PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' KNOWLEDGE AND

AWARENESS OF DYSLEXIA IN KUWAITI STUDENTS

D R . AMEL M ALADWANI
English Language Department
College of Basic Education
The Public Authority of Applied Education and Training

D R . SHAYE S . A L SHAYE
Curriculum and Instruction Department
College of Education
Kuwait University

This study investigated Kuwaiti primary school teachers' knowl-

edge and awareness of early signs of dyslexia among Kuwaiti
students. To achieve this purpose, a survey was developed to col-
lect data randomly from more than 700 particpants of primary
language teachers across Kuwait's six educational districts. The
results showed that the majority of teachers lack the training,
knowledge, and skills to diagnose the dyslexic students in their
classroom. The results take us a few steps forward in asking
about practical implications for practitioners, course designers,
and ministry of education policymakers, where dyslexia and
other learning disabilities are pressing & urgent issues for stu-
dents, teachers, and specialist support staff.
Key words: Dyslexia indicators, reading disabilities, reading dis-
orders, Kuwait intervention program, language teaching
methods.

Introduction er, its impact can change at different stages

For many years teachers have been con-
cemed about students who appear normal,
intelligent, and healthy, but struggle with
reading and learning to read and write,
These difficulties are identified under the
concept of dyslexia. In general, dyslexia is
a language-based learning disability; it
refers to a cluster of symptoms, which
result in people having difficulties with
specific language skills, particularly read-
ing. Students with dyslexia usually
experience difficulties with other language
skills such as spelling, writing, and pro-
nouncing words. Dyslexia affects
individuals throughout their lives; howev-
in a person's life. It is referred to as a leam-
ing disability because it can make it very
difficult for a student to succeed academ-
ically in the typical instructional
environment. (International Dyslexia Asso-
ciation, 2007)
Like many teachers in other countries,
Kuwaiti teachers are aware of this problem,
but lack of time, and being overloaded with
daily school routines and responsblities,
prevent them from helping and assessing
these children. On other hand,the Kuwait
Dyslexia Association (KDA) has con-
ducted a popular survey (2004) that
highlighted the alarming rate of dyslexia:

* This study was funded by the Public Authority of Applied Education and Training in Kuwait

499
500 / Education Vol. 132 No. 3
6.3% of students attending primary schools
in Kuwait. In response, a number of
actions have been initiated by the Ministry
of Education (MOE), which declared the
establishment of a "Dyslexia Higher Edu-
cation Committee" in 2005 to raise
awareness of dyslexia in mainstream
Kuwaiti schools. Also, it started a nation-
al initiative, "Dyslexia-Friendly Schools,"
in collaboration with the KDA and the
British Dyslexia Association in 10 schools
across Kuwait. (Elbeheri, 2008) Such
actions should have an impact, increasing
understanding and achievement in Kuwaiti
schools.
Therefore, this study intends to inves-
tigate Kuwaiti languge teachers' level of
knowledge and awareness of dyslexia in the
primary grades. A number of benefits were
expected as a result of this research, which
are as follows:
1. Students will get more help from their
teacher, and receive adequate assistance
as needed, if the teachers have appro-
priate knowledge and understanding of
the students' problems.
2. Teachers, viewing these results, will
compare their current knowledge of
dyslexia with accurate information from
the literature.
3. School administrators and educational
policymakers will benefit from these
results by being able to base their
actions on valid datateachers' actual
knowledge of dyslexiaand will also
try to asses their own current perception
of this learning difficulty. Also, they
will learn the right support school chil-
dren need, the various strengths and
weaknesses of interventions, and how
to encourage further professional inter-
ventions programs if required.
Statement of the problem
The research problem is guided by the
following three research questions:
1. Are teachers in Kuwaiti primary schools
trained to deal with students with
dyslexia?
2. Do teachers in Kuwaiti primary schools
have adequate knowledge and aware-
ness about the early signs of dyslexia?
3. Are there any mean differences between
teachers' training, knowledge, and
awareness level, and their ability to
diagnose symptoms of dyslexia, com-
pared with their demographic
backgound (gender, nationality,
educational degree, and teaching expe-
rience)?
Purpose of the study
This study investigates Kuwaiti prima-
ry school teachers' knowledge of the early
signs of dyslexia and their awareness level
of the related difficulties dyslexic children
suffer. It aims to collect solid data about to
what extent languge teachers have trained
on this learning disability, and whether lan-
guage teachers can diagnose and identify
the early symptoms of dyslexia among their
students.
Importatice of the Study
The justification for the present study
is related to both future practice and
research. It is anticipated that the findings
of this study will contributeespecially in
Kuwaitto the body of knowledge relat-
ed to teachers' knowledge and awareness
of dyslexic students, because it is the first
study in Kuwait examining primary school

