Dyslexic University Students Research Articles

Working memory influences on dyslexic university students’ writing

One explanation for lower quality texts produced by some dyslexic students in university is the indirect relationship that poorer working memory (WM) has on the link between spelling ability and academic writing. The current study compared 51 students with and without dyslexia on phonological WM capacity, executive function, and integration of sound and visual features (episodic buffer) relative to measures of the process and quality of writing. Participants with dyslexia completed significantly less in-text revisions and scored lower on grammatical accuracy. However, no significant differences were discovered in WM. The persistence of challenges in the process and quality of writing implies that university students need targeted support with specific learning strategies to ameliorate them.

The Enduring Challenge of Literacy Issues in Adulthood: Investigating Spelling Deficits among Dyslexic Italian University Students.

The issue of literacy challenges among dyslexic adults remains a significant concern. This study investigates spelling deficits among highly educated adults with dyslexia learning a transparent orthography. Thirty-eight Italian dyslexic university students were examined and compared to a group of age- and education-matched typical readers. Firstly, we analyzed spelling performance using a Passage Dictation Test. Additionally, lists of words varying in length and word frequency were dictated under two experimental conditions: a normal condition (NC) and an articulatory suppression condition (ASC). The ASC assessed the participants' ability to spell with interference to the phonological (sublexical) spelling procedure, i.e., the most likely compensated spelling strategy of Italian dyslexic spellers. The results clearly indicated that, in spelling the meaningful passage, dyslexic participants underperformed compared to the controls, with a prevalence of lexical errors, despite the comparison with the normative reference data showing only mild spelling difficulties. In spelling isolated words in normal conditions, dyslexic participants performed within the reference norms and as accurately as control participants across all stimuli (short words, high- and low-frequency words), except for long words, where their spelling difficulties were evident. Articulatory suppression significantly impaired dyslexics' performance on short stimuli, reducing the usual sublexical advantage associated with them, and exacerbated misspellings on long words. Additionally, articulatory suppression disproportionately affected dyslexics' performance on high-frequency words, diminishing the typical lexical advantage associated with these words. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical, clinical, and educational implications.

Dyslexia in higher education – teacher’s perspective: scoping review

The experience of dyslexic students is influenced by the beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and practices of their teachers at all levels of education, including the university. The purpose of this review is to explore the empirical knowledge of dyslexic university students from the point of view of their teachers. Following the PRISMA guidelines, 12 studies (out of the 771 retrieved from 5 main relevant databases) met the inclusion criteria. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the included studies. Three main themes were identified: dyslexia = gray area; “inclusive university”; and practical training is necessary. In conclusion, awareness of dyslexia among university teachers is sufficient, and their attitudes toward dyslexic students are mostly positive, while expressing some concerns, which would deserve closer examination directly in practice. Higher education teachers would appreciate practical training to acquire skills to work with students with dyslexia. These trainings have the potential to increase the self-efficacy of teachers and thus overall support the well-being not only of teachers but also of dyslexic students. This study advances the existing literature on dyslexia in higher education by adding the point of view of higher education teachers. Based on the results of this study, it is clear that universities should provide more support to their teaching staff, including guidance and practical training, so that their courses could become inclusive and welcoming for all students (including students with dyslexia).

A Corpus Study of Dyslexic University Students’ L2 Writing Processes

Second/foreign language (L2) writing is a critical skill for university students, and one that has attracted a great deal of attention in the literature on academic writing. Yet, one aspect that has received relatively less attention so far is the writing processes of language learners with dyslexia in this context. This study investigates the L2 writing processes of high-functioning dyslexic university students compared to their non-dyslexic counterparts, focusing on pausing and revision behaviours. The data come from a learner corpus representing the writing processes in addition to the written products. The participants are French-speaking learners of English who wrote two texts in English while keystroke logging technology captured their writing processes in real time. The analysis of the data reveals that dyslexic learners exhibit longer overall pausing time and more frequent pauses within words than the control group, indicating potential challenges with word-level processing in L2. They also exhibit longer overall revision time as well as longer mean revision duration than non‑dyslexic learners. Qualitative analysis reveals differences in editing approaches. While dyslexic learners engage in a non-linear editing process, non‑dyslexic learners follow a more linear process. These findings may be indicative of the heavy cognitive load that dyslexic students arguably experience when managing writing processes in L2 contexts.

Differences in the literacy skills of Danish dyslexic students in two types of higher education programmes.

