A pilot survey of science students conducted by Cook & Leckey confirmed that student study habits formed in secondary school persist to the end of the first semester of university life. Such a conclusion indicates that students are not bridging the gap between school and university quickly and effectively. The study reported here is based on surveys of first year students across the University of Ulster and compares their prior perceptions with their experiences after one term. We consider the literature relating to preparedness and student retention and present the results of these surveys in this broad context. Most students appear to have managed the transition into university life successfully since they do not experience the academic, personal and practical difficulties they expected. There is, however, a considerable minority (20–30%) who consistently experience academic and personal problems and for whom coming to university has been a negative experience. These students are at risk, if not from drop-out, then from under-performance and lack of fulfilment.

This study investigated the impact of students’ conceptions of constructivist learning activities on academic achievement and drop-out. Although constructivism represents an influential view of learning, studies investigating how students conceptualize this perspective have not been conducted before. A structural equation modelling approach was adopted to test different models relating students’ conceptions to their achievement in the university setting. Results suggested an indirect relationship between conceptions and achievement, mediated by actual learning activities. What students believe about the role of knowledge construction in learning predicts the actual learning activities they undertake. How important they consider inability to learn and motivation for learning predicts their study time.

The purpose of the present research was to expand the knowledge about test anxiety (TA) and its interactive effect on personality characteristics among adolescents who suffer from learning disabilities (LDs). The 166 participants aged 14–18 years, were divided into the following four groups: (1) adolescents with TA and with LD; (2) adolescents with TA but without LD; (3) adolescents without TA but with LD; and (4) adolescents without TA and without LD. The participants answered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–Adolescent (MMPI-A) and Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). MANOVA of the MMPI-A scales indicated that TA groups had more symptomatic scores than the No-TA counterparts on the measures of the TAI and in 38 out of 69 measures of the MMPI-A.

Online academic literacy learning materials were developed in the College in 2009–10 as part of a College Teaching Fund project. The online learning materials were developed to support postgraduate students who lack confidence in writing for a variety of reasons, such as being a mature student and returning to study after a break of many years. The learning materials aim to help students engage more fully in the academic discipline of their chosen speciality. The learning materials are being evaluated by means of a randomised controlled trial and a nested qualitative study. Participants for this evaluation are drawn from a selection of programmes from four schools in King’s College London and include final year undergraduates (n=62) and postgraduate students (n=175). Participants completed baseline measures which included the Academic Behavioural Confidence Scale (Sanders & Sanders, 2006) and a general demographic sheet. Participants also rated their confidence with using elearning materials on a scale of 1–10. This paper outlines the methodology of the evaluation and presents the baseline data. Preliminary analysis of the baseline data suggest that patterns of confidence in academic behaviour in King’s College London appear to mirror those found in other Higher Education Institutions (Sanders & Sanders, 2009).

Online academic literacy learning materials were developed in the College in 2009–10 as part of a College Teaching Fund project. The online learning materials were developed to support postgraduate students who lack confidence in writing for a variety of reasons, such as being a mature student and returning to study after a break of many years. The learning materials aim to help students engage more fully in the academic discipline of their chosen speciality. The learning materials are being evaluated by means of a randomised controlled trial and a nested qualitative study. Participants for this evaluation are drawn from a selection of programmes from four schools in King’s College London and include final year undergraduates (n=62) and postgraduate students (n=175). Participants completed baseline measures which included the Academic Behavioural Confidence Scale (Sanders & Sanders, 2006) and a general demographic sheet. Participants also rated their confidence with using elearning materials on a scale of 1–10. This paper outlines the methodology of the evaluation and presents the baseline data. Preliminary analysis of the baseline data suggest that patterns of confidence in academic behaviour in King’s College London appear to mirror those found in other Higher Education Institutions (Sanders & Sanders, 2009).

People with dyslexia are vastly under-represented in universities (Katusic et al., 2001, Richardson & Wydell, 2003; Stampoltzis & Polychronopoulou, 2008). This situation is of concern for modern societies that value social justice. This study was designed to explore learning experiences of university students with dyslexia and factors that could contribute to their success. Thirteen students with dyslexia and 20 non-dyslexic peers were interviewed about their university learning experiences using a semi-structured qualitative approach. Students with dyslexia described engaging in learning activities intensively, frequently and strategically. They reported challenges and strengths relating to study skills, lectures, assessments, technology and support services. They also described helpful strategies including self-directed adaptive techniques, provisions from lecturers and assistance from the university. These findings suggest that students with dyslexia experience broad challenges at university, but helpful strategies may be available.

Despite recent advances in understanding dyslexia as a neurological condition, a number of academics in both the United Kingdom and United States have dismissed the validity of this impairment. The key thinking behind this approach is twofold. Firstly, individuals labelled as having dyslexia cannot be separated from individuals with general reading difficulties. Secondly, educational ‘treatment’ of dyslexia is consistent with educational support for children labelled as having general reading difficulties. Rather than expand on a psycho-cognitive approach, this article endeavours to reflect on individual subjectivities. This is to analyse the social aspects of dyslexia and its symptoms. By discussing the life stories of people diagnosed with dyslexia, the article confronts certain stereotypes associated with this syndrome. In doing so, the study concludes by developing a meaningful response to the label of learning difficulties.

In Ulrich Beck's (1992, 2001) analysis of the cultural construction of risk, he asserts that the discourse of 'rights' and 'risk' emerged from the 1970s because of the transition from 'industrial modernity' to the era of 'reflexive modernity'. According to Beck, the idea of civil rights occurred because of society's increased access to welfare and education, which resulted in 'lay' members of society questioning professional knowledge and power. Therefore, people's ability to conceptualise their own social position led to an increase in social activism and constructed a new reflexive language of 'rights' and 'risk' (Beck, 2001; Denney, 2005; Heaphy, 2007). This corresponds with the foundation of the social model of disability, which also developed out of the disability rights movement of the 1970s. The social model of disability has challenged social attitudes since that time by suggesting that people with impairments are disabled by society rather than by their bodies (Oliver, 1997; Barnes and Mercer 2010). The social model of disability developed the new discourse of `disablement' which discussed disabled people's experiences through the notion of disabling barriers (for example, environmental barriers, label - ling, segregation and stigmatisation and so on), rather than being caused by physical limitations. This model has had a significant impact in the domains of physical impairment, yet very few studies have applied it to people with specific learning difficulties (Riddick, 2001; Mortimore and Dupree, 2008; Macdonald, 2009). Furthermore, there has been very little critique of the application of 'risk' in educational practice embedded in recent special education needs policy articulated in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA 2001).

Despite recent advances in understanding dyslexia as a neurological condition, a number of academics in both the United Kingdom and United States have dismissed the validity of this impairment. The key thinking behind this approach is twofold. Firstly, individuals labelled as having dyslexia cannot be separated from individuals with general reading difficulties. Secondly, educational ‘treatment’ of dyslexia is consistent with educational support for children labelled as having general reading difficulties. Rather than expand on a psycho-cognitive approach, this article endeavours to reflect on individual subjectivities. This is to analyse the social aspects of dyslexia and its symptoms. By discussing the life stories of people diagnosed with dyslexia, the article confronts certain stereotypes associated with this syndrome. In doing so, the study concludes by developing a meaningful response to the label of learning difficulties

Teaching study skills to dyslexic learners acknowledges that, while basic skills may currently be weak, ability-appropriate thinking and reasoning skills can be well developed and waiting to be unleashed. A number of strategies are presented which can enable dyslexic pupils to access the mainstream curriculum, including a new study reading technique, TCP-QR or ‘First Aid For Reading’. Also addressed are difficulties in organizing ideas and information to produce written work of appropriate length. A combination of techniques are drawn together into a coherent strategy which supports the learner in ability-appropriate groups and can be applied to most classroom or exam settings. It is suggested that testing this range of study skills empowers dyslexic learners, enabling them to take responsibility for much of their learning and giving them the tools with which to do the job.

