Pupils with mild intellectual disabilities in the foreign language classroomthe case of an Andalusian school

Abstract

Our research is aimed at tackling a phenomenon that has not been satisfactorily studied in Spain, such as the case of pupils with mild intellectual disabilities in the foreign language classroom. We have found a few studies which could describe the teaching and learning processes and contexts taking place in a secondary school language classroom which is attended by this type of pupils. For this reason, we have decided to conduct a case study focused on Athena’s learning of English as a Foreign Language (FL) during the third and fourth year of Compulsory Secondary Education. Athena is a state school pupil with an intellectual disability who often sees her learning of the foreign language hindered for reasons going beyond the ones brought about by her own disability. Hence, we have also paid attention to the conditioning factors that come from her close environment (school and family) as well as to her medical history and educational path.