34.1339, Review: Applied Linguistics: Cappelli, Noccetti (eds.) (2022)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-34-1339. Thu Apr 27 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.1339, Review:  Applied Linguistics: Cappelli, Noccetti (eds.) (2022)

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Date: 21-Feb-2023
From: Yufei Ren [ryffei at 163.com]
Subject: Applied Linguistics: Cappelli, Noccetti (eds.) (2022)

Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/33.2669

AUTHOR: Yufei Ren
TITLE: A Linguistic Approach to the Study of Dyslexia
SERIES TITLE: Communication Disorders Across Languages
PUBLISHER: Multilingual Matters
YEAR: 2022

REVIEWER: Yufei Ren

SUMMARY
This edition of Cappelli and Noccetti offers a clear background
discussion of dyslexia and the linguistic approach to it, with an
overview of the linguistic abilities (in areas such as syntax,
vocabulary, pragmatics) related to dyslexia. A general picture of the
book’s organization and its contents is given in the Introduction.
Following the Introduction, the main text is a collection of 14
chapters, divided into three parts, each chapter being an article on a
particular topic related to the part it belongs to.
The first part, ‘Psychological and Neurobiological Foundations of
Language Skills in People with Dyslexia’, includes three chapters and
focuses on the neurological findings on dyslexia and its cognitive
underpinnings in foreign language learning. Chapter 1, ‘The
Neurobiological Basis of Language Skills and Dyslexia’, by Enrico
Ghidoni, reviews correlations among various components of language
with neural networks in neurological development through neuroimaging
studies, in particular the neurobiological basis, by comparing
dyslexic and typical healthy controls, among children and adults. The
variability of these studies is discussed and a multidimensional model
is proposed in which reading and language disorders are related to
factors ranging from genetic susceptibility to behavioral
phenomenology.
Chapter 2, ‘Late Effects of Early Language Delay on Complex Language
and Literacy Abilities: A Clinical Approach to Dyslexia in Subjects
with a Previous Language Impairment’, by Casalini Casalini, Daniela
Brizzolara, Anna Maria Chilosi, Filippo Gasperini, and Chiara Pecini,
is a review of how an early delay in oral language acquisition can
have a cascading effect on linguistic abilities. It mainly discusses
the continuity and discontinuity between developmental dyslexia and
developmental language disorders, in which patients’ rapid automatized
naming (RAN) and phonological working memory (PhWM) are discussed. The
reviewed literature demonstrates a multiple interaction between oral
language, literacy, cognitive abilities, and environmental factors,
working together in a reciprocal network.
Chapter 3, ‘Foreign Language Learning Difficulties in Developmental
Dyslexia’, by Filippo Gasperini, reviews foreign language learning
outcomes in subjects with dyslexia, and individual-internal and
individual-external factors affecting foreign language learning among
different populations including those with dyslexia. With these
factors considered, the author briefly introduces teaching strategies
in foreign language learning and calls upon a multi-faceted
perspective for future research.
The seven chapters (Chapters 4–10) in Part 2, ‘Theoretical and
Experimental Linguistic Research on Dyslexia’, gather works focused on
the linguistic competence of people with dyslexia. It opens with
Chapter 4 ‘Phonological and Lexical Effects on Reading in Dyslexia’,
by Marijan Palmovic, Ana Matic Skoric, Mirta Zelenika Zeba, and Melita
Kovacevic. This chapter uses an eye-tracking experiment to investigate
the role of phonotactic probability and word frequency on reading
controlled texts in children with dyslexia. As phonotactic rules are
subject to implicit learning, the findings would benefit diagnosis.
The results show that phonotactic probabilities and contextual cues
guide lexical activation, and give evidence for the role of
implicit/statistical learning mechanisms in dyslexia deficits.
Chapter 5, ‘Morphemes as Reading and Spelling Units in Developmental
Dyslexia’, by Cristina Burani, emphasizes the significance of
morphological knowledge in language processing. The author shows us
how morpheme-based processing can impact reading speed as well as
spelling, how root and suffix properties differently affect reading
speed and accuracy, and the amazing effects of a morphological
compensatory strategy, covering both typically developing readers and
readers with dyslexia.
The role of morphological knowledge on language development is also
discussed in Chapter 6, ‘Morphological Knowledge in French-Speaking
Children with Dyslexia’, by Rachel Berthiaume, Amelie Bourcier, and
Daniel Daigle. The authors summarize several studies on dyslexia that
