Enhancing Sinhala Writing Skills in Dyslexic Students through Personalized and Gamified Learning

Abstract

Abstract Dyslexia, a learning disability affecting 15–20 percent of the global population, significantly impairs reading, writing, and comprehension. In Sinhala, a language with a complex script and phonetic system, these challenges are particularly severe, especially in handling modifiers and constructing sentences. Conventional teaching methods often fail to meet the individual needs of dyslexic students, leading to reduced engagement and low selfesteem. While research on gamebased and personalized learning strategies shows potential, existing studies primarily address reading and writing skills in languages like English and Malay, leaving a gap in approaches for improving Sinhala writing skills. Initial data collection process revealed significant struggles with the correct placement of modifiers, spelling errors, and sentence coherence among dyslexic students. Students also exhibited slower writing speeds and greater difficulty in dictation compared to copying tasks as well as frustration and a lack of confidence in writing. To address these challenges, we designed and implemented an application with a personalized and gamified learning framework, iterating through the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology. We designed the focused exercises based on six selected letters ග (Ga), ල(La), ය(Ya), ට(Ta), ක(Ka), and ප(Pa) from Sinhala alphabet. For the evaluation, a group of 10 dyslexic students was divided equally into a control group and a treatment group using stratified sampling. Application was evaluated using a pretest/posttest design after giving the application for 14 days to the treatment group. The results demonstrated improved average letter accuracy in nearly 21% and reduced average writing time by nearly 2 minutes in the treatment group achieving the research aim. Additionally, the qualitative feedback highlighted overall positive responses toward the application, which features a personalized and gamified learning framework.