DYSLEXIA AND DYSGRAPHIA IN THE READING AND WRITING OF ENGLISH WORDS BY UPPER-PRIMARY PUPILS FROM SELECT SCHOOLS IN SABATIA SUB-COUNTY IN KENYA

Abstract

This study sought to investigate whether there was correlation between
reading impairment (dyslexia) and writing impairment (dysgraphia), and
whether function words would pose a greater challenge than content
words in both reading and writing in the English of a group of twentyfive upper-primary pupils (of the Sabatia Sub-county of Vihiga County,
Kenya) who experienced serious reading and writing difficulties. It
found that there was a high positive correlation between the subjects’
reading and writing (r = 0.79 at p<0.01, with df =23). However, contrary
to what had been hypothesized (based on the available literature on
language disorders), it found that the subjects’ performance on both
reading and writing function words was significantly better than that on
reading and writing content words (with calculated chi-square values of
45.62 for reading and of 30.46 for writing). Overall, the study’s results
show that when the target words were presented in a list (i.e. in
isolation), there was no statistical difference in the subjects’
performance on reading and that on writing, but when they were
presented in sentences (i.e. in context), the subjects did significantly
better on reading than on writing, both for content and function words.
However, in absolute terms they did poorly on both reading and writing,
well below a 50% correct-reading and correct-spelling rate.