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The influence of test anxiety on academic difficulties has been investigated in typically developing students, but the mechanism underlying the influence remains unclear, especially for those with specific learning disabilities (SpLDs). This study examined the role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and literacy difficulties among Chinese typically developing adolescents as well as those who have been identified as having an SpLD and significant literacy difficulties (i.e., typically functioning SpLD) and without significant literacy difficulties (i.e., high-functioning SpLD) in Taiwan. A total of 238 first-year undergraduate students were recruited from eleven universities in South Taiwan. Among 238 students, 105 were identified to have SpLDs, and 133 were typically developing students. These students were asked to complete questionnaires on demographics, test anxiety, metacognition, and literacy difficulties (i.e., reading and writing). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that test anxiety among Chinese adolescents was linked to literacy difficulties but that only high-functioning and typically functioning students with SpLDs experienced a direct effect (without mediation by other factors). For those without SpLDs, the influence of test anxiety on literacy difficulties was not direct but significantly mediated by metacognition. Various components of these students' metacognition had mediating effects on different literacy difficulties. Test anxiety might influence the reading and writing difficulties of typically developing adolescents and those with typically functioning and high-functioning SpLDs through different mechanisms. Moreover, teachers at the university level are encouraged to consider students' test anxiety and metacognition when preparing their teaching materials.

The present study examined the mediating effect of processing speed on the relationship between state anxiety and reading comprehension in Chinese children with and without reading disabilities (RD). A total of 53 Chinese children with RD and 66 typically developing children were administered cognitive and noncognitive measures. We found that the two groups had distinct patterns of state anxiety and processing speed. A significant indirect effect of state anxiety on reading comprehension through processing speed was found only in children with RD. Our findings contribute to filling a research gap and provide evidence to front-line practitioners for adapting the teaching and measures for Chinese children with RD.

This study investigated the learning strategies that university students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) report using in the Chinese language context. Participants were 105 first-year undergraduate students with SLD and 134 typically developing peers. Three questionnaires about reported reading/writing difficulties, metacognitive knowledge, and learning strategies were administered. Students with SLD reported using fewer learning strategies than students without SLD. The use of writing/research skills, which are the skills used to research topics from various sources in different ways (e.g., organizing writing projects, and monitoring for errors), significantly negatively predicted the reported reading/writing difficulties in both groups. These findings help expand our understanding of which learning strategies are useful for students with SLD and university instructors use more suitable techniques to facilitate the learning of these students.

The influence of test anxiety on academic difficulties has been investigated in typically developing students, but the mechanism underlying the influence remains unclear, especially for those with specific learning disabilities (SpLDs). This study examined the role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and literacy difficulties among Chinese typically developing adolescents as well as those who have been identified as having an SpLD and significant literacy difficulties (i.e., typically functioning SpLD) and without significant literacy difficulties (i.e., high-functioning SpLD) in Taiwan. A total of 238 first-year undergraduate students were recruited from eleven universities in South Taiwan. Among 238 students, 105 were identified to have SpLDs, and 133 were typically developing students. These students were asked to complete questionnaires on demographics, test anxiety, metacognition, and literacy difficulties (i.e., reading and writing). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that test anxiety among Chinese adolescents was linked to literacy difficulties but that only high-functioning and typically functioning students with SpLDs experienced a direct effect (without mediation by other factors). For those without SpLDs, the influence of test anxiety on literacy difficulties was not direct but significantly mediated by metacognition. Various components of these students' metacognition had mediating effects on different literacy difficulties. Test anxiety might influence the reading and writing difficulties of typically developing adolescents and those with typically functioning and high-functioning SpLDs through different mechanisms. Moreover, teachers at the university level are encouraged to consider students' test anxiety and metacognition when preparing their teaching materials.

The present study examined whether temporal processing (TP) is associated with reading of a non-alphabetic script, that is, Chinese. A total of 126 primary school-aged Chinese children from Taiwan (63 children with dyslexia) completed cross-modal, visual, and auditory temporal order judgment tasks and measures of Chinese reading and literacy-related skills. The results showed that typically developing children and children with dyslexia differed in all TP skills. Structural equation modeling indicated that cross-modal TP contributed independently to character recognition in the entire sample if the significant effects of phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and rapid automatized naming were considered. The multi-sample analysis showed that TP did not predict reading in the typical group after controlling for literacy-related skills, but visual and cross-modal TP skills independently contributed to reading in the group with dyslexia in addition to literacy-related skills. Finally, the path analysis indicated that in the typical group, separate TP skills affected reading through literacy-related skills, but visual and cross-modal TP skills had direct effects on character reading in the group with dyslexia. These findings suggest that TP is more important for reading in children with dyslexia than in typically developing children, and the roles of TP in dyslexia require further examination.

This study presents an examination of learner-generated drawing for different reading comprehension subtypes of dyslexic students and control students. The participants were 22 phonological dyslexic students, 20 orthographic dyslexic students, 21 double-deficit dyslexic students, and 45 age-, gender-, and IQ-matched control students. The major evaluation tools included word recognition task, orthographic task, phonological awareness task, and scenery texts and questions. Comparisons of the four groups of students showed differences among phonological dyslexia, orthographic dyslexia, double-deficit dyslexia, and the chronological age control groups in pre- and posttest performance of scenery texts. Differences also existed in relevant questions and the effect of the learner-generated drawing method. The pretest performance showed problems in the dyslexic samples in reading the scenery texts and answering relevant questions. The posttest performance revealed certain differences among phonological dyslexia, orthographic dyslexia, double-deficit dyslexia, and the chronological age control group. Finally, all dyslexic groups obtained a great effect from using the learner-generated drawing, particularly orthographic dyslexia. These results suggest that the learner-generated drawing was also useful for dyslexic students, with the potential for use in the classroom for teaching text reading to dyslexic students. (Contains 4 tables.)

