Phonological Theory of Dyslexia

Running head: Phonological Theory of Dyslexia

Phonological Theory of Dyslexia
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Introduction Learning difficulties have been a common occurrence and there are many theories established to explain this disorder. Dyslexia, the common term for learning problems, affects a large part of the population and several studies have been carried out to determine the main cause of the disorder. Psychologists have been engaged in debate as to what theory best describes the occurrence of dyslexia with support for either of the three dominant theories of developmental dyslexia namely; the phonological deficit theory, cerebellar theory or the magnocellular theory. The phonological deficit theory has received greater support among most practitioners and this study will look into the support provided for this theory as well as reasons for its opposition. Specifically, the study will dwell on the neurobiological aspect of the theory and gaps that have not been answered by previous studies.
Phonological (deficit) Theory This theory is based on the idea that learning is based on word pronunciation. This means that a person who suffers from the inability to pronounce sounds correctly will have a reading problem as such a person cannot be able to associate a word with sounds (Ramus, et al., 2003). The general assumption in this theory is that phonetics is the basic unit of learning and when it is impaired, then a student or learner is subject to learning difficulties. Various scholars have supported this theory as an explanation to the occurrence of dyslexia in including Ramus, et al (2003) who, in their study, suggested that phonological disorders were most common in people with learning difficulties. The authors show that learning is affected by the ability to comprehend the sounds associated with words (Ramus, et al., 2003; Castles & Coltheart, 2004). In addition, the authors conducted a study that examined dyslexic students on

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