Avoiding New Literacies

Abstract

Common consequences of a student acquiring the label dyslexic are that the student is selected for some sort of remedial education programme, which takes place away from the mainstream class and curriculum, and that the student’s teachers begin to relate differently to her or him – they lower their expectations when faced with a student who is not making the anticipated progress in literacy and learning (Bell et al., 2011; Hornstra et al., 2010; Gwernan-Jones and Burden, 2010). Arguably, both consequences constitute avoidance in that they enable teachers to avoid their responsibility to educate the student.