Bio:

K. Suzanne Petty, M.Ed., CALT-QI, is a Certified Academic Language Therapist and Qualified Instructor for dyslexia therapist national certification programs and has 14 years of experience in dyslexia education. She is the co-founder of the first Louisiana Key Academy, a public charter school for children with dyslexia. Petty is experienced in the private and public school education sectors as a dyslexia therapist-interventionist, special education teacher, and tutor. Petty holds master’s degrees in special education and dyslexia therapy, and is working on her doctorate in the College of Human Sciences and Education at Louisiana State University.

Presentation Title:

How Can the Principles of Structured Literacy Be Effectively Translated to Foreign Language Acquisition?

Session 1, 9:40-10:40 (Meeting Room 3)

Presentation Abstract:

For nearly a century, Systematic Structured Literacy (SSL) instruction has been a powerful tool for teaching reading. Today, we know it as the engine behind the Science of Reading, with its five core pillars–phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension–firmly embedded in the SSL framework. While SSL has gained traction in moving from research to effective classroom applications, it raises an exciting question for world language teachers: Can we use these same methods to help English-speaking students acquire a second language (L2)? The basic cognitive processes of learning to read are the same for the non-disabled reader in any language, but success in L2 may require adjustments to SSL methods. To explore this topic, participants will consider the following questions: (1) What are the core language processes taught in SSL? (2) Does a student's proficiency in English reading skills help or hinder them in L2? (3) Do the elements of SSL have the same influence in L2 versus English literacy skills? (4) How do we adapt these SSL components to a language with highly predictable spelling patterns (like Spanish) compared to more complex spelling systems (like French)? Attendees will leave with a deeper insight into the fundamentals of structured language and how L2 in Spanish or French may be impacted. Best of all, they will participate in a series of practical applications with the SSL components.