English Ideas.
Vol.
December, 2025 Copyright A 2025 English Ideas MULTISENSORY TEACHING TECHNIQUE IN TEACHING READING FOR EFL STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA:
TEACHERAoS PERCEPTION Intan Kurnia Syafitri intansyafitri406@gmail.
Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang Hilmansyah Syaefullah saefullah@fkip.
Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang Abstract Dyslexia or Auword blindnessAy is a developmental reading disorder which is a result from the inability to process graphic symbols.
This research aims to know teacherAos perceptions on using multisensory teaching technique for teaching reading to students with dyslexia.
This is an interview study in which collecting data is conducted through semi-structured interview in order to discover more in-depth information about multisensory teaching technique in teaching reading for dyslexic students.
The participant of this research is an orthopedagogic teacher who works in an inclusive school.
Based on the research results, the teacher perceives that teacherAos creativity and appropriate supporting media are necessary in implementing multisensory approach.
The teacher also perceives that this approach has some advantages and disadvantages.
The advantages include achieving the learning objectives, centered on children, friendly to children, motivating children in learning, making the students be more confident, and optimizing children's The disadvantages are expensive cost in providing supporting media and limited time allocation in implementation.
In implementing a multisensory approach in teaching reading to dyslexic students, the teacher does the following strategies: learning adjustments, using codeswitching, using concrete-semi concrete-abstract concepts, learning agreement, studentsAo reward, and the teacher and parentAos communications.
Keyword: dyslexia, multisensory, reading, teaching technique.
INTRODUCTION
The most common case of learning difficulties in research is dyslexia (Wenar and Kerig, 2.
Children with this disorder may have normal IQ, and other abilities are also good but in terms of reading will have difficulty (Prasetya, 2.
Children with dyslexia become a phenomenon that has not been detected too much by society in general because of its specific characteristics.
According to Dewi .
n Zunus, 2.
in Indonesia, until now, it still uses public view to assess children who have difficulty According to him, there are still many of them who do not understand.
Lack of understanding of dyslexia is considered to make many teachers in schools unprepared.
English Ideas.
Vol.
December, 2025 Copyright A 2025 English Ideas Moreover, they also have never received special training on dyslexia.
Enough knowledge for parents and teachers to understand the characteristics of children with dyslexia is needed so that children getappropriate interventions and can actualize themselves.
The existence of an inclusive elementary school program is indeed quite helpful if a child with dyslexia get good treatment from a teacher and shadow teacher who treats more Teaching reading is a complex phenomenon for teachers who teach normal Furthermore, teaching reading skills to students with reading disabilities .
is a far more complicated task for English teachers.
However, students with reading disabilities can also be taught to read effectively by adopting a multisensory teaching approach.
Goswami .
and Roulstone et al.
have revealed that for student with difficulties in learning to read, a multisensory pedagogic is typically the foremost effective method.
Diani .
reported there was an effect of multisensory teaching method on the studentsAo reading Another study is reported by Kamala .
that teaching through multisensory approach makes the dyslexic students learn these skills in an easy way.
For instance, dyslexics often confuses with the similar looking letters .
, this confusion can be easily solved by making the students to use all their learning modalities (VAKT).
This research is motivated by the problems that arise in the school environment, especially in the teaching learning process at school that is the lack of the teacherAos understanding in teaching reading dyslexic students.
The research question can be formulated as follows:
What are the teacherAos perceptions in multisensory teaching technique in teaching reading to student with How does the teacher implement multisensory teaching in teaching reading to students with dyslexia? LITERATURE REVIEW Teaching Reading According to Brown .
Teaching is a guide and a learning facility that enables learners to learn, and sets the conditions for It means that teaching reading helps students to read English fluently in their Teaching cannot be separated from learning because teaching is a guiding principle and facilitating learning, enabling learners to learn, managing the learning Teachers ' understanding of learning will determine their philosophy of education, teaching style, approach, methods and classroom techniques (Brown, 2.
Fahimsyah .
said the main task of teaching reading is to teach understanding.
To assess the problem of what to teach when teaching understanding, we must try to determine what is likely to prevent a child from understanding the text.
EFL studentsAo with Dyslexia The word dyslexia are defined as a general term for disorder that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence in Rismanti .