This paper presents some of the findings derived from a UK Aimhigher South Yorkshire research report on disability and higher education. Many of the students who shared their life histories for this project found that there was a lack of information in making choices about their futures, especially information about pursuing higher education. Without information to make informed choices, disabled students not only experience stress and anxiety, but also difficulty in preparing themselves for higher education study. This is, perhaps, reason for the low proportion of disabled learners in further and higher education. There are many reasons to explain this disparity. Many factors are inextricably linked to disablism institutionalized within many sectors of education. The education arena is not being singled out here. However, it does serve as further notice of the pervasiveness of disablism existing in wider society.

Learning and self-efficacy are closely intertwined. In a meta-analysis of 36 studies in educational settings (from elementary school through college) with a variety of performance measures (e.g., standardized tests, course grades, GPA), perceived self-efficacy positively predicted academic performance (Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991). Moreover, a burgeoning literature has revealed that learning and self-efficacy both relate to multiple variables such as motivation (Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990), self-regulation (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1988), and metacognitive awareness (Schraw & Dennison, 1994) that promote success. Compared to most constructs addressed in this e-book, the measurement of learning is unique in several respects. First, the construct of learning is broader than most others addressed. Second, the definition of learning is debated. For example, Barron and colleagues (2015) have pointed out that positioning learning as a change in behavior attributable to experience may be too limiting to apply across disciplines; instead, they suggest that there may be greater consensus with the definition of learning as, “a structured updating of system properties based on the processing of new information” (p. 406). Third, measurement of learning varies greatly within two broad types of assessment: formative and summative.

Relationships between socioeconomic status, locus of control, self-concept, and Relationships between socioeconomic status, locus of control, self-concept, and academic achievement were explored in secondary school pupils in the Mmabatho area of Bophuthatswana (Southern Africa). The analyses of data revealed the following: (a) both male and female Batswana adolescents were found significantly more externally oriented when compared against the normative data provided by Nowicki-Strickland (1973); (b) socioeconomic status was significantly positively associated with internality, self-concept, and academic achievement in English; (c) externality was significantly negatively related to self-concept and achievement in English; (d) self-concept was significantly positively correlated to measures of achievement in English and mathematics; and (e) mathematics achievement of male students was significantly higher than female ones.female ones.

Online surveys offer measurement possibilities that paper surveys do not. This study examines fine-grained Likert scales. Usual Likert items limit respondents to five or seven points on a scale. fine-grained items let respondents select any point on the scale. Cox (1980) shows how fine-grained scales can be implemented on web-based surveys, Krieg (1999) tests the effects of fine-grained scales on power and Bollen & Barb (1981) presents data on respondents' use of fine-grained scales in practice. We conclude that the extra effort needed to implement fine-grained scales is worthwhile.

The researchers conducted a study with the aim of assessing the academic behavioural confidence of first-year students enrolled in two B.Ed. (FET) programmes offered by the School of Teacher Education at the Central University of Technology, Free State. Bandura’s (1986) Social Cognitive Theory is the overarching theoretical framework of the self-efficacy construct and therefore also for this study. A quantitative approach was followed and the Academic Behavioural Confidence scale (ABC) designed by Sander and Sanders (2006), was adopted for use in the study. The study sought to determine whether a significant difference in the academic behavioural confidence of the first-year students within the Natural Sciences and Economic and Management Sciences programmes does exist. Based on the findings, some recommendations on dealing with first-year students have been made.

According to empirical evidence, phonological abilities, orthographic processing, and rapid naming skills account for significant variance in reading achievement. In addition, short-term memory contributes unique and significant variance to reading beyond that associated with processing. These results are not surprising and are consistent with other results showing powerful relationships between one or more of the processing strategies and reading (e.g., Adams, 1990; Cunningham et al., 2001; Roberts & Mather, 1997). Our findings encourage us to call on experts in the field to consider more strongly the combined effect of processing and memory and recognize that all the elements of processing and memory are important factors in the reading process; and to isolate their relative importance is only an artificial and ultimately counterproductive enterprise. On a very practical note, Bell et al. (2003) discussed those abilities and skills that should be measured to determine if a student exhibits a pattern of dyslexia. Results from this study further refine our knowledge regarding which specific processing and memory variables might be useful to include in such a battery. For example, in addition to an ecologically valid measure of phonology and rapid naming, speeded measures of orthographic skill appear to have utility in predicting reading and spelling achievement, as do visual and auditory shortterm memory. The TOD measures appear to have utility for predicting reading achievement, but they are currently under development. Practitioners interested in obtaining a thorough assessment will need to include similar measures from various commercially available instruments.

This study examined self-regulatory strategies used by students to maintain motivation on academic goal tasks. Of particular interest were strategies for managing potentially disruptive emotional states. The Academic Volitional Strategy Inventory (AVSI) was developed to investigate this aspect of student self-regulatory behavior. Three separate student samples (n = 378; n = 463; n = 246) from a large southwestern university contributed to the refinement of the AVSI, and supported theoretical arguments for the existence of volitional self-regulatory action by students in maintaining academic task motivation. Factor analyses performed on items for each administration of the AVSI revealed a three-factor structure as providing a conceptually clear division of items. Item groupings consisted of strategies reflecting (1) self-efficacy enhancement, (2) stress reduction, and (3) negative-based incentives. Reliability estimates revealed strong internal consistency and stability. Further analyses currently in progress to support the validity of the scale are also discussed. However, the preliminary results presented in this paper suggest that the AVSI is a promising research instrument, and one that captures an aspect of self-regulatory action not adequately examined by existing instruments.

Experiments on learned helplessness have been interpreted previously as involving a solitary person experiencing uncontrollable and inescapable events. This belief that the outcomes are uncontrollable precludes the possibility that control of the outcomes can be transferred to the experimental subjects. An alternative interpretation is that the outcomes in learned helplessness experiments, rather than being uncontrollable, are controlled by the experimenter. One could reduce helplessness by transferring this control to subjects, giving them control over their contingencies. This analysis has implications regarding both the accuracy of depressed people's perceptions and the desirability of making depressed people perceive an internal locus of control.

University life can be stressful. Research has claimed that higher rates of resilience or emotional intelligence facilitate coping in academic settings. Age and gender differences in coping have been noted but results are inconsistent. The aim of the current study was to investigate if resilience, emotional intelligence, age and gender, predicted successful coping among students at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. An opportunity sample of 117 social work undergraduate students completed self-report questionnaires. Regression analyses revealed that resilience, emotional intelligence and age were all significant unique predictors of coping, while gender was not. The study found that mature students coped better, with resilience being the best predictor. Such findings are of benefit to those involved in education, in that they may identify ways in which to help students cope better with university life and in their future careers.

Although persons with disabilities compose a growing portion of workers, when compared with other aspects of diversity (e.g., race/ethnicity or gender), disability has received relatively little research attention. In a between-subjects experimental design with more than 600 participants, we evaluated the roles of disability type (AIDS, cerebral palsy, and stroke), stigma, and employee characteristics in acceptance of a coworker with a disability. Stigma largely mediated the relationship between disability type and acceptance. Employee characteristics had direct effects on some aspects of acceptance. Exploratory factor analysis of stigma revealed six factors; however, only a "performance impact" factor was consistently related to acceptance, suggesting that perceived implications of the coworker's disability for job performance are critical.

The life stories of adults diagnosed with dyslexia as children were examined, with emphasis on the related emotional experiences. The life story method of narrative analysis was used to compare and analyze the accounts of 12 participants who were interviewed extensively. The findings indicated that self-esteem problems may emerge by early childhood as individuals contend with aspects of their learning disabilities that interfere with typical development. By school age, all participants noted self-esteem problems when they experienced struggles or failures in school, which could feel traumatic. Testing and diagnosis improved self-esteem when conducted in a relevant manner that led to adaptation. The central plots of the participants' lives were characterized by the interplay between the functional challenges of their learning disabilities and the related self-esteem issues. Compensation involved the individual's areas of competence and the resources within the environment. Niches in late adolescence and young adulthood held potential to dramatically improve compensation. Participants generally exhibited four ways of life in adulthood and an added sense of emotional insecurity. Each attempted to integrate lifelong emotional experiences related to living with diagnosed dyslexia.

