Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs Volume 11 Number 3 2011
doi: 10.1111/j.1471-3802.2011.01197.x
Using pupil perspective research to inform teacher
pedagogy: what Caribbean pupils with dyslexia say
about teaching and learning
Stacey Blackman
University of the West Indies, Barbados
Key words: Caribbean pupils, dyslexia, pedagogy, pupil voice, secondary school.
The transformative potential of pupils voices is well
documented in past research by Pedder and McIn-
tyre; and Cooper and McIntyre. In this qualitative
research, I utilise a social constructivist framework
by Vygotsky to ask pupils with dyslexia about the
kinds of teacher strategies that they find helpful to
their learning at secondary school in Barbados. This
study utilised direct observations and individual
interviews as part of a multiple case study strategy
of 16 pupils with dyslexia from two secondary
schools in Barbados. Findings suggest that there
are regular teachers strategies like more detailed
explanations, demonstrations, drama and role play,
storytelling, asking questions and enquiry-based
approaches that pupils find facilitative of their
learning. This research is guided by the following
questions: (1) what do pupils mean when they refer
to teacher strategies as helpful?; and (2) what peda-
gogical approaches do pupils with dyslexia find
helpful to their learning at secondary school?
Introduction
Dyslexia has been described as a neurobiological condition,
which persists into adulthood and which mainly affects an
individuals ability to develop proficiency in reading, use of
language and other psychological processes. Research by
Lyon, Shaywitz and Shaywitz (2003) outlines some of the
difficulties associated with dyslexia; they note that:
dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is
neurobiological in origin. It is characterised by
difficulties with accurate and or fluent word
recognition and by poor spelling and decoding
abilities. These difficulties typically result from a
deficit in the phonological component of language that
is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive
abilities and the provision of effective classroom
instruction. Secondary consequences may include
problems in reading comprehension and reduced
reading experience that can impede growth of
vocabulary and background knowledge. (Lyon et al.,
2003, p. 2).
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Although dyslexia and its effects on students ability to read
and learn have been widely researched at the international
level, the same cannot be said of the Caribbean region. Few
studies to date have been conducted on the linguistic mani-
festations of dyslexia among Caribbean peoples whose lan-
guages are diverse. Within the Caribbean setting, a number
of influences can be identified with respect to the develop-
ment of language, and these include: African, English,
French and Spanish heritages. In spite of this, pedagogical
work in the area of dyslexia has begun with research by
Blackman (2010) on grouping students with dyslexia
for instruction, the difficulties that students with dyslexia
experience with learning at secondary school in Barbados
(Blackman, 2009) and doing research in the classroom
setting with students with dyslexia (Blackman, 2007). It
seeks to understand the links between pedagogy and the
ways that Caribbean students with dyslexia engage at the
secondary school level. Much of this work is in its embry-
onic stages but represents an attempt to engage in critical
enquiry in an area that is of great importance to teachers
and the students they teach. This seminal piece of research
may be described as a series of work that emanates from a
multiple case study done with secondary school students
with dyslexia. It is premised on the idea that they are regular
teacher strategies that facilitate the learning of these
students (Davis and Florian, 2004; Hart, 1996; Lewis and
Norwich, 2005; Thomas and Loxley, 2001), and these strat-
egies can be used to inform best practices in regular educa-
tion settings. It seeks to debunk teachers notions that only
specialist training is needed to teach students with dyslexia
at secondary school. It also assumes that what students say
can help inform teacher pedagogy so that teacher practice
does not amplify students with dyslexia weaknesses during
instruction. This observation has been made by Rudduck,
Chaplain and Wallace (1996), who indicate that pupils are
quite capable of articulating factors that they feel exert a
great influence on their learning.
