01 NRDC Dyslexia 1-88 update - Texthelp

Developmental dyslexia in adults: a research review 73
A servile band among the lordly free!’
* The discovery of Dr Bell affords marvellous facilities for carrying this into effect; and
it is impossible to overrate the benefit which might accrue to humanity from the
universal application of this simple engine under an enlightened government. – W.
William Wordsworth. The Excursion, IX, 291–310 (1814).
‘Great advantages arise from teaching the alphabet [after the manner observed by Dr
Bell, by forming the letters on a slate] … it enables the pupil, at the very outset, to
distinguish the letters of a similar cast or form, such as b, d, p, and q’ (page 25).
Colquhoun, P. (1806). A New and Appropriate System of Education for the Labouring
People; elucidated and explained … containing an exposition of the nature and
importance of the design, as it respects the general interest of the community: with
details, explanatory of the particular economy of the institution, and the methods
prescribed for the purpose of securing and preserving a greater degree of moral
rectitude, as means of preventing criminal offences by habits of temperance, industry,
subordination, and loyalty, among that useful class of the community, comprising the
labouring people of England … London: J. Hatchard.
Introduction
What is to be done and why?
The main purpose of literacy instruction is to teach students how their writing system works,
through knowledge of the sounds of the spoken language and their connection to print. Lack
of phonological awareness is not a cause but a symptom of students’ difficulties, which are
likely to be both complex and varied. However, problems with phonological awareness in
general and with phonemic awareness in particular, indicate what students most need to
learn (Perfetti & Marron, 1995).
Once students have learned how their writing system works, they are in a position to continue
by teaching themselves (Share, 1995). This step is essential, because no tutor can teach more
than a small part of what learners need to know. Only through continuing exposure to print
are adult literacy students likely to encounter written language both richer and more complex
than the spoken language they typically experience in conversations or on television
(Greenberg et al., 1997). This is important because, although they have lived longer, adult
learners are not necessarily more likely to have greater knowledge of word meanings than
children have; vocabulary growth after the age of ten or eleven years may be more heavily
influenced by written language than by spoken language (Greenberg et al., 1997). So it is only
through increasing exposure to print that new readers improve in automatic word recognition
and gain the fluency needed to release their attentional capacity for understanding and
enjoyment.
Adult learners need to understand how their writing system works for their language to
develop sufficiently to meet their everyday needs.
How successful is intervention likely to be?
The success with which reading can be learned in adulthood varies from person to person.
Nevertheless, the older the student, the more difficult any teaching and learning programme