Guidance on the principles of language accessibility in National Curriculum Assessments : research background

This review accompanies the document, which describes the principles which should guide the development of clear assessment questions. The purpose of the review is to present and discuss in detail the research underpinning these principles. It begins from the standpoint that National Curriculum assessments, indeed any assessments, should be: - appropriate to the age of the pupils - an effective measure of their abilities, skills and concept development - fair to all irrespective of gender, language, religion, ethnic or social origin or disability. (Ofqual, 2011) The Regulatory Framework for National Assessments: National Curriculum and Early Years Foundation Stage (Ofqual, 2011) sets out a number of common criteria which apply to all aspects of the development and implementation of National Assessments. One of these criteria refers to the need for assessment procedures to minimise bias: “The assessment should minimise bias, differentiating only on the basis of each learner’s ability to meet National Curriculum requirements” (Section 5.39, page 16). The Framework goes on to argue that: “Minimising bias is about ensuring that an assessment does not produce unreasonably adverse outcomes for particular groups of learners” (Annex 1, page 29). This criterion reinforces the guiding principle that any form of assessment should provide information about the knowledge and understanding of relevant content material. That is to say that the means through which this knowledge and understanding is examined, the design of the assessment and the language used should as far as possible be transparent, and should not influence adversely the performance of those being assessed. There is clearly a large number of ways in which any given assessment task can be presented and in which questions can be asked. Some of these ways will make the task more accessible – that is, easier to complete successfully – and some will get in the way of successful completion. Section 26 of the Fair Access by Design (Ofqual, 2010) document lists a number of guiding principles for improving the accessibility of assessment questions, although the research basis for these principles is not made completely clear in that document. The aim of the current review is to examine the research background more closely in order to provide a more substantial basis for a renewed set of principles to underpin the concept of language accessibility. In the review, each section will be prefaced by a statement of the principles outlined in Guidance on the Principles of Language Accessibility in National Curriculum Assessments and then the research evidence underpinning these principles will be reviewed

The Integration of Graphic Communication and Educational Tools for Children with Dyslexia

Design for education is an important approach in the graphic design field. The intention of this thesis is to conduct further research that can help educators and designers build healthier learning environments for children with learning disabilities. Learning environments are not limited to physical environments such as classroom designs or school architecture; they are extended to cognitive environments that are greatly affected by external influences such as sensory stimulation and learning methods. Children with special educational needs could benefit from effective design solutions for better information processing. This designer attempts to develop typographic solutions to facilitate the reading process of instructional text for 10-year-old children with dyslexia. The process of reading is the essence of learning and is the main source of knowledge and education enrichment. Therefore, it is essential to help children become independent readers to make them strong learners and active members of educated societies. Reading specialists and graphic designers can work together to develop the efficiency of reading materials. This designer examines the potential of developing typographic solutions for selected reading materials to improve the learning process of reading for children with dyslexia. The findings of the thesis will add to the knowledge of graphic designers when designing for complex issues that demand intensive research and direct user observation. It will reflect the influence of graphic design in improving learning environments and cognitive health. And above all, it will further educate instructors to use design solutions when needed

The Anatomy of information design

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The Impact of White Space on User Experience for Tablet Editions of Magazines

After declining for six years (Wang, 2016), printed magazines are facing the dilemma of a paperless era. As magazine publishing emerges into the digital world, it needs to achieve the degree of readers’ desire that is comparable to or surpassing print publications. Limited research has been done regarding white space in digital magazines. This thesis aimed to investigate how user experience is affected by white space in the layout of digital editions of food magazines designed for the Apple iPad. The study focused on the evaluation of white space as the factor influencing the quality of the user experience. White space was separated into macro and micro white space. The researcher defined and quantified levels of macro and micro white space and created samples of magazine pages with the corresponding white space levels. Subsequently, the researcher obtained subjective evaluations of three perspectives of user experience: satisfaction, ease of use, and usefulness. Analysis of Variance was employed to determine if any of these white space levels have significant effect on user experience. The study determined that macro, micro, and the interaction of macro and micro white space had a significant impact on all three perspectives of UX based on the questionnaire data. It was observed that the majority of 62 participants chose the 38% macro white space, and 135% micro white space was the best combination regarding all three aspects of the user experience. It was concluded that 135% micro white space had the most significant effect on legibility, and 120% micro white space had the most positive effect on readability. Upon conclusion of the study, the researcher believes there is no specific white space amount that would satisfy all of the people. However, within the scope of the present experiment, it could provide a useable manual to magazine publishers and designers

