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Teacher knowledge of basic language concepts and dyslexia
Author(s) -
Washburn Erin K.,
Joshi R. Malatesha,
BinksCantrell Emily S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
dyslexia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1099-0909
pISSN - 1076-9242
DOI - 10.1002/dys.426
Subject(s) - dyslexia , spelling , psychology , phonics , reading (process) , learning to read , perception , phonological awareness , whole language , population , cognitive psychology , mathematics education , teaching method , linguistics , literacy , primary education , pedagogy , philosophy , demography , neuroscience , sociology
Roughly one‐fifth of the US population displays one or more symptoms of dyslexia: a specific learning disability that affects an individual's ability to process written language. Consequently, elementary school teachers are teaching students who struggle with inaccurate or slow reading, poor spelling, poor writing, and other language processing difficulties. Findings from studies have indicated that teachers lack essential knowledge needed to teach struggling readers, particularly children with dyslexia. However, few studies have sought to assess teachers' knowledge and perceptions about dyslexia in conjunction with knowledge of basic language concepts related to reading instruction. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine elementary school teachers' knowledge of basic language concepts and their knowledge and perceptions about dyslexia. Findings from the present study indicated that teachers, on average, were able to display implicit skills related to certain basic language concepts (i.e. syllable counting), but failed to demonstrate explicit knowledge of others (i.e. phonics principles). Also, teachers seemed to hold the common misconception that dyslexia is a visual processing deficit rather than phonological processing deficit. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.