Dyslexia Marking Guidelines
According to the Disability Discrimination Act Part 4, you have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable
adjustments to ensure that disabled students are not less favourably treated. In this respect the marking system in
these guidelines should be seen as a levelling of the playing field rather than leniency.
Dyslexia marking guidelines should help staff to mark the work of dyslexic students in a way that does not penalise dyslexic
attributes, and to enable markers to comment on work in a constructive way.
The marker needs to look for a clear separation between the content of the work and language errors to ensure there is no
subjective interpretation of the student's ability. This will also allow the marker to give credit for the content and to establish
whether the student has or has not achieved the intended learning outcomes.
Even in instances when the structure and presentation of the script are also assessed on the course (i.e. spelling; grammar
and syntax; presentation of references, etc) it is also necessary to understand the relationship between the content and the
form of the work, however challenging this might be.
A summary of the dyslexia marking guidelines

Read fast, looking for ideas, understanding and knowledge;

Make constructive comments;

Explain your comments in a straight-forward way;

Write legibly, use good English;

Let the student know if you are marking just for ideas and understanding;

Use two pens, neither red, one for ideas, the other for English (if you do not correct the English, only one pen is
necessary);

If you correct the English, explain what is wrong with it and why the correction is better, do not correct everything –
check with the student what is helpful;

The guidelines regarding correcting English can apply to other language courses;

Be sensitive: many dyslexic students have been badly hurt by lack of understanding in the past.
General dyslexia marking guidelines
What to do
Rationale
Assess or discuss the level of correction that the student will
This is because a student with dyslexia will usually be able to
be able to use effectively.Be very clear about the marking
tell you what works for them. Absence of lots of corrections
criteria. If you decide to mark for ideas, understanding &
(they might well be used to lots) may create a false sense of
knowledge and to ignore spelling, grammar & punctuation,
improvement and can be demoralising when re-appraisal
tell the student you are doing so.
occurs.
The main marking strategy is to read quickly in order to
The dyslexic student’s holistic thinking style does not lend
assess ideas, understanding and knowledge. The marker
itself to the linear nature of words or texts. Consequently,
needs to ignore grammar, spelling and punctuation errors,
reading quickly may enable the reader to access the holistic
and not make any corrections or comments.
pattern of thought.
What to do
Rationale
Accentuate the positive - try to comment on where the
This approach is good because students with dyslexia might
student has done well and explain why a particular aspect of find it difficult to ‘read between the lines’. Instead they need
the work is good rather than/as well as being critical.
direct but positive comments e.g. ‘this was good because
....’ Try to avoid telling them what they should not do as
models and examples of good practice and correct usage are
easier for the student to retain and replicate.
Explain what is required and what went wrong in the
Because dyslexic students do not learn language skills
work. Use clear, explicit English avoiding innuendo,
subliminally, students will usually be unlikely to know how to
sarcasm & complex sentence structures. Avoid using
correct or improve an error without some guidance, model or
grammatical terms, unless using a marking scheme
explanation. Also, they are usually not familiar with
supported with models of good practice (see Error
grammatical terms or rules.Consequently, unless language
Analysis Marking, below).If the student agrees, ‘awkward’
skills are explained in a way which makes sense to a dyslexic
sentences can be selected for the student to rewrite.
person, they cannot improve these skills merely through
comments and corrections about spellings, grammar,
punctuation and syntax, etc.
Use one colour pen to comment on ideas, understanding &
Anything which helps to differentiate the functions of words is
knowledge, a different colour pen for spelling, grammar and
very useful for the dyslexic student. Red ink often has
punctuation. Avoid using red pens.
negative associations from school days and can be
demoralising.
If you want to indicate where changes in structure or
Anything which aids differentiation of text is helpful: colour is
organisation are necessary, use highlighter pens to indicate
instantly recognisable and will give the student an additional
areas of text which ‘belong together’.
sense of control over the text.
If you decide to mark for spelling, grammar, & punctuation,
It can be demoralising to see masses of corrections. simply
don’t mark every error. Instead, select and indicate about 4
correcting spelling, grammar or punctuation will not facilitate
or 5 types of error. (Perhaps you can negotiate this with the
an improvement – helping the student to identify types of
student.) To enable the students to develop as learners, use
error together with models of correct usage will help.
the error analysis marking system.
Error Analysis Marking
Even if you are marking without penalising for mistakes in the technical use of language, students do need help to develop
their written English skills. The following marking system will help a student to aim towards independent learning, as long as
it is augmented with explanations, examples and models of good practice.
Error analysis marking encourages the student to find and correct errors identified by a tutor through a coded mark in the
margin e.g. Sp - spelling, G -grammar, SS - sentence structure, P - punctuation, V - vocabulary, O - word omission, R repetition, T - tense.
Using this guidance the student will examine the line of writing, identify the highlighted error and attempt to correct it. Once a
student learns to identify particular types of error, s/he can begin to check their own work and re-draft accordingly.
Viva Assessment for Students with Specific Learning Difficulties
Difficulties experienced by students with SpLD – relevant to vivas
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Problems ordering sequentially
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Can easily lose their place in text
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Difficulties organising their ideas

Short-term memory deficit can result in them forgetting questions
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Can find assessment stressful due to past negative experiences
Assessment guidelines for vivas

Questions - Ensure that questions are presented clearly and that wording is unambiguous. They should address a single
point and not have multiple parts. Be prepared to repeat or break questions down and allow thinking time for responses,
where necessary

Extra time may be required - this will be dependent on SpLD assessment recommendations for that student
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Consider that the student may display signs of apparent stress and anxiety

Allow for difficulties affecting organisation and sequencing

Consider that the student may experience difficulties reading out aloud from notes and lack fluency
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Consider providing short breaks to allow the student to refocus

Mark for content rather than fluency
It may also be helpful to offer the student the opportunity to discuss their viva with staff prior to the assessment and that it is made
clear to them what will be expected of them during the viva.