Enhancing Dyslexic Learners’ Reading Ability Through Arts Education Strategies in an Inclusive Primary School in Buea, Cameroon

Aim: Teaching learners with dyslexia is often an uphill task for most teachers in primary schools in Cameroon where resources and specialized educational support are limited. However, arts educational strategies encompassing visual arts, music, drama, and dance, have emerged as a powerful tool to facilitate the teaching and foster the inclusion of learners with dyslexia in the classroom. This study aimed to determine the effect of arts educational strategies on the reading abilities of learners with dyslexia in Fako division Cameroon. Specifically, the study sought the impact of drama and graphic designing as teaching strategies in enhancing the reading abilities of learners with dyslexia. Methods: The quasi-experimental design was used with the comparative pre-test/post-test design with non-randomized experimental and control groups. The study used the purposive sampling technique to select 30 participants: 15 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group. Two arts education strategies drama and graphic designing were used on 15 learners with dyslexia who constituted members of the experimental group. Instruments used for data collection were school records of the pupils, folios of the pupil's work that demonstrate their abilities, Ihenacho’s diagnostic test on the identification of dyslexia, the teacher-made test used as the pre and post-test tool, and master plan activity on the intervention. Data were analyzed descriptively (mean, median) and inferentially (minimum, maximum, standard error of mean, and standard deviation). Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z test was used to establish the impact of arts educational strategy on the reading ability of pupils with dyslexia. Results: The study showed that there was more progress made in the experimental group (all showed an increase in their reading abilities not necessarily that they all passed as per the benchmark) than in the control group (33.3%) when the pre-test and post-test scores were compared. This implies that arts educational strategy significantly improved the reading ability of learners with dyslexia in the experimental group. Conclusion: It was concluded that arts education can significantly enhance the reading abilities of learners with dyslexia. Recommendation: The study recommends the adoption of this approach to the teaching of learners with dyslexia in primary schools in Cameroon and across the globe.