are not totally in agreement due to methodological issues. From the
studies on French-speaking students with dyslexia, they point out that
dyslexics perform significantly lower on morphological tasks, though
they could possess some derivational morphological knowledge, which
gives insights into the planning of teaching activities for students
with dyslexia.
Chapter 7, ‘Developmental Dyslexia and Morphosyntactic Competence in
Italian Young Adults’, by Giovanna Marotta, presents a quantitative
study of morphosyntactic competence in Italian young adults based on a
list of grammatical blocks as test materials. The results show those
with developmental dyslexia have difficulties in many grammatical
tasks, such as in the identification of the syntactic subject in
null-subject sentences, in the reconstruction of the syntactic
sequence with embedded elements, and in the comprehension of subject
relative clauses and relative sentences embedded in the main clause.
The analysis of their mistakes contributes to the general trajectory
of this linguistic impairment.
Chapter 8, ‘Dyslexia and Syntactic Deficits: Overview and a Case Study
of Language Training’, by Anna Cardinaletti, Elisa Piccoli, and
Francesca Volpato, concentrates on the oral tasks which exhibit
syntactic deficits in individuals with dyslexia. Two oral tasks are
administered (a sentence repetition task on different types of
syntactically complex sentences and an elicited production task on
relative clauses) in their study. The results show clear difficulty in
both tasks for students with dyslexia, indicating that syntactically
complex constructions are crucial in its diagnosis and specific
remedial training.
Chapter 9, ‘The Impact of Dyslexia on Lexico-Semantic Abilities: An
Overview’, by Gloria Cappelli, reviews lexico-semantic abilities in
people with dyslexia. By introducing the fundamental role of
lexico-semantic abilities in reading, the relationship between
dyslexia and vocabulary learning and development, and the
inconsistencies in related theories, the author concludes that the
majority of the studies agree that people with dyslexia have intact
semantic abilities at a behavioral level. However, a mismatch has been
found between the neural and the behavioral manifestations of dyslexia
in semantic tasks.
Chapter 10, ‘Dyslexia and Pragmatic Skills’, by Gloria Cappelli,
Sabrina Noccetti, Nicoletta Simi, Giorgio Arcara, and Valentina
Bambini, presents an overview of research on pragmatic competence and
dyslexia. With a summary of tests measuring pragmatic skills, the
growing body of research on this topic reveals poor pragmatic
performance in dyslexics, concerned with slower language processing
speed and working memory deficits. However, further research on
methodology is needed due to the inconsistent findings.
Part 3 of this volume, ‘Applied Linguistic Research and Dyslexia’,
explores the training and methodologies in the context of language
teaching. Chapter 11, ‘Visual and Auditory Stimuli for Teaching EFL
Vocabulary to Learners with Dyslexia’, by Sabrina Noccetti, aims to
highlight the advantage of teaching EFL vocabulary with images to
students with dyslexia. In the experiment, non-words are presented in
rapid naming tasks, either with  pictures or only in their written
form. The significance between two modalities of training does not
appear immediately but image-supported vocabulary learning shows a
positive effect after two weeks; thus suggesting the potential of
combining visual and auditory modalities in EFL teaching.
Chapter 12, ‘Reading as a Multi-Layer Activity: Training Strategies at
Text Level’, written by Francesca Santulli and Melissa Scagnelli,
introduces SuperReading—a training course that emphasizes its
emotional and motivational components. SuperReading attempts to
combine different strategies and techniques to develop individuals’
silent reading skills, as silent reading is an important factor in
reading skills yet quite difficult to measure. The training results
show that SuperReading is successful in improving both speed and
comprehension for both typical and dyslexic readers.
Chapter 13, ‘Teaching Latin to Dyslexic Learners: A Methodological
Proposal’, by Rossella Iobino, introduces how Latin teaching as a
possible match could benefit dyslexic patients. The proposed Latin
teaching method could strengthen learners’ text comprehension, part of
speech analysis, and syntactic competence through a comparative
approach, with information and communication technologies.
The final chapter is Chapter 14, ‘Foreign Language Teacher
Preparedness to Teach Learners with Dyslexia’, by Joanna Nijakowska.
In it she intends to show the importance of appropriate foreign
language teacher training to meet the needs of dyslexic students. The
introduced training highlights factors including teacher’s background
knowledge, self-efficacy, and beliefs about inclusion.

