Language Learning Disabilities: The Ultimate Foreign Language Challenge

In today’s world where great value is placed on global understanding, the acquisition of languages is essential. Academics would agree that the study of other languages provides students access to the cultural and intellectual heritage of cultures other than their own. Additionally, such study gives new and different perspectives on the structure and complexity of English. For the majority of students, the fulfillment of the college foreign language requirement is not problematic. But what happens to the individuals who have difficulty fulfilling the requirement? This article describes the special difficulties university students with dyslexia and other language learning difficulties have in satisfying the foreign language requirement. The article also provides a checklist of warning signs that identify students who are at risk for failure in foreign language classes, academic options to help students with language learning difficulties, and recommendations for alternative teaching methodologies for students who do not have the ability to learn a foreign language through traditional teaching methods.