Masaryk University

Faculty of Education
Department of English Language and Literature

TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN

WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DYSPHASIA

Bachelor Thesis

Brno 2011

Supervisor: Dr. Rita Chalmers Collins Author: Tereza Křenová

Annotation
Křenová, Tereza. Teaching English to Children with Developmental Dysphasia:
Bachelor Thesis. Brno: Masaryk University: Faculty of Education, Department of
English Language and Literature, 2011. 58 pp. Supervisor: Dr. Rita Chalmers
Collins.

The bachelor thesis Teaching English to Children with Developmental Dysphasia is

divided into two parts – theoretical and practical. The theoretical part deals with the
impaired communication ability, its definition, classification and difficulties
associated with the impaired communication ability. Furthermore, the theoretical part
concerns children developmental dysphasia. There the term of developmental
dysphasia is explained along with the description of symptoms and diagnosis as well
as dysphatic children in school setting. Mentioned also are problems which children
with developmental dysphasia have to deal with and approaches and methods
recommended for teaching children with developmental dysphasia. The practical part
is based on a survey at a basic school. The survey is focused on the introduction of
the school and surveyed children, as well as description of educational process
during English classes, children’s attitude to learning English and teacher’s attitude
to teaching English to children with developmental dysphasia. The aim of the
bachelor thesis is to try to come close to the problem of teaching English to children
with developmental dysphasia, find out which difficulties these children have during
English lessons and uncover children's attitude to learning English and also attitude
of their teachers as well as methods and strategies used.

Key words: Impaired communication ability, developmental dysphasia, children

with developmental dysphasia, teaching approaches
Anotace
Křenová, Tereza. Výuka anglického jazyka u dětí s vývojovou dysfázií: Bakalářská
práce. Brno: Masarykova Universita, Pedagogická fakulta, Katedra
anglického jazyka a literatury, 2011. 58 stran. Vedoucí bakalářské práce: Dr. Rita
Chalmers Collins

Bakalářská práce na téma Učení anglického jazyka u dětí s vývojovou dysfázií je

rozdělena na dvě části – teoretickou a praktickou. Teoretická část se zabývá
narušenou komunikační schopností, její definicí, klasifikací a potížemi, které jsou
s ní spojeny. Dále se pak teoretická část soustřeďuje na děti s vývojovou dysfázií,
kde je vysvětleno co je to vývojová dysfázie, jaké symptomy se u ní projevují, jak je
diagnostikována, jakými obtížemi děti s vývojovou dysfázií trpí a jak jsou tyto děti
brány ve školním prostředí. Praktická část bakalářské práce je založena na výzkumu
na základní škole. Průzkum je zaměřen na představení základní školy a zkoumaných
žáků, dále pak popisuje, jak probíhá výuka anglického jazyka s dětmi s vývojovou
dysfázií, zjišťuje, jaký mají děti s vývojovou dysfázií vztah k výuce anglického
jazyka, jaký přístup k této problematice má jejich učitel a jaké metod jsou využívány.
Cílem bakalářské práce má být přiblížení a nahlédnutí do problematiky výuky
anglického jazyka u dětí s vývojovou dysfázií, zjistit jaké potíže tyto dětí při výuce
AJ mají, jaký vztah mají oni samotní k výuce anglického jazyka a jaký přístup
k výuce anglického jazyka u dětí s vývojovou dysfázií má jejich vyučující a jaké
metody při výuce využívá.

Klíčová slova: Narušená komunikační schopnost, vývojová dysfázie, děti

s vývojovou dysfázií, vyučovací přístupy
 I declare that I worked on my thesis on my own and that I used only the
sources listed in the Bibliography and Internet sources.

Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci zpracovala samostatně a použila pouze

zdroje uvedené v seznamu literatury a internetových zdrojích.

………………………………………
Tereza Křenová
Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank to my supervisor Dr. Rita Chalmers Collins for providing
materials as well as for her support, patience and advice during writing the thesis.
My thanks belong also to Mrs. Lada Krobotová for her willingness to provide the
information about the school and learners as well as the learners who answered the
questions in my questionnaire.
1. Content
1. Content ................................................................................................................. 6
2. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 7
3. Theoretical part .................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Impaired Communication Ability ................................................................ 8
3.1.1 Classification of Impaired Communication Ability............................. 9
3.1.2 Impaired Communication Ability at school....................................... 10
3.1.3 Difficulties connected with the Impaired Communication Ability.... 10
3.2 Children with Dysphasia ............................................................................ 12
3.2.1 Definition ........................................................................................... 12
3.2.2 Symptoms........................................................................................... 14
3.2.3 Diagnosis............................................................................................ 15
3.2.4 Difficulties of children with developmental dysphasia...................... 16
3.2.5 Children with developmental dysphasia at school ............................. 18
3.2.6 Teaching approaches, strategies and methods using in lessons with
specific-language impaired children .................................................................. 20
4. Practical part....................................................................................................... 29
4.1 School introduction .................................................................................... 29
4.2 Introduction of the learners with developmental dysphasia...................... 30
4.3 Teaching English to Children with developmental dysphasia .................. 32
4.3.1 English education at school in Šumperk ............................................ 32
4.3.2 The English classes – equipments, the way of work, evaluation ....... 32
4.3.3 Teaching English................................................................................ 35
4.4 Learner’s attitude to learning English and their interest in learning foreign
language ................................................................................................................. 42
4.5 Teacher’s attitude to teaching English to children with developmental
dysphasia ................................................................................................................ 44
4.6 Discussion of results .................................................................................. 46
5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 50
6. Works Cited ....................................................................................................... 52
7. Internet sources .................................................................................................. 54
8. Appendix ............................................................................................................ 56

6
2. Introduction

The need for learning a foreign language especially English is taken up as a

necessity and is implicit for everyone nowadays. Anyone who wants to have a good
job, travel, communicate with people of different cultures has to know at least the
basics of a foreign language.
For people who are healthy and do not suffer from any impairments or
diseases the acquisition of a foreign language is not such a big problem. However, all
around the world there are people who have communication disorders or Impaired
Communication Ability. These people as well as the others want to learn a foreign
language, e.g. English, in order to be able to have a good job, travel or just improve
the quality of their life and have more self-confidence.
Studying English, I have decided to cover the topic of teaching English to
children with Impaired Communication Ability, especially with developmental
dysphasia, in my bachelor thesis.
The bachelor thesis is divided into two parts. In the theoretical part I deal
with Impaired Communication Ability itself and I am particularly concerned with
children with developmental dysphasia. In the practical part I focus on research of
children with developmental dysphasia at school during their English lessons. By
means of observation of lessons I try to identify useful information that show how
these children are able to learn English and communicate in a foreign language in
spite of their disorder. During the survey I observe their ability to learn vocabulary,
grammar, speaking, writing, listening and reading and also which difficulties
occurred. I also examine what level their English is at, what is the biggest problem
for these children in communication in English and moreover I would like to uncover
their attitude to learning English as well as their teachers’ opinion of teaching
English to children with developmental dysphasia and which methods are used in
lessons.

7
3. Theoretical part
3.1 Impaired Communication Ability

In this chapter I am concerned with the definition of the Impaired

Communication Ability. What is it exactly? Impaired Communication Ability is one
of the main topics of speech therapy. “Speech and language impairment may be any
of several problems that make it difficult to communicate.” (“Speech impairment”)
Impaired Communication Ability is mentioned if the utterance of a speaker
deviates from the standard which is used in the given lingual background in so far as
it causes disturbances in the act of communication (Lechta, 18). Communication
ability of a speaker is affected if and only if some of linguistic aspects of his or her
utterance make interference regarding his communicative intention (Škodová,
Jedlička a kol. 23).
Impaired Communication Ability can be temporary or persistent. By the
reason of its possible elimination, it is known in speech theory as a disorder not a
disability. It may appear as a developmental speech disorder or it may develop
during the life and then it is talked about as an acquired disorder. On one hand it may
be a primary disability and have a dominant role which means it is the main
symptom of disorder in the clinical picture and on the other hand it may be a
consequence of another dominant disability, disease or disorder – in this case it is
known as a secondary disability. (Lechta, 19-20).
However, we don’t consider any of the following to be Impaired
Communication Ability:
Physiological speechlessness – if a child doesn’t speak before the end of the first
year, it concerns a natural phenomenon.
Genetical dysfluency – it’s normal at the age of about 3.
So called Physiological dyslalia – wrong pronunciation of some sounds at the end of
the fifth year of a child, the case of simple dyslalia without any serious genetical
abnormalities, hearing impairments, etc, .
Physiological dysgraphia – mistakes in the morphology-syntax aspect are acceptable
until the age of about four.
The term „Impaired Communication Ability“ may not be used in the cases
that some of the linguistic aspects influence disorder considering speaker’s

8
communicative intention, though, a sender or a receiver of information do not use the
same code – same language. It is the case when people try to communicate in the
foreign language but can’t produce it perfectly (Škodová, Jedlička a kol. 24-25).