The challenge of transforming our educational thinking and practices to achieve genuine rather than token inclusion asks that we examine select ideas from the natural and social sciences that have served to colonize the childhood disability field through hegemonic educational discourses. This article examines the colonizing discourses that have limited the possibilities for education available for students with disabilities, particularly those with learning disabilities, through placing them as disadvantaged through a process of being “othered.” We then present three alternative, decolonizing discourses, which open greater possibilities for persons with disabilities through the adoption of an emancipatory rather than a compensatory orientation to learning.

Our teaching and learning habits are useful but they can also be deadly. They are useful when the conditions in which they work are predictable and stable. But what happens if and when the bottom falls out of the stable social world in and for which we learn? Is it possible that learning itself - learning as we have come to enact it habitually - may no longer be particularly useful? Could it be that the very habits that have served us so well in stable times might actually become impediments to social success, even to social survival? This paper explores reasons why we may need to give up on some of our deeply held beliefs about teaching and learning in order to better prepare young people for their social futures.

Our teaching and learning habits are useful but they can also be deadly. They are useful when the conditions in which they work are predictable and stable. But what happens if and when the bottom falls out of the stable social world in and for which we learn? Is it possible that learning itself - learning as we have come to enact it habitually - may no longer be particularly useful? Could it be that the very habits that have served us so well in stable times might actually become impediments to social success, even to social survival? This paper explores reasons why we may need to give up on some of our deeply held beliefs about teaching and learning in order to better prepare young people for their social futures.

Seligman's theory of learned helplessness and the current status of the research literature are reviewed, with a focus on five issues of the learned helplessness phenomenon: (a) nature, (b) etiology, (c) generalization, (d) individual differences, and (e) alleviation. Seligman's theory is seen as inadequate to account for present data in several areas, notably etiology and generalization. A revised model of learned helplessness in humans is presented that suggests that the individual's attributions of noncontingent failure experiences predict the degree and parameters of learned helplessness.

The purpose of this study was to determine if learning communities have an inherent motivational effect on learners and, if so, whether higher motivation impacts attitudinal change. As learning communities and groups become more established in distance education settings, it is important to understand the impact these groups have on the motivation of the learners. Motivation is the length and direction of effort expended by the learners in pursuit of achievement (Keller, 1979a, 1979b; Moller & Russell, 1994). It is assumed that configuring learners into communities produces a positive effect on each community member. This positive response, in turn, increases motivation or effort. This research project was conducted to determine if learning communities increase the effort level (motivation) expended by students in distance education. Based on this small sample study, groups do have a motivational impact on learners; although, in this case, that impact was not transferable to an attitudinal change. This lack of attitude change may be more related to the lack of potency of the instructional materials than to any effort, or lack thereof, on the part of the subjects.

This study investigates the structure and cross-cultural (in)variance of mathematical self beliefs in relation to mathematics achievement in two world regions: Confucian Asia (Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Europe (Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland, Serbia and Latvia). This is done both pan-culturally and at a multigroup-level, employing multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling on a sample of 7167 students (modal age 15.1) from nine countries in Confucian Asia and Europe. As expected, Confucian Asian countries were lower on self-concept and higher on math anxiety than European countries. In contrast, confidence, a relatively new measure of self belief, shows little difference between regions, yet is the single most important predictor of math accuracy both within each country and pan-culturally. It accounts for most of the variance explained by the other self-constructs combined, has excellent psychometric properties, and is simple to administer. Self-efficacy adds only a very small amount of incremental validity when confidence is in the equation. There are significant differences between the two world regions in terms of calibration – Europeans are more overconfident – due to lower overall mathematics scores of students from Serbia and Latvia.

Reviews of the dyslexia literature often seem to suggest that children with dyslexia perform at a lower level on almost any task. Richards et al. (Dyslexia 2002; 8: 1–8) note the importance of being able to demonstrate dissociations between tasks. However, increasingly elegant experiments, in which dissociations are found, almost inevitably find that the performance of children with dyslexia is lower as tasks become more difficult! By looking for deficits in dyslexia, could we be barking up the wrong tree? A methodological approach for circumventing this potential problem is discussed.

Heightened awareness and increasingly sophisticated psychological tests have seen a dramatic rise in the numbers of people diagnosed with dyslexia. Accordingly, there is a reported increase in the numbers of students with dyslexia entering Higher Education (HE) in the United Kingdom (UK) [Singleton, C.H., Chair, 1999. Dyslexia in higher education: policy, provision and practice. Report of the national working party on dyslexia in higher education. University of Hull on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Councils of England and Scotland, Hull], [Higher Education Statistics Agency. HESA. Available from: (accessed 21.12.05)]. Studies researching the effects of dyslexia on the clinical practice of nurses are almost non-existent. This paper reports part of a UK study exploring the clinical experiences of student nurses with dyslexia. In depth interviewing of 18 adult branch student nurses revealed a range of difficulties encountered and a variety of coping mechanisms to manage these. Other than in exceptional circumstances there is no legal requirement to disclose a dyslexia diagnosis. The decision to conceal or disclose their dyslexia was particularly prominent and contentious for these participants. This related to the attitudes of co-workers, concerns for patient safety, expectations of support, confidentiality issues and potential discrimination. Dyslexia continues to attract an unwarranted stigma and can adversely affect the learning experience. The need for disability awareness training in the workplace and improved education/service partnerships to support these students is considered crucial.

Disability legislation demands inclusive institutional policy and practice to meet the needs of the growing numbers of students disclosing specific learning difficulties (SpLD)/dyslexia. However, surveys of provision indicate mixed levels of student satisfaction. Institutions need to be able to monitor the extent to which their practice embodies their inclusive mission statements. Fuller, Healey, Bradley and Hall developed a stage model of progress towards the fully inclusive institution which suggests that departments or individuals can remain at different stages, delaying transformation of the whole system. This case study, conducted within a small university, used documentation, interviews, questionnaires and focus groups to explore attitudes and practices at each level of the institution to establish the extent to which Fuller’s model might enable identification and elimination of ‘disablist institutional practice’ and the development of the fully inclusive ethos. Policy, management, lecturers and students were surveyed to explore attitudes and practices relevant to SpLD/dyslexia. Findings indicated that Fuller’s model provided a clear and practical way of charting the institution’s journey towards full inclusivity. Participants demonstrated the existence of examples of inclusive culture at all levels in University X, alongside a need for strengthened and clarified systems cementing links between management policy and the work of facilitators and lecturers. Inconsistencies in the systems connecting the levels potentially allow disablist practices to survive. Hence, identifying these gaps can facilitate their closure and promote the establishment of the fully inclusive institution.

This article presents findings from a questionnaire survey of 136 male students, 62 with dyslexia and 74 without dyslexia, from 17 British higher education institutions. The students with dyslexia reported difficulties with a wide range of skills and academic tasks, notably note taking, organization of essays and expressing ideas in writing. They reported that their difficulties were long-standing and had been experienced in primary and secondary school, although the pattern of these difficulties changed over time. They reported making use of resources available to them, including additional time for examinations, access to dyslexia tutors and support with information technology. However, there are indications of unmet needs in several areas, notably support for specific subjects and with organizing coursework, learning in lectures, and academic writing skills. The implications of these findings for provision for students with dyslexia are discussed.

Background: Over the last ten years a considerable amount of literature has described the socio-emotional discomfort that is often associated with learning disorders at all ages, but a comprehensive review about internalizing symptoms in dyslexia is needed.
Data sources: Medical and psychological search engines (PubMed, PsychArticles and Academic Search Elite) were used to identify all those studies published in peer-reviewed journals, relative to the association of reading difficulties, dyslexia, or learning disorders/ disabilities, and internalizing symptoms, anxiety, or depression.
Results: The present review of studies confirms dyslexia as a specific risk factor for an increased internalizing, anxious and depressive symptomatology. The severity of dyslexia, its comorbidity with attention deficit disorder/ hyperactivity disorder, the level of perceived social support and female gender are some of the factors that mostly influence its psycho-social outcomes.
Conclusion: Findings of this review confirm that suitable social, health and school policies aimed at identifying and treating dyslexia as a cause of discomfort are called for, and confirm the clinical need to assess and contrast additional risk factors that may increase the probability of this suffering in dyslexic students.