Theoretical context
This research utilises social constructivism to understand
how students with dyslexia view teaching and learning at
secondary school in Barbados. In particular, the work of
Lev Vygotsky (1978; 1981) is influential in that it suggests
that the two most powerful factors influencing student
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA

achievement and learning are teachers and the environment
created for learning. According to Vygotsky (1978), chil-
drens cognitive development is shaped by the kinds of
interaction they have within the socio-cultural context of
school. Within the school setting, this suggests that the
kinds of events, activities, approaches to teaching, strate-
gies, conversations and tools that teachers expose pupils to
directly influence their cognitive growth. Social interaction
and dialogue are accorded some prominence in Vygotskian
theory because they are vehicles that promote and inspire
children to think about their learning in more complex
ways. The zone of proximal development describes how the
learning potential of weaker students can be scaffolded and
expanded by more able peers and teachers through class-
room interaction. In addition, Vygotsky (1981) also sug-
gested that pupils are not mere recipients of information,
but through a process of internalisation, children actively
engage with learning and seek to make their learning more
meaningful. Internalisation is facilitated by dialogue in
classroom forums where pupils beliefs are challenged by
their peers, and they are forced to consider perspectives
contrary to their own.
In recent times, there has been a greater focus on using a
constructivist framework to inform pedagogies for students
in the classroom. Studies by Murphy, Murphy and
Kilfeather (2010) in Ireland have drawn on constructivism
to investigate how children understand and respond to their
teachers approaches to teaching science. In the UK,
Duckett, Kagan and Sixsmith (2010) have used construc-
tivist ideas to elicit participation from stakeholders includ-
ing children with respect to designing and creating healthy
school environments. In South Africa, Stears (2009) has
also investigated how social and critical constructivism can
inform developments in the science curriculum. Research
by Powell and Kalina (2010) suggests that optimum teach-
ing conditions can be created by utilising strategies, tools
and practices associated with constructivist schools of
thought. This research is congruent with previous pedagogi-
cal studies, for example, by Watson (2001), which identified
12 principles developed by Brooks and Brooks (1993) that
embodied social constructivist ideas for use in classrooms
in Great Britain for students described as having moderate
learning difficulties. One of the principles highlighted in
this social constructivist framework to classroom teaching
was the importance of engaging students in dialogue. In the
Brooks and Brooks (1993) model, principle six stated that:
constructivist teachers encouraged students to engage in
dialogue with the teacher and with each other. Watson
(2001), in her qualitative research, was able to show the
benefits that accrued for students with learning difficulties
in the classroom context; she notes that: the social aspects
of social constructivism is vitally important . . . especially
for students who have learning difficulties, whose meta
cognitive awareness, use of effective learning strategies and
self regulation strategies are likely to be relatively undevel-
oped. . .. Her observations revealed that (1) dialogue
helped to enrich pupils learning when ideas were sparked
off from their peers opinions; (2) pupils were stimulated
intellectually when they defended their views against peers
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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 11 178185
opposition; (3) pupils meta-cognitive awareness increased
when they understood varying points of view; (4) pupils felt
more comfortable expressing themselves in groups; and (5)
pupils found their learning more engaging and fun.
I document students views or, rather, evaluations of the
pedagogical context of classrooms in Barbados and suggest
that this kind of feedback can assist teachers in making
decisions about how to instruct students with dyslexia at
secondary school. This kind of research is important
because past studies, for example, by Lopes, Monteiro and
Sil (2004) in Portugal and Vaughnn and Schumm (1993) in
the USA report that general education teachers usually
express low levels of self-efficacy about their ability to
teach students with learning disabilities (Lopes et al.,
2004). In the next section, I discuss the benefits to be
derived from consulting pupils about teaching and learning
in the classroom.
Literature review on pupil perspective research
A great deal of research has been conducted at the interna-
tional level on pupil perspective research. To illustrate, in
the UK, studies have been done in the past by Flutter and
Rudduck (2004) on using pupil perspective to improve
schools and inform teacher decision-making, by Pedder and
McIntyre (2004) on consulting pupils about teaching
and learning, by Cooper and McIntyre (1996) on pupils
and teachers craft knowledge, and by Rudduck et al.