3.1.1 Classification of Impaired Communication Ability

In the logopedics there are ten categories of Impaired Communication Ability

distinguished. (Lechta 21)
- Developmental dysphasia
Developmental Dysphasia is classified as speech disorders according to the
development of speech. This disorder is specific impaired development of speech
which is the result of an early injury of the brain that has different etiology basis.
Mostly it interferences speech functions and causes difficulties in speech production
and comprehension. This disorder is marked by the broad range of symptoms in the
speech production. (Morris, 25) Developmental dysphasia is the disorder that I have
chosen for my investigation and for this reason I would like to concentrate on it in
depth later in my thesis.
- Acquired Aphasia
- Acquired psychogenic speechlessness – Mutism
- Speech sound disorder - Rhinolalia and Palatolalia.
- Speech fluency disorder referring to two type of impairment – stuttering
(bulbaties) and cluttering (tumultus sermonis) (Peutelschmiedová, 65).
- Speech articulation disorder includes two impairment – Dyslalia and
Dysarthrias. (Peutelschmiedová, 51)
- Speech disorders of graphic origin are generally known as learning disorders.
To these disorders belong dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthography and dyscalculia.
Learning disorders are of developmental character. (Peutelschmiedová, 75)
- Secondary speech disorders are associated with mental retardation, hearing
impairment, visual impairment and the last but not least other disorders and
diseases such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders, epilepsy,
schizophrenia or behavioral disturbance (Peutelschmiedová, 83).
- Voice disorders are concerned with the quality of the voice itself. (Lechta, 249)
- Symptomatic communication disorders. (Lechta, 257)

9
3.1.2 Impaired Communication Ability at school

The Ability to use speech and language skills and communicate with students
and teachers at school is essential to academic success and learning because
language, in all its forms such as reading, speaking and writing, is the basis of
communication and learning happens through the process of communication.
(“Frequently Asked Questions: Speech and Language Disorders in the School
Setting”)
As there is a potential danger of segregating individuals from the social and
educational community associated with all communication disorders, it is crucial to
find fitting and well-timed intervention. (“Speech and Language Disorders” 3)
Speech language pathologists encourage and help children suffering from
communication disorders in various ways. They afford individual therapy for the
child and consult with the child’s teacher on the most effective manner to ease the
child’s communication in the class environment. (“Speech and Language
Disorders” 3)

3.1.3 Difficulties connected with the Impaired Communication

Ability

Impaired Communication Ability combines deficits in phonology, syntax,

morphology, semantics and pragmatics. (Farrell, 201)

Phonological difficulties and possibility of their provision:

Phonology, as the study concerning the differences in speech sound which
carry meaning, enables the learners to understand that, when a speech sound is
changed in a word, its meaning changes. With phonological difficulties occur
problems in relating speech sounds to changes in meaning.
The possibility of provision for phonological difficulties is for instance ‘error
analysis’ and ‘articulation exercises’. It helps children to produce sounds that
progressively acquire like those created by adults. If the child tells the incorrect
sound yes as yeth or mess as meth, he or she is encouraged to distinguish the sound
that he or she makes and the difference between it and the target sound. (Farrell

10
207) Then articulation exercises such as control over the lips, tongue, palate and
breathing contribute to develop and fix the right sound. (Farrell 208)

Difficulties with syntax and possibility for their provision:

The grammatical problems may be shown at the age of about 3. The children
have troubles with the order of words and with creating sentences of four and more
words. During the process of making sentences, there are also difficulties with
“connecting ideas that are complicatedly hierarchical, dependent, embedded or
causal. In morphology obstacles in prefixes and suffixes appear”. (Farrell 215)
The provision for grammatical difficulties can be, for example ‘Elicited
imitation’ which is the kind of procedure which typically includes these activities:
an adult who can be a parent or a teacher shows the child a non-verbal input, e.g. a
picture. Then this adult says what is in the picture and asks the child to say the same
what the adult said before. The child tries to repeat it and if he or she answers
wrong, the adult asks to reproduce again and if the utterance is correct then he or
she is honored with a correct response. (Farrell 218)

Difficulties in semantics and possibility for their provision:

According to Aitcheson in Farrell the difficulties associated with the
acquisition of meaning occur in three basic, interconnected tasks – labeling,
packaging, network building. (227)
Labelling difficulties mean that the learners have correct word finding
problems. (Farrell 228) Farrell suggests:

In the packaging task, the child must discover which things can be packaged
together under one label. Difficulties with grammatical meaning of packaging
concern with problems in understanding, which means that the grammatical
role of the words in a sentence influences the meaning of the word.
(229)Network-building difficulties involve the area of synonyms, antonyms
and in the same category. (Farrell 229)

For instance, in the case of labeling, the opportunity to reduce the difficulties can be
teaching involving connections “between objects and events or pictures and other

11
 items such as symbolization for instance using pretend play and pictures
representing objects and actions.” (Farrell 231)

Pragmatic difficulties and the possibility of their provision:

Pragmatic difficulties include problems with basic skills and knowledge,
problems with grammatical sense in language use, problems with conversational
skills and semantic-pragmatic difficulties. The difficulties with grammatical sense
in language use can be restricted by using role-play. (Farrell 238)

3.2 Children with Dysphasia

3.2.1 Definition

I have already mentioned what developmental dysphasia means on the

previous pages and on the following ones I deal with developmental dysphasia in
depth.
Developmental dysphasia is one of the developmental speech disorders and
its definition can not be explicitly explained because in the literature there are many
different ways how this language disorder is understood. Terminology was changing
over the course of years and some of the authors were using the term “alalia” alias
speechlessness as well as specific language impairment.
The Anglo-Saxon literature expresses dysphasia as the developmental aphasia
or dyslogia. (Mikulajová, Rafajdusová 30)
Generally, we talk about developmental dysphasia if there is an impaired
development of language abilities found which cannot be explained as mental
retardation neither deficits in oral motor function, hearing loss, emotional deprivation
nor the influences of environment and education. (Weismer 125)
From Škodova´s and Jedlička´s point of view developmental dysphasia is
conceived as the specific impaired development of language associated either with
hindered ability or disability to learn verbal communication, although the conditions
to develop the language are adequate. (106)
Whereas A. G. Beesems, a speech language therapist from Developmental
Dysphasia Foundation in Amsterdam, expresses developmental dysphasia as:

12
 A clearly defined speech-language disorder of neurodevelopmental origin
with a very characteristic disharmonic profile on which I will elaborate later.
Therefore, it is explicitly not a speech-language delay (that shows - on the
contrary - a harmonic profile), although the combination of developmental
dysphasia and a speech-language delay can occur in one person.

On the other hand, in the Czech system of logopaedia the developmental dysphasia is
considered a specific impaired development of language due to the early impairment
of the brain which concerns so called language zones of the brain.
In clinical practice it is necessary to know the difference between the
developmental dysphasia and delayed language development. Delayed language
development assumes normal development of language just with specific time delay,
which means it is distinguished by any deviations from normal development. The
cause of delayed language development is often on one hand insufficient psychical
stimulation of child, environment and on the other hand stands the inheritance – this
impairment occurred in one of the parents of a child. In comparison to the
developmental dysphasia, the delayed language development has no connections
with dysfunction of non-language processes. (Mikulajová, Rafajdusová, 32-33)
By the extent of the brain damage two types of developmental dysphasia are
distinguished. The first type is called expressive or motor dysphasia is used for
people who understand speech but have problems to use it. (“Dysphasia or Specific
Language Impairment”) For instance, the people who suffer from expressive
dysphasia do not manage to find the meaningful responses to the asked questions and
when they describe some objects or pictures often are not able to find appropriate
words. Furthermore, the lack of fluency of their speech mirrors that they recognize
and they are conscious of incorrect speech. (“Expressive Dysphasia”)
In Škodová, Jedlička and kolektiv, expressive dysphasia is characterized by
the following features: development of speech is always delayed, expressive
dysphatic children rely rather on non-verbal means of communication. (170)
Contrary to it there is receptive dysphasia which is distinguished by
difficulties of reception. The development of speech does not have to be mainly
delayed. The children have rich vocabulary, yet they do not understand the meaning
of used words. Their speech is fluent but practically unintelligible. (Škodová,
Jedlička a kol. 72)

13
3.2.2 Symptoms

In this subchapter are the symptoms according to which developmental

dysphasia is recognized. Developmental dysphasia has a lot of various symptoms
with the inclusion of distinctive unequal personal development. The most remarkable
symptom is largely delayed language development. (Wyke 39)
Speech symptoms
Speech difficulties may have either an external or internal structure. The
delayed language development is always the most fundamental symptom. In the
internal structure the areas of semantics, syntax, but also grammar could be
interfered, which means, for instance, wrong word-order, faulty use of inflections
and restricted vocabulary. (Wyke 40)
In the external structure, the phonological disorders according to the
distinctive features of sounds are crucial. The speech is very affected and
unintelligible. There is a possibility of sound reduction or replacement in words,
especially in the case of long words. (Škodová, Jedlička a kol. 146)

Symptoms in other areas

Uneven development - substantial difference between particular abilities may
reach up to the year difference.
The disproportion between verbal and non-verbal abilities – the quality of
verbal discourse is markedly lower than intellectual abilities of children and their
age.
Impaired visual perception is expressed by difficulties in drawing pictures.
Impaired auditory perception - the affected ability to distinguish individual
elements of speech together with perceiving, remembering and imitating melody or
rhythm. Moreover, it is affected acoustic signal processing thus latency or hesitation
occurs. (Wyke 42)
Impaired memory functions.
Impaired orientation in time and space – children orientate themselves wrong
– right and left orientation.
Impaired motor functions - the fine motor skills of speech organs, hands and
the absence of spatial arrangement are almost the rule.
Difficulties connected with laterality (Škodová, Jedlička a kol. 148-149)

14
3.2.3 Diagnosis

The diagnosis of developmental dysphasia seems easy to recognize if the

following four major characteristics have been established present.
The four major characteristics of developmental dysphasia are speech
understanding clearly better than speaking, spontaneous speech (monologue) better
than dialogue (‘on command’ situation), fluency impairment (connection of ideas
e.g. story-telling), morphological and syntactical disorders. (Beesems)

However, the clinical picture varies with age, severity and the presence of
complicating factors such as (oral) dyspraxia, bilingualism, hearing loss,
stuttering, ADHD, immobility; long term institutionalization, epilepsy,
autism. It is clear that complicating factors colour the picture of
developmental dysphasia. Given the fact that other problems may frequently
disguise the presence of developmental dysphasia, it is important to make a
solid, multidisciplinary differential diagnosis. (Beesems)

