The writing processes of writers with and without dyslexia
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: School of Education
Abstract
Research questions:
1. How do the writing processes of dyslexic and non-dyslexic students differ, and how do these differences relate to text quality and the development of the writer's understanding?
2. How are these relationships moderated by different writing strategies?
Background and rationale for the study:
Writing is acknowledged as a particular problem for students with dyslexia in higher education (Hatcher, Snowling & Griffiths, 2002; Snowling, 2008). These problems are assumed to arise from problems with the lower level processes involved in spelling (Connelly, Campbell, McLean & Barnes, 2006), and in consequence students are typically allowed extended time for writing under exam conditions. Previous research (Galbraith & Baaijen, 2015) has confirmed that the poorer quality of the writing produced by students with dyslexia is partially mediated by dyslexic students' weaker phonological/spelling skills, which lead to less fluent text production and reduced text quality. But, in addition, Galbraith & Baaijen found that dyslexic students had difficulties with planning and with the generation of ideas during writing which could not be directly accounted for by their weaker phonological/spelling skills. They suggested that an alternative drafting strategy, in which students produced spontaneous drafts of text, and then revised these over a series of drafts into well-formed text, could be more effective for such students. The proposed project is designed to explore further the effects of dyslexia on writing by using keystroke logging and retrospective verbal protocols to identify writing processes as they unfold in time (Baaijen, Galbraith & de Glopper, 2012); Galbraith & Baaijen, in press). It will involve comparing dyslexic and non-dyslexic undergraduates producing texts using either an outline planning strategy or a revising strategy, and assess the effects on writing processes, text quality and the development of writers' understanding of the topic (Baaijen, Galbraith & de Glopper, 2014; Baaijen & Galbraith, in press). Analysis will include linear mixed effect modelling of the writing processes and path analysis of the relationships between the variables.
1. How do the writing processes of dyslexic and non-dyslexic students differ, and how do these differences relate to text quality and the development of the writer's understanding?
2. How are these relationships moderated by different writing strategies?
Background and rationale for the study:
Writing is acknowledged as a particular problem for students with dyslexia in higher education (Hatcher, Snowling & Griffiths, 2002; Snowling, 2008). These problems are assumed to arise from problems with the lower level processes involved in spelling (Connelly, Campbell, McLean & Barnes, 2006), and in consequence students are typically allowed extended time for writing under exam conditions. Previous research (Galbraith & Baaijen, 2015) has confirmed that the poorer quality of the writing produced by students with dyslexia is partially mediated by dyslexic students' weaker phonological/spelling skills, which lead to less fluent text production and reduced text quality. But, in addition, Galbraith & Baaijen found that dyslexic students had difficulties with planning and with the generation of ideas during writing which could not be directly accounted for by their weaker phonological/spelling skills. They suggested that an alternative drafting strategy, in which students produced spontaneous drafts of text, and then revised these over a series of drafts into well-formed text, could be more effective for such students. The proposed project is designed to explore further the effects of dyslexia on writing by using keystroke logging and retrospective verbal protocols to identify writing processes as they unfold in time (Baaijen, Galbraith & de Glopper, 2012); Galbraith & Baaijen, in press). It will involve comparing dyslexic and non-dyslexic undergraduates producing texts using either an outline planning strategy or a revising strategy, and assess the effects on writing processes, text quality and the development of writers' understanding of the topic (Baaijen, Galbraith & de Glopper, 2014; Baaijen & Galbraith, in press). Analysis will include linear mixed effect modelling of the writing processes and path analysis of the relationships between the variables.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| David Galbraith (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Sophie Hall (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/R501025/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2021 | |||
| 1951748 | Studentship | ES/R501025/1 | 01/10/2017 | 31/12/2021 | Sophie Hall |
| ES/P000673/1 | 01/10/2017 | 30/09/2027 | |||
| 1951748 | Studentship | ES/P000673/1 | 01/10/2017 | 31/12/2021 | Sophie Hall |
| Description | Attended the Dyslexia Guild Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I attended the annual Dyslexia Guild Conference in 2019 with my supervisor. He gave a talk about the processes involved in writing for dyslexic and non-dyslexic writers, highlighting my PhD project as an example of current work looking at the writing processes used by dyslexic students. After the talk, I networked with many of the conference attendees, further explaining what my project entails which sparked a lot of discussion and many questions about the research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://dyslexiaguild.org.uk/2019-guild-annual-conference-presentations/ |