(1996) on pupil participation and school improvement.
More recent work has been conducted by Morgan (2009) in
the area of curriculum and Flutter (2007) on the benefits of
pupil perspective to teacher development. Flutter (2007) has
examined how pupil perspective research can assist pre-
service teachers in developing their craft knowledge
through engaging their pupils in dialogue. Flutters (2007)
research presents two case studies that were conducted as
part of a larger project at the University of Cambridge in
England. The study utilised an action research framework to
recruit teachers from Exmouth Community College and
Hastingbury Upper School. Data collection techniques dif-
fered at both schools, with the former utilising question-
naires, and the latter utilising focus groups to gather pupils
perspectives. Findings unearthed pupils views about what
teachers do in the classroom that facilitated their learning,
pupils preferences for working and aspects of subjects that
pupils enjoyed. The research revealed that pupils had
genuine concerns about wider school issues like assessment
practices and school management.
In another study by Kormos, Csizer and Sarkadi (2009) in
Hungary, pupil perspective research was used to document
how a group of students average age of 18 years old felt
about learning English as a first foreign language. This
qualitative study collected interview data from 15 students,
5 females and 10 males, who received instruction in three
different kinds of school settings: a regular education
setting with and without special language programmes for
students with Learning Disabilities (LDs), a special com-
bined primary and secondary school for students with LDs,
and a special secondary school for learners with LDs.
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The subthemes that emerged from the study suggested that
students were concerned about how teachers managed the
cognitive and affective domains of learning. Students noted
that teacher attitudes influenced their participation and
engagement across all settings in negative and positive
ways. A second theme that emerged implicated instruction
and assessment strategies. Researchers noted that students
who received their instruction within the mainstream setting
with a language learning group for students with LDs
reported a number of challenges. These included: unclear
explanations about the linguistic rules associated with
learning English, use of rote memorisation of grammar
rules, the quick pace of instruction and uninteresting texts
and tasks. In addition, peers also did not understand the
difficulties that these students experienced with learning
English.
Kormos et al. (2009) note, however, that students experi-
ences differed in the other two settings. They note that
teachers explained the rules associated with English well
and encouraged meaningful rather than superficial process-
ing of information. Three participants who received their
instruction at a special secondary school for learners with
LDs found the multi-sensory techniques helpful: like step-
by-step, slow and constant revision.
In the USA, the term student voice as opposed to pupil
perspective is utilised to investigate the contribution that
pupils can make to schooling. As with studies done in the
UK and Europe, student voice is used in a variety of ways
and to address a number of challenges in the school setting.
For example, it has been used to help teachers understand
how students might respond to new teaching approaches. A
recent study conducted by Bernhardt (2009) used autobio-
graphical narratives in a ninth-grade social studies class to
help students explore their own socio-cultural narratives in
light of its relationship to history, new ideas, experiences,
cultural beliefs and values espoused within their own con-
texts. According to Bernhardt (2009), use of autobiography
enabled him to reflect on his own pedagogical approaches
while simultaneously affording his students the opportunity
to engage in self-enquiry.
In this research, I engage in dialogue with 16 secondary
school pupils with dyslexia who attend two regular educa-
tion settings in the island of Barbados. I investigate whether
or not regular teacher strategies are facilitative of pupils
learning and how teachers pedagogical decisions can
remain responsive to the needs of all students in the class-
rooms. More importantly, I use what students say to inform
best practices at the secondary school level. The research
question is: What pedagogical approaches do pupils with
dyslexia find helpful to their learning at secondary school?
Methodology
Procedures used in the study
The researcher sought permission from students and their
parents (Masson, 2000) as a condition of participation in the
study. A Bangor Dyslexia Game (Miles and Miles, 1990),
teacher nominations and a statement of dyslexia from a
180
psychologist were used to establish whether difficulties
suggested by teachers were consistent with those in the
literature. In order to ensure that students conversations
and identities remained confidential, interviews were con-
ducted in private rooms, and pseudonyms were given to
both teachers and students in the study.
