The present paper discusses the state of the art in clinical assessment of dyslexia in multilingual children and some key-issues in the light of clinical, linguistic and intercultural research. The first paragraph provides an overview of current knowledge on dyslexia across languages and discusses how different orthographies influence the performance of typical and atypical readers. The second paragraph focuses on some theoretical and practical issues to consider when it comes to assessing dyslexia in the context of Italian as a second language. The third and fourth paragraphs show how current research in clinical linguistics and intercultural studies can provide interesting solutions for clinical assessment of dyslexia in multilingual children. Although research on this topic is not yet conclusive, there is evidence that a multidisciplinary approach including cross-linguistic and intercultural studies is necessary for language-and-culture-fair clinical assessment.

According to recent studies in neuropsychology, when learning a language, young children mainly use "implicit memory", i.e. the memory of automatic procedures such as riding a bicycle. As an implication for early foreign language teaching (EFLT), teachers will stimulate the pupils' implicit memory by exposing them to routine situations in which specific linguistic expressions are associated with recurring actions and procedures. This paper will therefore discuss the neuropsychological, linguistic and educational roles of routines in EFLT and will provide teachers with methodological principles to manage routine situations in a foreign language. KeywordsPreschool Education, Early Foreign Language Learning, Developmental Neuropsychology, Linguistic Routine Sommario Recenti studi nel campo della neuropsicologia hanno dimostrato che nel processo di acquisizione linguistica i bambini attivano la memoria implicita, ossia la memoria delle procedure automatiche. Le implicazioni per l'accostamento alle lingue in tenera età sono notevoli, in quanto l'insegnante può sollecitare l'attivazione della memoria implicita degli allievi creando routine situazionali in cui specifiche espressioni linguistiche vengono associate ad azioni e movimenti ricorrenti. In questo saggio si discuteranno il valore neuropsicologico, linguistico ed educativo delle routine e i conseguenti principi metodologici per la gestione di momenti routinizzati in lingua straniera. Parole chiaveIstruzione prescolare, un apprendimento precoce delle lingue, Developmental Neuropsychology, psicologia neurale dello sviluppo, linguistica di routine General features of early language learningIt is commonly assumed that children learn languages better, faster and easier than adults. Although some empirical researches in EFLT argued that it is not always the case, recent studies in neuropsychology showed there are some critical periods for language acquisition 1 The concept of "critical periods" is borrowed from biology and refers to the fact that some abilities might only be acquired if proper stimulation is provided during a specific time window. If this time window is missed, the development of those abilities will be imperfect, or even impossible. According to many neurolinguistic researches, language acquisition is prone to critical periods as well (Fabbro 2004;Gullberg, Indefrey, 2006). This would explain why young children exposed to two languages in a bilingual context become native speakers of both languages. Besides, young children exposed to a foreign language (FL) can distinguish, memorize and reproduce sounds, words and idioms better than adults. ESE de Paula FrassinettiRevista Saber & Educar / Cadernos de Estudo / 14 11 We used the expression "critical period" in the plural because some recent neuroimaging studies showed that there are two critical periods for language acquisition: 0-3 and 4-7 years (Wartenburger et al., 2003). If a child acquires two languages between the ages of zero and three, the representation of both languages is located in...

The present paper discusses the potential of Cognitive Linguistics in the study of Specific Language Needs, i.e. pupils with specific impairment in the areas of communication and language acquisition. The paper is ideally divided into two parts. Part one provides a brief overview of how Cognitive Linguistics views the relationship between language and cognition and discusses clinical evidence supporting the idea that these are interrelated in developmental disorders. Consequently, Specific Language Needs should be reframed as cognitive limitations that selectively impact the development of language and communication. The second part of the paper shows that adopting a cognitive linguistic view can also be advantageous in the teaching of second/foreign languages to pupils with Specific Language Needs. After discussing the limitations of traditional approaches to the teaching of grammar, the authors present some potential applications which help overcome some typical learning difficulties experienced by pupils with Specific Language Needs.Sommario 1 Linguaggio e cognizione secondo la prospettiva della Linguistica Cognitiva. -2 Il sostrato cognitivo dei Bisogni Linguistici Specifici. -3 Bisogni Linguistici Specifici e apprendimento della grammatica: limiti dell'approccio tradizionale. -4 Il potenziale glottodidattico della Linguistica Cognitiva. -5 Riflessioni conclusive.

The present paper focuses on some theoretical and methodological issues regarding preschool familiarisation to foreign languages. In particular, it highlights the contribution provided by Carmel Mary Coonan on this topic, as well as the implications for the next generations of scholars who have conducted and continue to conduct research in this thriving field of Educational Linguistics.

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