Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?

Poor readers have lower academic achievement and increased anxiety, including reading anxiety, which may perpetuate lower academic achievement. We explored reading anxiety in university students, investigating whether the association between reading ability and academic achievement is mediated by re...

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Main Authors: Soares, S., Boyes, Mark, Parrila, R., Badcock, N.A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93198
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author Soares, S.
Boyes, Mark
Parrila, R.
Badcock, N.A.
author_facet Soares, S.
Boyes, Mark
Parrila, R.
Badcock, N.A.
author_sort Soares, S.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Poor readers have lower academic achievement and increased anxiety, including reading anxiety, which may perpetuate lower academic achievement. We explored reading anxiety in university students, investigating whether the association between reading ability and academic achievement is mediated by reading anxiety (independent of general anxiety). Participants were students (n = 169, 69% female, age = 20.70) at an Australian university who completed an online reading assessment (decoding skills, phonological awareness, orthographical knowledge and comprehension), and a survey examining reading anxiety, trait anxiety and self-reported reading history. Academic achievement was based on university grades. Two reading anxiety factors (social and non-social) were identified; both factors were distinct from trait anxiety. Reading ability was negatively correlated with reading anxiety and positively correlated with academic achievement. Reading anxiety was not correlated with academic achievement and it did not mediate the relationship between reading ability and academic achievement as expected. As this was the first study to explore reading anxiety in adults, further research is required to determine the impact reading anxiety may have on university students beyond academic achievement.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-931982023-10-06T06:41:47Z Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students? Soares, S. Boyes, Mark Parrila, R. Badcock, N.A. academic achievement reading ability reading anxiety Adult Humans Female Young Adult Male Academic Success Reading Dyslexia Australia Students Humans Dyslexia Students Reading Adult Australia Female Male Young Adult Academic Success Poor readers have lower academic achievement and increased anxiety, including reading anxiety, which may perpetuate lower academic achievement. We explored reading anxiety in university students, investigating whether the association between reading ability and academic achievement is mediated by reading anxiety (independent of general anxiety). Participants were students (n = 169, 69% female, age = 20.70) at an Australian university who completed an online reading assessment (decoding skills, phonological awareness, orthographical knowledge and comprehension), and a survey examining reading anxiety, trait anxiety and self-reported reading history. Academic achievement was based on university grades. Two reading anxiety factors (social and non-social) were identified; both factors were distinct from trait anxiety. Reading ability was negatively correlated with reading anxiety and positively correlated with academic achievement. Reading anxiety was not correlated with academic achievement and it did not mediate the relationship between reading ability and academic achievement as expected. As this was the first study to explore reading anxiety in adults, further research is required to determine the impact reading anxiety may have on university students beyond academic achievement. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93198 10.1002/dys.1738 eng http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ fulltext
spellingShingle academic achievement
reading ability
reading anxiety
Adult
Humans
Female
Young Adult
Male
Academic Success
Reading
Dyslexia
Australia
Students
Humans
Dyslexia
Students
Reading
Adult
Australia
Female
Male
Young Adult
Academic Success
Soares, S.
Boyes, Mark
Parrila, R.
Badcock, N.A.
Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?
title Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?
title_full Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?
title_fullStr Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?
title_full_unstemmed Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?
title_short Does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?
title_sort does reading anxiety impact on academic achievement in higher education students?
topic academic achievement
reading ability
reading anxiety
Adult
Humans
Female
Young Adult
Male
Academic Success
Reading
Dyslexia
Australia
Students
Humans
Dyslexia
Students
Reading
Adult
Australia
Female
Male
Young Adult
Academic Success
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93198