The description of specific difficulties dyslexic students may have with reading.
Letters with similar shapes such as AouAo and AonAo may be confusing, along with similar looking words such as AosawAo and AowasAo (Farrell, 2.
Words that have the same initial and final letter can also be confusing for dyslexics.
Furthermore, words like wood and word are easily mistaken for each other (Allen, 2.
According to Kamala .
the signs of dyslexia differ from individuals to individuals but the most common symptoms of dyslexia are: .
Has difficulty in reading English Ideas.
Vol.
December, 2025 Copyright A 2025 English Ideas to read.
Confused with similar looking letters .
as d, m as .
Confuses similar looking words .
read/bear.
Lacks consistency in reading words.
Has problems in associating letter with sounds.
Some difficulties that occur of students with dyslexia are reading, spelling and writing.
Those activities usually used left hemisphere skills which is the left hemisphere of the brain is usually used to sort, remember and involve phonics and accuracy, therefore dyslexic children are less able to do it perfectly.
That's why dyslexic children often feel tired when studying or doing their assignments (Rismanti, 2.
Perception is the process of human thinking about a particular phenomenon Aprianto .
Perception is initiated from organ This process is linked to human brain accepting message or In this phase a person uses five senses to communicate with his / her These are sight, sound, taste, smell, touch.
People interact with the environment using these senses, and then the brain will register the stimuli and send them to the nervous system.
According to Slamento .
there are two factors that influence someoneAos perceptions, those are internal and external factor.
The internal factor is a factor that comes from inside the It depends on psychological factors such as thinking, feeling, willingness, need, sex, attention, and motivation.
The external factor is a factor that comes from outside the External stimuli also influence the perception of others, and feedback is an internal factor in the monitoring process Multisensory Teaching Technique Multisensory approach was proposed collectively by learning difficulty specialist, teachers, and researchers in the late 1920s and was significantly developed in the 1970 by Gillingham and Stillman (Saputra & Nugroho, 2.
Basically, the approach consists of a string of multisensory learning strategies including linking eyes, ears, voice, and hand movements as dyslexic children have extra creativity and stronger sensory Kamala .
also conveys that multisensory approach utilizes more than one sense in the teaching process to enhance the learning process of the students.
When learning takes place through more than one sense the studentsAo learning capacities and the retention of the learnt materials have been Multisensory approach is otherwise known as VAKT .
isual, audio, kinesthetic, tactil.
As such, multisensory learning is very much dependent upon all the senses being utilized as a key method of retaining information, in contrast to the most common reliable method of sight and hearing (Kelly and Philips.
METHODOLOGY The interviewer pursues in-depth information around the topic that is teaching and learning activities, especially for studentsAo with It is used in order to know the teacherAos perception after using multisensory teaching technique for studentsAo with The research is conducted in an elementary school in Bandung.
This school is one of school which held inclusive education in around Bandung area.
The participant in this research is an orthopedagogic teacher .
pecial teacher for students diagnosed with special need.
She has taught students with dyslexia for 2 years.
Although this study involved only one participant, this choice is qualitative interview-based research design.
The focus of this study is not generalization but an in-depth exploration of the teacherAos perceptions and instructional practices.
TeacherAos Perceptions English Ideas.
Vol.
December, 2025 Copyright A 2025 English Ideas Concentrating on a single experienced orthopedagogic teacher allowed researcher to obtain rich, detailed, and implementation of multisensory teaching for students with dyslexia.
at least, the things that need to be considered by teacher include:
understanding the condition of each student .
bstacles, abilities and studentAos need.
, subjects to be learned, learning materials, and learning objectives.
the teacher explains that not all the dyslexic students can be continuously taught using the same .
method, because each dyslexic student has eliminate or reduce the boredom of these dyslexic students, the teachers must be creative in teaching learning activities, so the dyslexic students are not easily bored or can be referred to as active learning.
build creativity in the learning process and reduce student boredom, the teacher uses several media available in conveying material, such as English songs .
otion-rhyth.
, storytelling .
y using media images as puppet.
, guessing words, etc.
the teacher conveys that the dyslexic students who were taught by the teacher already have sufficient English language skills, from mastery a lot of vocabulary to its The teacher often finds out that the dyslexic students find difficulty in writing English words from how it is pronounced into word.
