Experiencing teaching English to learners with exceptionalities : a case study of a ten-year-old autistic child

Abstract EN

The present study attempts to expose a pedagogical experience of teaching the English language to a ten-year-old boy with autism spectrum disorder at his home.

The challenges and difficulties faced by the researcher in the role of teacher, in addition to those faced by the autistic child are thoroughly analysed.

The outcomes demonstrate that the autistic profile of the learner features dominantly in his engagement and achievement in the learning process.

Furthermore, the learning environment may have an impact on the attention of the autistic child, and thus ought to be taken into account.

An unexpected result was that the case's positive attitude and curiosity towards English was a key factor in his motivation to learn.