teachers' knowledge and awareness level
of dyslexic students.
Recently, there have been increasingly
concerned calls from educators and par-
ents to assist and solve the challenges of
high numbers of slow learners and students
with learning problems in Kuwaiti public
schools . There are demands to diagnose
and develop programs to help slow learn-
ers and learners with disabilifies to cope in
Kuwaiti mainstream schools. (Kuwait
Dyslexia Association, 2002) Recent stud-
ies have demonstrated that intervention is
effective and that prevention of reading
failure is possible if preschool and school-
children at risk of dyslexia are identified
early and offered timely and evidence-
based training. For example. The
International Dyslexia Asssociafion (2009)
reports that about 13 to 14% of the school
population in the USA have a handicapping
condition that qualifies them for special
education. Of this population, one-half of
all the students who qualify for special
education are classified as having learn-
ing disabilities (LD) (6-7%). About 85%
of those LD students have a primary learn-
ing disability in reading and language
processing. Yet many more people, per-
haps as much as 15-20% of the population
as a whole, have some of the symptoms of
dyslexia. These symptoms include slow or
inaccurate reading, poor spelling, poor
writing, or mixing up similar words. (Bums
Hurst, 2011) Teachers play a critical role
in identifying and dealing with the first
signs of dyslexiaif they are aware of its
symptoms. (Spirou, 2008)
Meanwhile, in Kuwait, a 2004 survey
study conducted by the Kuwait Dyslexia
Association (KDA) highlighted the alarm-
Knowledge and Awareness... 7 501
ing prevalence of dyslexia in Kuwait: 6.3%
of the students attending primary school.
In 2005 the Kuwaiti Minister of Educafion
issued a Ministerial Decree for establish-
ing a Dyslexia Higher Educational
Committee to raise awareness of dyslexia
in mainstream Kuwaiti schools. (Elbeheri,
2008) The awareness campagin has had its
impacts; however, the effectiveness of the
campaign hasn't yet been evaluated.
The KDA's awareness campaign aimed
towards "dyslexic-friendly schools," in
other words to encourage schools to make
themselves more responsive to the needs
of dyslexic learners through educafing,
preparing, and evaluating teachers and par-
ents about dyslexia and efforts to be done
to help dyslexies. (Kuwait Dyslexia Mag-
azine, 2007; Center for Child Evaluafion
and Teaching, 2007 )
Hence, given the urgent and increasing
need for more extensive programs of inte-
grated literacy and reading programs
among the academic and therapeutic pro-
grams in schools, it is important to
determine whether teachers share the basic
information about dyslexia, and what
teachers' beliefs are about the essential
characteristic of the disorder. Also, it is
important to collect scientific data on the
intervention techniques teachers think
might benefit young learners with dyslex-
ia.
Definitions of the study
Dyslexia: refers to a cluster of symp-
toms that result in people having difficulties
with specific language skills, particularly
reading. Students with dyslexia usually
experience difficulty with other language
skills such as spelling, writing, and pro-
502 / Education Vol. 132 No. 3
nouncing words. Dyslexia affects individ-
uals throughout their lives; however, its
impact can change at different stages.
It is referred to as a learning disability
because dyslexia can make it very diffi-
cult for a student to succeed academically
in the typical instructional environment,
and in its more severe forms will qualify
a student for special education, special
accommodations, or extra support services.
(The International Dyeslexia Association,
2009)
Literature Review
Most educational experts believe that
reading ability is the focal point for suc-
cess in any educational system, and
learning to read is one of the most impor-
tant events in a child's school career.
(Anderson et al., 1985) In Kuwait, like
other countries, reading is one of the basic
skills required in the study of language,
whether a native or foreign languge. In the
Ministry of Education's 2005 report, it
noted:
Reading is the most basic skill of all
academic pursuits because all other
content achievement depends on the
ability to read and comprehend the
materials presented. In the early
grades, early mastery of the skills
necessary to unlock written language
and of the strategies to translate that
language into meaningful concepts
is essential to success. (Ministry of
Education, 2005; p. 5)
Moreover, in Kuwait the National Docu-
ment for English Language requires that
"At each grade level, students are expect-
ed to read and use information from grade
level materials. In the ninth and twelfth
grade benchmarks, higher levels of criti-
cal thinking, problem solving, analysis and
synthesis are applied. Students are expect-
ed to practice communication as skillful
listeners and proficient speakers." (Min-
istry of Education, 2010)
A primary focus of recent research in
education has been the prevention of read-
ing problems in students' school careers.
(Torgesen, 1999; Saher & Albazzaz, 2006;
Arnold, 2009; Nellenbach, 2010) Because
reading is a linguistic function, reading
disorders can affect all aspects of linguis-
tic ability, including oral language, writing,
and listening skills, as well as the mani-
festations of a language disorder over time
(Beringer & Abbot, 2002).
A child who has difficulty reading is
likely to experience academic failure as a
result of diffculty in all academic subjects,
and this is due to the importance of read-
ing to most aspects of academic curricula.
(Davis, 2010) As a result, a child with a
reading disability will fall further and fur-
ther behind his/ her typically-developing
peers due to the pervasive nature of his/
her disorder. During the early primary
school years, the synergistic relationship
between reading, writing, and spoken lan-
guage is more evident than during the
pre-school years. For a child, entering the
primary stage is a critical transition and
challeging period in the process of lan-
guage acquistion. Prior to kindergarden,
most children take part in literacy skills
without serious assesment, unlike a pri-
mary-stage learner who has continuous
assesments and follow-up exams through
the year, in the formal styles of language.