The multidisciplinary differential diagnosis means the diagnosis is based on

the cooperation of specialists (doctors, psychologists and pedagogues) and consists
of various investigations.
The first is the phoniatric diagnosis which is practiced by the examination of
speech (perception as well as reception in detail) and the examination of hearing (test
of phonematic hearing). A phoniatric diagnosis is made by the doctor- phoniatrician.
In the term of neurological diagnosis EEG and CT investigations are done.
However, it is not the rule that the speech disorder has to be in compliance with some
neurological impairment. The neurological diagnosis, as well as the phoniatric
diagnosis, will be presented by the neurological specialist during the examination.
(Wyke 62)
Speech and special-pedagogical diagnosis helps to form the whole picture of
child abilities and to find out the degree of developmental delay. A speech and
special-pedagogical diagnosis focuses on the most typical deficits. The speech
therapist leading the diagnosis deals with orientation in time and space which the
investigation of laterality thanks to the test of laterality that finds out which side (left
or right) of pairs of organs such as hands, legs, eyes is more dominant, is similarly

15
connected with. While the diagnosis must not forget to include motor functions,
which contribute to distinguish dysphatic children from the children who are
developmentally delayed and who mostly do not suffer from coordination
difficulties. Moreover, the impairments in motor skills of speech organs occur in
dysphatic children. Within the diagnosis the hearing perception is tested along with
the visual perception and that is by means of developmental test of visual perception
consisting of five subtests (coordination of visual-metrics, figure-ground
differentiation, permanence of form, location in space and spatial relations).
Furthermore, the attention is drawn to speech reception and perception; graphic skills
of a child; reading, writing, counting as well as memory, activity and concentration
of attention.
The last type of examination is psychological diagnosis, which is organized
by clinical psychologist. (Škodová, Jedlička a kol. 150-154)

3.2.4 Difficulties of children with developmental dysphasia

“According to a research done at the University of Iowa in the early to mid-

nineties, 9% of boys and 6,8% of girls presented some form of language impairment
or dysphasia.” (“Dysphasia or Specific Language Impairment”) The children, whose
language centers in the brain are affected, experience a lot of difficulties in different
areas of the real life.
In dysphatic children problems with understanding are found. Children are
not able to understand or recognize the meaning of speech, words and whole
sentences. In addition to the lack of understanding, they feel confused when more
information is presented at once, which means when more people talk or when listen
to a conversation. (“Speech and Communication Problems”)
Next area influenced by developmental dysphasia is talking. When children
talk, they then have language difficulties relating to both comprehension and verbal
expression. In their speech utterance, syntax, semantics, and phonology just as well
as pragmatics are affected. Moreover, they are impaired motor processes of speech
such as impaired articulation, phonation, fluidity, resonance, prosody. (“Dysphasia or
Specific Language Impairment”)

16
 The children know the name of objects but do not manage to give them the
right name. Some of those children have difficulties to use short, connecting words
such as ‘the’, ‘and’, ‘to’. Others may use long sentences but not key words. Jargon
and meaningless string of words may also be present. They may use word
unexpectedly; they cannot repeat what was said, though. Others may use simple
words as well as sentences without any problems. Nevertheless, they have problems
in expressing more complex things. (“Speech and Communication Problems”)
As regards reading, dysphatic children have difficulty reading words, may not
be able to recognize letters and it is problematical for them to read sentences or
paragraphs. (“Speech and Communication Problems”)
Concerning writing, for children with developmental dysphasia it is hard to
write words and therefore join them together to create sentences and put down ideas.
Moreover, it is complicated for them when a lot of ideas are written at once for
example a full page or very long sentences. (“Speech and Communication
Problems”)
Furthermore, these children may not be able to exercise gestures or work with
the body language such as “they may not be able to nod their head for ‘yes’ or hold
up three fingers to indicate ‘three’.” (“Speech and Communication Problems”)
The next common characteristic, concerning developmental dysphasia are
motor difficulties or incapableness to produce voluntary activities while it can be
realized naturally during reflexive or spontaneous movements. In such case it is
talked about “apraxia of construction, apraxia of dressing and verbal apraxia.
Children may suffer from disorder of coarse motricity or difficulty of movement
execution and balance maintenance.” (“Dysphasia or Specific Language
Impairment”)
The problems connected with special orientation, locating and organizing
oneself in space are also often occurred. (“Dysphasia or Specific Language
Impairment”)
Last but not least, in connection with developmental dysphasia, there may be
behaviour disorders that are connected with difficulties to comprehend and
accommodate. For example, children may be either hyperactive or hypoactive, may
react in an inadequate way compared to a situation or may have deficit of the
attention and concentration or fixing on a detail. (“Dysphasia or Specific Language
Impairment”)

17
 For the reason of mitigation of those difficulties, Brainlink, in association
with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Victoria, the Motor Neurone Disease
Association of Victoria, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Parkinson’s Victoria
and ADHD, describes following strategies for dysphasia.

- Use short, simple sentences.

- Use gestures to complement what you are saying e.g. point to relevant objects.
- Check to see if the person has understood you.
- Repeat, rephrase or simplify your message if necessary.
- Give the person time to speak. Don’t rush them or complete their sentences.
- Encourage the person to communicate, even if this takes time.
- Listen for the message the person is trying to convey, not just how the words
sound. It is the message that matters, not how they get it across. Any method is
good if it works.
- Avoid background noise and interruptions.
- Encourage the person to be as independent as possible, but be there to help if
needed.
- If the person is upset or frustrated, acknowledge the difficulty they are
experiencing and continue to support and encourage their communication
attempts.
- Don’t talk across or about the person as if they are not there. (“Speech and
Communication Problems”)

3.2.5 Children with developmental dysphasia at school

Dysphasic children usually have normal intelligence, a developed sense of

observation and the desire to communicate. Despite this, there is the need for an
adapted individualized approach with the family and school.
The difficulties typical for school attendance may be divided into two parts –
in the first part there are difficulties that are characteristic of children with cerebral
palsy. These difficulties refer to internal conditions of learning that is primarily the
attention deficit disorder, tiredness, and difficulties of motor skills, instability,
hyperactivity, impulsiveness and emotional lability. (Mikulajová, Rafajdusová 179)

18
 The second part of the typical school difficulties consists of dyslexia and
dysgraphia. These two disorders are related to previous described syndromes but
they are taken as learning disorders. (Mikulajová, Rafajdusová 180)
Dyscalculia occurs just rarely. When dysphatic children have problem with
math, then it relates to difficulties with verbal tasks. These types of exercises are
challenging for understanding and children often do not know what they have to do
and what is required by them. In some cases they are disabled either to work with
symbolic transformation or to manipulate with numbers. (Mikulajová, Rafajdusová
180)

Children learning English with developmental dysphasia

According to the framework of the educational programme for special

education English, as a foreign language, is taken as an optional educational subject
which is intended for learners interested in this subject and furthermore they are
managing it on the elementary level in terms of their knowledge and
communication forms based on listening. (“RVP ZŠS”)
According to RVP ZŠS, foreign language knowledge (English) helps learners
to overcome the language barrier on their travels abroad as well as it prevents them
from social isolation. The goal of foreign language education is that learners should
gain the basis of communication in a foreign language, in the first place in the area
of its sound form. Then, students should acquire simple messages and the easiest
communication forms they may come across in everyday situations. Last but not
least, the foreign language education contributes to development of speech skills.
(“RVP ZŠS”)
From the point of view of Housarová, who was studied deficiencies of
dysphatic children in acquiring a foreign language, these deficiencies are expressed,
by the same typology of mistakes like in Czech language.
In phonetics and phonology there is a big amount of problems, which are a
result of the impaired ability to articulate and from impaired auditory perception.
During the pronunciation of foreign vocabulary we can notice the
replacements of phonological oppositions, most often at the level of differentiation
between voiced and voiceless sounds. It is the case of both ending consonants and
other positions. For example, kæt –ges, aŋkl – aŋgl, a:nt – aud, got – kot,

19
grændmađ∂ – grentmadr, h∂v – hef. In the majority of cases, we may notice that
even sounds that are acoustically different are often mistaken as you can see in
these cases Nænci – Denci, wud – vod, got – dot. Another important problem
depicts the insertion of redundant syllables or sounds or otherwise their reduction in
word. For instance, these words k∂n – kent, veri – veriwel, a:nt – a:n, grændmađ∂ –
grand. Within the frame of the sentence, dysphatic children mostly omit short
phrases and contracted verbal forms in the sentence or add redundant and
meaningless words to it. (Hosaurová, “Postupy při realizaci výzkumu u dítěte s
narušenou komunikační schopností”)
Other specific mistakes in pronunciation consist in assimilation (ši:z –ši:š),
lengthening and shortening of syllables, for example in tel – te:l, mi: – mi or use of
the wedge instead of apostrophe (what’s – ta:ňs). Further features are casual
phonological faults such as per∂nts – parest. (Hosaurová, “Postupy při realizaci
výzkumu u dítěte s narušenou komunikační schopností”)
As you can see from the examples of frequent mistakes above, it is obvious
that auditory and articulate difficulties are not offered separately. Consequently, we
meet with combinations of several specific mistakes more frequently than with their
pure types. For instance, dysphatic children in milder case simultaneously reduce
and rearrange sounds; in more severe cases, dysphatic children add or detract
syllables in words along with confusion of remaining phonological elements. There
is only a fragment of the original English words remaining. Nevertheless,
sometimes neither that remains as you can notice in examples: ebaut – falt, per∂nts
– pe:že, wiđ – vait. We can exceptionally notice even connecting the fragments of
two words into one word (hau old – ho:lt, wud ju: – hu, mi: ebaut – ma:rt), the
whole sentence fragmentation (hau old iz ši – a o: i in si). (Hourasová, “Postupy při
realizaci výzkumu u dítěte s narušenou komunikační schopností”)

3.2.6 Teaching approaches, strategies and methods using in lessons

with specific-language impaired children

All learners with specific language impairment not only have their own
amount of deficiencies but also strong points thanks to which some students are
able to reach learning results corresponding to those of their classmates in the event