EVALUATION
The linguistic approach to dyslexia is significant in that it could
offer insights into the specific aspects of language that are
functioning, identify possible reasons for such deficits, and make
predictions about their linguistic development, all of which reveals
the practical and theoretical significance of taking a linguistic
approach to dyslexia. The exploration of various linguistic components
in the language of dyslexic patients could help determine their
diagnosis to a finer degree. Linguistic components such as morphology
(Chapters 5–7), syntax (Chapter 8), semantics (Chapter 9), and
pragmatics (Chapter 10) are discussed in detail to illustrate the
possible connections between these linguistic factors and dyslexia.
With a more specific analysis of dyslexic language, the diagnosis
could be more accurate, which could in turn provide possible treatment
aimed at a particular linguistic construction. Moreover, educators
could plan teaching activities based on the research findings of the
role of linguistic abilities in learning (Tallal et al., 1997).
Specific training programs such as SuperReading (Chapter 12) and the
Latin-based classroom (Chapter 13) offer readers examples and
activities included in language teaching for dyslexia. On the other
hand, linguistic theories are in turn being examined through the
observation of dyslexia patients. Such evidence could solidify the
theories proposed in the field of language processing and help make
emendations.
  The aim of this book is definitely achieved through a detailed
review of various linguistic components in dyslexia, extending the
traditional phonological perspective on dyslexia. In the first part of
the book, readers are able to grasp the general picture of the
neurological foundations in dyslexia. In the second part, experiments
conducted on dyslexia related to linguistic factors show how studies
could be narrowed down in research topics. In the third part, papers
demonstrate the utilization of research in applied linguistics. This
clear organization of chapters guides readers to theoretical findings
that could also be utilized in practical classroom settings. Readers
who are interested in linguistics, especially neurolinguistics, could
further investigate the relationship between language and the brain
through dyslexia. In particular, training programs which aim at
dyslexia recovery could design specific language activities. Both
training teachers and language teachers can benefit from the book, as
the detailed linguistic components are illustrated in terms of its
development and deficits.
  It is quite disappointing that the experiments covered in the book,
particularly in Part 2, are mainly with Italian participants. The
question then remains of whether the neurological basis of various
components in dyslexia is language-universal or language-specific. As
we know, brain activation across languages shows both universal as
well as distinguishable activated regions. For example,  greater
reduction in gray matter volume and brain activation in the left
inferior frontal gyrus has been found in morpho-syllabic languages
(e.g., Chinese), and greater reduction in the left middle temporal
gyrus and fusiform gyrus in alphabetic languages (Yan et al., 2021).
Even within the same individual, their processing of native language
and a foreign language is not identical. Yeagle et al. (2017) found
Chinese-English bilingual subjects processed the two different
languages using distinct neural patterns. The extent to which
neurological activations vary between native and second language
processing may be another interesting topic. For future research,
investigation of other languages may contribute to building up a more
general blueprint for dyslexia.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Yufei Ren: PhD student, Tsinghua University. Research interests:
neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, psychiatry

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