Roundtable Programme and Abstracts

Adults as facilitators of learning for children with reading difficulties in diverse language learning contexts. 

Abstract: Educators and family members regularly play a major role in supporting the literacy development of children with reading difficulties in school or at home. Schools that host learners with language backgrounds (L1) different from the language of instruction (L2) around the world increasingly recognise the linguistic diversity of their schooling population as a means of creating an inclusive ethos in their setting. Parents in multilingual families steadily realise the benefits of raising multilingual children and encouraging the use of L1 at home for social and learning purposes. However, levels of confidence in supporting literacy development of children falling in both categories vary among the adults tasked to facilitate their learning, especially when it comes to specific elements of language learning when specialised knowledge is required. 

In this talk, I will examine the role of educators and adult family members in facilitating specific elements of language learning, namely reading, spelling and vocabulary for learners with reading difficulties coming from different language backgrounds. Selected data will be drawn from four recent studies done in Greece, the UK and a low-resource Sub-Saharan country with primary school-aged children and adults supporting them. Three key factors empowering adults to support children's development of literacy-related skills in school and at home will be discussed: a) confidence in identifying and supporting learners' specific literacy needs, b) understanding of the interactions between L1 and L2, and c) making room for differentiation in learning. Implications of these findings for further research in the role of adults in supporting multilingual children with reading difficulties, educational practice and policy will be discussed.

Accommodating learners with specific learning difficulties in L2 assessment: a straightforward matter?

Guidelines for good practice in assessment stipulate the importance of fair and equitable treatment of all candidates in the testing process.

Given the increased number of test takers with specific learning difficulties (SpLDs), both providers and researchers of language tests have started to give accessibility arrangements their long overdue attention over the last 15 years. While many test providers aim at providing appropriate testing conditions these days, and even Ministries of Education are finally issuing recommendations on the need for accommodating learners with SpLDs , there is still a dearth of empirical evidence when it comes to the actual implementations of such accommodations and their effectiveness.  
In this talk, I will briefly introduce SpLDs and considerations of fairness in language assessment before discussing previous studies that have looked into assessment accommodations. In particular, I will draw on a study in the context of L2 listening assessment for young learners in Austria to illustrate that implementing accommodations might not always result in improvements in performance or support test-takers with SpLDs efficiently. The study investigated the potential of self-paced listening as an adjustment for learners with low L1 literacy skills, which are relevant proxies for learning difficulties in contexts where systems of official SpLD diagnoses are lacking. The research examined the impact of self-paced listening on comprehension scores, listening anxiety and strategy use. The presentation concludes with a call for increased research efforts to ensure that well-intended measures are evidence based and efficient in delivering fairness and equity in assessment.  

The role of first language, working memory and reading anxiety in second language reading: Implications for teaching and assessment for language learners with specific learning differences 

There is ample research evidence to suggest that first language literacy skills and second language reading comprehension are strongly inter-related. Lower first language literacy skills and smaller capacity of working memory capacity are also known to be underlying causes of specific learning differences that have been shown to impact on second language learning outcomes. However, most research in this area has focussed on younger children or higher level university students. In this presentation I describe a study that has investigated how first language reading comprehension, phonological awareness and naming speed together with working memory capacity and reading anxiety predict second language reading performance among Hungary secondary school students. In this project I also examined how these first-language literacy-related and cognitive variables are  associated with the time needed for participants to complete the reading comprehension test. The findings have implications for research on time adjustments for students with specific learning differences and for supporting students who might experience challenges in second language reading comprehension.  

Second language reading in people with literacy difficulties: Some lessons learned  

People with reading and/or spelling difficulties can experience poor academic and socio-emotional outcomes, and life chances can be compromised. We will discuss the difficulties of identification of literacy difficulties in the face of sparse materials for some languages. Potential underlying reasons for reading and spelling difficulties are discussed, together with their interaction with writing systems. We will look at evidence for different manifestations of reading and spelling difficulties across a person’s languages, as well as some intervention studies that have resulted in effective outcomes. Areas for further development are identified.