Constructing ‘weak students’: Deficit discourses and linguistic marginalisation in special education

Abstract

Deficit-oriented language continues to shape how students with learning difficulties and disabilities are identified, discussed, and taught. This critical narrative review examines how descriptions such as “weak,” “low ability,” and “problematic” construct learner identities and legitimise particular educational responses. It focuses on the operation of deficit discourse across teacher talk, assessment, referral, behavioural policy, and institutional practice, while also examining tensions between diagnostic provision and neurodiversity-affirming critique. An iterative, conceptually guided search of OpenAlex and ERIC covered English-language peer-reviewed literature published from January 2015 to March 2026, supplemented by foundational works in Critical Applied Linguistics, disability studies in education, raciolinguistics, and inclusive education. Sources were selected purposively according to their relevance to the review questions, producing an interpretive corpus of 22 substantive publications; Snyder (2019) was additionally used as a methodological source. The synthesis generated five themes: the individualisation of educational difficulty; labels, expectations, and learner identity; linguistic normativity and intersectional marginalisation; the institutional persistence of medicalised and ableist models; and neurodiversity-informed alternatives. Findings show that deficit discourse can lower expectations, narrow participation, and obscure environmental barriers. However, diagnostic language may also enable recognition and resource access, and neurodiversity perspectives contain unresolved tensions concerning impairment, support needs, and terminology. The review argues for critical language awareness combined with continued access to specialised support, and offers implications for teacher education, assessment, and inclusive school practice.