which is the language of academics or cog-
nitive academic language proficiency
(CALP) (Westby, 2005).
In addition, a child who has proficient
basic interpersonal communication skills
(BICS) for example, might develop a lan-
guage proficiency (CALP) that is required
in academic environments. Or a child with
a specific language impairment as a
preschooler might manifest a different
learning disability, such as dyslexia or
attention deficit disorder, once he is
exposed to the academic demands of read-
ing and writing. (Wallach & Ehren, 2004)
An awareness of language develops as chil-
dren become aware of language and its
function and develop a conscious aware-
ness of language benefits into daily life.
Bashir and Heerde (1998) noted that
for children beginning their formal edu-
cation reading is either a tool for acquiring
and using knowledge or an obstacle to
learning. Educators have struggled with
the problem of school children who appear
normal intellectually, yet fail to gain com-
miserate reading skills. A subcategory of
these students with reading failure (often
referred to as Dyslexia or Specific Read-
ing Disabled) consists of children who:
a) had adequate instruction,
b) are normal learners in other subject
areas,
c) have no identifiable adverse envi-
ronmental influences,
d) demonstrate no emotional distur-
bance, and
e) posses normal vision and hearing
(U.S.A. Department of Education,
2004).
Knowledge and Awareness... /503
Recent research has documented evi-
dence of a phonological impairment in
children with dyslexia. (Marshall et al.,
2001) Children with dyslexia have diffi-
culty with tasks that rely on processing
that uses phonological awareness, which is
an "awareness of, and the ability to manip-
ulate, the phonological segments
represented in an alphabetic orthography."
(Blachman, 1994) These tasks are associ-
ated with the development of reading skills
of repeating real words and nonsense words
(Abad, 2006); verbal short- term memory
(Witruk & Shuster, 2002); and metalin-
guistic tasks involving phoneme awareness
and segmentation (Snowling, 2000). These
lines of research have led to a general
acceptance of the assumption that the core
problem in dyslexia is best described as
phonological deficit. (Alliender et al.,
2001) Others described dyslexia as a spe-
cific reading disorder that can found in
fifteen to twenty percent of the world's
population as identified by the Interna-
tional Dyslexia Association (Faught, 2005).
In the last ten years dyslexia has been
moved from a hidden disability to one that
is aknowleged in academic, intellectual,
and professsional fields through advances
in genetic and psychological research. And
while recent research into developmental
dyslexia has led to a greater understanding
of its neurological and cognitive bases
(Snowling, 2000; Firt, 1997), practition-
ers have asked for a more comprehensive
description of dyslexia. In other words,
these different labels suggest that singular
language disorder might be represented by
different names.
504 / Education Vol. 132 No. 3
A recent study showed that poor Ara-
bic readers show weak phonological
decoding and low levels of phonological
awamess in comparison to matched normal
readers. This pattern of inter-relationship
between literacy and phonological aware-
ness is consistent with conclusions derived
from English speaking cohorts. (Elbeheri
& Everatt, 2009) Throughout the literature
concerning reading proficiency and dis-
ablities, a number of recurring themes
appear. These include the lack of an agreed-
upon a definition of dyslexia among
professionals, the importance of phono-
logical awareness in language acquition
and mastery of literacy, the role of teach-
ers in the identification and treatment of
dyslexia, and the evolving role of teachers
in discovering and tracking the treatment
of reading disorders.
Determing who is at-risk for dyslexia
is complicated by the fact that the term
dyslexia has been confusing and misun-
derstood. Some researchers assert that one
of the most defining characterisic of the
dyslexic learner is his/ her tendency to
reverse letters. Catts and Kamhi (2005)
note that despite a lack of evidence sup-
porting this notionespecially when a
child acquires two languages together at the
same time, they commonly reverse letters-
-it seems that teachers, among others, still
rely on this attribute to describe dyslexia.
That definition presents two chief charac-
teristics of dyslexia that are frequently
addressed, which are the deficit in word
recognition, and the lack of phonological
awareness.
However, there is a unique characteris-
tic of Kuwaiti learners, which is that they
are learning two languages (English and
Arabic) together from first grade, and both
languages are completely different from
each other. This factor adds another dimen-
sion to the teachers' responsibilities to
diagnose the symptoms: Are these symp-
toms and letter-reversals related to the
child's having dyslexia, or should they be
considered a developmental error, and can
the learner experience this error and over-
come it with a teacher's constant
corrections?
A teacher's preparation and awareness
level plays a significant role in identifying
the early signs of dyslexia. The importance
of the learner's phonological awareness in
the acquisition and mastery of literacy, the
role of teachers' prepration program in the
students' identification, teachers' role in
participation in screening of dyslexic stu-
dents, the assessment phases of language
teachers in the primary stage in Kuwait
public schools, the teachers' support in
many ways for dyslexic children to teach
them reading by using multi-sensory meth-
ods, using computer-based applications
that include animated characters and text-
to-speech (TTS) technology, all these
methods are important in helping dyslex-
ic learners.
The study evaluated the teachers'
knowledge, awareness level, and possiple
ways to diagnose learning disabilities.The
emergentfindingshighlight the importance
of imparting knowledge and providing ade-
quate technical skills for teachers to cope
with dyslexia and dyslexia tendencies in
Kuwaiti public schools.
 Knowledge and Awareness... / 505