20
of varied teaching strategies and training the specific speech skills. (“Speech-
language impairment”)
For some of these learners with specific language impairment, these kinds of
modification are not satisfactory and “alternative learning outcomes may be
required. Learning outcomes for the student with specific language impairment
should still be linked to the same learning activities being undertaken by classmates.
“(“Speech-language impairment“)
It is obvious that teaching English to children with developmental dysphasia
requires special strategies as well as special teacher’s attitude.
According to English literature it is recommended to join teaching and
learning and thus emphasize both the teacher’s work and learner’s participation in
the process of education. The following principles are valid not just for education of
foreign language but also for education of these children in general. (Zelinková 78)
1. Multisensory techniques facilitate learners to use the most developed ability
for gaining information. Thanks to this attitude, the sense of sight, hearing,
tactile sense and kinesthetic sensation are put together. A teacher can use
multisensory techniques by connecting speech, pictures, movement and real
objects. The motto of multisensory attitude is ‘listen, look, say, write and
show’ and it is used by teacher in classes, which means that the child must
be actively engaged in the learning process. (Westwood 138)
2. Communicative approach means a learner’s ability to perceive a teacher and
understand his or her message, express one’s own needs, thoughts and active
participation in the process of teaching. The goal of the communicative
approach can not be perfect comprehension and faultless discourse because
making mistakes is natural product of the knowledge acquisition. In addition
to understanding of words and collocations, the next aim is to teach learners
to presume the context and anticipate the probable content of the speaker’s
words. The responses should have simple form and express the essence of a
message. (Richards 159)
3. Sequential approach is focused on the progress of learning from the subject
matter that the learner has already acquired to the new subject matter. The
aim of this approach is the automatization of knowledge (their autonomous
usage without any long speculation and recollection). The new subject
matter is integrated to the existing structures. That procedure supports

21
 learner’s self-reliance and enables him or her to experience success. The
disobedience of this approach means that the child learns something new
without managing previous tasks. The newly-acquired knowledge is
isolated and memorizing is more time-consuming or often impossible
whereas forgetting is really easy. (Zelinková 81) In English literature, this
kind of approach is called direct instruction.

Direct instruction relies on a model of an expert passing on expert knowledge,

concepts, approaches, and skills. Instruction is structured and guided in this
model, which uses a student’s ability to generalize from a set of chosen facts
and tasks to new examples about which they have not received specific
instruction. Another aspect of direct instruction is helping students learn
material to the point at which it becomes automatic. The approach of direct
instruction is not, however, as one might assume, heavily reliant on lectures, but
on students working through the set tasks in the set order. In addition, the model
does not preclude group work nor independent work by students. (“Direct
instruction”)

4. Repetition of the subject matter, automatization, overlearning is approach

which is based on previous principles. The repetition of vocabulary and
grammar (with usage of movement, colour highlight, games) leads to the
automatization. In the case of children with developmental dysphasia is
really hard to reach the automatization. Reaching the automatization is
possible by means of overlearning. The overlearning means that the learner
acquires the knowledge by means of multiple repetitions while using several
methods and procedures. The education must not be realized only through
drill exercises, though some kind of drills are sometimes effective and
necessary thus it is not useless to repeat the same activity since learners like
repeating the activities which they are good at. They enjoy their success and
because of that they are able to do the same actions without end. (Zelinková
82)
5. Consideration of the child’s individuality is really important rule and all
teachers have to respect the child’s individuality. Each child with
developmental dysphasia has their own intellectual qualities but also

22
 personality traits, previous experience that influence the child’s behaviour as
well as the impact of the teacher and family. For all these factors it is not
possible to create universal method or even the same approach and the
method of evaluation for all learners. (Zelinková 83)

In some of the teaching strategies during the education of children with specific
language impairment visual cues supporting the teacher’s speech can be used. The
teacher speech can involve „lectures, commands, test and activity instructions,
verbal feedback, explanations, reporting, story-telling, conversation, requests and
performances (role plays). “ (“Speech-language impairment“) As visual hints
teachers could use the following aids such as videos, power-point presentations,
photos, pictures, topic headings or blackboard notes and others. (“Speech-language
impairment“)
Another strategy that may be beneficial for students with SLI is application of
modified written texts such as course materials, handouts, blackboard notes,
directions in tests and notes for home. On account of better understanding, all these
written texts can be altered by the use of graphic organizers for example so called
flow charts thanks to which we can manifest relationships between ideas within a
text. Another possibility to modify a text is by using font variations such as
underlining, bolding, enlarging, spacing and grouping. Teachers can also apply
different signs and icons such as the exclamation mark in the text to express
emphasis. Another useful option presents a method called colour coding which is
based on using different colours for better understanding of subject matter. For
instance, when the teacher teaches word classes, he or she can distinguish them
thanks to different colours such as red colour represents nouns, blue-adjectives, etc.
(“Speech-language impairment“)
According to Queensland studies authority, it is recommended to use
modified assessment procedures during lessons with learners with SLI. The modified
assessment procedures include combining audio tapes with tests; multiple choice
items as alternatives to sentence completion tasks and essays; allowing students to
demonstrate knowledge through drawing, role playing, or other means of
communication apart from speaking and/or writing; allowing the use of word
processors, word lists and software programs; two-tiered testing (collaborative group
testing and individual testing of the same content); avoiding test questions and

23
multiple choice stems which contain irrelevant, information or complex language
(for example, embedded sentences, ambiguities, double negatives, and ‘all of the
above’ and ‘none of the above’ multiple choice stems) and also allowing more time.
(“Speech-language impairment“)
For learners with specific language impairment it is also helpful to apply
alternative and/or augmentative communication (AAC) during the lessons to
develop their specific communicative skills. (“Speech-language impairment“) AAC,
which involves special augmentative aids for instance pictures, signs, symbols, print
output devices and voice output devices, supports impaired speech, improves social
interaction, increases self-confident and the learners feel better in school setting.
(“Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)”)

Methods and recommendations used in teaching English to children with

developmental dysphasia

Teaching vocabulary
During the vocabulary acquisition, a direct connection between an object or
situation and the expression in the foreign language has to be produced without
inserting the Czech word. If the learner has difficulties with recollecting words in
mother tongue, we should try to avoid this problem. What is more, in many cases it
is demanding to find an exact equivalent. It is preferred to use concrete situations.
The aim is to combine a new expression with the content without speaking in
Czech. Further we respect multisensory approach, support education through
pantomime, gesticulation, rhythm and songs with movement. (Zelinková 86)
One example of a game that can be used for the development of vocabulary:
on the magnetic board, there is a fixed picture of a human body. The learners have
cards with the named body parts and pin them accordingly to the corresponding
places. (Zelinková 87)

Teaching grammar
According to Janíková the teacher tries to use inductive methods, which
means to begin with an example and the rule to explain later. It is important so that
the teacher explains just the one grammatical rule. Another recommendation is to
apply the principle of visualization. The learners´ motivation is intensified thanks to

24
language games and activities connected with movement and moreover it is
recommended to prefer oral exercises rather than written ones. Teachers are helpful
with creating and effective usage of grammatical summary such as grammatical
tables. (32)
A recommended aid which is used in managing grammar can be for instance
the distinguished colour cards with word classes. The cards with written words have
a different colour. For example, purple are nouns, red are verbs etc. (Zelinková 90)

Teaching reading with comprehension

The texts which are used for training reading should correspond to learner’s
interest and reading skills and it is advantageous if single words repeat. Further, it
is recommended to combine the training with reading out and visual and auditory
reception. (Janíková 88) Moreover, the learners do not like reading long texts with
small letters since it leads to the loss of motivation. Therefore teachers should
choose shorter texts with bigger letters, well-arranged graphics, and sufficient text
segmentation. (Zelinková 91) Then teachers can continue with aids such as a
bookmark, which the children can use during reading some long texts. Thanks to it
they concentrate only on a line that they read. Nevertheless, it is also necessary to
pay attention whether the child understands the text or not. (Janíková 88)
For the text comprehension and easier acquisition of new expression can be
used following methods:
1. The teacher narrates a story, shows pictures, acquaints with new words;
2. The learners dramatize the content of the story thanks to pantomime or drawing;
3. The teacher repeats the words in connection with pictures or dramatization;
4. The learners read text with the help of their teacher. (Zelinková 92)

Teaching writing
The children with developmental dysphasia are mainly encouraged in their
oral utterance, yet the learners have to be motivated with reference to the
communicative function of written utterance and through the usage of aids of which
aim is to enforce the motivation, activate the learners and afford new impulses for
writing (pictures, objects, and literary texts). When teaching writing, it is preferable
to use text-filling exercises to dictates which should be involved after due
consideration. Furthermore, the teachers should consult that the learners with

25
developmental dysphasia need more time for writing exercises. For this reason, the
individual approach is required - for instance, if the learner does not manage to
finish the exercise at school, it is not recommended to complete it at home but it is
better to give them a shorter exercise so that they could finish it successfully.
(Janíková 70)
The strategy supporting the acquisition of spelling of problematic words on
the basis of visual and kinetic memory is called ‘Look-Cover-Write-and check
routine’ which have the following steps. Firstly, look at the word (visual reception,
memory). Secondly, say this word a few times aloud (a supporting picture helps to
invoke its name) then spell the word (visual and auditory reception). After spelling
the word, write the word in the space with closed eyes and imagine its shape.
Furthermore, write the word at the back of your friend then read the word again and
cover it. Finally, write the word in your exercise-book and after that read it and
compare it with the original model. (Zelinková 94)

Teaching listening
Teachers should speak English in English classes so that the children meet
with a different acoustic form of language than it is their own mother tongue.
Therefore it is important that the teacher use the foreign language so that the
children are familiarized with the language as soon as possible. Then, the following
process should follow: hear-see-repeat which is based on the principles of
acquisition of mother tongue when the child listens first and starts to speak later.
Just like in the case of teaching vocabulary or grammar, when teaching listening, it
is also necessary to use sufficiency visual supports which contribute to
understanding what the child hears. As the visual supports we classify for example
pictures, activities with different objects, gesticulation and movement. Together
with exercises and activities in which the language form is concentrated, there is
also an element encouraging concentration. For the reason that work with listening
texts and as well as process understanding in the real communication demands big
concentration, the learners listen a text and prove the understanding through non-
verbal mean such as movement, colouring of the pictures, sorting the cards or
pictures into the proper sequence. Furthermore, it is advantageous to choose such
exercises which consider the strategies of listening with comprehension i.e. global
listening also called informative and it is not needful to understand everything but it

