Practices of teaching English as a foreign language in the case of students with learning difficulties in Estonian basic schools

Estonia is among those countries that follow the principles of inclusion in education, which means that general education is available to every person regardless of their social and economic background, nationality, gender, place of residence or special educational needs. Parents have the right to choose a school for their child and a basic school must accept all the students to whom the school is a school of residence. As a result, schools need to educate students with special educational needs who not very long time ago were supposed to attend special schools. One area that is insufficiently covered in Estonia is teaching foreign languages to students with learning difficulties. These are students who lack cognitive skills, have difficulty in acquiring basic literacy and in understanding concepts to the extent that they are not able to reach the outcomes of the National Curriculum for Basic Schools. The aim of the present master’s thesis is to observe and describe the situation in practices of teaching English as a foreign language to students who need implementing the Simplified National Curriculum for Basic Schools. Four aspects are focused on: (1) organisation of teaching (classroom, weekly schedule, support staff), (2) content (learning materials, teaching techniques, assessment), (3) how teaching English falls into the inclusion framework; (4) what are the teachers’ perceptions about teaching English to students with learning difficulties, how confident they are and what they lack most. The qualitative, descriptive study was carried out in the form of semi-structured interviews. One set of interview questions was created and the interviews were conducted with eight teachers from three different counties and three different types of schools. The introduction provides an overview of what inclusion policy has brought about in the context of teaching students with special educational needs in Estonia while bringing into focus teaching students with learning difficulties. Also, special educational needs are defined and three previous studies about teaching English to students with special educational needs are referred to. The literature overview describes what is behind the policy of inclusive education, what is said about teaching foreign languages to students with learning difficulties, and what the situation of teaching students with special educational needs in Estonia is. The second chapter analyses the interview responses, focusing on the following aspects: (1) how teaching English is organised in terms of the Simplified National Curriculum for Basic Schools, (2) which materials are used, (3) what kind of teaching techniques are used, (4) whether teachers have opportunities for developing all the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and teaching vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar; (5) how the students are assessed and what kind of homework they are given; (6) how teachers understand the term ‘inclusive education’; (7) how teachers feel about teaching students with learning difficulties and what they need most. The discussion draws conclusions based on these findings and provides some suggestions.