Master's Degree Thesis, 1998

The current study explored the academic self-efficacy of students with a specific form oflearning disability, dyslexia. Specifically, the current study examined the relationship between decoding skills remediation and self-efficacy by comparing two groups of students with dyslexia who were functioning at different developmental reading levels. Participants were recruited from the Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment ofDyslexia. Participants were between 9 and 13 years of age. One group contained nine participants who were functioning at the alphabetic stage of reading development. The other group contained 10 participants who were functioning at the higher orthographic stage of reading development. Participants were tested individually in their homes. Participants were administered the Student Self-Concept Scale (Gresham, Elliott, & Evans-Fernandez, 1993), and the Estes Attitude Scales: Measures of Attitude Toward School Subjects (Estes, Estes, Richards, & Roettger, 1981). Participants also were administered a criterion-based measure of reading which was derived from two word lists provided by The Dyslexia Center and contained words with patterns specific to each developmental reading level.

The current study predicted that students at the orthographic phase would have higher levels of academic self-efficacy, higher levels of perceived self-efficacy in reading, higher levels of interest in reading, and perceptions of self-efficacy that were more closely related to actual performance than students in the alphabetic phase. The results of a one way MANCOV A revealed that developmental reading level did not have a significant effect, after controlling for age, E (4, 13) = 0.46, p. = 0.76 (Wilk's Lambda = 0.88). The current study also found no significant correlation between the level of academic outcome expectation and the level of academic self-efficacy. Results are discussed in terms of methodological issue and implications for future research.