摘 要

在当今中国社会，文化交流科技交流日益频繁，英语学习也有着日益低龄化的趋势。在日益庞大的低龄英语学习者群体中，有一部分特殊的孩子引起了笔者的注意，他们便是自闭症儿童。

自从1943年堪纳医生第一次提出了“自闭症”这个概念，国内外的专家学者便针对此概念进行研究。自1982年陶国泰教授首次确诊了4例自闭症儿童后, 自闭症便在我国引起了众多学者的重视，但目前的治疗仅仅是围绕“介入”所进行的矫治法治疗。

本文通过实证研究，运用问卷方式在武汉麟洁儿童康复中心展开了调查。这些孩子虽然都被诊断出自闭症, 可是他们所谓自闭的特质完全不同, 显示出来的能力也是南辕北撤的。

本文的结论是自闭症儿童是有能力和典型发展儿童一样学习第二语言的，他们也会碰到和典型发展儿童相似的问题，而将矫正法运用到其英语教学中据有理论上的可行性。

针对自闭症儿童学习第二语言这一微观的教学研究课题,即本论文所研究的内容,目前国内尚未有学者在英语教育领域中作过任何相关研究，希望本文能够为将来的研究提供一些思路与方向。

关键词：自闭症；学前教育；第二外语；英语学习：特殊教育；介入法

Abstract

In today's Chinese society, culture technologies are exchanged more frequently, and English language learning is leaning towards younger. Among the large group of young English learners, The author paid special attention to a particular group of children: children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Since Dr Kanner first introduced the concept of " Autism" in 1943, experts and scholars around the world had been studying this topic. Since 1982, when Professor Guotai Tao first diagnosed four cases of autism, autism has attracted the concern of scholars in China. However, the current treatment only revolves around the "Intervention" method of treatment.

In this paper, a questionnaire survey was conducted at the Linjie Children's Rehabilitation Consultation Center. Although all of these children had been diagnosed with autism, their so-called autistic symptoms are widely different, and the abilities shown are also varied.

This research concluded that these children with autism are capable of learning a second language like English as typically developed children. They also encounter similar problems like typically developed children, and it is theoretically feasible to apply the intervention method (Applied Behavior Analysis, ABA) to their English teaching.

No research has been done in the field of English language education in China on the topic of teaching and learning a second language for children with autism, which is the subject of this thesis. The author hopes this paper can provide some ideas and directions for future research.

Key Words: Autism; preschool education; second language; English learning: special education; intervention methods

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Introduction to English Learning 1

1.2 Introduction to Autism 2

2 Literature Review 4

2.1 English Learning 4

2.2 Autism 5

3 Research Methodology 13

3.1 Research Question 13

3.2 Subject 13

3.3 Research Instrument 14

3.4 Data Analysis 14

4 Result and Discussion 16

4.1 The Characteristics of Children with Autism 16

4.2 About First Language Learning (Chinese) 19

4.3 About English Learning 21

4.4 Learning Difficulties and Teaching Method 23

5 Conclusion 25

5.1 Implication 25

5.2 Limitation amp; Suggestions 25

References 27

Appendix A（First Draft） 30

Appendix A（Final Draft） 36

Acknowledgments 40

Main Difficulties in English Learning among Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Related Teaching Methods

Introduction

Introduction to English Learning

The world today is a global village, cultural exchanges and economic exchanges between countries are inevitable. Overseas travel and exchange activities are also snowballing, and traffic conditions are becoming increasingly frequent.

Since each country speaks different official languages, the use of the second foreign language is indispensable for communication between countries. Historically, foreign language teaching in the west can be traced back to 600 years ago. In the following centuries, people always explored and studied foreign language teaching methods. Direct law appeared in France and Germany in the 1880s. The direct method claims that learning a second language should refer to the experience of first language acquisition. Since then, the term "second language" has emerged. After joining the Second World War, the American speaking skills of foreign languages were very necessary for the US soldiers stationed abroad. The government turned to structural linguists and behaviourist linguistics. Their listening and speaking method have been widely used in the United States for 20 years, and it is popular in foreign language teaching in the world, while English is the most popular choice（Xiao，2002）.

British Council member John Knagg says in How Many People Learn English? that there are 1.5 billion English-language learners worldwide. The group is one of the largest providers of English language instruction in the world with more than 3,000 full-time English teachers globally. The number of English learners around the world is only expected to Growth. English is currently spoken by 1.75 billion people worldwide, one out of every four people on the planet, according to the British Council's report, "the English effect." the group estimates that by 2020, 2 billion people will be using the language. In 1986, the State Education Commission issued several opinions on the reform and strengthening of foreign language teaching in middle schools, determined that English is the primary language of foreign language teaching in China, and set off a wave of learning English for all. Moreover, people who study English tend to be younger.

There are three tendencies in the reform of the second/foreign language teaching in the world: the second/foreign language teaching being towards younger age, combining with the educational study, and interpenetrating with other subjects (Qiang amp; Zhao, 2000:26) . The first trend enables English teaching in kindergartens to be a hot topic in China. According to the white paper on the current situation and trend of Chinese children's English learning released on May 12, 2016, 67.2% of children begin to learn English before the age of 5. A large number of kindergartens offer English classes which are considered as the organic component in preschool education. Even some kindergartens push the English or bilingual teaching as their distinguishing features to society. Preschool English teaching is becoming an emerging research area in preschool education, and preschool English education is gradually becoming an emerging discipline.

Introduction to Autism

Some children are different from others，they are unable to speak even they are already 3 or 4 years old. They never communicate like ordinary developed children, and never have eye contact with others. They are very quiet most time; sometimes they make strange sounds. They do some repetitive and strange actions tirelessly, and they are excessively sensitive to noise and strong light. These children are autistic children.

One of the core symptoms of these autistic children is a language disorder, which leads to the fact that autistic children cannot have independent social ability and will not actively communicate with others. Severe autistic children even have no language function at all.

From the information the author gathered above, a research question has been raised: How do preschool autistic students learn English as a second language?

To investigate it, the author approached this topic by studying the following questions: