College Instructors' Theories of Intelligence and Awareness of Student Dyslexia as Related to the Feedback Provided for the Student's Writing Assignment

Research indicates that teachers' theories of intelligence (incremental vs. entity) are likely to affect their teaching practices, and some teachers hold lower expectations for students with learning disabilities. This study explored the relationships between college instructors' theories of intelligence and the feedback they provided based on a student's writing sample under two conditions: the student's dyslexia was mentioned versus not mentioned. One hundred and one college instructors completed a survey. Results of path analysis indicated the instructors who endorsed the incremental theory of intelligence gave significantly more encouraging comments than those who endorsed the entity theory. Instructors' theories of intelligence did not predict the grade assigned, the number of weaknesses pointed out, and the number of suggestions provided. The instructors informed of the student's dyslexia gave significantly higher grades than those not informed, but the instructors' feedback did not differ. No significant interaction between instructors' theories of intelligence and awareness of student dyslexia was found.