The Effect of Spelling Errors on Written Text Production: the Case of Students with Dyslexia in Secondary Education in the Area of Pella, Greece

Abstract

This study had the purpose of researching and comparing the spelling errors made by students with learning disabilities, as well as by those without them. More specifically, it is investigated whether these errors affect the production of handwritten texts, how easily and quickly they are produced and generally the image of the written text from a grammatical and syntactic point of view. In order to monitor and evaluate the above questions, we used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research. Initially, qualitative research was conducted through individual examination which included an analysis of three different kinds of students' written samples. In a second phase, the same participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire with closed questions mainly.The results demonstrated significant difficulties for students with learning difficulties, concerning the type and the number of spelling errors in a written text. These difficulties are related to their handwritten skills, visual processing of the text, issues related to the coherence and the image of the writing, the structure and organization of the strategies they use to reduce their spelling mistakes and the shortcomings in the way of being taught in school. This paper will focus on the outcomes of qualitative research.