How Gains in Learning Disability Knowledge Enhance Pre-Service Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Through Attitudinal Shifts

Recent studies indicate that Chinese K-12 teachers possess insufficient knowledge regarding learning disability (LD), hindering their ability to provide effective instruction. Given the foundational role of the pre-service phase in cultivating a scientific approach to teaching, this study aimed to boost pre-service teachers’ LD knowledge and explore its subsequent impact on teaching efficacy and attitudes. Fifty-one pre-service teachers with low levels of baseline LD knowledge were randomly assigned to either a training group or a control group. Utilizing a pretest–intervention–posttest design, the study measured changes in LD knowledge, teaching efficacy, and attitudes toward students with LD. Crucially, attitudes were assessed via a vignette paradigm that differentiated between two components of cognitive evaluations (expectations of future student failure) and emotional experiences (anger arousal towards academic failure). The results showed that pre-service teachers in the training group exhibited substantial gains in LD knowledge. These knowledge gains significantly predicted enhanced teaching efficacy, but this relationship was indirect. Mediation analysis revealed that improved knowledge reduced anger arousal, which in turn boosted efficacy. These findings suggest that fostering teaching confidence requires more than mere knowledge accumulation; it also entails using LD-related knowledge to mitigate negative emotions toward struggling learners. This underscores that teacher education programs must incorporate explicit cultivation of emotional and attitudinal competencies alongside conventional cognitive training.