Method
This section is divided into the follow-
ing parts: (a) research hypotheses; (b) a
description of the participants; (c) instru-
mentation for the study, including a
description of the independent and depen-
dent variables; (d) data collection; and (e)
data analysis.
Research hypotheses
HI- Teachers in Kuwaiti primary
schools are trained to deal with students
with dyslexia.
H2- Teachers in Kuwaiti primary
schools have adequate knowledge and
awareness about the early signs of
dyslexia.
H3- There are mean differences
between teachers' training, knowledge,
and awareness levels, and their ability
to diagnose symptoms of dyslexia,
compared with their demographic back-
gound (gender, nationality, educational
degree, and teaching experience).
Table 1
Participants
The population of this study was all
English and Arabic language teachers in
primary schools (700 teachers), who work
across Kuwait's six educational districts.
The sample size of the study was 75 teach-
ers, and they were divided based on gender,
educational degree, nationality, and teach-
ing experience (see table 1).
Instrumentation for the Study
Data were collected through the use of
a survey administered to the participants.
The survey questionnaire was developed
after reviewing several studies that com-
pleted a survey of teachers' knowledge and
awareness of dyslexia. (Davis,. 2005;
Towler,. 2006; Scott, 2005; Spirou; 2008;
Regan & Woods, 2000) Regan and Woods
(2000) have completed a survey of teach-
ers' awareness of dyslexia from the
perspective of the educational psygholo-
gist, not educational linguistics. The survey
consisted of the following parts:
1- Independent variable: the independent
variable includes personal information
(demographic background) such as

Sample Demographic Background

Variable Type Frequencies
Gender Male 30 40
Female 45 60
Educational degree Diploma 20 27
University 40 52
Higher education 15 21
Nationality Kuwaiti 30 40
Non Kuwaiti 45 60
Teaching experience Less than 1 year 19 25.4
1 to 5 years 28 37.3
5 to 10 years 28 37.3
506 7 Education Vol. 132 No. 3
teachers' gender, nationality, educa-
fional degree; and teaching experience.
2- Dependent variables: there are three
dependent variables:
a- Teacher prepration: examined the
level of preparation teachers have in
dealing with dyslexic students and
learning difficulties, which includes
(11) items.
b- Teacher knowledge and awareness:
examined the degree of knowledge
and awareness teachers have about
dyslixia, which includes (4) items ;
and
c- Teacher Diagnouses: examin the
teacher's ability to diagnose and dis-
cover the symptoms of Dyslexic
students, which includes (10) items.
Validity. To ensure the validity of this
instrument, the questionnaire was trans-
lated into Arabic. A panel of professors
from the department of English language
in the College of Basic Educafion and Col-
lege of Educafion in Kuwait University
reviewed the instruments. They suggested
minor changes to some items in the Ara-
bic questionnaire, and it was approved after
Table 2
Descriptive Statistics and Reliability Coefficients of
Variable Reliability Coefficients (r)
Teacher Preparation
Teacher Knowledge & Awareness
Teacher Diagnoses
Total Alpha =
amendment.
Reliability. Measuring the reliability
of the instrument of the study showed that
the Cronback's alpha rehability coefficient
(see table 2) of the whole measure was
fairly high (alpha=0.90 ). It seems clear,
therefore, that the measure assessed the
variables on interest with high levels of
internal consistency. (Pedhazur &
Schmelkin, 1991)
Data Collection
Since the sample of this study selected
language teachers randomly across
Kuwait's six educational districts, advance
arrangements were made prior to the ques-
fionnare's distribufion. The Department of
Research Affairs in the Ministry of Edu-
cation in Kuwait (MOE) released
permission letter for each school; likewise,
each of the 6 educafional distrticts were
contacted individually. The educafional
districts randomly assigned two schools;
one taught by male teachers and the other
taught by female teachers. A total of 12
schools particpated.
Through the help of the language
department of each school, the researchers
.91
.89
.89
.90

