Learning from the experiences of dyslexic students:  a more integrated approach to teaching academic literacy skills to first year undergraduate students

Dr Andy Searle, Academic Liaison Librarian at the University of Worcester

Abstract

This presentation reports on both new research into dyslexic students’ experiences of academic referencing, and on how the outcomes of this research have been used to redesign teaching to undergraduate healthcare students.

Academic referencing is a core academic skill, however, from the perspective of a dyslexic student, the complexity involved in creating accurate references is daunting.  Furthermore, teaching of referencing skills is often restricted to ‘one-shot’ sessions arranged by lecturing staff and delivered by academic librarians at times that are slotted into general teaching modules.

Qualitative research using semi-structured interviews was undertaken with dyslexic students and the resulting thematic analysis clearly showed a need for a different model of teaching referencing and academic library skills in general.  These results were shared with university lecturing staff in Summer 2024, and lecturers from the occupational therapy undergraduate teaching team were keen to apply the findings more broadly to all first-year students. As a result, a sequence of 10 1-hour sessions on a range of academic library skills was planned and delivered during the Autumn term 2024. The results of the qualitative research with dyslexic students will be presented in this session, as well as details of the subsequent teaching programme and data on the impact of these sessions.

Biography

Andy is an academic liaison librarian at the University of Worcester, principally supporting medical, health care and biological sciences students. He originally trained as a chemist and materials scientist and spent 15 years in industrial R&D. Following redundancy, he retrained as a teacher and spent 15 happy but increasingly stressful years as a primary school teacher and deputy head. Following ‘retirement’ from teaching in 2019, he was fortunate to get a library customer advisor position working front-of-house at The Hive library in Worcester. This led to the position of academic librarian in 2022, which he very much enjoys, particularly in its current ‘semi-retired’ part-time form.

Summer Conference 2025: Stop! Collaborate and Listen: Partnerships in Libraries

UHMLG’s 2025 Summer Conference brings together a range of fantastic speakers to look at partnerships within libraries. The conference is taking place in person at the Hive in Worcester and spans two half days (13-14 June, 2025). Our core audience is UK / Republic of Ireland health and medical librarians from the Higher Education and NHS / health sectors, but we welcome delegates from any area of librarianship, and from anywhere in the world.

More information / Book your place

For full information about the conference, and to book your place, please visit our Summer Conference 2025 page.