Abstract:

Neurodiversity has become an increasingly prominent challenge in contemporary educational contexts. Among neurodivergent learners, students exhibiting hyperactive behavioural patterns represent a significant subgroup. Within the context of foreign language education in Slovakia, teachers often lack well-established instructional strategies that effectively accommodate the educational and socio-emotional needs of these learners. Creative pedagogical approaches incorporating multimodal instructional materials may therefore provide a promising avenue for inclusive language instruction. In this study, picture books are examined as a potential pedagogical and emotional support tool for lower-secondary learners of a foreign language. The study investigates how visually rich, narrative-based materials may support engagement, emotional regulation, and language development in learners demonstrating hyperactive behaviour patterns. A qualitative case study methodology was employed, focusing on the learning process of two 12-year-old female students over a six-month period. The intervention consisted of a series of guided 45-minute language-learning sessions utilizing selected picture books as the primary instructional resource.

Data were collected through classroom observation using selected observation codes. The findings indicate that picture books may function as an effective tool that supported sustained attention for longer time periods, and facilitated vocabulary acquisition of the learners of A1/A2 proficiency levels. At the same time, analysis revealed several areas of linguistic difficulties, in grammatical accuracy, sentence construction, and narrative fluency. The results suggest that picture books may serve not only as literacy resources but also as emotional and pedagogical support tools that foster a more accessible and motivating learning environment for hyperactive learners. The study highlights the pedagogical value of multimodal materials in language pedagogy and highlights the importance of individualized strategies when addressing the needs of learners with attention-related challenges.

Keywords:

Neurodiversity, hyperactivity, language pedagogy, social interaction, vocabulary acquisition.