26
is about the main idea of the text. Next type of exercises is focused on listening for
main idea in the text– it is called selective listening. The last one represents
intensive listening which is intended for listening for detailed information in the
text. (Janíková 81)
According to Owens listening skills can be trained and improved thanks to
using Self-Talk and Parallel Talk. Learners, especially with communication
disorders have to hear language which is connected to activities. When the teacher
uses self-talk then he or she describes what children are doing or thinking. “In
parallel talk, teachers describe what students are doing or thinking. As you and the
students work or play, describe what everyone is doing.” (89)
This is method which enables to students hear the oral utterance of the teacher
and helps them to focus on the activity which is described. (Owens 89)

Teaching speaking
The most important principles that are recommended for teaching speaking to
children with developmental dysphasia are following: on one hand, English should
be used in classes as often as possible but on the other hand it is recommended to
speak in the mother tongue, especially in the cases when understanding is
threatened. (Janíková 96)
Further, the teachers should control and encourage the learners to speak
English in common classroom situations and some kinds of rituals (apologizes,
instructions, commands, checking the mood of the learners). It is also advised to use
the methods from the education in mother language and integrate them into the
language education. It is useful, for example, the child takes things out of a box and
should call them in English, the teacher comments this activity with the whole
sentence – ‘Oh, you put the ball and the scarf and…’The teacher comments
situations and events which the child is concentrated on in the foreign language and
subsequently it could be applied in the repetition of vocabulary.
The good way how to support the oral utterance is also the use of rhymes and
tongue twisters as well as to encourage the communication-interaction by preferring
dialogues to monologues. Speaking also develops thanks to different games, role
plays or the combination of the dramatic and language education. The teacher
should be aware of the fact that learners with specific language impairment need
more time for formulation of their oral utterances. (Janíková 97)

27
 Using conversation is another kind of approach to develop speaking skills.
Owens suggests some rules that should be respected during conversation in classes
with children with communication disorders. The rules are following:

- Talk about things in which the childe in interested.

- Follow the child’s lead. Reply to the child’s initiations and comments. Share
his or her excitement.
- Do not ask too much questions such as ho did/do…, why did/do…that result
in longer explanatory answers.
- Encourage the child to ask questions. Respond openly and honestly.
- Allow enough time for the child to respond
- Provide opportunity of the child to use language and to have that language
work for the child to accomplish his or he goals. (88)

28
4. Practical part
4.1 School introduction

The high school, basic school and kindergarten in Šumperk are intent on
education of learners with special educational needs (speech disorders, hearing
impairment, visual impairment, physical impairment, mental retardation and autism
including combination of impairments and social disadvantage). The school uses all
sort of supportive measures. It involves especially the use of special methods, special
teaching aids and didactic materials, pedagogical-psychological facilities,
pedagogical assistance and limited number of students in classes. The educational
programme places emphasis on the teachers´ work – patience, creativity, ability to
manage an individual specialty of each child within the framework of one classroom,
awareness of using special methods, forms as well as education organization
according to an individual educational plan. (“ŠVP –RVP ZV a RVP ZV-LMP”)
The capacity of the school is 225 students but for the reason of migration of
family members from families of ethnic group which represent about 10% of the
capacity of this school, therefore the precise number is not exactly known. (“ŠVP –
RVP ZV a RVP ZV-LMP”)
The school has a family character because the personal approach teacher-
student is preferred, which means that the teacher has an individual approach to each
child in the class with respect to child’s individuality and needs. Nevertheless, as
regards the material equipment of school, standard conditions are set up. All
classrooms are equipped with new modern desks, carpets, white boards. In the
classrooms of second grade, there are interactive boards or audiovisual technique
(TV+video) installed. In the school we can also find a gym, two laboratories,
language and computer classroom as well as art classroom with their own stove and
music classroom which is used daily also in the afternoon for learners´ spare-time
activities, which provide approximately twenty-five hobby groups. (“ŠVP –RVP ZV
a RVP ZV-LMP”)
For children who call for an increased individual care and assistant’s
attendance within the framework of classes there are separated classrooms
established. These are also used by a speech therapist for an individual speech
therapy. (“ŠVP –RVP ZV a RVP ZV-LMP”)

29
4.2 Introduction of the learners with developmental
dysphasia

During my survey at school in Šumperk I had the opportunity to observe the

children of the fifth grade who had been learning English for two years. All of these
children have been diagnosed with developmental dysphasia, yet each of them is an
individual with different qualities and specific difficulties. They are in the classroom
of 15 children. In each classroom there are not only children with speech disorders
but also children with other disabilities such as visual impairment, behaviour
impairment, autism etc. The children are divided into groups during English classes
so the amount of children in one of the English classes is about 6-8.
On the basis of my observation of their English classes and also the interview
with their English teacher, I would like to briefly introduce these children.
Matěj, an eleven-year-old boy is kind, diligent and popular among his
classmates as well as willing to help both the children and the teacher. He seems to
be an introvert and rather uncommunicative. Matěj, who often suffers from attention
deficit, needs to be encouraged and motivated to work to be able to reach the best
results. On account of his impairment which is mainly in both oral and written
utterance as well as impaired visual and auditory perception, it is required to tolerate
his individual working tempo and the use of visual aids. Further, the teacher should
read written exercises aloud and make sure that Matěj understands everything.
The eleven-year-old girl Martina is calm, shy and susceptible when among
others. During classes she is sometimes really passive, the teacher has to motivate
and support her since she is afraid of telling the answer yet she knows it. In the
written utterance there are not so many mistakes but she needs a lot of time and must
not be interrupted by any external objects because it causes loss of attention. The
biggest difficulties are in the oral utterance. She speaks unsurely and slowly. When
there are words which are articulation intensive, she is not able to pronounce them or
even refuses to say them. For all this reasons, it is really important so the teacher
puts pressure on her but she has to feel good during lessons.
David is ten years old. He can be characterized as friendly, spontaneous, likes
helping other people and is popular with his classmates. In addition to developmental
dysphasia, he also suffers from specific learning impairment. He is sometimes really
impetuous and it reflects on his oral utterance – his speech when he reads or speaks

30
is affected, even unintelligible. But when he concentrates on his speech, the utterance
is not unintelligible but the difficulties in articulation of some words still remains.
Because of his second impairment, which is the specific learning impairment, he also
has many troubles with writing. He writes really slowly and therefore he is given the
handouts where he does not have to write the whole sentences but just complete
single words or collocation.
Josef is a 10-year-old boy who is friendly, sensitive, diligent and playful. He is
not sure of his performance of tasks. Moreover, he shows considerable articulate
difficulties in expressive production both in speaking and writing. It is difficult to
understand him when he speaks. As regards writing, he has troubles with writing
long sentences and also he is not able to write what he hears. Difficulties appear in
text comprehension at which he does not understand the content and therefore he
presumes words. For all these reasons he has to be constantly encouraged to the
activity to not lose motivation.
Martin is eleven years old. He is a sensitive, diffident and thoughtful learner
but if he is not successful in something he is restless, inattentive and acts
impulsively. He is always ready for lessons. Nevertheless, Martin suffers not only
from developmental dysphasia but also the tonic form of stammer in case of stress
thus it is important not to burden him.
A ten-year-old boy called Radek is really communicative, sometimes bossy.
When children work in groups he always wants to be the leader. During classes he is
also active and tries to join into each activity but he often takes offence when
something is not according to his wish. His speech is affected mainly in expressive
utterance – he has troubles with labeling some words.
Milan is a boy who is ten years old. He is shy, smiling, willing to cooperate
and diligent. His qualities are mirrored also in his speech utterance. He reacts to
questions markedly slowly and his response is usually just one word because he is
afraid of making mistakes in more complicated structures. As I have already
mentioned, Milan is a really diligent learner but when he meets with some
challenging task, he recoils from that and wants to give it up. Just like his classmates
with developmental dysphasia, Milan also has the visual and auditory impairment.
František is eleven-year-old boy who is restless, impulsive, easily tired,
moreover, he often loses attention and refuses to work. Both his expressive and
receptive form of speech is affected, which means especially in his case that his

31
ability to express words and understand the meaning of a word is greatly lowered.
During the reading he slowly syllabifies complicated words with more difficult
articulatory structure, easier words and those often repeated in the text are produced
without any problems.

4.3 Teaching English to Children with developmental

dysphasia
4.3.1 English education at school in Šumperk

The education of English at school in Šumperk is based on school educational

programme for special education. The content of English classes is the fulfillment
of expected outputs of the educational subject foreign language and to it related
thematical area of sectional topics of Framework Education Programme for basic
education. The aim of the English classes is to provide the learners with the
instrument of communication in contact with people from different parts of the
world, to enable them to work with computer and the Internet. Emphasis is placed
on the development of communication skills which the education of grammatical
parts of educational subject is conformed to.
The school ensures its own learners an individual approach; moreover, the
range and depth of the subject matter are modified in compliance with the
individual learner’s specialties and abilities whereas the expected outputs stay the
same. An individual approach is ensured thanks to an individual plan created for
each learner with respect to his or her disorder, characteristics and demands of
parents.

4.3.2 The English classes – equipments, the way of work, evaluation

The teacher, who teaches English to children with developmental dysphasia

as well as with other impairments, studied English for basic schools at the Faculty
of Education at Palacky University in Olomouc. She gave birth to a child who
suffers from severe mental retardation thus she started to be interested in special
education of children. At this moment she is studying special education for
teachers at the same university as she graduated at.