Previous research has treated high-functioning dyslexic students as a homogeneous group. This study explores the clinical observation that dyslexic students attending university programmes differ from dyslexic students attending tertiary education professional programmes in some aspects of their literacy skills. Four groups, dyslexic university students (n=32), dyslexic students attending professional programmes (n=32), control university students (n=31), and control students from professional programmes (n=30), were assessed on measures of pseudoword reading, phonological choice, vocabulary, reading and spelling of morphologically complex single words, and reading aloud from a syntactically complex text. The results showed that the two dyslexic groups were comparable only on the phonological tasks, the dyslexic university students outperforming the professional programme students in all reading and spelling measures. Controlling vocabulary and number of semesters studied, the difference was no longer significant. Nevertheless, the analyses indicate that phonological deficits underlie the performance of professional programme students with dyslexia across a wide range of tasks, whereas university students with dyslexia may be able to limit the impact of phonological deficits to some extent by relying on some alternative cognitive attributes. Reading experience, orthographic learning, and working memory efficiency are discussed as possible explanations for this pattern of results.

READING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GREEK DYSLEXIC AND NON-DYSLEXIC UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN GREECE

Until recently the vast majority of dyslexia research focused on English-speaking and children population, who tend to read significantly slower but mainly inaccurately, due to the inconsistency of the English language. This led to the wrong assumption that the main feature of dyslexia is inaccurate reading. However, results of research in phonologically consistent languages, such as Greek, Italian, German, Finnish, showed that reading speed is the main deficit of dyslexic readers in either children or adult population. The aim of this research was to investigate the differences in reading performance (reading speed, accuracy and comprehension) between Greek dyslexic university students and age-matched normal controls. A group of 26 Greek dyslexic university students was compared to a group of 28 non-dyslexics matched for age, sex and socio-educational level. All participants in the dyslexic group had a formal diagnosis of dyslexia. Results showed that dyslexics attained statistically significantly slower reading speed and made more reading errors compared to controls in all testing procedures (p<.001). However, dyslexics read at almost the same speed in both the aloud and silent reading conditions (p>.05) in contrast to non-dyslexics who read significantly faster in the silent condition (p<.05). Greek dyslexic university students were accurately differentiated from non-dyslexics based on the reading speed only (accuracy level 98.1%).

The electrophysiological correlates of developmental dyslexia: New insights from lexical decision and reading aloud in adults

Many studies have described the electrophysiological specificities of print processing in dyslexic readers, mostly using lexical decision tasks. The aim of the present study was twofold: a) to assess for the first time the electrophysiological correlates of print processing in dyslexic adults in the under-investigated context of reading aloud tasks, acknowledged to be especially relevant to investigate phonological processes relatively to lexical decision; and b) to assess whether the electrophysiological specificities described in dyslexic readers in lexical decision correspond to a different neuronal network engaged in print processing. 21 dyslexic university students and matched controls performed a lexical decision task and a reading aloud task on words and pseudowords under EEG recording. In lexical decision, the pattern of results indicates the engagement of similar brain processes between the groups, but with a sub-efficient visual word form processing in dyslexia. In reading aloud, between group differences revealed completely different distributions of the electric field at scalp between the two groups after the N2 time window, suggesting alternative processing strategies in dyslexic readers. Those specificities seem to be related to their core phonological deficits. Crucially, the present results suggest that the nature of electrophysiological divergences in print processing in dyslexic readers vary according to the task: while lexical decision task appears to be well suited to assess divergences in lexical access, reading aloud tasks should also be used in ERP investigation as it allows a better insight into phonological processes and thus be better suited in the framework of the phonological deficit theory of dyslexia.

Beyond cognitive deficit: the everyday lived experience of dyslexic students at university

This study explores the lived experiences of three dyslexic university students as they negotiate a number of different learning spaces within their higher education institution. The students completed reflective diaries for a period of three weeks and were subsequently interviewed about the experiences they recorded. The transcribed data from the diaries and interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The following four themes were constructed following analysis: getting things out of my head; holding back – performance as risk; ever-present inner voices – effort of constant self-monitoring; and not belonging in academic spaces – metaphors of misfit. This study argues that attention to the everyday experiences of students with the dyslexia label is as important as knowledge of cognitive differences in the drive to create a more equitable learning environment in higher education.

The discursive construction of dyslexia by students in higher education as a moral and intellectual good

Interest in dyslexia as a topic of discussion in education, and in the media, runs through peaks and troughs. Dyslexic students in higher education must navigate their way through the possible meanings attached to the label, appropriating some and rejecting others, yet needing the label as a means to access support. The aim of this article is to explore the ways in which dyslexic university students constructed dyslexia and being dyslexic as moral issues during two focus group conversations. These conversations were discursively analysed with reference to Gee and Willig. Three key themes emerged following analysis: the interaction between the power of the grade as a marker of worth and the status of the dyslexia label; the tensions between acknowledging difficulties with writing and the construction of high literacy as morally aspirational; and the uncertain, yet persistent, construction of dyslexia as a valuable label and a moral good.

