DEVELOPING SECOND LANGUAGE COMPETENCE IN YOUNG SEN CHILDREN USING THE NARRATIVE FORMAT

Zlatica Zacharová, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia

Abstract

The use of the narrative format method in teaching a foreign language to young children helps children to acquire a new language in a similar way to the way they acquired their mother tongue, which facilitates its subsequent production in communication. This paper observes the behaviour and qualitatively describes the language shift of 5 children with specific developmental learning disabilities (autistic child with high intellect, autistic child with low intellect, and low language competence, a child on the autistic spectrum with above average intelligence and well-developed speech competence, a child with electric mutism, a non-communicative child with higher intelligence) who attended an English language course using the Hocus a Lotus narrative format during their preschool years. It is evident from the case studies that the narrative format is also a suitable tool for children with neurodiversity to develop language and communicative competence in a foreign language, while also facilitating the development of theory of mind and socialization as well as the internalization of socially acceptable behaviors. The study is supported by project VEGA 1/0694/24

Keywords: SEN children, English as second language, Narrative Format method, case study