32
 The school in Šumperk has one English language classroom where the
children learn English. However, it is obvious that only one English classroom is
not enough for all children who study English and therefore some English classes
take place in so called “common classes” where the children learn also the other
subjects. Nevertheless, all classrooms are well assimilated to the education of
English as well as other subjects such as Czech, Biology etc. On the walls of these
so called common classrooms, there is a variety of posters and materials that
encourage their knowledge of particular subjects, e.g. English. The children have
opportunity to look at the grammar rules on the wall if they are not sure of it.
Moreover, they can be proud of their own work that hangs on the walls together
with diplomas that some of them obtained in various competitions. On the floor,
there is a carpet which the children can sit on if they do some moving activities or
play games during lessons or it can serve just for relaxation while having a break.
The really important equipment, which the classes cannot exist without is a board.
The blackboard together with the magnetic whiteboard is in the classes of first
grade but the school also keeps the interactive boards which are in the classes of
second grade as well as in the language classroom. Regarding English language
classroom which is merely aimed at the education of English, its equipment
corresponds to this purpose. The whole classroom is colourful and the walls are
painted different colours which induces really good and playful atmosphere. The
walls are used in the same way as in the other classrooms but with the exception
that the fixed materials on the walls are written only in English. Other useful aids of
the English classrooms are dictionaries and a large amount of English illustrated
books which are always available for each learner who have the interest in it. The
teachers have the opportunity to provide their learners with the audiovisual
experience thanks to the television and the radio.
The way the English classes proceeds was really interesting. There are about
eight children in the class. The teacher tries to make lessons amusing and enjoyable
to keep learners´ attention so that they better acquire a discussed subject matter. All
classes I had the opportunity to visit have the same procedure. At the beginning of
each class the children exchange greetings with the teacher, then, they sit on the
carpet together with their teacher. Thanks to the movement their attention is
activated. Sitting on the carpet with the students, the teacher shows her friendly
approach to them in contrast to the superior one. On the carpet they sit in the circle

33
and each learner asks the basic questions and his or her neighbor answers. The basic
questions and answers are for example: What is your name? – My name is…., How
old are you? – I am …., How are you? – I am fine…. After this activity the learners
come back to their desks and they repeat the vocabulary that they have already
acquired. This activity also involves a lot of movement and the teacher tries to
involve all children in the activity in the classroom. In my opinion and according to
the observation of classes the teacher always tries to respect the individuality of
children as well as give them enough time to work out the exercises. As regards
teaching the new subject matter, the teacher uses the sequential approach, which
means that children want to show what they have already known and consequently
it contributes to a bigger effort to learn new things. In addition to the methods, the
teacher enriches the classes through the use of various aids such as cards with
pictures, photos, a magnetic board on which the children can write, crosswords and
also gestures that help the children to understand some instructions or commands.
The teacher uses gesticulations also because she tries to speak just in English but
almost every time the children are not able to understand what the teacher says thus
the teacher makes gestures or points at the object about which she speaks.
The children are evaluated in a normal way thanks to grades if they write a
test or are tested for vocabulary or grammar etc. Moreover, the teacher appreciates
the learners´ effort and therefore when the children are active and work well during
the class, the teacher gives them a little one (grade) and for three little ones the
children get the big one but on the contrary if the children are passive and do not
make effort or do not want to work in classes so then for three small fives they
obtain the big five. However, the teacher does not evaluate the children just via
grades. The teacher also uses, among others, the verbal evaluation whereby the
children are constantly encouraged and led to activity. If children do some mistakes,
the teacher is not angry or does not shout at the children, she tries to show the
mistakes to the particular child and how it has to be corrected. I have to mention
that the teacher is really patient and gives to children enough time to realize and
correct the mistake.

34
4.3.3 Teaching English

The English classes at school in Šumperk take place in the common

classroom or in the classroom which is meant for language education. The number
of children in the English classes is about 7-8, which enables the teacher to focus on
each learner and their special educational needs. The English classes have a given
syllabus which is encouraged by a course book used in the class. The language book
which is used during English classes that I visited is Chatterbox Pupil’s Book 2
(Appendix B) together with Activity Book 2. Chatterbox 2 is designed for pupils at
primary schools concretely for beginners who learn English. This language book is
divided into fifteen chapters in which children meet and also practice new
vocabulary and grammar. It is good for children that one person, Captain Shadow
and her stories go with children through the whole book, which enables them to
better understand the context and motivate them to learn. Furthermore, it includes
children in a big amount of fun activities such as games, rhymes, songs and puzzles.
The whole book is full of pictures and that is all what makes the English class more
interesting and children have fun during English classes. The teacher works with
this language book very often because she finds this book really good, amusing and
suitable even for children with speech disorders. Yet, when she thinks that
something, especially grammar rules of which are really important for children to
know well is unclear then she creates tablets, exercises and activities for better
acquirement of a subject matter.
At the beginning of the class, after the “carpet activity” which activates the
children, follow starting rituals. The teacher chooses one pupil and asks him or her:
What is the date today? The learner answers and writes the date on the blackboard.
Further, this learner asks another classmate: Who is missing today? His or her
classmate responses and asks another question which is: What is the weather like
today? He or she says what the weather is like today. The learners write all
questions and answers on the blackboard because it is really important to activate
his attention at the beginning of the class. During the starting rituals the teacher
speaks just in English because the children have already gained this knowledge and
they understand. The teacher tells me and I also noticed that the children love these

35
rituals at the beginning of the class because they show they are good at it and thanks
to it they trust themselves more, they are not afraid of speaking.
The starting rituals provide space exercising vocabulary, speaking, grammar
but even listening when the child has to listen to a question.

I am aware of the fact that vocabulary, grammar, speaking, understanding etc. is not
possible to be taught separately but I would like to divide it now for better
orientation and clarity.

Teaching vocabulary
The children are introduced to new vocabulary through either their language
book or other materials prepared for them by the teacher. When a new subject
matter is taught, firstly, the teacher writes the new vocabulary on the blackboard
and reads it to the children. Then the teacher asks children to open the book where
they can see the picture of the words which are written on the blackboard, so it is
easier for them to memorize it. The repetition of vocabulary takes place in every
class so that children do not forget the acquired vocabulary and it is based on the
method of cards with pictures of words. On the magnet board, there are words
written and each child goes to the board to choose one of the pictures placed on the
desk behind the board and match the picture with an appropriate word. I suppose
the teacher tries to combine the work with language book and also with her own
materials really useful and helpful since the activities change really oft, which keeps
children’s attention and they enjoy learning English. What I consider the biggest
problem with teaching vocabulary of these children with developmental dysphasia
is when they repeat a word according to teacher, they are able to say the word
correctly with a correct sound but when they should say the word alone, they
pronounce the word as it is written, for instance the word ‘fat’ pronounce as ‘fΛt’
instead of ‘fæt’ and the same problem occurs in writing – when they see a word
written on the blackboard or in the book, it is easy to rewrite it without any mistakes
but when they should write the word which they just heard, they write it as they
heard it such as ‘kar’ instead of ‘car’.

36
The example of an activity designed for learning vocabulary which is used at the
school in Šumperk
I have to say that the teacher uses many games and activities during her
classes and I chose to introduce the activity which is called ‘the magic bag’. The
aim of this activity is the revision of an acquired vocabulary and also its retention in
memory. The teacher puts her hand into the magic bag in which many things of
which names the children already know are hidden. The teacher asks children:
“What do I have in my magic bag?” The children can mention their ideas;
meanwhile, the teacher takes the things out of the magic bag and says their names
together with the children. Then the teacher gives the magic bag together with
magic wand to one of the children and he or she says the magic formulae: “Hocus-
pocus, an apple is in the bag.” If the apple is in the bag, the child gives the magic
bag to another classmate.

Teaching grammar
According to the teacher teaching grammar is a really challenging job. From
her point of view these children do not like learning grammar and its rules, they
find it difficult and thus it is really important to teach grammar in more interesting
and enjoyable way instead of the kind of drills. However, she emphasizes that some
kind of drill is necessary at the beginning of introducing of the subject matter so
that the children are aware of the importance of grammar.
During each class the acquired grammar rules are practiced. I noticed that the
teacher tries to always combine learning grammar with the acquisition of
vocabulary. This way of teaching grammar is really effective since grammar is
revised and learnt in some kind of ‘hidden’ method. For instance, when the children
revise vocabulary of food, it is revised also grammar especially the question: Do
you like? And the answer: Yes, I do or No, I do not. The teacher asks one of the
children: Do you like apples? Child responses with the whole sentence: Yes, I do.
And he or she asks another classmate.
For children with developmental dysphasia it is difficult to build sentences in
Czech, so it is the same in English. The teacher seeks to encourage the children to
create whole sentences by creating their own sentence at home each week. The
sentence that they should prepare is read at the beginning of each week and the
teacher checks and eventually corrects the mistakes. The teacher believes that it

37
helps her learners to acquire and automatise the sentence structure. I am not sure if
the learners really learn good sentence structure to be able to create sentences
without any problems, yet I consider this way of teaching creating sentences really
interesting and appreciate this approach because of the chance that the children with
developmental dysphasia could be at least familiarized with the sentences which
they were able to create themselves.
Nevertheless, the teacher prefers to teach grammar through exercises where
the children fill in a word chosen out of a few options or match sentences with
appropriate pictures and in doing so the students do not create the whole sentences.
The teacher combines the exercises from Chatterbox which contains a lot of gap-
filling exercises and also her own material which she creates (Appendix C).
The biggest difficulties I noticed were especially with using - s ending but
also as I have already mentioned the problems also occur in creating the whole
sentence structures, the word order is also affected. The children often confuse the
subject and the object or verb and the object as it is shown in Appendix E and thus
making sentences unintelligible.

The example of an activity designed for learning grammar which is used at the
school in Šumperk
The activity at which the children learn and acquire prepositions is called
‘Where is the bear?’ The teacher has a toy – a bear and gives the bear for example
under the table, then she asks to the children: ‘Where is the bear?’ and who replies
correctly and with the whole sentence ‘The bear is under the table’ gets the bear and
can give it where he or she wants and follows the same procedure. Again, this
activity encourages children to practice whole sentence structures and thanks to the
toy- bear, which is used as a kind of visual aid because the majority of children with
developmental dysphasia suffer among others impairments also the visual
impairment, helps these children memorize the appropriate preposition faster.

