Testing and Diagnosing Dyslexia in Adolescents – Focused on Phonemic Awareness

Authors

  • Erik Žovinec Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Dražovská cesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1304-9052
  • Jana Duchovičová Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Dražovská cesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia
  • Barbora Sender Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Dražovská cesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9640-010X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2023.1.335.351

Keywords:

dyslexia, phonemic awareness, adolescent, testing, phonological deficit

Abstract

Aim. Phonetic deficits are one of the core language-cognitive symptoms at cognitive level aetiology of dyslexia in variety languages and orthographies. The presented study examines possibilities of diagnosis of phonological deficits in the Slovak language (similar to Czech and Polish grapheme-phoneme rules) in students at upper secondary schools. The comparison of 237 non-dyslectics and 149 dyslectics in upper secondary schools brings new stimulus for diagnostic procedures at counselling centres.

Methods. Four phonemic awareness tests for upper secondary school students (aged 15-20 years) were developed. The testing tasks included tasks on phoneme analysis/segmenting in words and non-words (10), phoneme synthesis/blending in words and non-words (10), phoneme transposition in words and non-words (8), and phoneme elision in non-words (8).

Results. Dyslectics achieved a lower average score in phonemic awareness tests than non-dyslectics. First and second year students (aged 15-17 years) achieved similar average scores, but third and fourth year students (aged 17-20 years) achieved lower results. The t-statistic for the phonological analysis tests was 2.827 with df 56.259 and a p-value of 0.007, indicating a significant difference between the groups under study. The t-statistic for the phonological synthesis tests was -2.568 with df 284 and a p-value of 0.011, also indicating a significant difference between the groups. The t-statistics for the phonological transposition and elision tests indicate that there is no significant difference between the dyslexic and non-dyslexic group.

Conclusion. The study brought several inspirations for the tasks and tests that can be used in the diagnosis and re-diagnosis of dyslexia, specifically for adolescents.

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Author Biographies

  • Erik Žovinec, Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Dražovská cesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia

    In 2001 Erik Žovinec graduated from the Commenius University in Bratislava, Department of Special pedagogy. In 2009 he completed his doctoral studies at Constantine Philosophers University in Nitra, Slovakia. Since 2015, Erik Žovinec  is an associate profesor at Constantine Philosophers University in Nitra, Department of pedagogy. His research interests focus on inclusive education, special needs education and counselling, specific learning disability diagnosis and remediation. Erik Žovinec  has as experience with many project activities. He is a member of the Central Commission for Inclusive Education and Education in Special Schools (KIV) – Ministry of Education in Slovakia and also a member of the research teams in various national level project projects. He is author of more than 130 scientific publications, including articles, books, chapters, member of International Editorial Board of peer rewiev journal - The Literacy, Preliteracy and Education Journal (Charles University, Prague).

  • Jana Duchovičová, Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Dražovská cesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia

    In 2001 Jana Duchovičová graduated from Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Pedagogy – Psychology). In 2004 she completed her doctoral studies (Pedagogy) at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. Jana Duchovičová is Vice-Rector and professor of Pedagogy at the Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra from 2019. She is member of a number of expert groups and scientific councils. Her interests include investigating science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, exceptional, gifted and talented students education, teacher's professional skills and pre-gradual and post-gradual education of teachers. She is author of more than 200 scientific publications, including articles, books, chapters. She is Guarantor of the study program: Teaching pedagogy in combination in the field of study 1.1.1 teaching academic subjects, co-guarantor of the doctoral study program Pedagogy in the field of pedagogy, co-guarantor of the habilitation and appointment procedure for a professor in the field of pedagogy, supervisor in doctoral studies at CPU in Nitra.

  • Barbora Sender, Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Dražovská cesta 4, 949 74 Nitra, Slovakia

    In 2009 Barbora Sender graduated from the University of Prešov in the field of special and elementary education. In 2012 she completed her doctoral studies at the University of Trnava, Slovakia. She currently works at the Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia as an assistant professor. In her teaching and research she mainly focuses on the special and inclusive education, education of people with behavioural and emotional disorders and with learning difficulties. She is also a study advisor and methodologist of pedagogical practise.

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Published

2023-06-20

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2023): Journal of Education Culture and Society

Section

DYNAMICS

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Copyright (c) 2023 Erik Žovinec, Jana Duchovičová, Barbora Sender

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How to Cite

Žovinec, E., Duchovičová, J., & Sender, B. (2023). Testing and Diagnosing Dyslexia in Adolescents – Focused on Phonemic Awareness. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 14(1), 335-351. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs2023.1.335.351