Language capacities of a "dyslexic" English language learner

Abstract

Based on the concept of language as a socially organized activity, which allows human communication and work as an action instrument for social practices (Bronckart, 2003, 2006, 2007), we refute the concept of dyslexia traditionally (re) cognized as a learner's written language learning disability (Massi, 2004a, 2007). The objective of this work is to present a case study in which a "dyslexic" student attended English language classes and a didactic sequence (Dolz; Noverraz; Schneuwly, 2004) developed to teach the referred language. Results showed that the activities included in the didactic sequence to explore the research subject's linguistic-discursive capacity-a capacity directly related to the use of lexical items and grammatical rules-(Dolz; Pasquier; Bronckart, 1993) revealed the subject's learning possibilities and language capacities thus deconstructing his severe dyslexic diagnosis.