexia in a foreign language have been researched in English as a foreign
language, a preference has been given to the multisensory structured learning
approach due to its proven efficiency in learning Spanish as a foreign language,
as has been confirmed through several studies (Ganschow and Sparks 1995
according to Nijakowska 2010).
In the end, even though working with individuals who have reading
disorders demands step-by-step approach, the same type of exercises are put
together for easier reference. All exercises connect the language activities of
listening and reading, and mostly writing.
4.2 Examples of teaching activities aimed at stimulating reading skills in
teaching Spanish as a foreign language
Studies conducted in the last fifteen years pointed out towards the connection
between certain language characteristics and mastering of the reading skill. It
has therefore become clear that in the approach to reading disorders in the
foreign language learning, apart from differently identified forms of reading
difficulties, it is necessary to also consider language characteristics of the target
language and possibly even the relation to the students' mother tongue. Because
of this, and starting from the literature overview regarding the subjects of
reading and foreign language dyslexia, the paper will proceed to present the
examples of activities with the aim of additionally stimulating the development of
reading skills in the first stage of learning Spanish as a foreign language.
Considering the fact that, until now, the most efficient treatments in the first and
foreign language were those that were oriented towards the improvement of
phonological processing, especially phonemic awareness (Wolf 2007; Nijakowska
2010), focus in the exercises was put on stimulating phonological awareness and
on promoting orthographic, morphological and syntactical awareness to a less
extent. In the cases where it was estimated purposeful, the starting points in
creating activities were differences between Croatian and Spanish language
system. Since, it is known, there are no specialized courses in Croatia intended
for students with disorders from dyslexia spectrum, the exercises show the
examples of additional activities for stimulating reading in teaching Spanish as a
foreign language.
4.2.1 Stimulating phonological awareness
Exercises which additionally develop phonological awareness are directed toward
boosting its syllabic and phonemic components in learning Spanish as a foreign
language for students with Croatian as their mother tongue. As reading disorders
in languages with an orthographic system based on an alphabetic principle are
mostly connected with the phonological processing, the consistency of the
orthography of the target language will influence the learning of the reading skill.
Even if more difficulties are to be expected during the mastering of the
languages whose orthography is described as opaque or partly transparent, such
as English, Danish or Portuguese, the weakness in phonological processing of the
students will be visible in the languages described as orthographically shallow.
If we regard the orthographic clearness, Spanish and Croatian are
categorised as orthographically clear languages, that is, languages with
“considerable orthographic regularity and small syllable complexity” (Čudina-
Obradović, 2014: 73). Since the approach to forming exercises was based on the
comparison of the phonological systems of the two languages, activities were
primarily focused on the differences in writing conventions which exist between
Croatian and Spanish language. Additionally, the position of Spanish as a foreign
language within the Croatian educational system has also been taken into
account. The representation of the Spanish language in elementary schools and
also in high schools, is still mostly negligible, and is usually learned as the
second language or, more often as the third foreign language. This is why the
examples of these activities were adapted to the students who have at least
learned literacy in their first language. The examples are oriented towards
pronunciation and sound recording in Spanish language, that is, towards the
established writing differences in both languages10. In other words, reading of
those phonemes which are registered with different graphemes comes first, that
is, by a group of graphemes such as the phonemes /j/, /k/ or /z/. For example,
the phoneme /j/ is written with the grapheme j or ge and gi in Spanish, while the
phoneme /k/ is written with the grapheme c in combination with the vowel a, o
and u and the letter k, usually in foreign words, and also with a digraph qu which
in front of the vowels e and i does not have a phonic value11. The phoneme /z/ in
Spanish is represented with the grapheme z in combination with vowels a, o and
u, rarely with e and i, and ce and ci. Because the emphasis is being placed on
the differences between both systems, examples where the realization of the
phoneme mostly corresponds with those in the Croatian language have been left
out, as is the case with the realisation of the phoneme /g/ in words like ganso or
gato. At the same time, examples of the use of the digraph gu and qu before the
vowel e and i where the letter u represents only a graphical sign is encompassed,
that is, its voice realisation is omitted, as it is the case in the words guisante and
queso.
Moreover, these examples also cover phonemes /ch/, /ll/ and /y/, in
different word positions, where their use is justified and allowed. Encompassed
are also phonemes /b/ and /v/ in Spanish bilabial voiced consonants, which are
not distinctive in the pronunciation but their use is distinct in writing, where this
difference is especially conditioned by the etymological criteria.