Ethical issues in the research
According to Lindsay and Lewis (2000), qualitative
research can be intrusive so a timetable was devised for
students to inform them about the time of observations and
to organise data collection and minimise the discomfort of
the research period. Students were told that they could exit
the study at anytime or indicate more convenient times for
observations if they felt uncomfortable.
The research context
Barbados is an island located off the most eastern part of the
Windward Island chain in the Caribbean. It is 166 m2 and
has a population of over 270 000 persons. There are
approximately 23 government secondary schools on the
island, 21 of which are co-educational with the remaining 2
being single sexed (Ministry of Education, 2009). The edu-
cation system is very similar to that of England, with chil-
dren completing 4 years of primary and 5 years of
secondary education before leaving school at age 16. In
their last 2 years of secondary education, students are
assessed by the Caribbean Examination Council to acquire
certification for entry into a tertiary level institution.
The case
This research is a case study of 16 pupils ages 1416 years
old at two secondary schools, one located in a busy business
district and the other located in a very developed suburban
parish in close proximity to an upscale tourist-oriented
market. Mallory High is a single-sex girls secondary
school located near the city with a roll of just over 1000
students. South West High is a co-education school with a
pupil roll of 1444 students. All students follow a traditional
humanities, science or business curriculum.
Data collection procedures
This research utilised a number of data collection proce-
dures to investigate the teaching and learning context, and
these included semi-structured interviews, focus groups,
observations and documentary evidence. Focus groups
familiarised students about the aims and purpose of the
study, whereas in-depth one-to-one and peer interviews
(Eder and Fingerson, 2000) excavated pupils socially con-
structed views of their classroom experiences.
Documentary evidence included: students academic
records, classified as private documents by Jupp (1996), and
samples of students assignments, and these helped me to
make decisions about what subject areas to observe.
Participant observation and narrative forms of recording
were used to capture interaction in classroom settings.
Analysing the data
Transcripts were analysed using data reduction procedures
recommended by Miles and Huberman (1994). This process
is outlined in Table 1.
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 Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 11 178185

Table 1: Miles and Hubermans approach to analysing tative research. Member checking (Mertens and
qualitative Data McLaughlin, 2004) was done with contact summary sheets,
Data analysis procedure which helped me to gain pupils feedback on observations
Procedure Description and follow-up questions I had from interview sessions.
Descriptive codes first Codes applied to specific phrases,
A reflective journal enhanced transferability of findings and
level of analysis expressions and paragraphs in the
further enable member checking procedures in the study.
data Other measures used in the study to ensure the credibility
Inferential/pattern coding Superordinate categories based on and to facilitate cross-checking of data included: audit
framework first-level the relationships found in trails, electronic copies of transcripts, field notes and coding
analysis descriptive codes for the study.
Memoing first-level Memos documented ideas about
Findings
analysis themes that emerged and their
Regular teacher strategies work too?
relationships
Students in the study commented on aspects of teacher
Partially ordered meta-matrix The data were further reduced to a strategies that they believed most enhanced their ability to
level 2 analysis display format to allow for learn at secondary school. These strategies have been pre-
cross-case analysis sented in the meta-matrix and compare what pupils said at
Partitioning of themes Themes that emerged were both schools. A thematic discussion of the data is produced
to show teacher strategies that facilitated learner autonomy,
discussed
pupil engagement and understanding, and pupils preferred
mode of communication.
Table 1 describes Miles and Hubermans (1994) approach
to analysing qualitative data. Table 2 presents the meta-matrix findings on teacher strat-
egies that students in the study report to be facilitative of
Descriptive codes their learning at Mallory High.