Comparing the impact of OpenDyslexic and Arial fonts on the reading performance of Key Stage 2 readers with dyslexia

Several fonts have been designed with the aim of ameliorating some of the reading difficulties experienced by those with dyslexia. Anecdotal reports assert that the use of the dyslexia-friendly font OpenDyslexic mitigates reading difficulties by enhancing legibility through unique letterforms but there are few methodologically rigorous, peer-reviewed studies to substantiate or refute these claims. Without empirical evidence it may not be prudent for educational professionals to recommend that readers with dyslexia use a specific font. To investigate the impact of font on reading performance this mixed methods study compared the test scores in reading accuracy, reading rate and reading comprehension of 40 Key Stage 2 (KS2) participants with dyslexia and a control group of 38 typically progressing KS2 readers when texts were presented in the fonts OpenDyslexic and Arial. The spacing effect of the default designs of the two fonts was considered by including an expanded version of Arial. A semi-structured interview enabled all participants to voice their preferences and opinions of the two fonts. Findings showed that participants in both the groups achieved significantly higher test scores in reading accuracy and reading rate when passages were presented in OpenDyslexic font. No significant effect of font was found on reading comprehension scores for either group. The variable of spacing did not demonstrate a significant impact on test scores recorded. Readers’ preferences for font design were influenced by a number of subjective factors and did not align consistently with reading test scores. The findings of this study suggest that there may be a benefit to offering all reading matter in OpenDyslexic font to young readers with and without reading difficulties

The Impact of visual syntax on reading comprehension

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La lectura social en España: una perspectiva sociopragmática

En este trabajo se analizan las posibles diferencias entre la práctica de la lectura social en España y otras formas de interacción en los medios sociales. Las investigaciones anteriores sobre los medios sociales se han enfocado sobre todo en la pragmática y los rasgos discursivos de la interacción, por lo que el estudio de la lectura social como una nueva practica comunicativa es un área de investigación emergente. Con base en la taxonomía propuesta por Stein (2010) y en las teorías de la valoración y la (des)cortesía, se realiza un análisis cualitativo de un corpus pequeño de textos en español recopilados de sitios virtuales de lectura social. Los textos pertenecen a diferentes géneros comunicativos digitales. Solo se analiza la segunda categoría de la taxonomía de Stein (la conversación asincrónica e informal en línea). Los resultados sugieren que esta categoría de lectura social no parece ser muy diferente de otras formas de interacción en los medios sociales. Lo que estas comunidades virtuales de práctica de lectura social com- parten no son tanto sus ideas y pensamien- tos respecto a los libros y la lectura, como sus sentimientos y reacciones emocionales en torno a esas ideas

Cultivating Collaboration: Optimizing Communication Between Designers and Non-Designers

Clients and designers, having different tacit knowledge, fail to effectively communicate with each other during the design process. These inadequacies risk relationships, reputations, and project success. This issue has long been recognized in the field of design, often as a concern with client involvement. This research aims to identify these complications in the design process and inform how they might be amended. Specifically, it investigates how the relationship between designers and clients can be improved in order to garner better communication and greater project success. In this context, clients are defined as non-designers that commission design professionals. A literature review as well as several case studies and visual analyses conclude that collaboration, empathy, and project structure improve communication and project outcomes. These findings will inform a proposed visual solution that aims to provide knowledge and structure to client-designer partnerships in order to facilitate these benefits