Study of the knowledge and attitudes of classroom teachers towards dyslexia

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge levels and attitudes of classroom teachers towards dyslexia. The research is based on cross-sectional scanning design. The target population of the study consists of primary school teachers working at primary schools in the center and districts of Tokat Province in 2018-2019 academic year. The sample group of the study consists of a total of 345 primary school teachers (141 females and 204 males) selected randomly from schools in the center and districts of Tokat in accordance with the study population. Dyslexia Attitude Questionnaire developed by Gwernan-Jones and Burden (2009) has been used as data collection tool in the research. This data collection tool consists of three sections. In the first section of the questionnaire, there is a Personal Information Form which has been prepared to identify the introductory and professional characteristics of the teachers. The personal information form includes variables related to teachers' age, gender and educational level. The second part of the questionnaire includes the Attitude Questionnaire which has been used in order to determine the attitudes towards dyslexia. This section is in the form of a five-point Likert: "Strongly Agree", "Agree ", "Undecided (Neutral)", "Disagree" and "Strongly Disagree". The third part includes two multiple-choice questions and eight True/False statements about dyslexia in order to determine the participants' levels of knowledge about dyslexia. Moreover, the participants have been asked close-ended questions to define the concepts of dyslexia, dyscalculia, special learning power, dyspraxia, attention deficit and hyperactivity. Before the questionnaire was distributed, the teachers were informed about the purpose and significance of the study. Each school was visited and the teachers were met in person and the questionnaire was applied only to the willing teachers in these schools. Verbal consent was obtained from the participants. The survey took an average of 5 to 10 minutes to complete. In this study, 354 teachers were reached and 2.54% (9 person) of them were performed with sampling error. The questionnaire which was used as a data collection tool in the research was applied in the spring term of the 2018-2019 academic year (March-April). The quantitative data gathered from the study were analyzed with the statistical data analysis program, Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 21. The chi-square analysis was performed to see if there was a difference in the analysis of quantitative data according to gender and age. In the analysis of qualitative data in the study, content analysis was used. The frequencies were examined by giving codes to qualitative data. Considering whether or not the attitudes of classroom teachers towards dyslexia differentiates according to the age, it is seen that there is no meaningful difference except for the items No 1, 2, 8, 11, 14, 17, 18. It is also seen that there is no meaningful difference except the items No 1, 11 and 15 regarding whether the attitudes of teachers differentiate according to gender or not. The study has shown that there is no significant difference between genders in the attitudes of classroom teachers towards dyslexia except for Article 1, Article 11 and Article 15 in the questionnaire. It has also been found out that there is no age and gender related difference in the knowledge levels of teachers for dyslexia. The analysis of the qualitative data has indicated that almost half of the participants did not respond to the questions related to specific learning difficulties. Along with wrong answerers, it can be inferred that approximately three thirds of classroom teachers do not have knowledge related to specific learning difficulties. Keywords: Learning, Specific Learning Difficulty, Dyslexia, Attitude