A Foreign Language Learner with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

A Foreign Language Learner with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

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Introduction
n Neil presents behaviour and concentration lapses in many lessons, including MFL. His general practitioner has given him a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children with ADHD have difficulty most of the time in paying attention and their behaviour is overactive and impulsive. ADHD is a medical condition with a medical diagnosis. Treatment may involve medication or behavioural therapy.

Problem 1
n You decide to find out what young people with ADHD, and their parents, think about learning MFL.
n Read Foreign language learning and ADHD. A boy with a diagnosis of ADHD has failed his basic French and Spanish courses. His father believes that his son's disability lies at the root of his foreign language learning difficulties and that he should be exempted accordingly from further MFL study. Now read this ADHD forum thread, where several contributors with the condition talk positively as well as negatively about their experiences when learning other languages.

Problem 2
n You decide to find out about good practice in teaching MFL to students with ADHD.
n American universities introducing a "foreign language requirement" used to grant a "waiver" to applicants with ADHD and without MFL accreditation. Later on, they devised new methods of teaching MFL to prospective "at-risk" students, rendering them eligible to fulfil the same foreign language requirement as their non-disabled peers. Read Margarita Hodge's articles Teaching foreign languages to at risk learners and Teaching foreign languages to LD and ADD/ADHD learners to find out more. For general information about the educational implications of ADHD, visit the American website ADDinSchool.com.

Further reading
n Hodge, M. (1998) 'Teaching Foreign Languages to At-Risk Learners: A Challenge for the New Millennium', Inquiry, 2(1), pp. 68-78. Online at http://www.vccaedu.org/inquiry/inquiry-spring98/i21hodge.html
n Hodge, M. (1998) 'Teaching Foreign Languages to LD and ADD/ADHD Learners: A Challenge for the New Millennium', http://www.nvcc.edu/home/nvhodgm/Professional/TeachingFLtoLD&ADHD-ADDLearners.html
n Ingram, G. (2008) 'Case study: an able linguist with ADHD', in Ingram, G., Meeting the Needs of Your Most Able Pupils - Modern Foreign Languages, London: Routledge, pp. 77-78.
n Liimatainen, M. (2004) Learning Difficulties of an ADHD Child at an Early Stage of English Studies: A Case Study, MA Thesis, University of Joensuu, Finland.
n McGlashan, A. (2002) Helping the ADD Language Learner, paper presented at AATG 2002, November 22-24, Salt Lake City, UT.
n Nowacka, D. (2006). 'Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learner's communicative competence', in Fisiak, J. (ed.), English language, literature and culture: Selected papers from the 13th PASE Conference, Poznan 2004, Poznan: Adam Mickiewicz University Press, pp. 57-62.
n Sparks, R. (2003) Learning Disabilities, ADHD, and the Foreign Language Requirement, paper presented at World Language Literacy: Pathways to Understanding, Kentucky Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Fall Conference 2003.
n Sparks, R. L., Humbach, N. and Javorsky, J. (2008) 'Individual and longitudinal differences among high and low-achieving, LD, and ADHD L2 learners', Learning and Individual Differences, 18(1), pp. 29-43.
n Sparks, R. L., Philips, L. and Javorsky, J. (2003) 'College students classified as having learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the foreign language requirement', Foreign Language Annals 36(3), pp. 325-337.
n Sparks, R.L., Javorsky, J. and Philips, L. (2004) 'College Students Classified with ADHD and the Foreign Language Requirement', Journal of Learning Disabilities 37(2), pp. 169-178. Online at http://ldx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/37/2/169

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