Descriptive codes were grounded in the data as suggested
by Miles and Huberman (1994). A start list of 35 codes was Table 3 presents the meta-matrix findings for students at
produced from a sample of pilot study transcripts and South West High on teacher strategies that they find facili-
applied to phrases and sentences in the other transcripts tative of their learning.
collected in the study. When all the transcripts were coded,
a final count of 90 descriptive codes was produced.
Results from this section of the study about the kinds of
Inferential or pattern coding strategies that pupils find helpful are by no means surpris-
The next stage of the analysis clustered the descriptive ing. As suggested by Flutter and Rudduck (2004), pupils are
codes into more abstract categories based on inferences that indeed acutely aware of those teacher strategies that facili-
emerged from students responses to certain questions in tated their learning, and these can be used to establish
the transcripts; usually, phrases and ideas were repeated best practices for teaching students with dyslexia in the
sometimes, and these similarities were later abstracted at a classroom.
more general level.
What is interesting, however, are the meanings that pupils
The audit trail
convey when they speak about their teachers strategies as
Rigour during the qualitative process was determined by
being helpful. These meanings transcend the functional
utilising an audit trail that includes the name of the school
aspects of teaching and how information is disseminated in
and year in school.
the classroom. They also describe the social milieu of the
Memos classroom and the affect that is created when teachers
Memos were used at the descriptive and inferential stages of personality characteristics are embedded in the strategies
the analysis to document information about codes and their they employ in the classroom. To illustrate, teacher strate-
relationships, link ideas in the data together and capture the gies are described as helpful when they:
views and intuitions of the researcher.
1. Effectively communicate information so that pupils
Partially ordered meta-matrices
overcome any challenges with their learning.
Data were visually displayed in a master chart called a
2. Manage teaching and learning environment so that it
meta-matrix, which provides an overview of cases studied
supports the cognitive, affective and social aspects of
and compressed data in a precise format. These matrices
learning in (1) above.
also mark the first attempt at understanding the linkages,
3. Trigger pupils thinking and build a sense of personal
patterns and ideas in the data.
agency with respect to thinking and learning
Trustworthiness of data collected
According to Mertens and McLaughlin (2004), trustworthi- Tables 2 and 3 classify teachers strategies in three ways,
ness is important to ensuring the credibility of data in quali- that is, those that promote learner autonomy, those that

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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 11 178185

Table 2: The Meta Matrix display for students at Mallory High

What personality
Mode of presentation/ characteristics are
Student Learner autonomy Engagement and understanding communication liked by pupils
Lynn Do things for ourselves; didnt tell Explanation; tours; use outlines; Demonstrations; maps
us (answers) give instructions
Carrie Let us think and reason for Asks us questions and gives her
ourselves notes to class
Charlene Let us practise; see how much we Questions to do; notes; examples; Diagrams easier to Acting funny and
know discussion understand and less words cracking jokes
Sue Like how we have to set it up and Drama; read and explain; use steps Diagrams; step-by-step
put important points process
Dawn Gives us exercises to do Give notes; explain on board; Demonstrations on the board
correct us; review
Melanie Gets us to think; see how much we Review; teacher repeating points;
know lets them try things first
Annabelle Do comprehension and passages; Review; explains; gives examples;
she went through the class reads through; gives points
Margaret Recaps/review work

Table 3: The Meta Matrix display for students at South West High
What personality
Mode of presentation/ characteristics are
Student Learner autonomy Engagement and understanding communication liked by pupils
Madge Explanation in detail; giving examples Comparison to everyday life
experiences
Nichole Get students to do work on board; Drama and interaction in class; gives Makes class lively
conduct practical in class her notes; storytelling
Natalie Testing memory in class Ask questions and participation; share Demonstration and diagram Teacher makes class fun
strategies to overcome challenges
Trae Teacher explanation; helps you speak
English
Charlie Teachers who keep
classes quiet
Andrew Asking questions; asking what Drama; teacher giving keys(pointers) Comparison to everyday life
pupils thought; make class fun experiences
Kurt Teachers description helpful
Sean Reading through Handouts, videos

promote engagement and understanding, and the mode of
communication and presentation used in the classroom.
