Teaching and testing students with SpLDs: Experience from the Venice University Language Centre.

In Italy, students with disabilities have been integrated into mainstream education for decades. In recent years, detailed national guidelines have been set out regarding learning and assessment for students who are medically certified with specific learning disabilities (SpLDs) to guarantee their access to all levels of education. The guidelines are mostly intended for students in secondary school, although they are also applicable to university education, and represent an important step forward in providing support for students with these difficulties. However, there is no recognition of the difference in learning and assessment procedures in the two educational contexts. The guidelines thus remain a generic indication for teachers and testers in universities, who are often forced to seek solution on an ad hoc basis. This article reports on the procedures followed to draw up an in-house protocol applied to the learning and assessment of the English language proficiency of students enrolled at the Venice University Language Centre (ULC) who are certified with dyslexia and related SpLDs. We begin with a brief definition of these SpLDs and the implications they have for the learning of English as a second or foreign language for Italian students. We review the legislative background in Italy to identify the provisions set out for students with SpLDs. We then describe the context of the University of Venice Language Centre and the policies applied to students with SpLDs. In the second part of the paper, we focus on the case studies of two students with SpLDs enrolled in English language courses at the Venice ULC. In particular, we report on the manner in which access to the courses was managed and the difficulties encountered by teachers and students alike in the classroom. We also give details on how the testing was arranged: the accommodations and modifications applied. We conclude with a reflection on the outcomes attained by the students, and the need to consider individual cases of students with SpLDs ad personam, but not ad hoc, so as to guarantee both fair access to foreign language learning and valid testing of their abilities.