{"id":33517,"date":"2026-01-07T13:10:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mlaworld.com\/en\/?p=33517"},"modified":"2026-01-07T14:28:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:28:56","slug":"from-special-educational-needs-to-specific-language-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlaworld.com\/en\/from-special-educational-needs-to-specific-language-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"From Special Educational Needs to Specific Language Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nowadays, in school settings, teachers often work with learners who present various kinds of language difficulties. The heterogeneity of students and the drive toward personalized learning frequently lead to\u00a0labelling<\/em>, assigning difficulties to recognised categories. In this article, we will address the topic of learning difficulties related to languages, adopting a multi\u2011perspective approach that allows us to grasp both internal and external contextual factors and how these factors affect the learner\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

If this topic interests you, you can\u00a0reserve your place at the free webinar<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for English teachers, which will take place on Thursday 30\/05 at 18:00 and will focus precisely on this theme.<\/p>\n

The acronym\u00a0BES \u2013 Bisogni Educativi Speciali (Special Educational Needs)<\/strong>\u00a0carries with it a practice of identifying needs and then individualising approaches. We speak of Special Educational Needs (SEN) to refer to a macro\u2011category that includes all possible educational and learning difficulties. Whatever the nature of the need, there is a common matrix that unites them: the right to receive an effective individualized or personalized educational intervention.<\/p>\n

The BES category covers a wide range of needs that reflects students\u2019 uniqueness within diversity, embracing the principles of the\u00a0ICF (International Classification of Health)<\/strong>\u00a0in order to identify those who, permanently or temporarily, for physical, biological, physiological, psychological and\/or social reasons, require targeted teaching interventions tailored to their special needs.<\/p>\n

BiLS \u2013 Bisogni linguistici specifici (Specific Language Needs)<\/strong>\u00a0refer to \u201cdevelopmental difficulties that affect the growth of communicative competence and significantly impact language learning to the point that adaptations, integration or modification of the language\u2011education pathway become necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

BiLS fall within Special Educational Needs and represent a sub\u2011category, because they concern difficulties in the areas of language, communication and learning. Needs may be temporary, as in the case of a foreign student who has just arrived in Italy and has linguistic, cultural and personal needs because they do not yet know Italian. Once this learner has closed the language gap, their temporary need will be resolved, as they will have learned to live in the host country and to understand its language, customs and traditions.<\/p>\n

Other needs may be permanent, such as the specific needs of students with\u00a0DSA \u2013 Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (Specific Learning Disorders)<\/strong>\u00a0which can be compensated for through appropriate strategies and effective tools, depending on the type of difficulty or disorder.<\/p>\n

Specific Learning Disorders involve a growing percentage of secondary\u2011school students in Italy. This is largely due to a progressive recognition of these disorders, formalised by Law 170\/2010, which defines SLDs and, together with the 2011 Guidelines, provides tools and indications for teaching.<\/p>\n

Language\u2011learning difficulties should never be interpreted as a \u201cproblem\u201d of the student, but rather as the result of an interaction that is not optimally aligned between their characteristics and the environments in which they are placed.<\/p>\n

The learning environment can widen or reduce the barriers a learner encounters in their language development. In language education, when working with students with SLDs, and bearing in mind the learner\u2019s biological input and the contextual input of the environment, it is necessary to design instruction based on the principles of accessibility, multimodality and inclusion.<\/p>\n

With respect to foreign languages, students with SLDs encounter a wide range of linguistic\u2011communicative difficulties, from internalising vocabulary to reading comprehension, from the use of grammatical structures to fluency and the effectiveness of written and oral production. According to the principle of multisensoriality, which underpins glottodidactic accessibility, the individual\u2019s sensory channels can become a resource because they favour the acquisition of linguistic input.<\/p>\n

Another aspect of accessibility is\u00a0linguistic adaptation<\/strong>, i.e. the modification of language input. A commonly used example is task segmentation and reflection on the metacognitive strategies the student employs during learning. Each person is a social being who lives daily life by integrating existential, linguistic and communicative competences. Activating these competences in everyday life means mastering the language. According to Balboni, communicative competence is \u201ca mental reality which is realised as performance in the world, within communicative events that take place in social contexts where language users perform actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this regard, it is useful to refer to\u00a0language proficiency<\/strong>\u00a0as defined by the\u00a0Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)<\/strong>, a fundamental tool for all language educators. Language proficiency is articulated through a series of activities that learners must learn to carry out concretely, using expressions and functions typical of the language and acquiring communicative competences in the foreign language.<\/p>\n

Teachers often believe that teaching a language simply means transmitting linguistic or grammatical structures. However, promoting\u00a0inclusive language education<\/strong>\u00a0means not separating language, mind and body; it means paying attention to differences both on the linguistic\u2011cultural level\u2014skills, linguistic and cultural repertoires\u2014and on the psycho\u2011cognitive level\u2014cognitive styles, attitudes, motivation and emotions.<\/p>\n

The language classroom, using Caon\u2019s term, can be defined as a\u00a0Mixed\u2011Ability Class (MAC)<\/strong>, where the teacher encounters a strong heterogeneity of learners and must promote effective learning for everyone, taking into account their differing needs and supporting language learning for each student by moving towards inclusive and accessible teaching. Here, accessibility takes on crucial importance for those with language difficulties.<\/p>\n

Teaching interventions must be attentive on several levels:<\/p>\n