Specific learning difficulties (also called developmental dyslexia or, in the German literature, legastenia) have been analysed for a long time by researchers representing different scientific fields. The difficulties are usually treated as a set of disorders or deficiencies with linguistic skills which cause difficulties with reading and writing. The consequence of this kind of approach is the search for corrective and compensating activities, therapy as well as adjusting educational requirements to the learner’s needs and possibilities. Assuming a different perspective, and first of all taking into consideration the development of the contemporary glottodidactics, which focuses on the learner’s autonomy, the issue of specific learning difficulties may be discussed in the context of individual differences between people and in the context of specific learning difficulties as the manifestation of individual learning style. The style is frequently inconsistent with the learning canon, which is created by the schooling system as an institution. The article discusses specific learning difficulties – understood as the result of individual learning style – in reference to L2 class and the scope of foreign language teacher’s activity.
The aim of the article is to indicate the correlations between an individual learning style of a dyslectic child and their preferred strategies. The first part of the article discusses the developmental dyslexia which is considered to be the reflection of individual learning differences. The second part presents the portrait of a dyslectic student with particular emphasis put on their individual learning style and applied strategies. The final part of the text includes an attempt to indicate practical implications in the context of shaping autonomous attitudes of students with developmental dyslexia.
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