Furthermore, the cases mentioned are the prototypical patterns of the use
of the European norms of the Spanish standard. Wherever it was possible, the
samples were extracted from the basic vocabulary of Spanish language
applicable, or at least as applicable as possible, to the first level of language
learning. Example activities have taken into consideration the complexity of
cognitive activities in the exercises, and the starting point has been the
recognition of a phoneme in the initial position within a word, and subsequently
in the central and final position within a word.
Additionally, although it is considered that the skill of syllable word
segmentation precedes the recognition and segmentation of words into sounds,
which is connected with direct teaching of the alphabetic principle, and with it
connected with the development of phonemic awareness, exercises start off with
a phoneme-to-grapheme connection, while those exercises aiming to recognise
and segment syllables into words cover the pronunciation and writing of those
letters where the phonemes are written with graphemes ge, gi, ce or ci, ca, co
and similar. Considering the needs of the users, exercises do not consciously
insist upon the determination of a grapheme as an exclusively simple graphic
sign.
EXERCISES OF
PHONOLOGICAL
AWARENESS
EXAMPLE
Recognition of the
beginning sound in
the word
Do these words begin with the same sound? Which
sound is it?
a) Javier, jamás, jaula, jarabe, José
Is it represented with the letter j?
b) chico, chicle, churros, chocolate, champú
Is it represented with the letter ch12?
c) lluvia, llave, llorar, llegar, lleno
Is it represented with the letter ll13?
d) vino, visita, vestido, verde, ver
Is it represented with the letter v?
e) beso, boca, bolsillo, bocadillo
Is it represented with the letter b?
f) yo, ya, yate, yema
Is it represented with the letter y?
g) zapato, zanahoria, zorro, zutano
Is it represented with the letter z?
Recognition of the
same sound in the
initial position within
a word
Which sound is repeated in the following words? How
has it been represented?
a) jurar, juez, jabón, jersey, judía
b) chica, chaleco, chantaje, chandal
c) llaga, llama, llanto, llevar, llover
d) viudo, vacaciones, valor, vaquero
e) yacer, yoga, yogur, yeísmo
f) zapatilla, zapatero, zoólogo, zurdo
Recognition of the
same sound in the
central and final
position within a
word
Which sound (consonant) is repeated in the following
words? How has it been represented?
a) pijo, bajo, esponja, espejo, mejor
b) mucho, noche, ocho, horchata, mochila
c) pollo, calle, toalla, muella
d) joya, hoy, hoyuelo, apoyo
e) arroz, feliz, pez, taza, cazar
Recognition of the
same syllable in the
initial position within
a word
What syllable is repeated in the words? How is it
represented?
a) como, cosa, codo, copa, coro, cola
b) casa, caja, casar, cabeza, casi, caro, caracol
c) cueva, cuello, cuero
d) cebolla, cepillo, ceja, celoso, celebrar, cena, cenicero
e) cine, cigüeña, cita, civil, ciprés, ciruela, cigarrillo
f) querer, quedar, queja, queso, quemado
g) quilo, químico, quimono, quitar, quitasol, quizás
h) gemelo, general, generar, genial, gerundio
i) gigante, girar, girasol, gibraltareño, ginebra, gitano
j) guitarra, guiso, guineo, guiñar, guiño, guisante
k) guerra, gueto, guerrilla
Recognition of the
same syllable in the
central and final
position within a
word
Which syllable is repeated in the words? How is it
represented?
a) desconocido, loco, marisco, mocoso, flamenco
b) mosca, pescador, flaca, impecable, incapaz
c) doncella, sincero, romancero
d) bicicleta, simplicidad, cocinar, coincidir
e) ingeniero, ingerir
f) digital, imaginar, legítimo
g) inquieto, esquina, taquilla, paquito
h) pequeño, raqueta
i) llegué, lleguemos, otorgue
Recognition of the
same voice which is
represented with
different letters or
groups of letters
Which voice sounds similar in the following words?
