Episode 3: Conversation with a Bilingual Dyslexia Specialist

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This episode features Catalina Lugo, lecturer in bilingual education with the University of Houston-Downtown in Texas. She is a former classroom teacher in Mexico and the US and a bilingual dyslexia specialist. Ms. Lugo shares multiple tips to identify and help multilingual students with dyslexia and to distinguish between students dealing with language vs. dyslexia challenges.

Episode Resources:

As mentioned in the podcast episode, the second language acquisition theories of both Stephen Krashen and Jim Cummins have been highly influential in education. The resources below are a suggested starting point for familiarizing yourself with their work:

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. 

This is an early, seminal work by Krashen on second language acquisition. Krashen published multiple additional articles building upon this work, and many others have published supporting or controverting Krashen's theories.

Cummins, J. (2008). BICS and CALP: Empirical and theoretical status of the distinction. Encyclopedia of language and education, 2(2), 71-83.

In this chapter, Cummins revisits his early work from the late 1970's on Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency and their educational implications. Like Krashen, Cummins has published extensively on this topic, as have many others in support or criticism.