Sounding better: perceptions of audio feedback from students with dyslexia

This paper correlates the findings of two separate but related studies into student experience of audio feedback in higher education. The concept of audio feedback is outlined and contextualized in the wider debate on assessment and feedback in the sector, with a stress on its relational affordance and its potential benefits for learners with dyslexia. As interpretivist studies with small numbers of students, both studies adopt broadly similar methodologies, and a brief outline of both approaches is discussed before common themes are discussed. These include increased retention, greater learner emancipation, and the perception of a student-centred, dialogic and caring approach, particularly in the sense of participants feeling less “stigmatized” as learners. The paper highlights the limited calls for specific research into the experience of audio feedback for learners with dyslexia, and the authors argue that such studies are a worthwhile consideration for future research.