TEACHER RESPONSE TO LEARNING-DISABILITY - A TEST OF ATTRIBUTIONAL PRINCIPLES

Attribution research has identified student ability and effort expende d as causes of achievement outcomes that result in differing teacher a ffect, evaluative feedback, and expectation of future performance. Nin ety-seven elementary-school general education teachers (84 women and 1 3 men) rated their responses to the test failures of hypothetical boys with and without learning disabilities. In most cases, greater reward and less punishment, less anger and more pity, and higher expectation s of future failure followed the negative outcomes of the boys with le arning disabilities, when compared with their nondisabled ability and effort matches, indicating that learning disability acts as a cause of achievement outcomes in the same way as ability and effort. This patt ern of teacher affect and response can send negative messages that are often interpreted as low-ability cues, thus affecting students' self- esteem, sense of competence as learners, and motivation to achieve.