with their assistants were given 15 min-
utes at the beginning of each department
meeting to implement the study question-
naires. The researchers or their assistants
explained the purpose of the study. Par-
ticipants were asked not to put their names
or any personal information such as phone
number or their addresses to guarantee and
maintain their confidentiality.
Data Analysis
In order to create a data file for analy-
sis, a coding system was designed based
on the questionnaire items and response
categories. Each question and measured
item formed a variable, and each response
category within the variable was defined
and assigned a numeric value. For the pur-
pose of this study, each variable was coded
according to its appearance in the instru-
ment. Following data collection, an
identification number was assigned to each
questionnaire in order to keep track of each
case and to check the accuracy of the data.
Responses were analysed using the statis-
tical package for social sciences version
11.0, Microsoft Windows.
Based on the research questions and
hypotheses, two data analysis procedures
were conducted:
1- Descriptive statistics: including fre-
quencies, percentages, means. This data
was used to describe the primary
responses to questionnaire.
2- ANOVA Analysis (using one-way
ANOVA) was performed to compare
the study variables means and the sig-
nificant levels.
Knowledge and Awareness... / 507
Results
This study investigated Kuwaiti prima-
ry school teachers' knowledge and
awareness of dyslexia, and their awareness
of the related difficulties dyslexic children
suffer, to collect solid data about the extent
that languge teachers have trained on this
subject, and can diagnose and identify the
early symptoms of dyslexia among their
students.
Research Question 1
Question one concerned whether teach-
ers in Kuwaiti primary schools are trained
to deal with students with dyslexia or not.
The results are shown in Table 3, which
shows that language teachers in general,
regardless of their nationalies or their year
of experience, have a very low level of
preparation and training in teaching chil-
dren with dyslexia, either on the personal
or institutional level, and in language
preparation programs. For example, almost
one third of the teachers had never read
any book about dyslexia, while another
third of the sample just read once about
dyslexia. Only 5% of the sample had read
more than 4 times. Moreover, there were
(19.9 %) of the sample who never
researched either in the library or in the
internet about dyslexia. On the other hand,
when teachers were asked about their insti-
tutional preparation, there was (37.1%)
who had never taken any general or spe-
cific preparation workshop, while only
(19%) had taken more than 4 workshops
in teaching language since they've started
teaching. In addition, the results suggest-
ed that almost 68% of the teachers attended
two workshops or less about students'
508 7 Education Vol. 132 No. 3

learning difficulties, while only 15%
attended more than 4 workshops. Mean-
while, when teachers were asked if they
attend any workshops conducted about
dyslexia in the Ministry of Education, 45%
reported never having taken or having taken
only one workshop. Moreover, (38.2%) of
teachers either never or taken only one
workshop run by the Kuwait Child Eval-
uafion Center (a nonprofit organization for
students with LD). More than third (31%)
of language teachers have attended three
or more workshops at the Kuwait Child
Evaluation Center. When teachers were
asked if they attended workshops run by
the Kuwaiti Dyslexia Society, as seen in
table (3), those who never attended any
workshop were (13.3%), while, those who
attended only one workshop represent
almost one fifth of the sample (21.9%),
meanwhile, only (8.3%) attended more
than 4 workshops in Kuwaiti Dyslexia
Society.

Table 3
Distribution of teacher's training & appropriate Preparation to identify Dyslexic learners and
Learning Difjiculties.
No Item More than4

Have you attend any Workshops about

teaching Language?

Have you attend any Workshops about

students learning difficulties?