The objective of the study was to determine whether the type of statistical tests conducted on Likert scale data affect the conclusions. Pearson, Spearman rho and Kendall tau_b analyses conducted on actual scale data revealed that there was a positive relationship between all the permuted pairs of the variables at the p < .05 level. However the relationship between the variables indicated a weak relationship for all of the tests except for the relationship between the constructs academic self-regulation and learning styles for which the Pearson and Spearman rho lead to the conclusion ofa moderate relationship. The coefficient of determination calculated to ascertain the amount of variability between the permuted pairs of the variables revealed similar variability forall of the variables except for the variables academic self-regulation and learning styles where yet again the conclusions for the Pearson and Spearman rho were similar and that forKendall tau_b different.

This article reports on meta-analyses of the relations of self-efficacy beliefs to academic performance and persistence. Results revealed positive and statistically significant relationships between self-efficacy beliefs and academic performance and persistence outcomes across a wide variety of subjects, experimental designs, and assessment methods. The relationships were found to be heterogeneous across studies, and the variance in reported effect sizes was partially explained by certain study characteristics. Implications for further research and for intervention are discussed.

Concept mapping (a mixed qualitative–quantitative methodology) was used to describe and understand the psychosocial experiences of adults with confirmed and self-identified dyslexia. Using innovative processes of art and photography, Phase 1 of the study included 15 adults who participated in focus groups and in-depth interviews and were asked to elucidate their experiences with dyslexia. On index cards, 75 statements and experiences with dyslexia were recorded. The second phase of the study included 39 participants who sorted these statements into self-defined categories and rated each statement to reflect their personal experiences to produce a visual representation, or concept map, of their experience. The final concept map generated nine distinct cluster themes: Organization Skills for Success; Finding Success; A Good Support System Makes the Difference; On Being Overwhelmed; Emotional Downside; Why Can't They See It?; Pain, Hurt, and Embarrassment From Past to Present; Fear of Disclosure; and Moving Forward. Implications of these findings are discussed.

People cope with stigma via individualistic strategies that minimize stigmatized attributes, and collective strategies that positively redefine stigmatized traits. Guided by social identity theory, we surveyed people with hidden and visible disabilities to investigate the association between disability identification and strategy use. Further, we tested the prediction that self-esteem (collective and personal) varies by disability identification and strategy use. Across two surveys of adults with disabilities (Ns¼93 and 268), disability identification predicted greater use of collective strategies, and higher collective and personal self-esteem, controlling for visibility and proportion of lifetime with disability. These findings support the prediction from social identity theory that group identification may be self-protective. Findings also support the sociopolitical model within disability studies, providing theory-based empirical evidence that working for social change empowers both one’s group and oneself.

This qualitative study aims at explaining reading beliefs and behaviors of college students taking a developmental reading course through analyzing components of the students’ self-systems. A student’s self-system is comprised of many different factors that may or may not develop in tandem through experiences in and out of school (Borkowski, Carr, Rellinger, & Pressley (1990). These factors include: self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control, achievement, motivation, and attributional beliefs of learning. Unfortunately not all students’ self-systems develop appropriately. Schraw and Bruning (1999) claim that as the self-system weakens, a student’s ability to engage in deeper processing of a text also diminishes. I used the self-system framework to understand my students’ learning and reading beliefs and behaviors.

There is a growing body of research indicating that students who can self-regulate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral aspects of their academic functioning are more effective as learners. We studied relations between the self-regulation strategies used by a group of Italian students during the final years of high school and their subsequent academic achievement and resilience in pursuing higher education. We used the self-regulated learning interview schedule, which focuses on cognitive, motivational, and behavioral strategies used during academic learning in both classroomand non-classroomcontexts. The cognitive self-regulation strategy of organizing and transforming proved to be a significant predictor of the students' course grades in Italian, mathematics, and technical subjects in high school and in their subsequent average course grades and examinations passed at the university. The motivational selfregulation strategy of self-consequences was a significant predictor of the students' high school diploma grades and their intention to continue with their education after high school.

This study examined how expectations of independent study and academic behavioural confidence predicted end-of-semester marks in a sample of undergraduate students. Students’ expectations and academic behavioural confidence were measured near the beginning of the semester, and academic performance was taken from aggregated end-of-semester marks. Results suggested that a realistic expectation of undergraduate study, where the student took responsibility for their own learning, predicted higher end-of-semester marks. Students who were confident in their ability to attain high grades and attend taught sessions also performed better in their end-of-semester marks. Confidence in attending taught sessions also buffered against the negative impact of holding an unrealistic expectation of undergraduate study. These findings suggest that measures taken to encourage a realistic expectation of the nature of undergraduate study and boost academic behavioural confidence may benefit students’ performance at university.

In higher education in the U.K. there is an increasing need for speedy but effective screening procedures for dyslexia. Full diagnostic assessment is typically a costly and time-consuming process, and a screening system will allow students and university staff to determine whether or not a full assessment would be appropriate. In order to develop an objective screening procedure for identifying adults with dyslexia, we adopted the approach used in the Dyslexia Screening Test (DST; and Fawcett and Nicolson, 1996). The DST is a 30-minute test designed for administration by lightly trained school professionals. It has 11 sub-tests and derives an overall quantita- tive `at risk' index. The sub-tests were based on a range of skills on which dyslexic children are known to show difficulties including literacy measures (reading, writing and spelling) together with measures of phonological skill (Bradley and Bryant, 1983); naming speed (Denkla and Rudel, 1976), balance (Nicolson and Fawcett, 1990) and verbal fluency (Frith, Landerl and Frith, 1995). The scores on each sub- test are aggregated to give the composite overall `at risk' index and can also be used as an `ability profile' to aid the development of an appropriate support plan. The DST was standardised on a sample of over 1000 British schoolchildren and validated on a panel of dyslexic children.

Emphasizing task importance, which is regarded as a way of motivating engaged behavior, may increase an individual's anxiety. The present research investigated whether academic self-efficacy could moderate the maladaptive relation between task importance and test anxiety. 1978 and 1670 Grade 9 Singaporean students participated in a survey related to their learning experience and motivational processes in math and English respectively. Results from both samples showed convergent findings that high levels of task importance were related to high levels of test anxiety, whereas high levels of academic self-efficacy were related to low levels of test anxiety. Most importantly, academic self-efficacy moderated the relation between task importance and test anxiety—the maladaptive relation between task importance and test anxiety was significantly weaker when academic self-efficacy was higher. Implications of findings are discussed.

Reviewers of research reports frequently criticize the choice of statistical methods. While some of these criticisms are well-founded, frequently the use of various parametric methods such as analysis of variance, regression, correlation are faulted because: (a) the sample size is too small, (b) the data may not be normally distributed, or (c) The data are from Likert scales, which are ordinal, so parametric statistics cannot be used. In this paper, I dissect these arguments, and show that many studies, dating back to the 1930s consistently show that parametric statistics are robust with respect to violations of these assumptions. Hence, challenges like those above are unfounded, and parametric methods can be utilized without concern for ‘‘getting the wrong answer’’.

This paper reports a comparative analysis of international perspectives about curriculum design relevant to disability in education. It was part of a larger study of the perspectives of 132 education practitioners and administrators in the UK, USA and the Netherlands on several dilemmas of difference. It also compares current perspectives to previous ones for similar groups of educators from the 1990s. Participants were interviewed about their perspectives to a presented curriculum dilemma about the consequences of having either a common or a differentiated curriculum for children with disabilities/special educational needs. Findings show that a majority in each country recognised the dilemma about curriculum commonality–differentiation, that this has continued over a decade and that there were similarities across the countries in how the dilemma was recognised and resolved. The findings are discussed in terms of national differences, common cross-country perspectives and a general framework of curriculum differentiation informed by an assumption of dilemmas of difference.

