Dyslexic are often used to receiving low marks together with non-constructive feedback. This, together with unsported learning, can lead to low-self esteem, a lack of self-confidence and reduced motivation towards learning. Educators can provide effective feedback that will help their students learn and improve their attitude towards learning.

What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling (Vellutino et al., 2004; Snowling , 2008; Snowling et al., 2007).

When it comes to learning a language, students with dyslexia can have difficulties with phonological awareness, verbal memory, verbal processing speed and decoding (e.g., Byrne, 1998; Muter et al., 2004; Bowey, 2005).

Dyslexia is not linked to a person’s intelligence so it occurs across a range of intellectual abilities. Learners can be more or less severely dyslexic as dyslexia is a continuum.

Dyslexia can also impact executive function, particularly in areas like working memory, attention, and inhibition, because of how the brain processes information. 

Teeside University London offers clear guidelines for marking written and speaking tasks in students with dyslexia. We are going to summarise some of them below.

What difficulties do dyslexic students have? 

Consideration of the impact of dyslexia on individuals can help to clarify the rationale behind having specific guidance for marking. Some general issues might be: 

• Literacy standards fall below expectation 
• Poor organisational skills. 
• Difficulty sequencing information in a linear format (tendency to think ‘holistically’). 
• Difficulty keeping information in the short-term memory – forgets easily. 
• Difficulty following instructions. 
• Difficulty relaying messages correctly. 
• Inability to make effective notes. 
• Difficulty with orientation – left/right, up/down, east/west.
• Poor time management skills. 
• Short attention span. 
• Distracted easily – e.g. by background noise. 
• Low self-esteem. 
• Exhaustion.

Examples of ‘reasonable adjustments’ that might be made when marking essay-based work: 

• Skim reading (fast) first to get a general overview of the knowledge, ideas and understanding demonstrated. 
• Marking for content only. 
• Ignoring structural flaws, such as organisation and sequencing of information. 
• Ignoring spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors (unless accuracy is of vital importance to the subject being assessed in order to meet a competency standard). 
• Ignoring quality of handwriting (e.g. in examinations). 
• Taking into account that less reading may have been possible within the time scale.

Examples of ‘reasonable adjustments’ that might be made when marking oral presentations: 

• Some dyslexic students prefer oral presentations to written work. But, for some, this method of assessment is equally challenging. 
• Ignore aspects of delivery that affect fluency; e.g. hesitation and mispronunciation. 
• Ignore apparent stress and anxiety. 
• Create a calm environment; e.g. fewer people watching. Allow extra time.
• Ignore similar difficulties apparent in the presentation of written work, such as organisation and sequencing. 
• Take account of difficulties reading out loud from notes. 
• If questioning is part of the process – ensure that questions are presented clearly and repeated where necessary. 
• Allow thinking time for responses.

Giving effective feedback 

Feedback time should be built into the lesson time so as not to be overridden by other more urgent tasks when we are pressed for time. 

To make sure the feedback we give is effective, it’s very important that feedback is always based on a set of success criteria (‘This is what you need to do to do well’) that students are aware of before starting a task. Reminding students of the success criteria, making them visible on the board, going through-instead of just showing- a model of the final outcome and using visuals to explain, are ways in which we can help students with short attention spans, a low level of the language or low working memory remember the criteria.

It’s also key that the learners are granted the time to use the feedback in order to try and improve their work.

Giving feedback to dyslexic students

Many dyslexic students have had very negative experiences of receiving feedback. 

Teachers may have been critical and show a lack of understanding of the things students cannot change due to their dyslexia. They may have been misunderstood by people marking their work. Dyslexic students may have been judged as ‘lazy’ or ‘thick’ or simply not trying hard enough by markers in the past. This often leads to low-self esteem and can lower the student’s motivation.

Principles of good feedback for dyslexic students: 

• Positive – state what has been done well.
• Descriptive: ‘You used the right structure as you divided the text into four differentiated paragraphs’, rather than, ‘Good job!’.
• Constructive – explain what is required to close the achievement gap (gap between performance and the desired success criteria).
• Write legibly and in plain English. 
• Sensitive – if possible agree with the student what would be helpful, e.g. whether to comment on language skills. 
• Use different coloured pens (not red). 
• Use of a coding system for errors with language skills e.g. SP – spelling, G – grammar, P – punctuation, T – tense and so on. 
• If you have marked for ideas only – say so. 
• Make clear that comments on spelling, punctuation and grammar are to support skills development and not to penalise in marks (unless accuracy is of vital importance in the subject being assessed in order to meet success criteria). 
• Support verbal feedback with a written summary. 
• And the other way around: Offer verbal feedback in addition to written comments. 
• Model answers are recommended if we go through them together before doing the task, link them to success criteria and review strategies to achieve them. Providing models without this kind of previous scaffolding is overwhelming.

It is important to support students with dyslexia before and during tasks. You can find out more about how to support dyslexic students during writing tasks here, during reading tasks here, and how to set up an overall dyslexia-friendly classroom here.