Have you attend any workshops about low

achievers students?
Have you attend any Workshops conducted
about dyslexia in the Ministry of Education
(MOE)?

Have you attend any Workshop conducted

by Kuwait Child Evaluation Center in
"Alsurra" area?

Have you attend any workshop conducted

by Kuwaiti Dyslexia Society?
Workshops with Kuwaiti Teachers' Society

Have you attend any workshop about

dyslexia in any Centers around the world ?

Have you Read any books about dyslexia

10 Have you research anything about dyslexia

from the world wide web?

In addition, the case was simmilar when
when teachers were asked about taking
training workshops in the Teachers' Soci-
ety. There were (15%) of teachers who
never attended any training, while only
(6.6%) took more than 4 training work-
shops there.
Research Question 2
Question two concerned whether or not
teachers in Kuwaiti primary schools have
adequate knowledge and awareness about
dyslexia (4).
As shown in table (4), the teachers lack
knowledge and show a low awareness level
of the early signs of dyslexia. Only 6.9%
reported having a high level of knowledg
about language disorders in language
acquistion. Meanwhile, reading skill is
considered one of the basic skills of lan-
guage acquistion especially for primary
stage learners. Langauge teachers in
Kuwait Public schools reported weak or
acceptable levels of reading skills, while
Table 4
Distribution of respondents according to their Knowledge & Awareness level of Dyslexia
Knowledge and Awareness... /509
almost third of them (29.6%) had an
acceptable level in the reading skill. Only
1.7 % of the sample reported having a very
good level of reading skill by looking to
question #14 that considers one of the basic
indicators of a dyslexic learner, reversing
letters, almost a fourth of the paricpants (
25%) indicated they have a weak knowl-
edge about this problem. Only 14% of the
study participants had an adequate and
good knowledge about this problem for
dyslexic students.
Research Question 3
The third question was concerned with
whether there are any mean differences
between teachers' training, knowledge, and
awareness level, and their ability to diag-
nose dyslexia symptoms, compared with
their demographic backgound. The results
are shown in tables (5-6).
This question was answered by using
both t-test for gender, and One Way
ANOVA test or other demographic vari-
510 / Education Vol. 132 No. 3

Table 5
Means and Standard Deviation for Teachers Preparation, A wareness and Diagnosing
Symptoms of Dyslexia by Gender
Variable Category Mean SD. Sig

Preparation Male 10.13 7.25 .796 .148

Female 9.71 6.68

Awareness Male 13.57 4.34 -.476 .820

Female 13.74 4.45

Diagnosing of Male 25.66 6.35 -1.71 .221

Symptoms "emale 26.68 8.59

Table 6
One-way ANO VA of mean differences of teachers ' Dyslexia awarness levet and their
Nationality.teaching experiene, and educational degree:
Variable Category Mean SD. f SIG
Nationality Category (Nationality')
Preparation Kuwaitis 11.07 8.13 2.20 .087
Egyptians 9.411 6.52
Mediterraneans 10.44 6.52
North Africans 10.77 6.8.55

Awareness Kuwaitis 13.23 5.30 5.839 001**

Egyptians 13.35 4.08
Mediterraneans 15.20 4.92
North Africans 14.61 3.22

Diagnosing of Symptoms Knwaitis 26.13 10.89 1.69 .167

Egyptians 25.94 6.12
Mediterraneans 27.87 11.13
North Africans 26.25 7.74
Category (Edcationai degree) Mean SD. f SIG
Edcationai degree
Preparation Deploma 13.1 6.6 1.8 .002*
Bachlor 11.2 7.6
Graduate 12.3 7.2

Awareness Deploma 13.8 5.3 1.2 .208

Bachlor 13.5 4.2
Graduate 14.6 5.1

Deploma 22.6 10.4 1.027 .424

Diagnosing of Symptoms Bachlor 23.2 12.4
Graduate 23.87 12.3

Educational experience Category (Educational experience) Mean SD. f SIG

Preparation Less than 2 Yrs 10.6 7.5 1.7 .002*
2-5 12.2 7.8
6-10 12.7 7.5
11-15 13.1 5.0
More than 15 10.8 4.1