This article reports on a study that aimed to examine the connotations of several key terms or labels used in special education. the context is the particular attention give to lavels and lavelling in the field. Labelling continues, as it has been for most of this century, to be a contentious issue in the field of special needs education. The term 'special education' itself is a label which has been called in to question as an acceptable way of referring to the education of pupils and students with disabilities (Booth & Ainscow, 1998). This questioning of the label 'special' is part of a recent attept to redefine special education or special needs education in terms of inclusive education which covers other vulnerable groups (not just those with disabilities) and to make connections between different vulnerable groups and their participation in mainstream schools and communities. Special educational needs is see, from this perspective, to identify the individual as different and to limit our perceptions and expectations of those designated as 'special'. The use of the term 'special educational needs' has been described as discriminatory (Solity, 1991) and as 'the language of sentimentality and prejudice' (Corbett, 1995),

In this article, Brahm Norwich, Professor of Education at the University of Exeter, examines the roles that special schools can play within inclusive educational systems. He notes that the percentage of young people in special schools in England has remained broadly stable over a number of years, despite inclusive policy initiatives. Brahm Norwich suggests that policy makers and practitioners have found it hard to understand how a broad and shifting notion like inclusion should be operationalised, especially when valued positions, such as meeting individual needs and providing a sense of belonging and participation, can appear to generate such tensions and contradictions. Brahm Norwich summarises findings on teachers’ attitudes towards this crucial ‘dilemma of difference’ from three countries and argues that it is time to develop more sophisticated ways of thinking about provision. Rather than insisting on locating ‘mainstream’ and ‘special’ at opposite ends of a one-dimensional placement continuum, Brahm Norwich puts forward a multidimensional model in which a number of attributes can be considered when analysing provision. The ‘flexible interacting continua’ provided in this model concern identification, participation, placement, curriculum and teaching and governance and Brahm Norwich shows how schools, whether mainstream or special, need to strive towards commonality in terms of all five dimensions rather than simply in terms of placement. Policy makers as well as staff in both mainstream and special schools will be interested in exploring the implications of these ideas.

This paper aims to examine what the capability approach has to offer to the field of special needs and inclusive education. Several key questions are addressed: can the capability approach replace the language of needs and rights; whether the capability approach can address key issues in the field of disabilities and difficulties in education and whether it is possible to avoid the capability approach becoming a promising trend that ends in disappointment? It is concluded that there needs to be an awareness of its incompleteness and so needs integrating with other approaches. Nevertheless, it is argued that the capability approach provides a renewed ethical approach and some conceptual resources to reexamine issues in the disability and education field.

The present study presents reliability and validity evidence concerning a new measure of a generalized locus of control for children. Construction procedures leading to the final 40-item scale are described. Preliminary work showed that scores were not related to social desirability or intelligence test scores but were related to achievement. Continued research with the instrument conducted over a wide range of subject populations has provided additional construct validation across variables such as popularity, ability to delay gratification, and prejudice.

The current market-oriented environment of higher education is hostile to the development of inclusive education in universities. The paper argues that issues about inclusion and exclusion underpin concepts such as civil society, citizenship and public good, and that these concepts inform a set of purposes of education. Liberal and critical views of inclusivity are explored and a conceptual framework for progressively making university education more inclusive is proposed. The framework is about curriculum and the graduates that it intends to produce and covers purposes, actions, and values of teachers and students. The framework embodies critical and socially reconstructive views about inclusion and it is argued that educational practices and outcomes arising from its implementation challenge and replace traditional notions of educational excellenceÐ a consequence of this is its contestation within a university setting. An understanding of the framework is achieved through a number of exhibits that have been used to inform a university community.

This article is about differences between, and the adequacy of, response rates to online and paper-based course and teaching evaluation surveys. Its aim is to provide practical guidance on these matters. The first part of the article gives an overview of online surveying in general, a review of data relating to survey response rates and practical advice to help boost response rates. The second part of the article discusses when a response rate may be considered large enough for the survey data to provide adequate evidence for accountability and improvement purposes. The article ends with suggestions for improving the effectiveness of evaluation strategy. These suggestions are: to seek to obtain the highest response rates possible to all surveys; to take account of probable effects of survey design and methods on the feedback obtained when interpreting that feedback; and to enhance this action by making use of data derived from multiple methods of gathering feedback.

This paper is set against a background of Ireland’s endorsement of a ‘unique’ social partnership model wherein educational policy measures are being shaped by emergent change factors in a socalled new era of lifelong learning. Despite a number of policy responses focusing on the need for greater social inclusion, the paper highlights how the Irish education system continues to mirror and produce notions of ‘advantage’ and ‘disadvantage’. It is argued that while educational strategies appear extensive in addressing this social stratification, serious questions remain concerning their far-reaching impact. In particular, the paper points to a critical concern for how notions of ‘disadvantage’ and ‘social exclusion’ are ideationally conceived and used within an Irish policy context. It is contended that the inadequate treatise of this concern impedes real progress towards meeting the needs of disadvantaged groups in society. A case for reassessing the ideological treatment of social exclusion is therefore made in the interest of promoting effective educational measures for social (and cultural) inclusion.

This paper is set against a background of Ireland’s endorsement of a ‘unique’ social partnership model wherein educational policy measures are being shaped by emergent change factors in a socalled new era of lifelong learning. Despite a number of policy responses focusing on the need for greater social inclusion, the paper highlights how the Irish education system continues to mirror and produce notions of ‘advantage’ and ‘disadvantage’. It is argued that while educational strategies appear extensive in addressing this social stratification, serious questions remain concerning their far-reaching impact. In particular, the paper points to a critical concern for how notions of ‘disadvantage’ and ‘social exclusion’ are ideationally conceived and used within an Irish policy context. It is contended that the inadequate treatise of this concern impedes real progress towards meeting the needs of disadvantaged groups in society. A case for reassessing the ideological treatment of social exclusion is therefore made in the interest of promoting effective educational measures for social (and cultural) inclusion.

Likert scales relating to quality of life were completed by the homeless (N = 75); first year students (N = 301) and a town population (N = 72). Participants also completed free text questions. The scale and free text data were often contradictory and the results highlighted three processes to account for these disparities: i) frame of reference: current salient issues influenced how questions were interpreted; ii) within-subject comparisons: ratings were based on expectations given past experiences; iii) time frame: those with more stable circumstances showed habituation to their level of deprivation. Likert scale data should be understood within the context of how ratings are made.

This paper explores the balance of genetic and environmental influences on dyslexia in generally supportive educational environments. Evidence from family studies suggests and research with identical and fraternal twins confirms the presence of strong genetic influences on dyslexia, though the way dyslexia is defined influences the degree of genetic influence. The behavioural genetic evidence is supported with molecular genetic evidence from DNA analyses suggesting regions on several different chromosomes where genes related to dyslexia are likely to be found. The behavioural and molecular genetic analyses are also applied to different component word reading skills (orthographic coding and phonological decoding) as well as to related language skills (phoneme awareness) to better understand the genetic and cognitive pathways to dyslexia.

This article provides a framework for reporting internal consistency reliability in counselling research and other related social sciences fields, including guidelines relative to score reliability coefficients and associated confidence intervals for both full sample and subgroups. Follow-up techniques for investigating low score reliability are outlines, including examinations of sample homogeneity and item response patterns.

The purposes of the present paper were to identify common errors made by researchers when dealing with reliability coefficients and to outline best practices for reporting and interpreting reliability coefficients. Common errors that researchers make include (a) stating that instruments are reliable, (b) incorrectly interpreting correlation coefficients, (c) not reporting reliability coefficients for their own sample, (d) conducting tests of statistical significance on reliability coefficients, and (e) failing to report reliability of difference scores when examining gain scores. It is recommended that researchers report reliability coefficients for their own data and that they interpret confidence intervals around reliability coefficients, considering that reliability coefficients represent only point estimates. Further, it is contended that reliability coefficients should be reported not only for the full sample at hand, but also for each subgroup. A heuristic example is utilized for the two-sample case (i.e., f-test) to illustrate how comparing subgroups with different reliability coefficients can affect statistical power.