Which letters were used to represent the voice?
a) jirafa, ginebra, jaula, juez, generoso, genial?
b) zapato, cielo, cena, ceja, zanahoria, zurdo
c) casa, querer, quien, cola, cuenta, kilómetro
Table 1. Exercises of phonological awareness according to the complexity of cognitive
activities
4.2.2 Stimulating orthographic awareness
Spanish, as aforementioned, belongs to the orthographically consistent
languages, even to the languages easier to read than to write. Namely, it is
estimated that relations between a grapheme and a phoneme in Spanish are
unambiguous in 83% of cases, whereas the relations between a phoneme and a
grapheme are compatible in 43% of cases (Leal and Matute 2001 according to
Preilowski and Matute 2011). Thus, it is desirable to include the exercises that
promote orthographic awareness in teaching practice, and not only in teaching
individuals with reading difficulties. This refers in particular to the differentiation
between the grapheme r and the digraph rr, or possibly to the difference
between n and nn (although Spanish orthography does not consider this last one
as a digraph), because this can be very demanding for the individuals with
problems in phonological processing (Šifrar Kalan and Furlan 2015). Since the
words with nn occur relatively seldom and are not usually encountered at the
beginner level of studying, further are given examples of activities used to direct
students to differentiate and write grapheme r and digraph rr. The samples of
tasks given relate further to the explanation and word examples with sounds r
and rr, and the students are requested to notice the differences in pronunciation
of the sound r in various positions in a word, and to mark which words are
written with the grapheme r and which with the digraph rr. Moreover, the writing
of the grapheme h, which in modern Spanish, with the exception of some foreign
words, does not have a pronunciation value, but is mostly preserved in writing
for etymological reasons, has been covered as well.
EXERCISES OF
STIMULATING
ORTOGRAPHIC
AWARENESS
EXAMPLES
Allocation of
graphemes which
lack pronunciation
value
Which letter is not pronounced in the following words:
a) hola, hombre, hija, hoy
b) buho, ahora, ahorrar
Differentiation of
sounds r and rr in
pronunciation and
writing
amor – arroz
rubio – Andorra
agarrar – rosa
amarillo – árbol
Students listen to the example, then note how to write each.
r rr
1.
2.
3.
4.
Memorizing of
writing of more
frequent familiar
words
Students make a list of familiar words creating groups of words
with the grapheme r and the digraph rr including pronunciation
differences conditioned by the position of a sound in a word or
phonological surroundings.
rr r r (more vibrant)
perro árbol rosa
arroz parte río
barrio mar rubio
Table 2. Inciting orthographic awareness in the examples of words with grapheme h, r
and digraph rr
4.2.3 Stimulating morphological awareness
Morphological awareness is defined as „the conscious knowledge of the word
formation patterns in a language” (Coutu-Fleury 2015: 74). Considering the fact
that language processing mostly means morphological division of words (Wolf
2007), especially in the beginner phase of a foreign language learning when the
student's orthographic dictionary is in the early stages of creation, the activities
promoting morphological awareness can positively influence the ability of spelling
and reading, especially among the individuals with reading difficulties (Hurii et al.
according to Nijakowska 2010). The activities suggested for stimulation of
morphological awareness in individuals with reading disorders are mostly based
on noticing more frequents affixes in words, in particular prefixes or suffixes, or
on perceiving and raising awareness regarding belonging to the same formative
family. The tasks in which more frequent affixes in words are put on separate
cards give students insight into the formative processes, i.e. that knowing and
remembering of more common affixes can be useful, not only in reading, i.e.
understanding meaning, but also in formation and learning of the new words.
EXERCISES OF
STIMULATING
MORPHOLOGICAL
AWARENESS
EXAMPLES
Noticing more
common affixes and
their role in word
formation processes
and in word meaning
Words are formed by adding more frequent affixes to the mobile
cards.
digni dad
in dignar
dignar se
digni tario
propie dad
im propio
propie tario
Noticing words that
do not belong to the
formative family flor.
flor – fumar – florería – florista
floral – frigorífero – florear
física – enflorecido – florero – floración.
Noticing and
separation of words
that do not belong to
the same formative
family
zapato – zapatón – zumo – zapatito – zapatilla
camisa – camisería – coche – camisón – camiseta.
Table 3. Examples of tasks in promoting morphological awareness based on the role of
affixes in word formative processes and belonging of a word to a formative family
4.2.4 Stimulating syntactic awareness
Syntactic awareness refers to the ability to abstract grammatical information at
the sentence level. Since the individuals with reading difficulties frequently have
problems in mastering abstract notions and contents, understanding of
grammatical categories and their automatization necessary for foreign language
usage can also be aggravated. When teaching grammatical contents one usually
insists on total and direct teaching of grammatical structures (Cimermanová
2015), as well as on larger number of repetitions and practice. As a very
effective approach in teaching individuals with reading disorders is often
emphasised the one in which grammatical structure is represented visually, most
commonly in a schematic way. Namely, various authors point out the role of
visualisation in understanding individuals with reading difficulties (Davis and
Braun 1997 according to Cimermanová 2015; Šifrar Kalan and Furlan 2015).