Awareness Less than 2 Yrs 13.1 4J 2.2 .002**

2-5 13.10 4.9
6-10 14.2 3.4
11-15 14.8 3.5
More than 15 13.2 3.8

Less than 2 Yrs 22.20 11.3 1.8 .000* *

Diagnosing of Symptoms 2-5 23.94 11.9
6-10 25.07 12.01
11-15 27.6 I2.lt
More than 15 25.80 11.98

ables (gender, nationality, educational
degree, and teaching experience). In table
(5) findings revealed that there were no
statistical significant differences between
male and female language teachers in the
three sub-scales. In Preparation, although
male teachers have higher means in term
of preparation (M= 10.13) compared with
female teachers (M= 9.71), such differ-
ences have no statistical significance
(t=.796, P>.148). Meanwhile, both gen-
ders showed no statistical differences in
the level of Awareness. Male teachers' lev-
els of Awareness were almost simular
(M=13.57) with the means of female teach-
ers (M=13.74); still, these mean differences
have no statistical significance (t=-.476,
P>.820). In addition, regarding their abil-
ity to Diagnose the Symptoms of dyslexia,
findings suggest no statistical significance
between male (M=25.66) and female
(M=26.68) teachers (t=-.1.7I, P>.221) (See
table (5).
Question three also tried to see if there
were any significant differences between
teachers on the three sub-scales (Prepara-
tion, Awareness, and Diagnosing of
Symptoms) based on their nationalities,
year of experience, and teacher degree lev-
els. A One Way ANOVA test was
conducted to obtain the results. The find-
ings suggest that there was a significant
mean difference only on the Awareness
sub-scale. Teachers who are originally
Mediterraneans showed higher means
(M=15.20), compared with all other
nationalities, especially Kuwaiti teachers
(M=13.23); these differences were statis-
tically significant (F= 5.839, P>.001*). All
other sub-scales showed no statistical dif-
ferences by their nationalities (See table
Knowledge and Awareness... / 511
6). For educational degree,teachers with
graduate level showed the highest means
of prepration of dyslexia (M= 12.3, F. 7.2)
with a significant level of (p<..002).All
other sub scales showed no significant
mean differences when it comes to educa-
tional level of teachers. Meanwhile, year
of experience was found to have a signif-
icant mean differences between teachers
in their prepration, awareness, and their
ability to diagnose dyslexia symptoms.
Teachers whoes experience were from 11
to 15 years showed the highest and sig-
nificant means in the three sub- scales. In
preprations this group (11-15) showed a
mean of (13.1, F= 1.7) (p<.002). While,
for the awareness level, the same experi-
enced group showed the highest mean
compared with other (M.14.8, F-
2.2),(p<.002). Finally, those teachers
whose experience lasted from 10 to 15
years, also showed the highest mean com-
pare with other experienced group, (M=
27.6, F= 1.8) (p<.000).( see table 6).
Discussion
The purpose of the present study was
to examine Kuwait primary school teach-
ers' level of knowledge about dyslexia.
Despite the current calls and efforts from
the Ministry of Education & local interest
organizations to raise the public and school
awareness for this learning disability, the
study's statistical findings report that a
majority of Kuwaiti Language teachers
lack training, knowledge, and skills to diag-
nose the dyslexic learners in their
classrooms.
In term of gender differences, their
awareness and their abilities to diagnose the
symptoms of dyslexia contradict the find-
512 / Education Vol. 132 No. 3
ings of Al-Sharaa and Al-Bakir (2000)
who showed that the female teachers were
better than male teachers in dealing with
underachievers. Indeed, Saban (2003)
reported that a significant difference exists
between male and female prospective ele-
mentary school teachers' preconceptions
of the teaching profession. In term of
teachers' nationalities, only Mediterranean
teachers showed a higher level of aware-
ness compared to other teachers'
nationalties. These teachers are from Jor-
dan, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon,
countries known for their adequate prepa-
ration for teachers, especially linguistically.
In addition, a country like Jordan, from
which many language teachers come, has
many institutes recognized for their con-
tribution to the dyslexia campaign. This is
in contrast to Kuwait, which has only two
educational institutes for teachers' prepa-
ration: College of Education at Kuwait
University and the College of Basic Edu-
cation at the Public Authority for Applied
Education and Training. At both institutes,
students need to complete four years in
order to gain a bachelor's degree. Both
institutes prepare teachers for all stages
(kindergarten, elementary, intermediate,
and secondary school). Without a com-
pulsory general course about students with
learning disabilities, only those in the pecial
education program (S. Ed) in the College
of Basic Education are prepared to teach
such students, and only in schools for the
disabled.
The major findings of the current study
show that language teachers in Kuwait,
regardless of their nationalities or their
years of experience, have had a very low
level of awareness and training either on a
personal or institutional level. This result
contrasts with other reports in Kuwait,
which indicated that the MOE & other local
organizations such as the UNDP Report &
the Centre for Child Evaluation have con-
tributed succesfully to the dyslexia
awareness campaign; saying, for example:
" .. List of achievements is outstand-
ing, notably the success of the vigorous
awareness campaign,,," (Elbeheri, 2008,
P-2).
Another finding showed that the years
of experience have significant differences
in the teacher preparation level, awareness,
and Dyslexia diagnosis. This result raised
another question mark about the role of
higher education institutes programs
(school of Education in Kuwait Universi-
ty & the College of Basic Education in the
Public Authority of Applied Education) in
providing adequate preparation of current
Learning problems among Public schools
learners.
These results open our minds as edu-
cators, teachers, and specialists support
groups, and take us forward in asking what
are the practical implications for practi-
tioners and course designers. Dyslexia is
known but hardly diagnosed by the front-
line educators of those fresh minds and
young learners in primary school. These
issues are pressing and urgent, and need
practical actions from all educators in the
system. Several factors contributed to the
findings. We can attribute some to poor
teaching preparation programs. Other fac-
tors include the Kuwait educational routine
and schools' ethos in the Ministry of Edu-
cation. As reported by Alsahil (2005), most
of the teachers feel that they have to con-
form to a narrow routine in which they are

