Are institutional or subject referencing style choices creating a barrier for students with a Specific Learning Disability?

Description

Models and definitions of information literacy (1,2), are explicit that critical thinking and ethical use of information are essential skills within Higher Education (HE). Referencing is key to this, demonstrating how students use, select, and apply information to create new knowledge (3,4). Referencing is one element that distinguishes academic essay writing from other forms of writing (5).

Within HE there has been an increased focus on inclusivity and accessibility (6, 7, 8). Additionally, a growing number of students are declaring a disability (9) and the Office for Students report that they are increasingly dissatisfied with their course(10). Additionally, students with disability are proportionally more likely to achieve lower final grades than students without a disability (11) . Suggesting that the needs and expectations of students with a disability are not being met within current HE provisions.

The largest single group of students declaring a disability within HE is those with Specific Learning Disability (SpLD) (12) , of which dyslexia is one component (13). Students with SpLD report lower confidence levels with academic writing skills than those with no disability (14) and as academic literacy skills can be intertwined with a sense of legitimacy and belonging (15) it is important to consider ways of improving inclusion for a group who are already showing their dissatisfaction with HE studies (16).

In a previous role, as an academic librarian supporting students in Arts and Science, the presenter observed that students with SpLD spent more time and energy on referencing than their non-disabled peers. This perception is corroborated by others (17). This combined with often slower reading speeds (18, 19, 20) reducing the time students had to critically engage with their subject area (21).

The presentation will discuss the findings of a small-scale mixed methods research study carried out in partial fulfilment of an MA in Special Educational Needs and Inclusion. The research investigated student perceptions of referencing, whether adherence to specific referencing styles is a barrier for students with dyslexia and began investigating the impact of referencing styles on reading fluency and comprehension . Most existing research looking at referencing focuses on plagiarism, the complexity and variety of referencing styles, or anxiety caused by the mechanics of referencing. As such this is an original research area, and the recommendations of the project included the need for dissemination of the findings and further research to be carried out

Attendees will have the opportunity to experience one element of the research project, a reading comprehension test. This gives a taster of the on-going research for which the presenter is looking for potential partners to collaborate with.

References:
1. Coonan, E., Geekie, J., Goldstein, S., Jeskins, L., Jones, R., Macrae-Gibson, R., Secker, J. & Walton, G. (2018) CILIP Definition of Information Literacy 2018. CILIP Information Literacy Group [online]. Available from: https://infolit.org.uk/ILdefinitionCILIP2018.pdf [Accessed 11/11/2022].
2. SCONUL (2011) The SCONUL seven pillars of Information Literacy: Core Model for Higher Education. SCONUL [online]. Available from: https://infolit.org.uk/ILdefinitionCILIP2018.pdf [Accessed 11/11/2022].
3. Buckley, C. (2015) Conceptualising plagiarism: using Lego to construct students' understanding of authorship and citation. Teaching in Higher Education. 20(3), pp. 352-358.
4. Angelil-Carter, S. A. (1995) Uncovering plagiarism in academic writing: developing authorial voice within multivoiced text [online]. MEd. Rhodes University. Available from: https://vital.seals.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:1807?site_name=GlobalView&view=grid&f0=sm_format%3A%22141+leaves%22&f1=sm_citation_publication_date%3A%221996%22&sort=null [Accessed 05/07/2021].
5. Thesen, L. K. (1994) Voices in discourse: re-thinking shared meaning in academic writing. MPhil. University of Cape Town. Available from: https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/handle/11427/7871/thesis_hum_1994_thesen_lucia_katherine.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y [Accessed 16/07/2021].
6. Equality Act 2010 London: HMSO.
7. United Nations (2015) The 17 Goals. Sustainable Development Goals [online]. Available from: https://sdgs.un.org/goals [Accessed 02/01/2022].
8. Department for Education and Department of Health. (2015) Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 – 25 years. Statutory guidance for organisations which work with and support children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities. London: Department for Education.
9. Advanced HE (2018) Equality in higher education: students statistical report 2019. Advanced HE [online]. Available from: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/equality-higher-education-statistical-report-2019 [Accessed 08/11/2020], p. 76.
10. Office for Students (2020) NSS Characteristic analysis data. NSS 2020 Sector Analysis. Student Information and data [online]. Available from: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-information-and-data/national-student-survey-nss/sector-analysis/ [Accessed 28/11/2020].
11. Advanced HE (2018) Equality in higher education: students statistical report 2019. Advanced HE [online]. Available from: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/equality-higher-education-statistical-report-2019 [Accessed 08/11/2020], p.73.
12. Advanced HE (2018) Equality in higher education: students statistical report 2019. Advanced HE [online]. Available from: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/equality-higher-education-statistical-report-2019 [Accessed 08/11/2020] p. 78.
13. American Psychological Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. Arlington: American Psychiatric Association.
14. Kinder, J. & Elander, J. (2012) Dyslexia, authorial identity, and approaches to learning and writing: a mixed methods study. British Journal of Education Psychology. 82(2), pp. 289-307.
15. Gourlay, L. (2009) Threshold practices: becoming a student through academic literacies. London Review of Education. 7(2), 181-192.
16. Office for Students (2020) NSS Characteristic analysis data. NSS 2020 Sector Analysis. Student Information and data [online]. Available from: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/student-information-and-data/national-student-survey-nss/sector-analysis/ [Accessed 28/11/2020].
17. Sanders, J. (2010) Horray for Harvard? The fetish of footnotes revisited. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning. 12, pp. 48-59.
18. Hendricks, M. & Quinn, L. (2000) Teaching referencing as an introduction to epistemological empowerment. Teaching in Higher Education. 5(4), pp. 447-457.
19. Sanders, J. (2010) Horray for Harvard? The fetish of footnotes revisited. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning. 12, pp. 48-59.
20. Serry, T., Oates, J., Ennals, P., Venville, A., Williams, A., Fossey, E. & Steel, G. (2018) Managing reading and related literacy difficulties: University students' perspectives. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties. 23(1), 5-30.
21. Wengelin, A. (2007) The word-level focus in text production by adults with reading and writing difficulties. In: Rijlaarsdam, G., Torrance, M., van Waes, L. & Galbraith, D. (eds) Writing and cognition: Research and applications. Oxford: Elsevier, pp.67-82.

Period	21 Apr 2023
Event title	LILAC: The Information Literacy Conference
Event type	Conference
Location	Cambridge, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International