Understanding the interrelations among students' cognitive, emotional, motivational, and volitional processes is an emergening focus in educational psychology. A dynamical, component systems theory of emotions is presented as a promising framework to further unravel these complex interrelations. This framework considers emotions to be a process that is composed of cognitive, neurophysiological, motor expression, and motivational processes—as well as feelings—that mutually regulate each other over time and within a particular context. This comprehensive view of emotions provides a more complete understanding of the social and dynamical nature of emotions and the integration of emotions within learning processes. Using a dynamical, component systems view of emotional processes, interrelated with learning processes, involves a shift in research methodologies and instruments to adequately investigate the role(s) of emotions within learning contexts. But more importantly, it may provide a powerful framework that can clearly show teachers and parents the role(s) that emotions play in students' acquisition of knowledge and skills.

This study concentrates on the development and estimation of measurement properties of the College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES). Three university faculties in education and psychology developed a pool of routine, frequent academic behaviors of college students. The pool was examined by seven graduate teaching assistants and trimmed and reworded based on their suggestions, before being rated by 93 undergraduate educational psychology students. A 33-item assortment without hierarchical arrangement resulted. A five-point Likert-type instruction was appended. For reliability estimation, the scale was administered twice over an eight-week period to another group of 88 educational psychology students. Concurrent validities were estimated with two different criteria, and factorial validity was estimated via exploratory principal factor analysis. Finally, a new sample was asked to estimate the difficulty of performing each of the behaviours listed in the scale. Results indicate that the preliminary measurement properties of the CASES are encouraging. Additional validity studies are recommended.

We would all agree that the beliefs students hold to be true about themselves are vital forces in their success or failure in school. All parents know well that the beliefs kids get in their heads become the rules that govern their actions. Unfortunately, the educational aim of building healthy self-perceptions in students is deeply mired in the "self-esteem controversy" that has been the subject of intense dialogue and much ridicule during the last two decades. And there is ample reason to be concerned about the self-esteem "movement." Critics have railed against the problems that can result from an unbridled self-oriented emphasis in education. It can be a short voyage from self-enhancement to self-absorption. Children taught that the gratification of their sense of self is the prime directive of their own personal and social development do not easily learn to nurture others, to maintain lasting and mutually satisfying relationships, or to defer or postpone their own perceived needs.

Two decades have now passed since Bandura (1977) first introduced the construct of self-efficacy with the seminal publication of "Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change." A decade later, Bandura (1986) situated the construct within a social cognitive theory of human behavior that diverged from the prevalent cognitivism of the day and embedded cognitive development within a sociostructural network of influences. More recently, Bandura (1997) published Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control, in which he further situated self-efficacy within a theory of personal and collective agency that operates in concert with other sociocognitive factors in regulating human well-being and attainment. In this volume, Bandura also addressed the major facets of agency -- the nature and structure of self-efficacy beliefs, their origins and effects, the processes through which such self-beliefs operate, and the modes by which they can be created and strengthened. In addition, Bandura reviewed a vast body of research on each of these aspects of agency in diverse applications of the theory.

The purpose of this article is to examine the contribution made by the selfefficacy component of A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory to the study of writing in academic settings. A brief overview of Bandura's social cognitive theory and of self-efficacy is first provided, followed by a description of the manner in which writing self-efficacy beliefs are typically operationalized and assessed. This is followed by a synthesis of research findings that address the relationship between writing self-efficacy, other motivation constructs related to writing, and writing outcomes in academic settings. These findings demonstrate that students' confidence in their writing capabilities influence their writing motivation as well as various writing outcomes in school. Academic implications and strategies that may help guide future research are offered.

The purpose of this paper was to identify the unique contribution made by self-efficacy theory to the study of self-regulation and motivation in academic settings. Findings on the relationship between self-efficacy and academic performances are first summarized. Second, the conceptual difference between the definition and use of perceptions of competence in social cognitive theory and in other theoretical perspectives of motivation is clarified. Last, results of recent studies that investigate the role of self-efficacy and other motivational constructs in various academic areas are reported. These results demonstrate that, when self-efficacy is included in statistical models with other, more global, self beliefs (e.g., self-concept, anxiety, perceived usefulness, attributions) and with variables such as academic background, gender, race \ethnicity, ability, and socioeconomic status, self-efficacy is a strong predictor of academic performance and mediates the influence of other determinants. These results support A.Bandura (1986) contention that particularized measures of self-referent thought surpass global measures in the explanation and prediction of related outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Albert Bandura's four hypothesized sources of self-efficacy on students' writing self-efficacy beliefs (N = 1256) and to explore how these sources differ as a function of gender and academic level (elementary, middle, high). Consistent with the tenets of self-efficacy theory, each of the sources significantly correlated with writing self-efficacy and with each other. As hypothesized, students' perceived mastery experience accounted for the greatest proportion of the variance in writing self-efficacy. This was the case for girls and for boys, as well as for students in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Social persuasions and anxiety also predicted self-efficacy, albeit modestly. Vicarious experience did not predict writing self-efficacy. Girls reported greater mastery experience, vicarious experience, and social persuasions, as well as lower writing anxiety. Girls also reported stronger writing self-efficacy and were rated better writers by their teachers. Elementary school students reported stronger mastery experience, vicarious experience, and social persuasions than did either middle school or high school students. Elementary school students also reported stronger self-efficacy. Findings support and refine the theoretical tenets of Bandura's social cognitive theory.

Path analysis was used to test the predictive and mediational role of self-efficacy beliefs in mathematical problem solving. Results revealed that math self-efficacy was more predictive of problem solving than was math self-concept, perceived usefulness of mathematics, prior experience with mathematics, or gender (N = 350). Self-efficacy also mediated the effect of gender and prior experience on self-concept, perceived usefulness, and problem solving. Gender and prior experience influenced self-concept, perceived usefulness, and problem solving largely through the mediational role of self-efficacy. Men had higher performance, self-efficacy, and self-concept and lower anxiety, but these differences were due largely to the influence of self-efficacy, for gender had a direct effect only on self-efficacy and a prior experience variable. Results support the hypothesized role of self-efficacy in A. Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory.

It is perhaps unfortunate that enabling technologies do not come with an 'ability warning', as they generally require the user to already have acquired a certain level of IT skills, in a similar way that online courses require users to have a certain level of prior IT knowledge. Accessing a computer and making the most of e-learning materials requires support at both the curriculum and technological levels, and some students find it easier to work with computers than others. Dyslexic students are no different, and often have the added cognitive load of having to use enabling technologies to access these materials, examples being text to speech facilities, magnification, changes in desktop settings and various methods to help with the input of text. These added technologies can be liberating, but only if they have been chosen with the specific requirements of that particular student in mind, and the student has gained adequate skills to make the most of the technologies' attributes. Disabled learners must not be disadvantaged in education and it is important to ensure that learners are not unfairly treated in assessment situations. Colleges have an obligation to anticipate the needs of learners and to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled learners can demonstrate their skills and abilities equally with their nondisabled peers. This obligation extends to online, distance and blended learning. Disabled learners can encounter barriers when undertaking online learning and when using Information Learning Technology. The focus of this paper is how to make learning materials and electronic learning environments easy and made accessible. In many cases, assessments can be undertaken using technology to assist learners. However, the needs of disabled learners also should be considered when the assessment is technology based, for example, multiple choice quizzes in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). This paper covers the four main areas of accessibility: presentation, content, structure and navigation. Importance should be stressed on anticipating the needs of disabled learners in any given learning situation. This means that colleges and curriculum managers should not wait until a disabled learner has enrolled on the course before thinking about which adjustments may be necessary in the classroom or the delivery method. An anticipatory duty means that colleges should include consideration of the needs of disabled learners during the period of curriculum design, planning and review. It is important to remember that access to the curriculum cannot be Provided solely by means of technology; what is needed is a pedagogical solution, where the learner is included through an equivalent accessible learning experience.