Asynchrony of cerebral systems activated during word recognition: Comparison of dyslexic and typical readers

The aim of this study was to extend our understanding of the "asynchrony" phenomenon by examining the existence of several additional differences in brain activity. The differences which were investigated were the difference between the left and right hemisphere processing, the anterior and posterior areas processing and the differences between the different stages of information processing. These differences could account as an additional explanation for word decoding failure among individuals with dyslexia. The research utilized behavioral and electrophysiological (ERP - Event Related Potentials) measures in skilled and dyslexic university students. The subjects performed a lexical decision task presented in the visual and auditory modalities. The dyslexics exhibited a larger processing time interval between the activation of the P2 and P3 components, between the left and right hemisphere and between posterior and anterior regions of the cortex. Disharmony of the dyslexic brain is suggested as a possible explanation for the dyslexia phenomenon.

Morphological awareness in dyslexic university students

ABSTRACTThis research assessed phonological and morphological awareness in dyslexic university students. We tested 44 dyslexic university students in phonological and morphological awareness tasks and compared their performances to those of both matched chronological age and matched reading level controls. In the phonological awareness tests, the dyslexic university students performed at the same level as their reading level controls. In contrast, they systematically outperformed their reading level controls in the morphological awareness tasks and almost reached the proficiency level of the chronological age controls. The results show that dyslexic university students develop their morphological awareness more than their phonological awareness. These findings add to the evidence indicating that morphological awareness is not deficient in dyslexia and could instead play a beneficial role in the development of literacy skills in this population.

Which Tasks Best Discriminate between Dyslexic University Students and Controls in a Transparent Language?

The need for a battery for testing adult dyslexia, and especially university students, is being increasingly recognized in view of the increased number of adult requests for a dyslexia examination in relation to both assistance and protection from discrimination. The present study examines the discriminative validity of a battery we have developed-the Battery for the Assessment of Reading and Writing in Adulthood-through comparison of the performance of 24 university students with a history of severe developmental dyslexia and 99 controls. All the reading, writing, lexical decision and spelling tasks of the battery, except omissions in a lexical decision task and reading comprehension, showed a good discriminatory power. In addition, use of just two of these tasks (fluency in reading a text and spelling under articulatory suppression) gave 87% sensitivity and 97% specificity. Our results confirm that in transparent languages, measures of phonological automaticity are the best indexes of reading decoding competence, particularly in adults.

Brain Activity During Performance of Naming Tasks: Comparison Between Dyslexic and Regular Readers

This research was aimed at contributing to the current understanding of the underlying factors of naming speed and the causes of naming speed deficits. Forty regular readers and 40 dyslexic university students participated in the study. Electrophysiological (Event-Related Potentials [ERPs]) and behavioral measures were employed. Behavioral baseline tasks assessed general ability, reading skills, reading-related cognitive abilities, and standard Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) and Rapid Alternating Stimulus tests. ERP tasks included letter and object naming tasks adapted for electrophysiological research presentation. The dyslexics were significantly slower and less accurate than the controls on most of the baseline measures. On all the naming tasks, the peak ERP latencies were elicited later, reaction times were longer, and the P300 latency width was wider among the dyslexics as compared to the regular readers. On the choice reaction time naming tasks, accuracy for both groups was almost perfect. When naming presentation time was controlled by the experiment, the dyslexics were significantly less accurate than the controls. Our data indicated that effective naming speed was related to an earlier P200 latency peak among regular readers and to an earlier P300 latency peak and narrower area component activation in the dyslexic group. The results from this study suggest that effective RAN speed among regular readers might be a result of efficient processing of RAN information at the input stage of stimulis perception and evaluation as well as of updating and processing the information in short-term memory among dyslexics.

The reading comprehension abilities of dyslexic students in higher education.

The reading comprehension abilities of a group of dyslexic university students were compared with those of non-dyslexic university students. A 655-word passage, followed by literal and inferential questions, was used to measure reading comprehension. The text was designed to be syntactically complex, yet place relatively modest demands on decoding skills. Although dyslexic students performed at a similar level to the non-dyslexic students on the literal questions, their performance on the inferential questions was poorer. An index of the participants' ability to make inferences was calculated by subtracting the inferential question score from the literal question score. The groups differed significantly on this measure, indicating that the dyslexic students were specifically impaired in constructing inferences when processing complex text. It was concluded that dyslexic students in higher education have reading comprehension difficulties that cannot be accounted for by an inability to decode individual words in the text. The possible contribution that poor lexical automaticity and an impaired working memory make to this impairment is discussed. The implications for the assessment and support of dyslexic students are considered.

Self-esteem and anxiety in the educational histories of adult dyslexic students

The self-esteem, anxiety and past and present educational histories of 16 dyslexic university students and 16 matched controls were compared. Self-esteem was measured using the Culture-free Self-esteem Inventory and anxiety was measured with the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory. A questionnaire devised by the research team was used to gather information on past and present educational histories, including a number of questions that could be rated on a five point scale. The dyslexic group was found to have significantly lower self-esteem than the controls. On the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory there was no significant difference between the groups. On the five point rating scales the dyslexic group reported themselves as feeling more anxious and less competent in their written work at school than the controls and rated themselves at university as less competent both in their written work and in their academic achievements. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.