| Description | British Dyslexia Association International Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I presented a talk titled ' The Writing Beliefs of UK Higher Education Students with and without dyslexia' at the BDA conference. The talk was attended by dyslexia researchers and practitioners and was followed up with a lively Q & A session about the implications of my research on academic writing tuition for university students with dyslexia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://cdn.bdadyslexia.org.uk/uploads/images/Events/Events/IC/20210323_IC-On-Demand-list.pdf?v=1616... |
| Description | EARLI 2021 Conference presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I presented a talk titled 'Do UK university students with and without dyslexia have different beliefs about writing?' In which I discussed findings from my first PhD study. The audience was primarily made up of researchers interested in writing processes, but there were audience members from other general fields of learning and instruction. The talk finished with a Q & A, in which several members of the audience asked me questions about the implications of my research and where I'd like to take the research to next. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://earli.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/EARLI2021-BOOK-OF-ABSTRACTS.pdf |
| Description | Presenting for the Quant Hub seminar series at Department of Education, Oxford University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I presented my first study 'using exploratory structural equation modelling to examine the writing beliefs of UK higher education students with and without dyslexia' at the Quant Hub at Oxford University (http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/our-research/quant-hub/). I focused on the analytical methods I used to conduct the study (exploratory structural equation modelling). The presentation was followed up with a series of questions from the audience about my project, and great interest was shown. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/our-research/quant-hub/ |
| Description | SCDTP Final Year Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I attended and presented my research at the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership's Final Year Conference in December 2020. I focused on how I had to adapt my research methods and analytical methods due to the outbreak of Covi-19. During my presentation session, I answered questions from the audience, consisting of SCDTP staff and other SCDTP researchers, about my research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | SCDTP Research Methods Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The SCDTP Research Methods Festival was aimed at celebrating the wide range of research methods used by SCDTP students. I was part of the committee that organised this event. We ran a range of talks and workshops throughout the two-day period and we received positive feedback from attendees, with many highlighting that they had been introduced to research methods that they were not aware of prior to the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | SIG 27 Online Process Measures Conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | In December 2020, I presented my research at the SIG 27 online conference. I focused on my work on using keystroke logging to investigate the cognitive processes used by students with and without dyslexia during writing, and how COVID-19 had impacted my data collection. During the session, I answered questions from the audience and one conference member asked if we could arrange a meeting to further discuss my research after the session because they were interested in my statistical analysis methods. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Southampton ReproducibiliTea |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I run fortnightly ReproducibiliTea Journal Club sessions and seminars at the University of Southampton. ReproducibiliTea is an international initiative which seeks to make researchers more aware of open science, reproducbility and good science practice. Our Southampton sessions are attended by approximately 10 - 15 researchers at postgraduate level and beyond. During the sessions, I facilitate a discussion about a particular theme relating to reproducibility or open science on the basis of a paper that we have all read prior to attending the workshop.The sessions are a good opportunity of researchers to discuss issues relating to reproducibility in the context of their own research projects and fields. They are also a good place to hear about and learn from others' research. I also organise guest speaker seminar sessions through Southampton ReproducibiliTea, which focus on open science skills or learning from other people's experiences. Due to COVID-19, we currently run these sessions online, which means that people from other institutions can join us. We have had people attend from other universities both nationally and internationally. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020,2021 |
| URL | http://library.soton.ac.uk/lovedata/reproducibiliTea |