Journal | EL.LE
Journal Issue | 2 | 3 | 2013
Research Article | The Scope of Special Needs EduLinguistics
The Scope of Special Needs EduLinguistics
A Proposal for the Definitions and Classification of Special Language Needs
Abstract
The present essay focuses on the use of the term ‘Special Educational Needs’ (SEN) in language teaching research. In the first part some issues about the definition of SEN are discussed, particularly the fact that this ‘umbrella-term’ seems to be applied to a (too) wide range of students with different difficulties and conditions. The author then discusses a number of theoretical issues arising from the use of the concept of SEN in language teaching research. In fact, while pedagogy is entitled to elaborate methodologies to answer ‘educational needs’, language teaching research has a more specific scope, namely ‘language (and (inter)cultural) needs’. Thus, research on the teaching of languages to SEN students is useful, and even necessary, only if they have a specific language need. In the light of these considerations the second part of the essay introduces the notion of ‘Specific Language Needs’. A classification of this category of students is proposed which integrates current knowledge in clinical research within the model of ‘communicative competence’.
Published Nov. 1, 2013 | Language: it
Copyright © 2013 Michele Daloiso. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2280-6792/75p
