Experiences of Primary School with Students with Reading and Writing Difficulties

This study aims to examine in-depth the practices and the problems of primary school teachers in identifying and eliminating reading and writing difficulties. The current study employed phenomenology method, one of the qualitative research designs and the data of the study were collected through observation and interview techniques. Criterion sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods was utilized in determining study group. Six primary school teachers were selected in accordance with the determined criteria to collect the interview data. To collect observation data, 3 primary schools were selected and a total of 16 hours of observation was made. According to the findings, most of the teachers did not receive education about identifying students with reading and writing difficulties, conducting studies with these students, and preparing materials, activities, and etc. suitable for them. Moreover, primary school teachers expressed that although there were some disadvantages of inclusive education, students with reading and writing difficulties should continue their education in inclusive classes. However, the necessity of providing supplementary support to these students in addition to inclusive education was frequently emphasized. When the practices of primary school teachers with students having reading and writing difficulty were examined, it was observed that they generally used letter/syllable trinkets, gamification, letter cards, individual syllable work, memorization assignments, dictation work, story reading, drama and colored syllables. On the other hand, it was determined that methods, techniques or strategies that stated to be effective in the literature were either used very little or not at all in classrooms.