‘Do I have to spell it out?’ Dyslexia, Lexism, and an object of comparison
Corresponding Author
Craig Collinson
Address for correspondence:
Dr Craig Collinson
Edge Hill University
St Helens Road
Ormskirk
Lancashire L39 4QP
UK
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Craig Collinson
Address for correspondence:
Dr Craig Collinson
Edge Hill University
St Helens Road
Ormskirk
Lancashire L39 4QP
UK
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
In this article I mount an attack on the problematic conceptions of literacy that lie behind the Standards and Testing Agency's 2015 Interim Teacher Assessment Frameworks at the End of Key Stage 2 and the Key Stage 2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Tests. I employ an object of comparison (a philosophical method), for attitudes towards literacy and dyslexics. I challenge current conceptions of the Othering of, and discrimination against, dyslexics. I argue for the concept of ‘Lexism’ as an alternative explanatory account for the existence of dyslexics.
References
- APA (American Psychiatric Association) (1952) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( 1st edition). Washington DC: APA.
- APA (American Psychiatric Association) (1969) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( 2nd edition). Washington DC: APA.
- APA (American Psychiatric Association) (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( 3rd edition). Washington DC: APA.
- Baker, G. (2004) Wittgenstein's Method: neglected aspects: essays on Wittgenstein. Oxford: Blackwell.
- A. K. Bowman & G Woolf, (eds) (1994) Literacy and Power in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Burch, S. (2001) ‘Reading between the signs: defending deaf culture in early-twentieth-century America’, in P. K. Longmore and L. Umansky (eds), The New Disability History: American perspectives. New York: New York University Press.
-
Collinson, C. (2012) ‘Dyslexics in time machines and alternate realities: thought experiments on the existence of dyslexics, “dyslexia” and “Lexism”,’ British Journal of Special Education, 39 (2), 63–70.
10.1111/j.1467-8578.2012.00538.x Google Scholar
-
Collinson, C. (2014) ‘“Lexism” and the temporal problem of defining “dyslexia”,’ in D. Bolt (ed.), Changing Social Attitudes Towards Disability: perspectives from historical, cultural and educational studies. Abingdon: Routledge.
10.4324/9781315849126-15 Google Scholar
- Collinson, C. & Penketh, C. (2010) ‘“Sit in the corner and don't eat the crayons”: postgraduates with dyslexia and the dominant “lexic” discourse’, Disability and Society 24 (7), 7–19.
- DfE (Department for Education) (2010) The Importance of Teaching. London: The Stationery Office.
- Draper, J. A. (2004) ‘Orality, literacy and colonialism in antiquity’, in J. A. Draper (ed.), Orality, Literacy, and Colonialism in Antiquity. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature.
- Edwards, R. A. R. (2001) ‘“Speech has an extraordinary humanizing power”: Horace Mann and the problem of nineteenth-century American deaf education’, in P. K. Longmore and L. Umansky (eds), The New Disability History: American perspectives. New York: New York University Press.
- Elliot, J. G. & Gibbs, S. (2008) ‘Does dyslexia exist?’, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42 (3–4), 475–491.
- Elliot, J. G. & Gibbs, S. (2012) ‘The dyslexia debate’, in P. Adey and J. Dillon (eds), Bad Education: debunking myths in education. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
- Gibbon, E. (1776) The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ( 1st edition), vol. 1. London: W. Straham and T. Cadell.
- Gove, M. (2011) Letter from Michael Gove MP to Glenys Stacey on GCSE reform, 27 June [online at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121204122045/http://www2.ofqual.gov.uk/downloads/category/132-correspondence].
- Grantham, T. (2016) ‘Dyslexia charities unite over teachers’ literacy test concerns’, Studying with Dyslexia Blog, 5 April [online at http://www.studyingwithdyslexiablog.co.uk/2016/04/dyslexia-charities-unite-over-teachers.html].
-
Harris, W. V. (1989) Ancient Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
10.4159/9780674038370 Google Scholar
- Heather, P. (1994) ‘Literacy and power in the migration period’, in A. K. Bowman and G. Woolf (eds), Literacy and Power in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- McLaughlin, T. H. (2005) ‘Philosophy and educational policy, possibilities, tensions and tasks’, in W. Carr (ed.), The Routledge Falmer Reader in Philosophy of Education. Abingdon: Routledge Falmer.
- Mayes, R. & Horwitz, A. V. (2005) ‘DSM-III and the revolution in the classification of mental illness’, Journal of the Behavioural Sciences, 41 (3), 249–267.
- Millender, E. G. (2001) ‘Spartan literacy revisited’, Classical Antiquity, 20 (1), 121–164.
- OfQual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) (2011b) ‘Consultation on GCSE reform’ [September]. Ofqual/11/5038.
- Pagden, A. (2001) Peoples and Empires: Europeans and the rest of the world from antiquity to the present. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- Petitions, UK Government and Parliament (2016) ‘Reinstate allowances regarding spelling for pupils with dyslexia’ [online at https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/124352].
-
Riddick, B. (2001) ‘Dyslexia and inclusion: time for a social model of disability perspective?’, International Studies in the Sociology of Education, 11, 223–236.
10.1080/09620210100200078 Google Scholar
- Ross, H. (2017) ‘An exploration of teachers’ agency and social relationships with dyslexia-support provision in an English secondary school’, British Journal of Special Education, 44 (2), 187–202.
- Schacht, T. E. (1985) ‘DSM-III and the politics of truth’, American Psychologist, 40 (5), 513–552.
- Scribner, S. & Cole, M. (1981) The Psychology of Literacy. London: Harvard University Press.
- Stacey, G. (2011a) Glenys Stacey correspondence with Rt Hon Michael Gove MP. Letter from Glenys Stacey to Michael Gove MP on GCSE spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG), 11 May [online at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121204122045/http://www2.ofqual.gov.uk/downloads/category/132-correspondence].
- Standards and Testing Agency (2014) Key Stage 2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Tests [online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-2-english-grammar-punctuation-and-spelling-test-framework].
- Standards and Testing Agency (2015) Interim Teacher Assessment Frameworks at the End of Key Stage 2 and the Key Stage 2 English and Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Tests [online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/interim-frameworks-for-teacher-assessment-at-the-end-of-key-stage-2].
- Standish, P. (2012) ‘“THIS is produced by a brain-process!” Wittgenstein, transparency and psychology today’, Journal of the Philosophy of Education, 46 (1), 60–72.
- Stanovich, K. E. (2005) ‘The future of a mistake: will discrepancy measurement continue to make the Learning Disabilities field a pseudo-science?’, Learning Disability Quarterly, 28 (Spring), 103–106.
- Winch, C. & Gingell, J. (2004) Philosophy and Educational Policy: a critical introduction. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Wittgenstein, L. (2009) Philosophical Investigations, the German Text, with Revised English Translation ( 4th edition), trans. G. E. M. Anscombe, rev. P. M. S. Hacker and J. Schulte. Oxford: Blackwell.