Teaching speaking
It is obvious that during the whole class the children have to use their oral
utterance, whether it is learning vocabulary, grammar or reading. As far as the
different types of conversations such as dialogue or discussion, the teacher is rather
skeptical. The children are able, yet with difficulties, to react to simple questions

38
which are repeated every lesson, they can even describe the pictures in simple
sentences, and also say something about themselves such as what is their name,
how old they are, where they live etc. However, the spontaneous speech is really
problematic for them. The children can not present their own dialogues or hold a
discussion. The teacher explained to me that it is caused by deficiencies in their
understanding. Although they know every single word in the sentence, they are not
able to connect the words to make a whole sentence. The children practice speaking
through a variety of rhymes, the stories from the language book which the role
plays are based on and which the children then perform in the lesson. The children
have enough time to prepare a rhyme or role play, which means that the children
learn speaking by heart, which does not develop their comprehension skills but just
their speaking.

The example of an activity designed for learning speaking which is used at the
school in Šumperk
This activity at which the learners improve their speaking is connected with
the rituals that we do every day in real-life situations. The teacher told me that they
do really often these rituals, for instance the activities which we do when we come
home. The teacher asks who shows us what we do when we come home. This task
is intended for the pairs thus one child says sentences such as we ring the bell, we
unlock the door, we open the door etc. and the second one shows and performs the
ritual through pantomime. The children are awarded by applause of their classmates
as if they were famous actors in the theater.
This type of activity in which speaking and some kind of a dramatic
performance is combined supports the children in oral utterance and shows that they
do not have to be frightened when they have to speak. The teacher explained to me
that the children with developmental dysphasia have to be constantly encouraged in
their oral utterance. Even though they make a lot of mistakes, the teacher has to be
really patient and careful in correcting their mistakes. Another positive factor of this
activity is that the children improve their comprehension of oral utterance. The
child performing the ritual has to understand what he or she should do.

39
Teaching reading
As regard teaching reading, it is the same as teaching speaking. There is a lot
of reading during the whole class, e.g. when the children read what they need to do
in some exercises or when they read new vocabulary. However, when we consider
reading along with comprehension, then we find it a really difficult area for children
with developmental dysphasia as their difficulties are connected with both
comprehension and reading. The teacher pointed out that they usually train the
reading with the help of a language book (Chatterbox) with a lot of beautiful texts
with pictures which are on the same principle as comics. Each child reads one
sentence and translates it into Czech. The teacher admitted that she knows that it is
not very good but it is necessary so that these children are exactly familiar with the
text and are able to answer questions associated with the text which are under every
story in the book. The teacher helps children with comprehension the story so that
she draws children’s attention on sentences or words that are important to know and
which can be answers to the questions about the story below it. The children
underline the sentences or word and when they should reply to the questions
belonging to the story. The teacher confided to me that this way of working with
texts works very well.
The text comprehension is not just the only problem which is linked with the
reading. The next problem is the fluency of reading especially when they read long
sentences or long sections of texts. This difficulty is expressed that the children
really often syllabify the sentences thus the tempo is slow and also the intonation is
used badly. For all these reasons the teacher decided to divide the story into smaller
units – such as one sentence and each learner read just one sentence thus he or she
can concentrates just on his or her own sentence.

The example of an activity designed for learning reading with comprehension

which is used at the school in Šumperk
The teacher uses the same text from the book which is known by children and
cut into pieces. The children cooperate in pairs and their job is to put pieces of the
text with picture in good order.
I find this task really helpful not just out of consideration to improve reading
and comprehension but also the children revise vocabulary which is included in the

40
 story because the story has been already read and thus the teacher also checked if
the children paid attention when they read.

Teaching listening
“The children with developmental dysphasia have auditory impairment,
however, they can listen” The teacher told me when I spoke with her about teaching
listening to children with developmental dysphasia. By the term listening we do not
mean only listening to the radio but the children have to listen to the teacher during
the whole class because they have to know what they should do. As I have already
written, the teacher tries to speak in Czech as little as possible thus she uses a lot of
gestures and touches things in the classroom. For example, she tells children to open
their exercise books and at the same time she takes the exercise-book and opens it.
Consequently, the children know what they should do.
In the education, the teacher also includes listening to texts from the audio
player. As it is, however, really difficult for these children, she uses them only with
the support of the written texts. The reasons are following: The text which is listened
to is not adequate for children with developmental dysphasia because the tempo of
the text is so fast that the children can not catch almost any information, next.
Another problem is some kind of disruptive elements such as songs creating the
background of a story some other noise recorded. All these reasons cause that the
children lose their attention and cannot concentrate on listening for important
information. They are more or less interested in other irrelevant noises thus the
teacher prefers that she reads text herself and the children listen to her. The most
common type of listening exercise is gap-filling exercises. The teacher reads the
same text the children have but their text misses some words. The children listen
carefully to the teacher and write the words in the gaps in the text. The children have
no big difficulties with filling the gaps because they are accustomed to the teacher’s
tempo but they always make mistakes in spelling the words they write.
The activity which the teacher also uses to improve children’s listening skills
is following. The children have the pictures of different types of the weather and
have time to look at them. The teacher represents a weather reporter who speaks
about the weather in following days. According to teacher’s weather forecast the
children show the card with the corresponding weather which the teacher talks about.

41
Teaching writing
Writing is the same as speaking, listening or reading because it is practiced
and used by the children during the whole lesson. The writing which is taught to
children at school in Šumperk is represented by writing vocabulary, writing tests,
written homework or writing dictates. The teacher told me that she does not practice
children’s writing abilities through some creative writings such letters, essays or
poems because the children with developmental dysphasia have really restricted
vocabulary and grammatical knowledge to make up their own stories and write them.
They do not manage to connect more ideas in complex sentences so that they prefer
using simple sentences. I had the opportunity to observe the children with
developmental dysphasia during writing. For example, they are concerned with the
problematic of I like/I do not like. In their exercise book, they were supposed to write
three sentences about their likes as well as dislikes. I have to say that I found no
problem with this task. Sometimes they have problems with spelling of some words
such as mashrooms instead of mushrooms. Even when they should then write the
same sentence in the third person, almost everyone used correctly the –s ending.
They have troubles when they have to write down what they hear, when the teacher
says the sentence and they should write it. Then, they omit words or some of their
syllables and misspell, which is also caused by their auditory impairment and their
ability to listen. It can be helpful to use exercises with some example and the
children see what they should write, they just re-write what they can see but also in
these types of exercises some mistakes in spelling can sometimes be found. In
Appendix D, we can see where the children should write questions and answers
according to the example above. Although the child can see that there is a cake
written, he or she writes care instead of cake.

4.4 Learner’s attitude to learning English and their

interest in learning foreign language

Learner’s attitude to learning English and their interest in learning foreign

languages is well founded on the basis of a questionnaire (Appendix A) which

42
involves seven questions answered by eight learners learning English with
developmental dysphasia.
Seven learners answered that they had English three times a week and one
pupil learnt English even four times a week. The results are influenced by the
school educational programme stating how many English classes these children
have. The reason why one of the learners answered that he or she has English
lesson four times a week is that he or she attends private English lessons.
Based on the question number two ‘Do you want to have English more
often?’ is found out that on one hand a half of learners would like to learn English
more often than they do but on the other hand the same amount of respondents
answered that they do not want to have more English classes because it is enough.
According to my questionnaire it is proved that the majority of the learners
with developmental dysphasia, concretely seven pupils out of eight are glad that
they learn English and only one learner has the opposite opinion.
The fourth question in which is asked if the children enjoy English classes,
six children responded positively that they are looking forward to English lessons
and enjoy it. On the contrary, two of the learners do not enjoy English classes and
answered ‘NO’.
Number five uncovers which activities the learners like the best. The answer
‘games’ not really surprisingly dominates in the questionnaire because four of
respondents named this answer. However, also some of the learners answered that
they liked learning new vocabulary, listen to English songs and stories or read texts.

Picture 5: What is the best activity for children with developmental dysphasia during English
lessons?

Games
Vocabulary
Listening
Reading

The question number six offers four possible answers. All eight learners suppose
that it is useful to learn English because they would be able to communicate with
foreigners from different countries. One of the learners chose the option b) ‘It helps

43
 me to find a better job’ and two learners picked the option c) ‘My communication
skills will be better.’ The last option which says that English is for nothing was
chosen by none of eight learners.
Picture 6: Why do children with developmental dysphasia think that it is useful to learn
English?

The ability of
communication
with foreigners
Useful for
finding a better
job
Improvement of
communication
skills
It is good for
nothing

The last question is focused on the interest in learning other foreign languages than
English. It should find out if the children with developmental dysphasia would like
to learn more than just one foreign language, what languages they want to know and
which reason they would like to know it for. Five learners are interested in
acquisition of other foreign languages. Three of these children would like to learn
German; one learner would like to know French and one would like to speak
Russian. The reasons why they want to acquire the knowledge of other foreign
languages are following - the family living abroad or just the interest. The rest of
the respondents, which means three learners with developmental dysphasia, are not
concerned in learning another foreign language.

4.5 Teacher’s attitude to teaching English to children with

developmental dysphasia

1. How is it to teach English to children with developmental dysphasia?

It is important to realize that these children who suffer from developmental

dysphasia must not have deficiencies in their intellect. Some of the dysphatic
children I teach are really diligent and clever. It is obvious that they are required to
have special approach in learning English and I have to be really patient and creative

44
to hold children’s interest and moreover support the children in their communicative
skills. I have to say that I really enjoy teaching English to these children, although it
is sometimes difficult and exhausting both for me and the children but all the more it
is a joy to see their improvement in English. (Krobotová)

2. Do you think that teaching English to children with developmental dysphasia

is useless?