These are discussed next.
Teacher strategies that facilitate understanding
Helping pupils to overcome obstacles through relating
personal experiences
Pupils in the study were able to identify teacher strategies
that promoted their understanding; these included: using
steps, asking questions and giving pointers. However,
teacher explanations were the most frequently cited strategy
that assisted with clarification of difficult points. Natalies,
a year 3 pupil at South West High, account is typical of what
pupils in the study noted; she suggests that explanations
were enriched when teachers revealed techniques that they
utilised to help them manage difficult tasks.
She states that:
the teacher makes it really fun and she explains it a
bit better and also she knows what, how hard it was
for her to learn when she was younger so she uses
like techniques she had to get, and she gives us
examples of them. (Natalie, year 3 pupil)

182 2011 The Author. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 2011 NASEN

Explanations that give more information and
precise details
What are some of the things that (Teachers Name)
did that made that particular exercise easier to do?
Madge: Like explaining it properly and going through
it . . . and the examples, so it was quite easy. Q: you
said explaining it properly what do you mean by this?
Madge: like giving, explain to detail . . . like the
details. (Year 4 pupil)
Understanding was also facilitated through building pupils
skills, and reviewing previous skills taught in class aided
this process. Dawns comments illustrate how this was
accomplished in English.
Building skills teacher reviews skills
What did you find helpful in todays class?
Dawn: [The] way she reviewed the essay [writing]
was helpful, you see how she did that, that was
helpful. [She] does that every time we have essay
writing to do. [the] English language teacher just says
do it. I actually improved with her . . . [before I would
write and write and write and then at the end give the
answer] . . . this gives me an idea of how compare and
contrasting (essay type questions) was to be done.
(Year 4 pupil)
Pupils also described how demonstrating concepts provided
opportunities for them to understand what they needed to
learn.
Demonstrations
Q: Tell me what would you prefer instead of just a
teacher going on or having somebody read about it
and then at the end of that you get homework, tell me
what kind of structure you would prefer the lesson to
take.
Natalie: If they did like, just like the fluctuations, like
if they do a bit of reading and then like they explained
what you read, explain what it is supposed to mean
and then like show you what it is supposed to mean as
well. Say like in geography today and he was like
talking about the core and we were like reading it.
After they read he could have said do you
understand, this is what she meant and diagram
showing what he meant. And then he could have
demonstrated, like say he could have bought in a ball
and demonstrated, or use like a book to show the
plates moving. It would have been a bit better than
him just reading and giving us homework and writing
on the board. (Year 3 pupil)
Q: Lets go back to when you say that the geography
teacher could have bought in a ball or drew diagrams,
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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 11 178185
something to make it more interesting . . . How
important is it to you that teachers demonstrate the
ideas to you.
Natalie: well its pretty important . . . a demonstration
may help it to be easier for you to understand cause
say you didnt understand that the core was the
hottest place then the demonstration would have show,
okay this is the centre this right in the middle and say
the ball was red then the redness show that this was
hotter and the green would show that this is not as
hot. And if the ball was like a light ball then this
would be the outside cause this was nice and light am,
the demonstration would have helped. (Year 3 pupil)
Teacher strategies that promoted autonomy
Pupils in the study suggested that when teachers allowed
them to practise work on their own, delayed in giving them
answers and gave them experiments or projects to do, this
assisted them with becoming independent learners. Infer-
ences about teachers use of question and answer sessions
suggested that this strategy allowed teachers to draw pupils
into classroom activity, as opposed to merely allowing
pupils to be spectators within the classroom.
Charlenes comments were typical of what pupils said; she
noted that answering questions provided her with an oppor-
tunity to test her knowledge and practise what was taught.
