Primary School Teacher’s Awareness about Dyslexia: Case Study of Five Educational Institutions of Tlemcen

Abstract

Teachers deal with pupils who have various types of learning difficulties, which may be symptoms of some specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia, a language-based disorder characterized by difficulty in reading, word recognition, spelling, reading fluently, decoding and difficulty in speaking. The present study intend to investigate primary school teacher’s awareness for this disability and their ability to identify pupils who might be dyslexic. In order to answer the research questions of the study, a case study including 60 teachers from various primary schools in Tlemcen, Algeria was undertaking. Moreover, it uses a mixed methods approach to qualify and quantify the data collected, a questionnaire for teachers, semi-structured interview and classroom observation. Accordingly, this work emphasizes that awareness and acquaintance among primary schools teachers in Tlemcen of dyslexia is poor. Hence, it is recommended that all teachers need to have compulsory training programs that stress the understanding of learning disabilities especiallydyslexia and the importance of accommodating learners’ needs.