Dyslexic Children's Experience of Home-Based Learning During School Closures: 4 Case Studies

Abstract

During the coronavirus pandemic, schools across the world shut down and education was transferred online, with the education of half a million students in Singapore continued through Home-based (HBL), delivered through online platforms, including the Student Learning Space (SLS), accessible to all schools. A system was developed to ensure that economically deprived families who lacked equipment could borrow this from school, and those with no internet connection at home could return to school to engage in online learning. By contrast, specialized support for children with special needs was not necessarily designed to address these needs. The impact of this on the potential 20,000 dyslexic learners in Singapore forms an important research area for further investigation. The current study gathered empirical evidence through one-to-one interviews of 4 students (2 from primary schools and 2 from secondary schools). Taking an ecological approach, the study also analysed the context of school, family and beyond. Hence, the study examined the participants' lessons and assignments as well as interviewed their mothers in order to form a complementary picture to answer the research question on their experiences of learning during HBL. The interview data was transcribed verbatim and analysed together with the artefacts for emergent themes across the cases. Data analysis surfaced 3 themes: dyslexic-(un)friendly use of technology, feedback-focused pedagogy and social-emotional support. These findings will help guide professional development for teachers in mainstream classes who design e-learning experiences for inclusive classes with dyslexic students.