Teacher experiences, awareness, and Teacher experiences, awareness, and beliefs about the children with beliefs about the children with reading and writing Disability reading and writing Disability

Dr. Samudra SenarathDepartment of Educational PsychologyFaculty of EducationUniversity of Colombo

OverviewOverview

Rational of the Study

Research objectives of the Study

Methods and Sample

Results and Discussion

Conclusions and Suggestions

Rational of the studyRational of the study

Dyslexia related literature stated that some children have great difficulty in learning to read and write despite normal intelligence.

Dyslexia literally means difficulty in reading, writing , spelling and pronouncing words.

Prevalence in school children 4-8%

Contd.Contd.

Research in this field highlighted that appropriate teaching and support dyslexia children can make progress, but

- teacher’s less knowledge and experiences - inadequate teacher training program - lack of time -being overloaded with daily school

routines and responsibilities prevent helping for these children

- focuses on competitive three national exams,

Research objectives of the StudyResearch objectives of the Study

Identify teacher experiences towards dyslexic (reading and writing problem) children

Examine teacher knowledge, and beliefs relating to the dyslexic children.

Examine teacher job satisfaction Examine teacher emotional status

when working with reading and writing problem children

Research DesignResearch Design

Sample survey study Sample: purposive sample method,80

postgraduate teachers Primary teachers: 62 Special education teachers: 18Instrument : Standardized test with five

subscales (German version) Dyslexia subjective knowledge : Smith,

Fabriger,Macdougal ,Wiesenthal (2008); test reliability Cronbach α= .892

Contd.Contd.

Dyslexia objective knowledge: Wadlington &Wadlington (2005); α= .536

Job satisfaction test ; Kopp (2009), α= .876

Emotional test ; α= .932

Data analyzing methods: Mean and SD, percentage, and t-test,

Teaching Experience Teaching Experience

Experiences in Teaching Children Experiences in Teaching Children with Reading and Writing with Reading and Writing

DifficultiesDifficulties

Teacher Training Experiences on Dyslexic Teacher Training Experiences on Dyslexic Children Children

Self-learning experiences about Self-learning experiences about LRS children LRS children

Level of knowledge - reading and writing Level of knowledge - reading and writing difficulties of children(subjective difficulties of children(subjective knowledge)knowledge)

1 = No Knowledge 7 = Higher Knowledge

Dyslexic characteristicsDyslexic characteristics

Teacher beliefs about dyslexic Teacher beliefs about dyslexic characteristicscharacteristics

Teacher beliefs (Dyslexic Characteristics) Teacher Group Correct

% Incorrect

%

Have a low IQ level Primary 96 4

Special 2 98

Same word is written in differently in each and every time Primary 27 73

Special 82 18

Mix up consonants when they read and write Primary 34 66

Special 100 0

Children of any social level could be affected by this condition

Primary 34 66

Special 100 0

Have a good memory Primary 13 87

Special 85 15

Teacher Job SatisfactionTeacher Job Satisfaction

Teacher Job SatisfactionTeacher Job Satisfaction

Teacher’s Mental status Teacher’s Mental status

* ** ** ** *

Conclusions and Suggestions Conclusions and Suggestions

special education teachers have higher subject knowledge about dyslexia than primary teachers through their teacher training and postgraduate diploma professional courses.

Special education teachers have higher job satisfaction level compare to the primary teachers

There is significant differences between primary and special education teachers’ emotions when they are working with reading and writing problem children.

SuggestionsSuggestions

Teachers need more training on dyslexia; more facilities; teaching –learning aids, collaborative works, additional assistant teacher for primary grades etc.

Necessity of increasing teacher job satisfaction factors.

Teacher student ratio should be suitable for the primary grades.

Thank you !!!