Data collection in this study is an online The direct interview was canceled because of a pandemic at this year namely The online interview was carried out through a chat on whatsapp by asking questions to the participant.
The researcher chooses Semi-Structure Interview as an instrument to get the data.
Semi-Structure Interview is used to get some information through conversation between the researcher and participants.
A semi-structured interview has been referred to as a Aoconversation with a purposeAo.
In-depth interviews are utilized extensively as interviewing format possibly with an individual or sometimes even with a group (Corbin, 2.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
TeacherAos perceptions on multisensory approach in teaching to the dyslexic students.
TeacherAos teaching creativity is Creativity is necessary in teaching learning activity.
It should be integrated into not only lesson planning but also instruction.
The teacher argues that multisensory approach can help the students with dyslexia in reading English, but she also said that the multisensory approach is not always appropriate for use in every learning process for the students with dyslexia.
The teacher also said that in teaching learning activities the teacher must still pay attention to the other things.
Supporting Media The teacher said that everything can be used as learning media if it is in accordance with its learning when the teacher teaches at school, the teacher is facilitated by having such varied supporting media such as meronce tool made of wood and plastic materials and from English Ideas.
Vol.
December, 2025 Copyright A 2025 English Ideas large size to small beads, legos, small balls, puzzles.
Montessori media, etc.
The teacher also said that so far Lego, puzzles and meronce tools are media that can increase the dyslexic studentAos mood in learning to read.
The works around by putting a text of story that must be read by students supporting media, the teacher asks students to choose what media he example when students choose to play puzzles and then students must text well while playing.
the teacher has to know their If the dyslexic students are in good condition, the teacher can go through the materials.
In the other hands if the students are in bad condition, the teacher will reduce the learning objectives.
Using code-switching Use code-switching during teaching learning activities to the students with dyslexia.
The teacher said through using code-switching the learning materials conveyed can be more comprehensible for the Using concrete, semi-concrete, abstract media Advantages and Disadvantages The teacher used concrete, semiconcrete, abstract media to support multisensory approach in teaching reading English for the dyslexic She believes that it can stimulate the studentAos senses .
isual, audio, kinestheti.
The media can also be replaced with a The advantages include achieving the learning objectives, centered on friendly to children, motivating children in learning, making the students be more confident, and optimizing children's development.
The disadvantages are expensive cost in providing supporting media and limited time allocation in Learning Agreement The students with dyslexia have a AotantrumAo or mood swing which occurs unexpectedly, because many of the dyslexic students cannot express their feeling directly.
Dealing with this condition, the teacher makes an agreement with the students at the beginning of learning and the teacher should be The multisensory teaching in teaching studentsAo with dyslexia Learning adjustments Before the teacher starts the teaching learning process, the sure the studentsAo condition and adjusted with the learning material so the students can follow the learning process clearly.
In teaching the dyslexic students, before the teacher gave the subject materials.
Reward The dyslexic students have a AutantrumAy that is why the teacher often gives a simple reward such as saying AuyouAore cool!Ay, high five, and give a star sticker, etc.
to increase English Ideas.
Vol.
December, 2025 Copyright A 2025 English Ideas the studentAos motivation and to create a good circumstance.
students but bear in mind a specific intention of helping learners with this condition.
To get further, support from the closest people of the dyslexic students is also very influential on the way of learning the dyslexic students in The teachers and parentAos After the lesson finished, the orthopedic the teacher usually takes some notes in studentAos journal.
The journal brings the teachers class, orthopedic teachers and parents into the studentAos progress of learning process or the success of each student in each meeting.
Then, the teacher also always prays best for the students with dyslexia.
To facilitate the studentsAo comprehension and the studentsAo listening and speaking skill in English, the teacher uses code switching during the teaching learning process for the dyslexic students.
The reason why the teacher used codeswitching is that it could facilitate the students to learn English effectively and efficiently (Fathimah, 2016.
Puspawati.
The use of instructional media is also expected to improve the students' understanding of learning to read, the learning media is able to increase the students' interest in reading that will be conveyed by the teacher.
Learning media is also considered to be able to reduce the students' boredom and more concentrate.
Suharsih & Hamidiyah .
said that the use of media may provide many advantages for the teacher and the students.