Thus, it is attempted to improve their understanding and memory by means of
the schematic presentation of grammatical structures. Below is the example of
the teaching scheme for gerund formation in verb ending in –ar, the structure
translated into Croatian with present of imperfective verbs which cannot be
copied for Croatian examples because it represents a prototype example of
usage of the verb estar as a peculiarity of Spanish language.
(sujeto) quién verbo estar verbo (AR + ando)
Ana está dibujando.
NEGACIÓN
Quién NO verbo estar verbo (AR + ando)
Ana no está dibujando.
Figure 1. Scheme for studying of gerund in verbs ending in –ar in infinitive form
Since it is very often advised to avoid meta-language because of possible
difficulties in learning of abstract contents, a possibility of additional
simplification of chromatic coding according to a certain criterion is mentioned
(Cimermanová 2015; Šifrar Kalan and Furlan 2015), for instance, starting from
the role of words in a sentence. So Koromos and Smith claim (2012 according to
Cimermanová 2015: 51) that by systematic representation of verbs, subjects
and objects in a certain colour, with time a student should connect specific colour
and “agents of action, action and the objects of action“.
Finally, the schematic presentation of grammatical structure is not
reserved only for those elements which are not compatible in the source and the
target language, but it is more applicable to the compatible or partly compatible
structures, for example to present indicative, which then offers possibility of
noticing the similarities and forming analogies between Croatian and Spanish
language.
4.3 Typographical adjustments of teaching materials
To modify the teaching materials to suit the needs of users with reading
difficulties means including some of the typographical characteristics of text
which enable reading. Usually the following is singled out: the font, the
dimension of the letters, the space between lines and the use of different forms
of stylisation of the letter (Thes 2011). It is recommended that the typographical
formatting of teaching materials sets the norm of the font letter size to 12
typographical points or more, with an equal letter size throughout the text. When
discussing fonts, the preference should be given to those with separate
characters, such as Verdana or Courirer. Namely, according to the research
results in which Rello and Beaza-Yates (2013) studied the influence of readability
in individuals with reading disabilities, priority should be given to the fonts such
as Helvetica, Courierr or Arial, because the text written in these fonts are more
legible for individuals with reading difficulties. There are also specialized fonts
aimed for individuals with reading difficulties, such as Dyslexia Font, Read
Regular or OpenDyslexic. With regard to the writing stylisation, it is better to use
bold letters, while italic or/and underlining should be avoided. It is advisable to
increase the space between the letters and line spacing to make reading easier.
It is also desirable to use the left alignment and indentation, and a more visible
division of individual paragraphs of the text using empty lines (Thes 2011;
Cimermanová 2015).
Apart from the typographical characteristics, text comprehension and
understanding can be improved by emphasising the key words, by grouping the
important information, titles and subtitles, even if this does not necessarily
improve decoding but only makes text comprehension easier.
5. CONCLUSION
First language reading skill is widespread and automated, making its complexity
thus often forgotten. Comprehension complexities are therefore presented in the
literature on the examples of the reading skills development in a foreign
language. The difficulties in the development of reading skills will especially be
emphasized in the students with reading disorders. The elaboration of the
approach aimed at the individuals with reading difficulties includes at least three
different perspectives: researcher's perspective, therapist's perspective and
foreign language teacher's perspective (Nijakowska 2010). Although reading
disorders demand an individual approach and an elaborated treatment, which
surpasses the competences of the foreign language teachers, the insights into
the causes of the reading disorders, and the difficulties which manifest
themselves in the foreign language learning, enable teachers to modify some
teaching materials and apply selected techniques, and elaborated teaching
materials to customise the approach to the students with reading difficulties.
At the same time, according to Dehaene (2013: 272), "it is still very
difficult to differentiate the causes, the consequences and casual connections
with dyslexia". In foreign languages teaching the approach to reading difficulties
is additionally complicated by the fact that dyslexia is not equally detectable in
all languages. However, the existing insights into the difficulties which these
students encounter, and which influence the whole process of the foreign
language learning, refer to the importance of generating approaches with which
these students can be additionally motivated to develop reading skills.