The present study presents a comparison of the cognitive inhibition abilities of dyslexic, dyscalculic, and control students. The participants were 45 dyslexic students, 45 dyscalculic students, and 45 age-, gender-, and IQ-matched control students. The major evaluation tools included six cognitive inhibition tasks which were restructured during principal component analysis into three categories: graph inhibition, number inhibition, and word inhibition. Comparisons of the 3 groups of students revealed that in graph inhibition, dyscalculic students performed worst of the 3 groups, with dyslexic students also performing worse than control students in this category. For number inhibition, the control students' performances were equal to those of dyslexic students, with both groups performing better than dyscalculic students. For word inhibition, control students' performances were equal to those of dyscalculic students; both groups had shorter response times and lower incorrect rates than dyslexic students. These results suggest the complexity of the different cognitive inhibition abilities displayed by dyslexic, dyscalculic, and control students. However, some regular patterns occurred. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

This study aims to bridge the research gap in the humour comprehension problems of individuals with dyslexia in Chinese culture. We conducted a nonexperimental study to examine the differences between Chinese adolescents with and without dyslexia in visual humour comprehension as well as the group differences in the correlation of visual humour comprehension with other abilities. In total, 48 Chinese adolescents (16 individuals with dyslexia and 32 individuals without dyslexia) were recruited in Hong Kong. They were all administered several tasks: tests of nonverbal IQ, Chinese character reading, visual-spatial attention, orthographic knowledge, and visual humour comprehension. Our results indicated that visual humour comprehension is correlated with other abilities. Additionally, the group with dyslexia performed significantly less accurately on most tasks except humour comprehension accuracy. However, only visual spatial attention, orthographic knowledge, and humour comprehension speed significantly predicted membership in the two groups. Finally, approximately half of the participants with dyslexia had significantly slower humour comprehension than those with typical development. Our findings shed light on problems with humour comprehension exhibited by Chinese individuals with dyslexia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with learning disabilities meet difficulties in cognitive abilities that are likely to affect their learning, especially online learning. Online learning usually lacks efficient face-to-face monitoring and leads to poor learning outcomes; in this case, students' self-regulated learning in an online environment matter. However, Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) status remains unclear for those with learning disabilities and how their working memory and processing speed affect self-regulated learning. A total of 147 undergraduate students were recruited from three public and four private universities in Taiwan to join this study, and they completed a self-reported questionnaire and several psychological measures. Our results revealed significant differences in SRL features between typically developing Chinese undergraduates and those with learning disabilities in an online environment. Compared to the students with learning disabilities, typically developing students outperformed in metacognitive skills, time management, environmental structuring, and persistence. Help-seeking was comparable between both groups. Working memory significantly contributed to SRL in all students, whereas processing speed only significantly influenced SRL in students with learning disabilities. The findings of this study have important implications for educators, researchers, and instructional designers aiming to optimize online learning experiences and support, especially from the perspective of SRL, for all students, particularly those with learning disabilities. • Cognitive deficits and online SRL of learning disabilities are unexplored in Chinese. • Students learning disabilities underperformed in all features of online SRL. • Working memory significantly contributed to SRL in two groups of students. • Processing speed significantly influenced SRL in students with learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the extent to which Chinese children with dyslexia show temporal processing deficits in addition to deficits in various forms of attention. In total, 104 Chinese children in primary school (Grades 3–6) were recruited in Taiwan. Half of the children were identified as having dyslexia, and the other half were typically developing children who were matched by gender, IQ, and age with the children with dyslexia. Our results indicated that Chinese children with dyslexia performed significantly worse on tasks of temporal processing, selective attention, and switching attention. Furthermore, both visual and auditory temporal processing, in addition to various attention types, could be significant distinguishing predictors between the two groups. Moreover, we found that visual temporal processing, but not auditory temporal processing, significantly contributed to Chinese character reading. This study was among the first to confirm the unique role of visual temporal processing in Chinese character reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of test anxiety on academic difficulties has been investigated in typically developing students, but the underlying mechanism of the influence remains unclear, especially for those with specific learning disabilities (SpLD). This study examined the role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and literacy difficulties among Chinese young adults with and without SpLD in Taiwan. A total of 239 first-year undergraduate students were recruited from 11 universities in South Taiwan. Among the 239 students, 105 were identified to have SpLD, and 134 were typically developing students. These students were asked to complete questionnaires on demographics, test anxiety, metacognition, and literacy difficulties (i.e., reading and writing). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that Chinese young adults' test anxieties were linked with literacy difficulties but that only those with SpLD experienced a direct effect (without mediation by other factors). For those without SpLD, the influence of test anxiety on literacy difficulties was not direct but significantly mediated by metacognition. Various components of these students' metacognition had mediating effects on different literacy difficulties. Test anxiety may influence the reading and writing difficulties of students with and without SpLD through different mechanisms. Moreover, teachers at the university level are encouraged to consider students' test anxiety and metacognition in teaching designs, evaluations, or even the setting arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]