It can make the classroom situation more interesting and also persuade the students to learn English without forcing them.
The teacher suggests to given present to the students.
The teacher asked the students to Aucopy, spell, read and writingAy in teaching reading while using multisensory approach for the students with In the other study Holeinsky .
also used this type multisensory approach in her study by exploring several activities to help dyslexics with their spelling.
One of those activities called AuTrace.
Copy and RecallAy uses a chart with few spelling By giving reward, the students will be focused in learning process (Irawati & Syafei, .
The way the teacher uses multisensory approach is almost similar with Praptiningrum and Purwandi .
When using multisensory approach the teacher requires a lot of time and requires to see the condition of the students.
Praptiningrum and In implementing the multisensory approach, the teacher used concrete, semi concrete, abstract media to stimulate the studentAos At that point, the teacher mentions some objects, it aims to develop students' understanding about the kind of objects that are around them by using English language.
With this activity, the teacher hopes students can memorize the vocabulary that has been learned for learning on the next day.
It is line with Praveen .
that the teacher uses studentAos senses to understand the information and connects to ideas they have already known, tap into nonverbal reasoning skills, understand relationships between concepts, store information and store it for later recall.
The teacher is also encouraged to create a pleasant learning atmosphere during the learning process.
To realize that situation, the teacherAos creativity is needed in using various teaching methods, but still adjusting to the needs and conditions of the students.
Various media are also used to support the process of learning to read the dyslexic Sudek, et al .
convey a classroom that is dyslexic friendly should have a great variety of authentic listening and reading material that can motivate and provide purposeful communicative activities in combination with the best elements of simultaneous methods in the benefit of all the English Ideas.
Vol.
December, 2025 Copyright A 2025 English Ideas Purwandi .
also said that multisensory approach can help students to be active and interactive if accompanied by motivation and encouragement from the teacher.
Farrell.
The Effective TeacherAos Guide to Dyslexia and Other Specific Learning Difficulties: Practical Strategies.
London: Routledge.
CONCLUSION
Fathimah.
Diana.
Why Is There Code Switching In EFL Classroom? : A Case Study In A Vacational School In Cimahi West Java.
DOI:
Multisensory approach can help students with dyslexia in reading English, but it is not always appropriate for use in every learning process for students with dyslexia.
Students with dyslexia have mood swing or AutantrumAy that is why teaching learning activity must be supported by creative and variation methods and adjusted to the subject, objectives, material, and condition of each student.
Appropriate supporting media are also necessary in implementing multisensory The teacher also perceives that this approach has some advantages and The advantages include achieving the learning objectives, centered on children, friendly to children, motivating children in learning, making the students be more confident, and optimizing children's The disadvantages are expensive cost in providing supporting media In order to implement the multisensory teaching technique in teaching reading EFL student dyslexia, teacher prefers to use code switching and use various media to deliver the material.
Teacher starts with concrete semi concrete-abstract media Students learn to copy, spell, read and writing words by dictation from teacher.
To prevent boredom the unexpected studentAos temper tantrum, teacher make an agreement with Teacher often gives a reward as positive reinforcement if students can pass the learning process or showing good Teacher also takes a note to following up the student learning success.
http://dx.
org/10.
17509/bs_jpbsp.
Goswami.
ChildrenAos Cognitive Development and Learning.
Cambridge:
Cambridge Review Trust.
Hamilton.
Multisensory Associative Guide Instruction Components-Spelling.
SAGE.
Holeinsky.
Teaching English as a foreign language to students with learning difficulties.
(BachelorAos degree Brno.
Czech Republic:
Masaryk University Irawati.
Syafei.
An Fauzia.
The Use of Reward and Punishment to Increase Young LearnersAos Motivation in Learning English as Foreign Language Adapted to Indonesia Context.
Journal of English Language Teaching Obaid.
The Impact Of Using Multi-Sensory Approach For Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities.
Journal of International Education Research (JIER), 9.
, 75-82.
https://doi.
org/10.
19030/jier.
Praptinigrum.
Nurdayanti and Purwandari.
Metode Multisensori Untuk Mengembangkan Kemampuan Membaca Anak Disleksia Di SD Inklusi.
Jurnal Penelitian Ilmu Pendidikan.
Volume 2.
REFERENCES