I have to absolutely disagree with the opinion that teaching English to dysphatic
children is useless or that these children should not learn any foreign languages as a
lot of people think. In my opinion, English is really important nowadays and why
should not anyone including dysphatic children have a chance to learn it? I do not
know any rational reasons that these children are not able to learn foreign language.
As you could see in my lessons the children really enjoy learning English. I would
say that they want to learn English and they like it. I also suppose that the fact that
they learn English contributes to the development of their communication skills and
they are more self-confident. I really do not know how many of them will apply the
knowledge of English in their future but yet I believe that it is absolutely good to
teach English to these children. (Krobotová)

3. What methods do you use more often and what methods do you find most
useful?

You had to notice that I really often try to use a variety of pictures, games and
activities connected often with the movement that stimulates the children and
manages to keep children’s attention. I have been teaching these children for two
years so I already know their individuality and in which exercises they have
difficulties most frequently and how I can help them, how I can modify the exercises
and tasks so that they manage them. I also think that children enjoy the activities
where they do not just sit at the desks and write, speak or read. It can not work.
They like playing an active part of the class. In my opinion, the activities children
enjoy most can be supposed to be the most useful. It is difficult to choose just one of
all methods which I use in the class. Again, however, I have to say that the most
effective methods I find are those using visual aids as pictures, photos, videos etc.

45
Another useful method is the repetition of the acquired subject matter. It can be
seemed as something really boring but the contrary is the case. The more the subject
matter is repeated or revised, the more the children enjoy it since they want to
demonstrate that they are already familiar with it. (Krobotová)

4.6 Discussion of results

On the basis of observation of the children with developmental dysphasia of

the English classes and the theories that are recommended for teaching English to
dysphatic children and which I introduced in my theoretical part, I would like to
compare what I observed during my survey-the methods and approaches which the
teacher uses in English classes together with the methods and approaches which I
mentioned in the theoretical part.
In the practical part in subchapter called “Teaching English” I focused on the
approaches which are used in teaching vocabulary, grammar, speaking, reading with
comprehension, listening and writing during English classes with the children with
developmental dysphasia.
During English classes that I had the opportunity to visit, I noticed that the
teacher tries to use some of approaches that are mentioned as the recommended in
teaching English with children with developmental dysphasia. The teacher respects
the individuality and special needs of each child. She always asks the children if they
understand everything and allows more time if they need it. The teacher tries to
support learning English with multisensory approach. She connects speech with
using pictures, movement and real objects when she teaches vocabulary as I wrote in
pages above. Multisensory enables to the learners to be an active participant in
learning. The same activity which Zelinková recommends for teaching vocabulary
the teacher also uses during her classes. The teacher also explains new vocabulary
without using Czech language, more to the contrary; she uses pictures or real objects
instead of Czech name of the word, which helps the learners to be more aware of the
fact that they have to speak English in English classes.
According to Janíková children with developmental dysphasia should learn
grammar rules through inductive method, to begin with an example and the rule to
explain later. I have to say that this method was not practiced in the classes that I

46
observed. As the first, the teacher explains the rules of new subject matter and then
she shows an example. The teacher uses repetition of the subject matter and
automatization which is also one of the recommended approaches mentioned in the
theoretical part. This approach is applied during practicing of creating whole
sentences. The creating whole sentences means difficulties for children with
developmental dysphasia and thus the teacher seeks to support the children to create
whole sentences by creating their own sentence at home each week. This demanding
task is repeated each week and should lead to automatization. I think that the teacher
should use more methods and strategies which are recommended for teaching these
children, for example I really miss the method called colour coding which is helpful
for teaching grammar. The activity which I described as a designed activity for
learning grammar is based on the principle of visualization. The children learn
prepositions through the visual aid, in this case-a toy (bear).
In the theoretical part, it is recommended to use English in classes as often as
possible but also there is mentioned that it is allowed sometimes to speak in mother
tongue, particularly in the cases when understanding is affected. At school in
Šumperk, the teacher uses this recommendation. She tries to speak only in English,
especially at the beginning of class when the starting rituals are repeated because
they do this activity each lesson but when she knows that the children do not know
what they should do, she speaks Czech. The children are encouraged to speak
through some kind of role play. It is useful to use modified assessment procedures
such as role plays but the children who I observed perform the role plays from the
course book or the rituals that they do almost every class. The teacher thinks that
they are not able to present their own dialogues or hold a discussion and it is true
because they are not encouraged to these kinds of skills. According to Owens the
children with communication disorders should develop their speaking through
conversation. It helps them to improve their communication skills if the rules, which
I mentioned in the theoretical part, are observed.
On the basis of the observation of English classes, I have to say that the
learners are accustomed to read only stories from the course book and then work
with them. The children do not read stories which they are interested in. I was really
surprised that the children translate each sentence into Czech but the teacher told me
that the children have difficulties with comprehension even in their mother tongue
thus it is important so the they exactly know what the story is about. From Janiková’s

47
point of view the training should combine reading out and visual with auditory
reception, which is not used as well as a bookmark during lessons at school in
Šumperk. The really useful aid which can be used for teaching reading is some kind
of a class library. There are dictionaries and a large amount of English illustrated
books which are always available for each learner. Unfortunately, this option is not
used during English classes, which is unfortunate because the children have
difficulties with fluency of reading especially when they read long sentences or long
sections of texts. They often syllabify the sentences and tempo is really slow. The
regular use of books from a class library could improve their reading. Another aid
which is recommended is application of modified written text-in this case we talk
about so called flow charts which enable to learners better orientation in a text and
demonstrate relationships between ideas within a text. I find this method more useful
than the example of an activity designed for learning reading with comprehension
because the learners really comprehend a text thanks to flow chart.
As I have already mentioned that the teacher should use English as often as
possible because the learners should be familiarized with sound of English as soon as
possible. Janíková describes ´hear-see-repeat´ as the one of useful methods for
teaching listening. This method together with support of pictures or gestures is used
during English classes at school in Šumperk, especially when the children acquire
new vocabulary. Listening is also taught through the audio player but it is not used so
often despite the recommendation of using this type of aids. The teacher prefers
practicing listening without the use of the audio player. She reads the text herself and
the children listen to her because children are not able to catch the information from
an audio tape because of the fast tempo. In my opinion, the teacher should try to
conform the text that they should listen to. For example, she can stop it after shorter
sections or she can find other listening tasks which are slower available on internet.
The teacher, who teaches English at school in Šumperk, also can use the method
Self-Talk and Parallel Talk which is recommended by Owens.
I was really surprised that the learners with developmental dysphasia at
school in Šumperk develop their writing skills only thanks to writing vocabulary,
dictates, tests, homework. They are not encouraged to create text such as letters,
narratives etc. According to Janíková, it would be useful to motivate and activate the
children thanks to pictures or some purposes, for example to write the letter to his or
her friend. I mentioned that the learners at school in Šumperk have troubles with

48
misspelling. This problem can be solved with use of the techniques such as different
computer software.

49
5. Conclusion

The aim of my bachelor thesis was to find out how children with
developmental dysphasia learn English, how English is taught (strategies and
methods) in one classroom as well as what difficulties are associated with
developmental dysphasia during English classes and last but not least what is the
dysphatic children’s attitude to learning English and their teacher’s attitude to
teaching English.
In the theoretical part, I focused firstly on the impaired communication ability
in general. Further I continued with one of the impaired communication abilities
namely, developmental dysphasia. I tried to come close to the problems of
developmental dysphasia and learning English. The survey in the practical part is
based on the theoretical basis – symptoms, difficulties in English, methods and
strategies. I had the opportunity to observe how children with developmental
dysphasia learn English at a school in Šumperk.
On the basis of the observation of children with developmental dysphasia
during their English classes, the difficulties mentioned in the theoretical part are
found. They are namely the pronunciation of a word as the students hear them, their
inability to connect words thus creating more complex sentences and sometimes
affected sentence word order causing a sentence to be unintelligible and also
impaired fluency of speech.
For all these reasons it is obvious that learning English represents a really
challenging job for these children and I confirmed that these children need an
individual approach and usage of special methods, aids and activities. The teacher
uses during her English lessons some of these are mentioned in the theoretical part as
methods recommended for teaching children with developmental dysphasia. The
teacher focuses especially on the methods which support children’s oral utterance,
reduce their fear of speaking and motivate them. However, I have expected that the
children were more encouraged through special methods and aids. This lack of
teaching methods for teaching with children with developmental dysphasia can be
result of the fact that the teacher who teaches these children is not qualified as a
special pedagogue yet.

50
 Thanks to the questionnaire which was focused on the learner´s attitude to
learning English and foreign languages, I found out that the majority of dysphatic
children enjoy learning English and take up English as something useful in their life.
According to the teacher, the dysphatic children should learn English, she does not
know any reasons why they should not learn it like their peers without any disorders
and I have the same opinion as her. From my point of view, thanks to the survey, I
have come to the conclusion that children with developmental dysphasia are able to
learn English despite their disorder. They enjoy their English classes and it also
contributes to their improvement of communication skills because the more they try
to communicate in both Czech and English, the more they are confident and sure of
their oral and also written work.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that I am grateful that I had an opportunity
to be concerned with this topic. As the future teacher, I would like to teach children
with this disorder thus I consider very helpful that I could observe how these children
are taught English.

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6. Works Cited

Chapman, Robin. Processes in Language Acquisition and Disorders. St. Louis:

Mosby-Year Book, Inc., 1992. Print.

Farrell, Michael. Education special children. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis
Group, 2008. Print.

Lechta, Viktor. Logopedické repetitórium. Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické

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7. Internet sources

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8. Appendix
Appendix A. Questionnaire
1. How often in a week have you got English?
2. Do you want to have English more often? Y/N
3. Are you glad that you learn English? Y/N
4. Do you enjoy English lessons? Y/N
5. What is the best activity in English lessons for you?
6. Why do you think that it is useful to learn English?
a. I will be able to speak with foreigners.
b. It will help me to find a good job.
c. My communication skills will be better.
d. It's good for nothing.
7. Would you like to learn another foreign language? If yes, then why and which?

Appendix B. Language Book – Chatterbox Pupil’s Book 2

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 Appendix C. Exercise using for teaching grammar

Appendix D. Example of learner’s work in the exercise-book

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Appendix E. Example of the grammar exercise in learner’s exercise-book

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