Foreword

This thesis is the academic outcome of a 3-year, level 8 primary research project conducted at Middlesex University, London.

It is an account of the study, research processes, data analysis and discussion of a project that has attempted to understand more about how the academic confidence of university students with dyslexia in the UK is affected by their dyslexia.

Throughout the thesis I have attempted to persistently connect theory and the implications of theory to the circumstances and situations that many students at university know as their domain of study and what the outcomes of the data analysis may be revealing.

The thesis takes an unequivocal position which advocates the advancement the learning and teaching environment to one which properly accommodates learning diversity in ways that would make the need for special conditions and reasonable adjustments to curriculum delivery and assessment for students with unseen differences or disabilities redundant.

Throughout the complete study programme, the research has been continuously published online through a suite of webpages which has served to diarize the project, to encourage me to view and review progress reflexively and as a sandbox for testing research processes and visualizing data outcomes. The project webpages are available at www.ad1281.uk where a complete copy of this thesis is also available.

 

Principal Sections

OVERVIEW, RESEARCH QUESTIONS and STANCE
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES - the literature review
RESEARCH DESIGN - the methodology and methods
ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION
CLOSING REFLECTIONS, REFERENCES and APPENDICES