A Linguistic Approach to the Study of Dyslexia

The volume intends to contribute to the growing body of research on dyslexia, with particular attention to its impact on the linguistic and communicative profile of people with this specific learning difference. Dyslexia manifests itself in difficulties in manipulating phonological segments, which results in poor decoding and spelling abilities and in reduced graphemic competence. Other difficulties have been observed in rapid naming and morphosyntactic processing. Differences in pragmatic efficiency have been found in children and young adults with respect to their typically developing peers. Furthermore, people with dyslexia tend to have reduced reading experience and this may also interfere with the development of vocabulary and efficient reading comprehension skills. On the whole, dyslexia appears, therefore, to impact first and foremost on the language system and linguistic research has actively started to contribute to the debate. However, a truly interdisciplinary approach bringing together the neurosciences and linguistics is crucial to better understand dyslexia and how it affects the development of the language system in both first and foreign languages, as well as to successfully adapt and design new teaching activities and materials. The volume brings together articles by experienced and emerging scholars which discuss the results of theoretical and applied research on dyslexia produced within various branches of linguistics including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and applied linguistics. The chapters in the first part of the volume provide a review of significant research on the neurobiological bases and cognitive underpinnings of dyslexia and their impact on language skills, thus serving as a foundation for the following chapters. The second part includes articles focusing on the linguistic description of dyslexia and presents the results of theoretical and experimental studies. Finally, the third part of the volume is dedicated to applied linguistic research in the area of dyslexia, with particular reference to foreign language teacher training, silent reading techniques, and foreign language learning and teaching. On the one hand, the insights emerging from the articles show the relevance of recent linguistic research and how it has advanced our understanding of dyslexia. On the other hand, they show that the linguistic investigation of specific learning differences offers a valuable heuristic perspective on the comprehension of the processes at work in communication and language development in general. For this reason, the volume will be of interest to theoretical and applied scholars working in different fields, in addition to educators.