Literacy difficulties 'self-perception in advertising students

Abstract

In the last years, university professors have detected an increase in misspellings, even in degrees where proficiency in communication is essential. There is a need to analyse how writing and reading problems prevalence has enlarged, but also the reason why this has happened. This re-search starts from the assumption that in some countries students with literacy difficulties might be reaching the university without a proper diagnosis or support intervention. In the frame of Advertising studies, a creative career with requirements of high knowledge of oral and written communication, the study compares in Spain actual literacy problems diagnoses to literacy self-perception. It also explores the awareness and attitudes toward dyslexia through an online questionnaire. Results show, on one hand, a quantitative discrepancy between actual diagnosis and self-perception struggles. On the other hand, a qualitative discrepancy with those pupils with dyslexia diagnoses reporting lower punctuations in the literacy struggles than the rest. Finally, a practical discrepancy, as there is widespread theoretical knowledge about dyslexia that does not correspond to practical interventions for this problem. Causes and consequences of these discrepancies in communication students require further research.