An academic intervention program for EFL university students with reading disabilities

 

Institutions of higher learning worldwide have a foreign-language requirement. Brod and Huber (1996) stated that approximately two thirds of all four-year institutions of higher learning in the United States have such a requirement. If postsecondary, foreign-language courses are required worldwide, even in a country whose dominant language is the lingua franca of the world, an even stronger case can be made for learning English in the Israeli academic context. Israeli university students need a reasonably high level of reading comprehension in English for required course material. Nadel and Fishman (1977) reported that 76% of the books and periodicals in Israeli university libraries were in English. It is a fair assumption that the percentage has increased since 1977. Thus, all Israeli colleges and universities have an exit-level, English-language requirement, which is particularly problematic for students with reading disabilities.