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Beyond Four Dyslexia Paradigms BEYOND FOUR DYSLEXIA PARADIGMS: AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON DYSLEXIA AND EMANCIPATORY INTERVENTION ON SELF-CONCEPT By Antonio Giuseppe Farruggia-Bochnak A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Education The University of Birmingham August 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Antonio Giuseppe Farruggia-Bochnak The University of Birmingham, 2016 Beyond Four Dyslexia Paradigms: An Alternative Perspective On Dyslexia And Emancipatory Intervention On Self-Concept This study postulates that there are currently four main dyslexia paradigms. In descending order of dominance in the literature on dyslexia, these paradigms are: a) the Positivist- Intrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm (P-I-D-Paradigm), which reflects positivist studies on dyslexia that hold the etiological view that dyslexia exists intrinsically to the individual (i.e. of constitutional origin), b) the Interpretivist-Intrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm (I-I-D- Paradigm), which reflects interpretivist studies on dyslexia that also hold the etiological view that dyslexia exists intrinsically to the individual (i.e. of constitutional origin), c) the Positivist-Extrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm (P-E-D-Paradigm), which reflects studies on dyslexia that hold the etiological view that dyslexia exists extrinsically to the individual (i.e. not of constitutional origin), and, d) the Interpretivist-Extrinsic-Dyslexia-Paradigm (I-E-D-Paradigm), which reflects studies on dyslexia that also hold the etiological view that dyslexia exists extrinsically to the individual (i.e. not of constitutional origin). This study moves beyond the four main dyslexia paradigms by combining elements of the I-E-D-Paradigm with elements of the ideological underpinnings of Burrell and Morgan's (1979) sociological Radical Humanist Paradigm, thus creating a Radical I-E-D- Paradigm from which to conduct the present study. From the position of a Radical I-E-D-Paradigm this study develops an alternative perspective on dyslexia, i.e., a non-constitutional perspective on dyslexia (N-C-PoD), and, emancipatory intervention aimed at assisting 'dyslexic' students to explore their perceptions of dyslexia. This study explores the influence that the N-C-PoD and emancipatory intervention has on the descriptions of dyslexia, in relation to self-concept, of two 'dyslexic' students studying in tertiary education. DEDICATION To my parents Calogero Farruggia and Marie Elizabeth Farruggia. To my children Marie-Elizabeth Farruggia, Calogero Antonio Farruggia, Jessica Ellen Farruggia, Valentina Marianna Farruggia-Bochnak; and to my granddaughter Isabella Alice Farruggia. To my wife Malgorzata Ewa Farruggia-Bochnak. And, To the memory of two fellow dyslexic travellers: Paul Anthony Reid 1965-2005 and Carol Shand 1963-2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to my first two supervisors Dr. Paul Timmins and Andrew Simpson, senior lecturer in Community and Youth Work Studies, for their support during the first six years of this study, to my third supervisor Professor Deirdre Martin for helping me to shape my ideas and thinking. To my current supervisors, Sue Morris, Director of Professional Training in Educational Psychology, University of Birmingham, and Dr. Liz Hodges, for their support and encouragement. Thank you to my examiners, Dr. Pollak, Dr. Yeomans, and Dr. Squires. I would also like to express my appreciation to Helen Joinson for her patience, support and advice from start to finish of this study. My thanks go to all of the dyslexic young people who I spoke to in preparation for this study, to the youth workers who assisted me with the pilot intervention, and, the two students who participated in the intervention; without their contribution this research would not have been possible. I would also like to express my gratitude to Prof. David Jenkins and to Stuart Handson for igniting my interest in research; to Dr. Michael Gardner and Professor Jonathan Burnside for their invaluable input. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Barbara Pavey for her advice regarding some of the literature used within this thesis. I would also like to express my gratitude to my cousin Antonio, zia Marianna and zio Giuseppe Farruggia for keeping me amused. And, a special thank you to Frank O’Sullivan, Laura Page, Lee Page, Tom Leacy and Karl Hitchins from Birmingham City ABC for their support and encouragement over the years. To my mother Marie Elizabeth Farruggia for supporting me during early drafts of this thesis. To Janet Hughes and Geoffrey Kilner for their support and encouragement during the final stages of writing this thesis. Finally, my special thanks go to my family for their patience, to Duncan Turner for enriching my soul, to Zaul de Angelo for his guidance, and to my wife Malgorzata Ewa Farruggia-Bochnak for her love, encouragement and for believing in me. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................. IV CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 PERSONAL MOTIVATION............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 THE FOCUS OF THIS STUDY ........................................................................................................................ 7 1.3 BACKGROUND/CONTEXT ........................................................................................................................... 8 1.4 THE 'PROBLEM' THIS STUDY ADDRESSES ................................................................................................. 15 1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................... 17 1.6 RATIONALE FOR RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................. 17 1.6.1 Rationale for Research Objective 1: ............................................................................................... 17 1.6.2 Rationale for Research Objective 2: ............................................................................................... 20 1.6.3 Rationale for Research Objective 3: ............................................................................................... 22 1.6.4 Rationale for Research Objective 4: ............................................................................................... 24 1.7 CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE ............................................................................................................. 26 1.8 STRUCTURE OF THESIS ............................................................................................................................ 26 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY: A BRICOLAGE APPROACH .......................................................... 30 2.1 DEFINING METHODOLOGY WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THIS STUDY ........................................................... 31 2.2 TOWARDS MY ‘PERSONAL’ METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................. 32 2.3 LOCATING MY ‘PERSONAL’ METHODOLOGY WITHIN THE LITERATURE .................................................... 38 2.4 DESCRIPTION OF BRICOLAGE METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 40 2.4.1 Six different types of bricolage methodology .................................................................................. 42 2.5 CONDUCTING BRICOLAGE RESEARCH ...................................................................................................... 47 2.6 OVERVIEW OF THE RETROSPECTIVE STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF THIS STUDY .............................................. 47 2.6.1 The first step - the development of the DAAF ................................................................................. 49 2.6.2 The second step - 119 semi structured interviews ........................................................................... 51 2.6.3 The third step - exploring my perception of dyslexia ...................................................................... 52 2.6.4 The fourth step - explore the effects of dyslexia on self-concept ..................................................... 53 2.7 AN EXAMPLE OF THE LEVEL OF COMPLEXITY WITHIN THIS STUDY .......................................................... 54 2.7.1 Example of the movement between my 'dyslexic' and 'researcher' self ........................................... 55 2.8 FOUR SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGMS RELEVANT TO THE PRESENT STUDY ................................................... 58 2.8.1 Description of the functionalist paradigm ...................................................................................... 59 2.8.2 Description of the interpretive paradigm
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