Enhancing intermediate dyslexic learners' literacy skills: A Free State community project

This empirical paper argues that intermediate dyslexic learners' literacy skills can be enhanced through a community-based service learning project. Hence, this research is grounded and positioned within Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory and the theories of experiential education, as described by Dewey and Kolb. In collaboration with eight postgraduate students in support teaching, this study developed a literacy intervention programme for intermediate dyslexic learners and implemented this programme for a period of nine months, at a special school for learning-impaired learners in the Free State province of South Africa. The literacy intervention programme was based on Ron Davis' learning strategies, ie a multi-sensory programme focusing on visual, kinaesthetic and cognitive development strategies by using dyslexic learners' creativity. It was hypothesised that the reading and spelling performance of intermediate dyslexic learners in the experimental group (N=18) would be significantly better than that of intermediate dyslexic learners in the control group (N=18) who were not exposed to the literacy intervention programme. Positive outcome goals of this community-based service learning project included the development of positive attitudes towards community engagement, students realising their social responsibility, the gaining of insights into and understanding of social and educational issues, and finally the opportunity to develop lifelong learning and problem-solving skills.