Development of a scale on primary school teachers’ knowledge and perception of dyslexia

Abstract

The aim of the present study is two-fold. Firstly, it attempts to develop a scale to measure primary school teachers’ knowledge and perception of dyslexia. Secondly, it aims to explore teachers’ knowledge and perception of dyslexia through this scale. This study examines whether teachers’ knowledge and perception of dyslexia differ with regard to years of teaching experience, taking a course or seminars related to dyslexia, reading a book or an article about dyslexia and teaching a student with dyslexia or not. For this purpose Teachers’ Knowledge and Perceptions Scale was developed and 201 primary school teachers participated in the study. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between primary school teachers’ knowledge of dyslexia and their teaching experience. Also their knowledge of dyslexia did not differ with regard to other variables of the study. On the other hand, there was a weak positive relationship between teachers’ perception of dyslexia and teaching experience and there was a significant difference between perceptions of primary school teachers with regard to taking a course about dyslexia during university education. Teachers’ perception did not differ with regard to taking an in service seminar, reading a book or an article and teaching a student with dyslexia. The study may contribute to dyslexia research in terms of developing a scale to measure teachers’ knowledge and perception of dyslexia and revealing their knowledge and perception.