Reading is an important skill for daily operations of each individual. Despite this fact, some individuals experience less pleasant feelings during reading, which in extreme cases can also lead to reading anxiety. It was proven that students with specific learning disabilities (hereinafter SLD) rank higher in terms of generalized anxiety compared to their peers with no diagnosed problems and consequently, a high level of anxiety contributes to less efficient coping with school tasks. Despite its importance, the field of reading anxiety in students with SLD is still relatively under-researched. The purpose of the master’s thesis was therefore to study reading anxiety and its possible correlation with reading comprehension and reading learning strategies in students with SLD compared to their peers with no diagnosed problems.
The research consisted of 27 students with diagnosed SLD and 25 peers with no diagnosed SLD of both sexes, attending grades 5-9 of primary school. In order to obtain data, we have used three instruments: Reading anxiety scale, the second part of the Learning strategies questionnaire and the One-minute test of loud and quiet reading.
The results have shown that the group of students with SLD is in total averagely ranking higher on the entire scale than their peers with no SLD, but the difference between the groups is not statistically significant. Students with SLD as well as their peers with no SLD express the highest level of reading anxiety on the subscale Reading comprehension and analysis. Students with SLD express the lowest reading anxiety on the subscale Planning of the reading process, while their peers with no SLD express the lowest level of reading anxiety on the subscale Supporting factors of reading. Girls with SLD averagely express higher levels of reading anxiety then boys with SLD on the entire scale as well as on all the subscales. The younger age group with SLD is expressing higher reading anxiety as the older age group with SLD on the entire scale and the first and second subscales (Planning of the reading process, Supporting factors of reading), while older students with SLD express averagely higher reading anxiety on the third subscale (Reading comprehension and analysis). In students with SLD, there is a low positive correlation between the level of reading anxiety and reading comprehension and a low positive correlation between the level of reading anxiety and the use of reading learning strategies. Finally, we have also found that students with SLD differ from students with no SLD in terms of average reached levels of reading anxiety as well as in terms of reading comprehension and reading learning strategies, but a statistically significant difference manifested only in the case of reading comprehension.
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