Self-Efficacy in Undergraduate Students with Dyslexia: A Mixed Methods Investigation

It may be thought that gaining a place at university confers self-belief in students with dyslexia; after all they have succeeded in their academic studies. Our research explored self-efficacy beliefs in university students with and without dyslexia. An Academic Self-Efficacy scale and Sources of Academic Self-Efficacy scale were completed by 44 university students.These scores were compared between dyslexic and non-dyslexic students. Interviews were conducted with eight participants to gain a fuller understanding of how their self-efficacy beliefs develop. Undergraduate students with dyslexia scored lower than students without dyslexia on four out of the five measures of academic self-efficacy. The dyslexic students reported role models, teachers and school performance as factors influencing their motivation toward academic work. The research suggests that university students with dyslexia still need interventions to help boost their self-efficacy profiles despite the level of success they have achieved in gaining a place at university.