Exploring relationships between academic agency and dyslexia at university
22 April 2016
This project is interested in the impact of the dyslexic label on university students' sense of academic purpose - that is, their academic agency.
The premise is that students with an identified dyslexic learning difference present a lower level of academic agency than not only their non-dyslexic peers, but, more significantly, than their non-identified dyslexic peers and that self-perception as 'different' may have a greater negative impact on academic agency than the difference itself.
Keywords
Ethical approval
Ethics Approval for the research was granted by the Department of Ethics Sub Committee at Middlesex University, London, on 21st July 2015.
Documentation is available on the project's webpages.
About the researcher
In addition to committing to this innovative and unusual research project, the researcher is also a learning-and-teaching professional working as an academic guide in the student community at a UK university.
Prior experience was gained with students in HE who experience the learning difference of dyslexia, working in a role that taught and supported the integration of technology solutions into study practices to build on learning strengths and ameliorate difficulties and weaknesses. Through this interaction, it became apparent that many of the affective and emotional aspects of dyslexia presented in adults may be having a more significant impact on students' sense of academic purpose and ultimately academic achievement than the many difficulties that dyslexia itself often presents in a literacy-focused education system.
This acute observational interest evolved into the research project that is now collecting data and which has been supported through a generous funded Research Studentship at Middlesex University, London.
