The relationship between anxiety, reading and eLearning in University students with Dyslexia amid emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic : an analysis of self-reports and physiological measures

Abstract

Research on the emotional impact of dyslexia among university students and the effects of emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic has been limited, with research predominantly focused on school-aged children. This project aimed to investigate the perceptions and performance of university students with dyslexia concerning eLearning and anxiety, including the effect of text medium. Study 1 used self-reported anxiety inventories and surveys to assess the perceptions of 150 students (dyslexia = 67) towards COVID-19 eLearning. Study 2 performed electrocardiograms (ECG) to measure heart rate variability - implying state anxiety - and reading performance on paper and screen-based tasks in 50 students (dyslexia = 25). The findings indicated that a significant proportion of students with dyslexia experienced severe anxiety, leading to lower confidence, self-esteem, and selfefficacy in their academic abilities compared to their peers. These students perceived emergency remote teaching as ineffective, resulting in heightened anxiety. In addition, they felt frustrated and disadvantaged by an increased workload that was predominately reading-based. Regarding reading performance, no significant difference was observed between paper and screen formats. However, students with dyslexia exhibited stronger autonomic cardiac reactivity than their peers during reading tasks, as evidenced by consistently higher mean heart rates. The reading process itself stimulated heart rate, with minimal differences observed between responses to paper and screen-based text. Nevertheless, heart rate variability analysis showed increased resilience to reading among university students with dyslexia, characterised by equilibrium in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. In conclusion, university students with dyslexia faced substantial anxiety and psychological unrest during emergency remote teaching. However, reading performance is not significantly impacted by text format. The findings highlight the importance of addressing the psychosocial effects of dyslexia in higher education, underscoring the potential of resilience and compensatory mechanisms in alleviating reading difficulties and associated anxiety.