Conference Proceedings

2004 Scottish Branch Annual Conference

Psychology in today's society
Conference Venue: Fisher's Hotel, Pitlochry
Scottish Branch

From: 26 Nov 2004
To: 28 Nov 2004

 
Peer-Reviewed

An Investigation of the Academic Self-Concept of Secondary School Students with General and Specific Reading Difficulties: Does IQ-Achievement Discrepancy Make a Difference?

Jane Maclardie <[email]>
Strathclyde University

James Boyle <[email]>
Strathclyde University


This study investigated differences in academic self-concept in three groups of secondary school pupils: those with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD, N = 31) whose reading was discrepant from their IQ, those with more general learning difficulties (GLD, N = 45) whose reading problems were consistent with IQ, and chronological age-matched typically developing pupils with no reading difficulties (N = 46).  The pupils all attended mainstream secondary schools and their ages ranged from 12.3-15.2 years.  They were categorised into one of the three groups using the WASI (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Wechsler, 1999) and the British Ability Scale (BAS) (Volume II, Elliot, Smith and McCulloch, 1996) Word Reading Test.  Academic self-concept was measured using the Myself-As-Learner-Scale (MALS, Burden, 1998).  As predicted by the first hypothesis, both groups of pupils with reading difficulties had a lower academic self-concept than the control group (p<0.01). However, contrary to the second hypothesis, that pupils with SpLD would have a lower academic self-concept than those with GLD, no significant differences were found between the two groups (p = 0.485, ns).  Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.