MSL in the digital ages: Effects and effectiveness of computer-mediated intervention for FL learners with dyslexia

Abstract

The longitudinal intervention study reported here is the first to investigate the efficiency of computer learning software specifically designed for dyslexic Swiss German learners of Standard German as a second language (L2) and English as a third language (L3). A total of 40 subjects (20 of them dyslexics and 20 of them nondyslexics; 10 students from each group participated in interventions and the other 10 from each group served as control groups) were assessed with a battery of verbal and written pre-and posttests involving phonological/orthographic and semantic measures of their L2 and L3 before and after three months of daily intervention with the software. The results show that computer-based training in the L3 is potentially an important tool of intervention for dyslexic students as it has a positive effect on the components of L3 as well as L2 learning. As a consequence of their progress in acquiring the relationships between L3 graphemes and phonemes, the experimental groups, but not the control groups, made significant gains on L2 naming accuracy and speed, L2 and L3 word reading, L2 and L3 phonological awareness, and L2 and L3 receptive and productive vocabulary and comprehension tasks.

Attending to Motivation During Vocabulary Interventions for Students With or at Risk for Learning Disabilities

“…Eleven research teams aimed to address motivation by making the intervention activities interesting for students. Five interventions, conducted by Fogarty et al (2020), Pfenninger (2015), Rodríguez and Cumming (2017), Shamir and Baruch (2012), and Shamir et al (2018), aimed to do so via mode of delivery, using technology such as digital tools and e-books. In explaining this choice for mode of intervention delivery, the research teams noted that children often perceive devices or computer programs to be inherently entertaining, and content can be delivered with multimedia effects that capture and maintain students' attention.…”

Atención a la dislexia con recursos digitales: una revisión de la literatura

“…Intervención "Dislexia" es una palabra clave presente en 20 de los artículos estudiados (Alsobhi et al, 2015;Anestis, 2015;Kazakou y Soulis, 2015;Madeira et al, 2015;Pfenninger, 2015;Zikl et al, 2015;Ayala y Llorens, 2016;Núñez y Santamarina, 2016;Alghabban et al, 2017;Benmarrakchi et al, 2017;Cidrim y Madeiro, 2017;Manzano et al, 2017;Zakopoulou et al, 2017;Borhan et al, 2018;Cidrim et al, 2018;Sood et al, 2018; Adamu y Soykan, 2019; Dymora y Niemiec, 2019; Macas-Macas y Guevara-Vizcaíno, 2020), lo que resulta coherente con el procedimiento de búsqueda utilizado. Relacionadas con los recursos digitales, las palabras clave más frecuentes son: "TIC" (Anestis, 2015;Zikl et al, 2015;Núñez y Santamarina, 2016;Ramírez et al, 2016;Benmarrakchi et al, 2017;Manzano et al, 2017; Macas-Macas y Guevara-Vizcaíno, 2020), nuevas tecnologías (Ayala y Llorens, 2016), "tecnologías" (Cidrim y Madeiro, 2017;Cidrim et al, 2018;Adamu y Soykan, 2019) o "tecnología digital" (Zakopoulou et al, 2017).…”

“…Atendiendo al enfoque del estudio, de los 27 documentos, la mayoría (51,85 %) están relacionados con el diseño de un software que ayuda en la mejora de la dislexia (Madeira et al, 2015;Alsobhi et al, 2015;Obradovic et al, 2015;Zikl et al, 2015;Vasilyeva, 2016;Ramírez et al, 2016;Ayala y Llorens, 2016;Zimmer y De Fátima, 2017;Alghabban et al, 2017;Sood et al, 2018;Borhan et al, 2018;Cidrim et al, 2018;Dutton, 2019;Siregar et al, 2019). Un 37,94 % son artículos relacionados con el uso de los recursos digitales en una intervención con este colectivo para conocer sus efectos (Kazakou y Soulis, 2015;Tses-meli y Tsirozi, 2015;Pfenninger, 2015;Anestis, 2015;Núñez y Santamarina, 2016;Richardson, 2016;Zakopoulou et al, 2017;Ronimus et al, 2017;Dymora y Niemiec, 2019;Macas-Macas y Guevara-Vizcaíno, 2020). Por último, solamente se identificaron tres revisiones bibliográficas (Cidrim y Madeiro, 2017;Manzano et al, 2017;Adamu y Soykan, 2019).…”

Dyslexia in the context of second language learning and teaching

“…Csizér et al, 2010;Kormos and Csizér, 2010;Kormos et al, 2009;Piechurska-Kuciel, 2008;Sparks, 2013), foreign language teaching practices with dyslexic students and effectiveness of instructional programmes designed especially for dyslexic learners (e.g. Košak-Babuder et al, 2019;Nijakowska, 2008;Pfenninger, 2015), identification of dyslexia in multilingual speakers (Geva and Wiener, 2015;Martin, 2013) and assessment of the L2 skills of dyslexic learners (Tsagari and Spanoudis, 2013;Tsagari and Sperling, 2017) as well as L2 teacher knowledge and training (Kormos and Nijakowska, 2017;Nijakowska, 2014;Nijakowska and Kormos, 2016).…”