Principles of university design become increasingly important as librarians add information literacy courses and other instructional modules. Issues of access in higher eduation pmay be reframed as issues of hte design of the inclusive classroom environment. This allows for the spectrum of multiple intelligences and learning modailities to be addressed as well as the broad diversity that contemporary learners and teachers bring to the classroom experience, live or delivered through distance education. Using the principles of universal design (UD) this paper addresses the manner in which a course may be front-loaded to achieve maximum understanding on the part of the learner as to the expected learning environment and requirements, as well as expected outcomes and assessment practices.

Editor – I read with some interest Dr Jamieson's article on the uses and misuses of Likert scales1. The issues of the appropriate statistical models for parametric (i.e. minimally interval) data and non-parametric (i.e. ordinal or categorical) data have been around for at least 50 years (Lord 1953)2. The real issue is not between analytical techniques, but in properly understanding the nature of the analyses, and the resulting inferences.
The usual assumptions made for parametric data are: • Randomness of data • Independence of data • Homoscedasticity (equality of variance) • Minimally interval
To quote Harris (1975)3 A number of authors… have pointed out that statistical conclusions are valid whenever the distributions of numbers from which the data are sampled meet the assumptions (typically, normality and homogeneity of variance) used to derive the particular techniques being applied, irrespective of the measurement process which generated those numbers.
Moreover, the validity of parametric statistics… is often affected very little by even relatively gross departures from these assumptions. In other words, the numbers have no memory of how they were generated, and some procedures are more robust than others, so knowledge of the nature and robustness of procedures is important; this information is usually given in their descriptions. Also where there is an equivalent non-parametric test, it should be remembered that these are less powerful than the corresponding parametric test, so care should be exercised in drawing inference from any test statistics close to the critical value. Major issues which can affect statistical inference are those of bias, and lack of independence of the data, which are often ignored because they are difficult to quantify.
A particular example of the former is that of _faking good_ where the respondent will give what he or she perceives as a good answer; this can be observed in opinion polls where some respondents will systematically deny support for a government which they perceive as being unpopular whatever their true future voting intentions.
The uncritical use of standard nonparametric tests for non-parametric data can lead to improper inferences, for example some of the tests which are based on rankings can give unsatisfactory results if there is a large number of ties, i.e. sometimes it is better to use Kolomogorov- Smirnov than Mann– Whitney. Finally many of the statistical techniques which explore the relationships between data, such as regression analysis, general linear model (GLM), factor analysis, etc. are all parametric methods. It has long been accepted practice for example to convert categorical data into dummy variables with values of 0 and 1 in regression analysis.
To summarise, it is acceptable in many cases to apply parametric techniques to non-parametric data such as that generated from Likert scales, provided that the assumptions are clearly stated, and the data is of the appropriate size and shape. Although much useful insight can be obtained with respect to the structure and relation ships within the data, care must be exercised in drawing inferential conclusions.
REFERENCES
1 Jamieson S. Likert scales: how to (ab) use them. Med Educ 2004;38:1217–1218.
2 Lord FM. On the statistical treatment of football numbers. American Psychologist 1953;8:750–751.
3 Harris RJ. A Primer of Multivariate Statistics.

This article describes the control-value theory of achievement emotions and its implications for educational research and practice. The theory provides an integrative framework for analyzing the antecedents and effects of emotions experienced in achievement and academic settings. It is based on the premise that appraisals of control and values are central to the arousal of achievement emotions, including activity-related emotions such as enjoyment, frustration, and boredom experienced at learning, as well as outcome emotions such as joy, hope, pride, anxiety, hopelessness, shame, and anger relating to success or failure. Corollaries of the theory pertain to the multiplicity and domain specificity of achievement emotions; to their more distal individual and social antecedents, their effects on engagement and achievement, and the reciprocal linkages between emotions, antecedents and effects; to the regulation and development of these emotions; and to their relative universality across genders and cultures. Implications addressed concern the conceptual integration of emotion, motivation, and cognition, and the need to advance mixed-method paradigms. In closing, implications for educational practice are discussed.

Difficulties that are encountered by dyslexic undergraduates with their learning and understanding of mathematics are explored. Specific consideration is given to issues arising through mathematical content, its delivery, the procedures and processes of ‘doing’ mathematics, and its assessment. Particular difficulties, which have emerged through exploratory and explanatory multiple-case studies, and witnessed through the provision of one-to-one support to a dyslexic and dyspraxic engineering undergraduate, are detailed. Recommendations for the provision of mathematical support to dyslexic students and proposals for future research are given.

Background. Within professional and practice knowledge there are many assumptions about disability that underpin occupational therapy philosophy.
Purpose: The objectives of this paper are to (a) critically examine how disability has been constructed in mainstream society by introducing perspectives from contemporary disability studies theories, and (b) apply a critically reflexive lens informed by disability studies perspectives to occupational therapy practice.
Key Issues: Drawing upon critical disability perspectives, notions of "nondisabled" versus "disabled"; metanarratives of disability; built environments and social structures; and social and attitudinal constructions of disability and identity are examined. Key issues pertaining to rehabilitation, norms, client-centred practice, language, and education within occupational therapy are discussed.
Implications: This critically reflexive examination has revealed the ways in which occupational therapy and society at large are embedded in discourses that may reinforce negative connotations around disability. A renewed understanding of disability may challenge current practices.

This manual is a guide to the "Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire" (MSLQ) for assessing college students' motivational orientations and their use of different learning strategies for a college course. The MSLQ, based on a general cognitive view of motivation and learning strategies, contains two sections. The motivation section consists of 31 items that assess students' goals and value beliefs for a course. The learning strategies section includes 31 items regarding students' use of different cognitive and metacognitive strategies and 19 items concerning student management of different resources. The guide contains an introduction that details the survey's development, scoring, organization, and administration suggestions. Two sections explain the two components of the instrument in detail, listing the items, explaining their significance, and offering descriptive statistics. Also included in other sections are a sample fact sheet; a sample demographic sheet; a copy of the questionnaire itself;

A correlational study examined relationships between motivational orientation, self-regulated learning, and classroom academic performance for 173 seventh graders from eight science and seven English classes. A self-report measure of student self-efficacy, intrinsic value, test anxiety, self-regulation, and use of learning strategies was administered, and performance data were obtained from work on classroom assignments. Self-efficacy and intrinsic value were positively related to cognitive engagement and performance. Regression analyses revealed that, depending on the outcome measure, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and test anxiety emerged as the best predictors of performance. Intrinsic value did not have a direct influence on performance but was strongly related to self-regulation and cognitive strategy use, regardless of prior achievement level. The implications of individual differences in motivational orientation for cognitive engagement and self-regulation in the classroom are discussed.

In few short years, Universal Design revolutionized access to public spaces with a simple message: Consider the needs of all potential users from the beginning. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) promises another revolution;this time in the development of educational curricula and materials that include potent supports for access and learning from the start, rendering them effective for a far wider range of students than traditional materials. This article traces the development of UDL from its origins in the field of architecture and CAST Inc.'s early work, and then it describes a project that developed both a model digital U.S. history textbook incorporating UDL features and publisher guidelines that facilitate the creation of digital textbooks to support the access and learning needs of the broadest possible range of users, including students with disabilities.

Based on Wortman and Brehm's integration of reactance theory with Seligman's model of learned helplessness, an investigation was conducted to examine the effects of amount of helplessness training and internal-external locus of control on subsequent task performance and on self-ratings of mood. Subjects were divided into "internal" and "external" groups and were then given either high, low, or no helplessness training on a series of concept-formation problems. After completing a mood checklist, all subjects worked on an anagram task presented as a second experiment by a second experimenter. The results revealed that internals exhibited greater performance decrements and reported greater depression under high helplessness than did externals. In the low helplessness conditions, internals tended to perform better than control subjects, while externals tended to perform worse than control subjects; low helplessness subjects also reported the highest levels of hostility. The results are discussed within the context of Wortman and Brehm's integration of reactance and learned helplessness theories.

