Dyslexic and non-dyslexic learners' performance on the Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB) : a comparative study

Abstract

This dissertation is a comparative study between two groups of participants that differ in levels of phonological awareness. Chapter 1 gives a very brief introduction about the aims of this study and claims done about the subject matter in this field beforehand. It also comprises the research question/s that are answered later on in the Results and Discussion. Chapter 2 sheds light on what other researchers have noted, found, tested for in the field and that I thought would be good to mention to support the cause of my study. Chapter 3 is about the method and procedure that was applied in order to gain the required information and results. The research method applied to this study is a Quasi- experimental design. Chapter 4 analysis the data obtained for significance. Levene's test and an Independent Samples t-test were performed, however measures of significance were calculated on the t-test only. Chapter 5 tries to explain the results I obtained, with relation to the literature cited previously. Chapter 5 also explains the limitations of the study and talks about future research in this field. The Appendix section includes a copy of the consent letters that were distributed, as well as a copy of the score sheets used during the administration of the tests. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS for Windows version 14.0. The main focus of this study was to gain more knowledge about the "dyslexic" child, phonological awareness, and the process of learning how to read and identify similar and different sounds in language. In this piece of research, early detection of phonological processing deficits are discussed. One of the main reasons for the choice of this area to study on was the fact that there is still not enough awareness in the subject, and many children are victims\ to 'dyslexia at school as no one addresses their needs properly. Dyslexic children may indeed be very intelligent people.