Q: do you think it was enough for him just to be
reading out notes or you think it could have been done
a different way?
Charlene: He could have gave us questions to do and
let us practice. . . . (Year 4 pupil)
Teacher strategies that promoted engagement
Drama, storytelling and demonstrations were also men-
tioned by pupils as conducive to their learning because it
promoted activities that made pupils engage with their
learning and the classroom environment fun. Andrews, a
year 4 pupil at South West High, comment is typical of what
pupils in the study noted:
Andrew: Yeah I find those (drama and storytelling)
interesting. Because at one point in time right, she
had the whole class together, like everyone was giving
their opinions, everyone was mainly together. . . .
(Year 4 pupil)
Physics the story of the eureka can
Q: . . . in terms of physics and the way it was taught
what did you find helpful?
Natalie: [Teachers name] . . . she told us like this
story about the eureka can and it was really funny
and it made you remember things. . . . (Year 3 pupil)
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Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 11 178185
Sue describes how drama and storytelling make the charac-
ters come alive so you can empathise with them.
Q: How helpful was the session in helping you to
understand the section on reaction? Sue: Because it
like shows you how the people reacted more, cause we
were acting so we could see how he was reacting
because of it. (Year 3 pupil)
These comments about drama and storytelling point to the
importance of the affective characteristics of learning and
suggest that learners are not simply stoic characters that
visit classrooms; they want to enjoy what they are learning.
Conclusion
According to Neanon (2002): we need to move away from
the idea that teaching [pupils with dyslexia] is different
from teaching other children (p. 28). This research suggests
that there are some regular teacher strategies that are facili-
tative of Barbadian pupils with dyslexias learning at sec-
ondary school. These ideas are supported in the literature by
Rix, Hall and Nind et al. (2009), Lewis and Norwich (2005)
and Davis and Florian (2004), whose research critiques
notions that radically different teaching approaches are
needed for students with dyslexia and students with special
needs for them to be successful in mainstream settings
(Lewis and Norwich, 2005). On the contrary, Rix et al.
(2009) note that there is a growing focus on how regular
teaching pedagogies can support the learning of all students
in the classroom and, in particular, those with dyslexia.
This research utilised a social constructivist framework to
identify teaching pedagogies that are facilitative of pupils
with dyslexias learning at secondary school. Barbadian
pupils identified helpful teacher strategies like those that
promoted learner autonomy, understanding and engage-
ment. These included: more detailed explanations, question
and answer sessions, and other kinds of enquiry-based
approaches to learning like project work (Klinger and
Vaughn, 1999). Other strategies that supported understand-
ing and learner engagement included: demonstrations,
drama and role play, storytelling and suggesting important
points. These strategies are in keeping with those associated
with social constructivist principles noted in the Brooks and
Brooks (1993) model and Watsons (2001) research, and are
similar to the dyslexia friendly approaches noted by Peer
and Read (2001).
Research by McPhillips and Shevlin (2009) and Rix et al.
(2009) suggests that there is a common feeling among prac-
titioners and teachers that pupils with dyslexia require
intensive remediation by specialist teachers. Although the
findings of this research challenges the notion that teachers
in regular settings are not capable of instructing students
with special needs, it does not contradict the view that
pupils on the more severe end of the spectrum of dyslexia
will need literacy support (Davis and Florian, 2004). These
assertions are in keeping with those of Klinger and
Vaughns (1999) research, which investigated pedagogies
for pupils with learning disabilities in inclusive settings.
184
Their research is evidence that if appropriate practices are
identified and implemented by teachers in general educa-
tion settings, then this can concomitantly increase pupils
involvement, understanding and, ultimately, motivation to
learn Klinger and Vaughn (1999).
Address for correspondence
Stacey Blackman,
School of Education,
University of the West Indies,
Cave Hill Campus,
Bridgetown,
BB 11000,
Barbados.
Email: stacey.blackman@cavehill.uwi.edu.
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