This book is about a variety of types of brain. It comes at an opportune moment in the evolution of higher education (HE), as a growing number of neurodiverse students enter our universities. We can see this if we take dyslexia as an example. Between 1995 and 2005, numbers of known dyslexic students in UK HE increased by a factor of 10 (HESA, 2008a ). Anecdotally, similar increases have been noted in the United States, Canada and Australia, although such detailed centralized statistics are not recorded in those countries. In the United Kingdom, the chain of events leading to this increase began with the expansion of awareness since the 1981 Education Act, which led to improved support for school students …

• Introduction - David Pollak
• Neurodiversity, Disability, Legislation and Poilicy Development in the UK - Alan Hurst
• The Psychological Assessment of Neurodiversity - David Grant
• Dyslexia - Ross Cooper
• Dyspraxia - Sharon Drew
• Dyscalculia - Clare Trott
• Asperger Syndrome: Empathy is a Two-Way Street - Nicola Martin
• Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder AD(H)D - Mary Colley
• Mental Well-Being - Kitty McCrea
• Assistive Technology - E.A. Draffan
• Teaching, Learning and Assessment: 'It's Not Like You Think' - Heather Symonds
• Conclusion: Constructing the Whole Picture and Looking Forward - David Pollak

This thesis is a qualitative study of 32 higher education students from four different UK Universities, ranging in age from 18 to 50, all of whom had been formally identified as dyslexic. It is concerned with the sense of self of these students, as revealed in their learning life histories, investigating ways in which the various influences which have been brought to bear on such students impact on their identity and self-concept, and how this in turn affects their University careers. The strategy used involved extended semi-structured interviews, analysed with the aid of a qualitative research computer program. The thesis offers a descriptive typology whereby a pathway is set out, leading from available models of dyslexia via assessment for it in an individual and his/her educational experiences, through socioemotional responses to admission to HE and experience thereof. The main finding is that all the students regarded themselves as different from the majority of their peers in specific ways: they adopted a variety of discourses of dyslexia. Twelve informants (37%) saw it as a purely academic matter, focused on a discrepancy between their intelligence and their ability to deal with written and printed English. Nine informants (28%) accepted a medical discourse, seeing themselves as suffering from a neurological condition. Seven informants (21%) were more self-accepting; their image of dyslexia viewed it as a preference for those processes associated with the right hemisphere of the brain, with strengths in visualisation and three dimensional imagery. A final four (12%) preferred to focus on dyslexia as a political campaign, striving to obtain acknowledgement and change from the academy.

Exposure to definitions of dyslexia from a variety of sources have led to these discourses of it, which in turn affect these peo..ple's sense of self and identity. Internalisation of such discourses influences their affective and social responses to the label. For those identified before admission to HE, the various discourses are likely to influence their routes to University; once identified after admission, the University experiences of all are modified by the discourse of dyslexia which they adopt. Students who overcome their difficulties often do so by re-framing them, and those informants who regarded dyslexia as a matter of learning preference (and to some extent those for whom it was a campaign) were showing evidence of success in this. Those who saw dyslexia as a defect or deficit were not doing this, and tended to have poorer self-esteem. Finally, this thesis proposes that these findings have implications beyond dyslexia. The inclusivity and widening participation agendas are already challenging the academy to revisit the concept of 'graduateness'. Students can be seen as having an intrinsic deficiency or as being in need of academic socialisation. But there is another way of conceptualising both dyslexia and academic procedures: if we regard both as socially constructed, as open to question rather than as givens, we begin to move away from the concept of knowledge as something 'transferred' and from an essentialist view of dyslexia. The main recommendation of this study is that in order to be genuinely inclusive of students with a variety of cognitive styles, Higher Education should reframe its definition of dyslexia and review its learning and teaching approaches.

There are important educational questions to be asked in relation to dyslexia. What does it mean for a student in the 21st century to be classified as dyslexic? How is dyslexia constructed and understood and how do the different disciplines influence educational provision, and indeed how is this experienced by students? Researchers generally agree that it is not a straightforward matter of discovering children with intrinsic, diagnosable cognitive impairments, which can be simply remediated. It is recognised in current writing about special educational needs (SEN) that it is necessary to take account of a range of interacting factors and related values: biological, psychological, social and cultural – in order to understand and respond appropriately to children identified as having learning difficulties in school (Davis and Florian, 2004a, b; Norwich, 2009). This paper reviews the other papers in our special issue and sets out an agenda for future research in the field. The special issue sets out to extend current discussion and thinking about dyslexia and education beyond the current perspective. The collection contains papers drawing on the themes of identification and assessment, training, emotional well-being, systemic support and development and narrative research (i.e., our papers do respond to the biological, psychological etc.). Indeed, because dyslexia inspires a debate on a number of levels, and in a range of academic disciplines, much can be gained by the bringing together in one issue of alternative perspectives and paradigms. Further, by including papers that draw on different traditions of research about dyslexia, we can offer the potential for teasing out new knowledge by exploring the tensions between perspectives.

PERCY F-a well-grown lad, aged i4-is the eldest son of intelligent parents, the second child of a family of seven. He has always been a bright and intelligent boy, quick at games, and in no way inferior to others of his age. His great difficulty has been-and is now-his inability to learn to read. This inability is so remarkable, and so pronounced, that I have no doubt it is due to some congenital defect. He has been at school or under tutors since he was 7 years old, and the greatest efforts have been made to teach him to read, but, in spite of this laborious and persistent training, he can only with difficulty spell out words of one syllable. ..

Background. Academic self-efficacy, when operationalized as mastery over domainspecific knowledge, has been found to be a predictor of academic achievement and emotions. Although academic emotions are also a predictor of academic achievement, there is limited evidence for reciprocal relations with academic achievement.

Aims. To examine whether academic self-efficacy, when operationalized as confidence in study-related skills and behaviours, is also a predictor of academic achievement and emotions and to test reciprocal relations between academic emotions and achievement.

Sample. Two hundred and six first-year undergraduate students.

Methods. Academic self-efficacy was measured at the beginning of the first semester and learning-related emotions (LREs) at the beginning of the second semester. Academic performance was aggregated across assessments in semester one and semester two.

Results. Self-efficacy in study-related skills and behaviours predicted: (1) better semester one academic performance and (2) more pleasant and fewer unpleasant LREs at the beginning of the second semester directly and (3) indirectly through semester one academic performance. Reciprocal relations between academic performance and emotions were supported, but only for pleasant emotions.

Conclusions. Self-efficacy in study-related skills was the critical academic self-efficacy variable in this study. It may play an important role in maintaining challenge appraisals to maintain pleasant emotions and better academic performance. Accordingly, practitioners in higher education may wish to consider the value of assessing and developing students’ self-efficacy in relation to their independent study skills.

This study examined the changes in students' academic behavioural confidence over the course of their first year of academic study and whether changes differ by their achievement goal profile. Self-report data were collected from 434 participants in three waves: at the beginning of the first semester of their first year of undergraduate study, at the beginning of the second semester, and again at beginning of the second year of undergraduate study. At the outset of their studies the authors identified three clusters of achievement goal profiles which differentiated between students' confidence in attaining grades, independent study and discussing course material. By the beginning of the second year any dips in confidence had disappeared which the authors construe in a positive light. The clusters of achievement goals shown at the outset of the first year of academic study does not seem to show any differentiated lasting disadvantage or advantage to students' confidence.

The study described here aimed to examine the relations between test anxiety, competence beliefs and achievement goals, and in particular if the relations between competence beliefs and test anxiety were moderated by achievement goals. Pupils in their first year of secondary schooling completed self-report questionnaires for test anxiety, competence beliefs and achievement goals. Results indicated that pupils with low competence beliefs in Mathematics reported more worrisome thoughts when they held a mastery avoidance goal and female pupils with low verbal competence beliefs reported more off-task behaviours when they held a performance-approach goal. Male pupils with low verbal competence beliefs reported fewer off-task behaviours when they held a performance-approach goal. These findings may reflect how Mathematics may be uniquely related to a fear of failure among school subjects and how the gendered nature of verbal self-concept becomes important when peer comparison is a salient goal for pupils.