The topics related to reading difficulties are still relatively
underrepresented within the teaching education14. Considering the European
educational policy which promotes multilingualism and the prevalence of dyslexia
in the general population, it is certain that teaching education should cover at
least the basic knowledge of the reading disorders and the ways they manifest
themselves in practice. Keeping this in mind, this paper considered the causes of
the reading difficulties within the framework of the cognitive processes active in
reading, and in the correlation with certain characteristics of the communicative
oriented teaching as the prevalent approach in the foreign language teaching
today. This approach is applicable to teaching for several reasons. Firstly, it
enables an insight into the reading difficulties and the various ways they
manifest themselves in the classroom. And, secondly, it allows a choice of
applying suitable exercises and shaping of those activities, which can, in turn,
influence the development of the reading skill. The activities described in this
paper are created as possible examples of tasks which additionally stimulate
phonologic, orthographic, morphologic and syntactic awareness at the beginner
level of the Spanish language learning. However, since some empirical studies
warned about the need of repetition and longer practice of necessary skills in
individuals with reading difficulties (Rueda 1995), the described examples can be
complemented with more complex tasks, also with more demanding types of
activities which can be applied in the further learning phases. In boosting
phonological awareness, for instance, the tasks can be supplemented with
phonemic manipulation exercises; stimulation of morphological awareness can
include formation of new words by adding more familiar affixes to the root
morpheme. The schematic presentation of the grammatical structures is
recommended to be applied gradually, and to add other types of exercises,
especially work on the text, which will be enabled by the acquired competency in
the Spanish language.
NOTES
1 In the literature, the difference between skill and competence is usually established by
way of learning – skills are considered those language activities developed by learning
and training (reading and writing), while competences are activities learned automatically
in the first language, such as speaking and hearing.
2 Dyslexia is not a generally accepted term in the literature. In the most recent edition of
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2014), one of the more influential
qualifications of this type, dyslexia is indexed as a specific learning disability, but in other
qualifications it is referred to as a reading disability. The mentioned terms are often used
as synonyms. This work will focus mostly on the difficulties in phonological awareness,
starting from the differences between the phonologic systems of the Croatian and
Spanish language and to a less extent on orthographic, morphological and syntactic
awareness.
3 Such description of the reading comprehension results from research of discourse
comprehension. The first to present readings on a three-level text structure were Teun
van Dijk and Walter Kintsch in 1983. This is nowadays probably one of the most
influential descriptions of the reading comprehension, see for example Perfetti and
Friskoff (2007), Grabe (2009), Sparks (2012), etc.
4 See Difficulties in Phonological Processing.
5 See Dehaene (2013: 272-274).
6 Manifestation of dyslexia spectrum disorders depends on the language systems; for
instance, difficulties in the phonological process can be less noticed in the languages
whose writing systems are logographic as well as in the languages whose orthographic
systems are described as shallow. For more details see Wolf (2007: 170).
7 According to Čudina-Obradović (2014), the prevalence of dyslexia in Croatia is
estimated at around 10%. By contrast, in European countries dyslexia occurs less often
and affects around 5 - 7% of the population.
8 A concise review of the approach to reading disorders in the first and foreign language
can be found in Knudsen (2012).
9 The tasks are formed according to the examples which are described for teaching of
English as a foreign language by Nijakowska (2010) and are adjusted to the beginner
level of learning of Spanish language. Some examples can also be found again in
teaching of English as a foreign language in Cimermanová (2015).
10 As already mentioned, the starting point in creating exercises intended for the
additional promotion of phonological awareness were differences between the
phonological systems of the Croatian and Spanish language. However, some of the
suggested activities match to those applied in the development of phonological
awareness in Spanish as the first language. The examples of tasks for developing of
phonological awareness in Spanish as the first language can be found in Cabeza Pereiro
(2006).
11 Examples where the phoneme /k/ is represented with the grapheme q are omitted
because they are rare and are not usually present in the first stage of learning.
12 Due to the applicability of the exercises, determining the grapheme as an exclusively
simple sign is here consciously avoided, whereby digraphs ch and ll are not treated as
individual letters, and are excluded from the letter list in the Spanish alphabet. For
additional information, see [Real Academia Española] (2010). Ortografía de la lengua
española.
13 See note 12.
14 This is not only inherent to Croatian teaching system; see Knudsen (2012).
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