not able to develop themselves and their
styles of teaching. An addifional factor is
the teachers' evaluation system, which
emphasizes administrative issues rather
than teaching activities (Al-Hamdan,
1998). Other studies have shown an addi-
tional factor to be teachers' attitudes and
their dedication to the teaching career.
Teachers in Kuwait are overloaded with
many duties away from adapfing to new
methods or attending workshops or con-
ferences to update their knowledge and
abihty to cope and overcome daily school
problems.
According to Al-Kandary et al. (1995),
Kuwaiti teachers are suffering from the
following problems:
1- Weakness in the sense of feelings of
belonging to their vocafion.
2- Passiveness in pardcipadon in school
development and the teaching process.
3- A low prestige value given by
Kuwaiti society to teachers, particular-
ly at elementary school.
4- The complexity of preparing teach-
ers resources for one stage (e.g.
elementary stage).
5- The promotion system whereby
teachers need to wait a very long time
to obtain an upgrade.
Other factors contribute to the low level
of awareness, knowledge, and preparation
such as teaching experiences, gender, social
background, and low job satisfacdon when
they make judgments about students.
(Saban, 2003; Zhang and Stembeg, 2002)
Other research has shown still more influ-
ences, namely the region in which the
school is located, the characterisdcs of the
students, the subjects, and general devel-
opments in society, all of which
Knowledge and Awareness... 7 513
significantly correlate with teachers' con-
ception of teaching (Vries and Beijaard,
1999).
Additionally, teaching a large class is
very common in Kuwaiti public schools,
where one language teacher is teaching a
huge number of students, such that they
can hardly find time to tackle reading or
writing problems among their students.
Therefore enhancing and facilitating tech-
nology use in these cases is important.
Many reading CD programs can provide
valuable support to reading-aid applica-
dons, that students can be aware of their
phonemic representations (Phonemic
awareness is the awareness that spoken
language consists of a sequence of
phonemes). They can learn reading and
spelling by stressing symbol-sound rela-
donships (in alphabedc orthographies, for
example: the symbol m is used to represent
the italicized sounds in the following
words: ham, jump, my) (Odegard, et al.,
2009).
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education
has tackled the dyslexia problem and taken
steps, but according to the results of this
study, it hasn't been able to successfully
overcome the above impediments. More
acdons should be taken to face them, such
as:
- Introducing compulsory courses or
workshops for newcomers on students
with learning disabilides.
- Designing a national awareness project
for in-service teachers to impart knowl-
edge about Dyslexia by providing them
with training in technical skills about
this problem, and update them with new
methods.
- Also, increase awareness in the gener-
514/Education Vol. 132 No. 3
al population about this particular leam-
ing disability and the nature of
associated literacy problems.
- Special arrangments should be con-
ducted with the two educational
institutes in Kuwait (College of Basic
Education in PAAET and College of
Education at Kuwait University) to
arrange an introductory compulsory
course for all student teachers, about
teaching students with learning dis-
abilities.
- Consider minimizing the teachers'
schedule, especially in overcrowded
schools, and reducing their administra-
tive duties, while requiring the
development of innovative teaching
activities and fulfilhng their students'
needs.
- Consulting Pathologists and language
specialists more in the school climate
and solving learners with disabilities.
Such actions can foster an environment
for creating and maintaining high levels
of self-efficacy in teachers, who can then
structure innovative teaching practices, tak-
ing into account each learner's motivation
and responding to children with reading
difficulties, and including them in the class-
room climate. Effective teaching is a
continual learning process and each school
year brings changes to which competent
teachers must adapt (Stronge, Tucker,
Hindman, 2008).
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