Effects of Diagnostic Labels for Students With Learning Problems on Teachers' Stereotypes and Performance Expectations.
Labeling students with learning problems may change teachers' evaluations of them. Our study examined whether the "Special Learning Needs" (SLN) and "Learning Disability" (LD) labels influenced teachers' beliefs that the diagnosis was correct and activated a low-competence stereotype. We examined wh...
| Published in: | Journal of Learning Disabilities Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 37 - 55 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article |
| Published: |
Sage Publications Inc.
Jan2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=189932662&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 189932662 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 00222194 LED jtl: Journal of Learning Disabilities issn: 00222194 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jan2026 vid: 59 iid: 1 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. place: Thousand Oaks, California artinfo: ui: 189932662 183664040 189932662 189932662 10.1177/00222194251315187 189932662 ppf: 37 ppct: 18 formats: tig: atl: Effects of Diagnostic Labels for Students With Learning Problems on Teachers' Stereotypes and Performance Expectations. aug: au: Kashikar, Linda Lüke, Timo Grosche, Michael affil: University of Wuppertal, Germany sug: subj: Learning Disorders Education, Special Students with Disabilities Psychosocial Factors Teachers Psychosocial Factors Stereotyping Faculty Attitudes Attitude to Disability Academic Performance Human Male Female Adult Middle Age Germany Experimental Studies Comparative Studies Random Assignment Randomized Controlled Trials Questionnaires Chi Square Test Analysis of Variance Logistic Regression Post Hoc Analysis Descriptive Statistics Data Analysis Software Models, Theoretical Stigma Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: Labeling students with learning problems may change teachers' evaluations of them. Our study examined whether the "Special Learning Needs" (SLN) and "Learning Disability" (LD) labels influenced teachers' beliefs that the diagnosis was correct and activated a low-competence stereotype. We examined whether this stereotype lowered teachers' performance expectations and teaching intentions. A sample of 413 German general and special education teachers were randomly assigned to the control (no label) or one of the experimental groups (SLN/LD label). All teachers read the description of a fictitious student with learning problems. Only in the experimental groups was the student labeled with an LD or SLN. Results showed that both labels increased teachers' acceptance of the diagnosis as accurate. However, the labels did not change teachers' stereotypes of the fictitious student. The LD label lowered some of teachers' long-term performance expectations, resulting in more track recommendations to a special school. Unexpectedly, the SLN label increased the intention to foster the student's academic performance. Some performance expectations of special education teachers were lower than those of general education teachers, which did not manifest in different teaching intentions. The findings are discussed in the context of the Dilemma of Difference. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts randomized controlled trial Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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