Weaving a Tapestry of Mathematical Understanding: Investigating the Impact of Self-Belief, Motivation and Mindset on the Mathematical Understanding of Learners with Dyslexia

Mathematics is a globally recognised universal language vital to many aspects of life, education, and the workforce. However, students with dyslexia are twice as likely to fail GCSE Mathematics. Despite this, there has been limited research on the impact of the emotional or motivational effects of dyslexia on mathematics learning. This research has demonstrated that a learner's academic achievement, cognition, and learning behaviour can be strongly impacted either favourably or negatively by high-quality teaching, particularly when it focuses on a learner's motivational constructs.To investigate this, my research employed a pragmatic approach, which weaved together the inductive and deductive findings from both qualitative and quantitative data, utilising Q-sort and examination data, to investigate the impact of self-belief, motivation and mindset on the mathematical understanding of learners with dyslexia. Additionally, I incorporated the qualitative aspects of keeping a reflective journal and giving the students a voice through participants’ drawings and interviews. Adopting a pragmatic approach also meant I was open to other findings, which highlighted the impact of the teacher’s influence on the students.Overall, the research revealed how the negative influence of a fixed mindset, low self-efficacy or unfavourable teacher-student interactions could adversely impact the complex tapestry of factors that lead to success in mathematics. The research also demonstrated that the students' poor self-efficacy at the beginning of the intervention negatively impacted their maths anxiety, mindset and self-confidence in mathematics. This seemed to be strongly influenced by their perception that having dyslexia made them seem ‘stupid’. Moreover, frequent criticism from peers and teachers reinforced this belief. Nevertheless, the focused one-to-one tuition, which concentrated on improving students’ motivational self-theories, substantially improved mathematics anxiety, self-efficacy and mindset. Consequently, there was a marked improvement in mathematical understanding and performance. Moreover, the research revealed the importance of the teacher, particularly how their interactions with the students affected the foundational elements for success in mathematics.