Abstract:

English as the first foreign language in schools is widely implemented across numerous countries, and research in this domain is expanding substantially, encompassing both typically developing learners and learners with dyslexia. In Norway, English is introduced as the first foreign language already in Grade 1, at the same time as children are expected to acquire basic reading and writing skills in Norwegian, and is particularly difficult for many students with dyslexia. The aim of this study was to map English oral verbal and literacy skills in sixth graders divided into a dyslexia group (n = 19) and a control group without dyslexia (n = 24). The participants were tested with "The English 2 Dyslexia Test", which contains three linguistic domains: sentence comprehension and production, pragmatics and writing skills. The dyslexia group scored in line with the control group on language comprehension, almost in line on pragmatics, but significantly weaker on the literacy tests, Especially, the dyslexia group had problems with sentence production and word dictation. The results are discussed in accordance with the timing of initial learning, implicit and explicit learning, and the influences from social platforms. A conclusion is that more research is needed on early mapping and intervention of English as second language in students with dyslexia.

Keywords:

Dyslexia, foreign language, English.