By Lindsay Chandler
Myth
Individuals with intellectual disabilities should not learn a second language.
Fact
Individuals with intellectual disabilities can be successful in learning another language. The idea that they should not learn a second language perpetuates the idea of “foreign language learning disability,” which presumes that intellectual disabilities prevent successful language learning and should therefore be avoided [10, 11, 14].
Myth
Fact
Individuals with disabilities do not perform significantly worse than their typically developing counterparts when exposed to multiple languages [1, 4]. In fact, social and environmental factors such as anxiety and comfort with the material and the environment may hinder or facilitate language acquisition, sometimes even more so than cognitive factors [5, 6].
Myth
When living in a second-language environment, parents and schools should not use the first or home language with individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Fact
Depriving children of the use of their first language can have negative effects in the realms of cultural connectivity and the acquisition of a second language [2, 14]. In fact, use of a first or home language can provide support to individuals with intellectual disabilities when learning another language [7].
Myth
Foreign language learning in a classroom is inaccessible to individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Fact
Current approaches to classroom language learning do not take into account factors which may facilitate learning for individuals with intellectual disabilities, such as the need for trained staff, appropriate methodological and pedagogical frameworks, or a holistic approach to learning that integrates experiencing the language through sensory, kinesthetic, affective, and aesthetic domains [7, 8, 9, 13]. A safe learning environment with multisensory experiences, smaller class sizes, more time for assignment completion, review, repetition, and focus on strength rather than weakness can influence success for individuals with intellectual disabilities [3, 8, 13].
References
Current approaches to classroom language learning do not take into account factors which may facilitate learning for individuals with intellectual disabilities, such as the need for trained staff, appropriate methodological and pedagogical frameworks, or a holistic approach to learning that integrates experiencing the language through sensory, kinesthetic, affective, and aesthetic domains [7, 8, 9, 13]. A safe learning environment with multisensory experiences, smaller class sizes, more time for assignment completion, review, repetition, and focus on strength rather than weakness can influence success for individuals with intellectual disabilities [3, 8, 13].
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2. Gorman, B. K., & Consalvi, J. [LinguaHealth]. (2011, December 8). Can special needs children be bilingual? [Video file]. Retrieved from
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4. Kay-Raining Bird, E., Cleave, P., Trudeau, N., Thordardottir, E., Sutton, A., & Thorpe, A. (2005). The language abilities of bilingual children with Down syndrome. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 14, 187–199. doi:10.1044/1058-0360
5. Kormos, J. (2017). The second language learning processes of students with specific learning difficulties. New York and London: Taylor and Francis.
6. Kormos, J. & Smith, A. M. (2012). Teaching languages to students with specific learning differences. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
7. Lim, N., O’Reilly, M. F., Sigafoos, J., Ledbetter‑Cho, K., & Lancioni, G. E. (2018). Should heritage languages be incorporated into interventions for bilingual individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders? A systematic review. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(3), 887–912. doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3790-8
8. Piazzoli, E. & Kubiak, J. (2019). ‘‘The only learning I’m going to get’: Students with intellectual disabilities learning a second language through performative pedagogy’, Scenario: A Journal for Performative Teaching, Learning, Research, XIII (1), pp. 21–41. doi: 10.33178/scenario.13.1.2
9. Schwarz, Robin L. (1997): Learning Disabilities and Foreign Language Learning. http://www.ldonline.org/article/6065/
10. Sparks, Richard L. (2009). If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll wind up somewhere else: The case of “foreign language learning disability” Foreign Language Annals, 42, 7–26
11. Sparks, Richard L. (2016). Myths About Foreign Language Learning and Learning Disabilities. Foreign Language Annals, 49 (2) , 252–270
12. Uljarevic, M., Katsos, N., Hudry, K., & Gibson, J.L. (2016). Practitioner Review: Multilingualism and neurodevelopmental disorders – an overview of recent research and discussion of clinical implications. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(11), 1205–1217. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12596
13. Wight, M. C. S. (2015). Students with learning disabilities in the foreign language learning environment and the practice of exemption. Foreign Language Annals, 48(1), 39–55. doi: 10.1111/flan.12122
14. Mally, N. H. G. (2019). Individuals with intellectual disabilities and second language acquisition: A framework for approaching inclusive foreign language instruction. [Master’s thesis, Kansas State University]. K-State Research Exchange, http://hdl.handle.net/2097/40232