International Journal of Academic Research in Psychology

January 2015, Vol. 2, No. 1

ISSN 2312-1882

The Effectiveness Social Skills Training on Self-

Assertiveness and Academic Self- Efficacy of Dyslexic
Students
Mohammad Shakeri1, Leila Rahmati2, Afsanehsadat Modabber3,
Maahdieh Eskandari4
1. Faculty Member, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences,Bojnurd,Iran.
2. MA clinical Psychology Islami Azadi University, Araq, Iran
3. MA clinical Psychology Islami Azadi University, Araq, Iran
4. MA clinical Psychology Islami Azadi University, Araq, Iran

*Corresponding Author: Email: [email protected]

DOI: 10.6007/IJARP/v2-i1/1664 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARP/v2-i1/1664

Abstract

Background: The dyslexic child is at risk the loneliness living and the lost of social discussion
coequals partnership. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of social skills training
on the Self- Assertiveness and academic self- efficacy of dyslexic students. Thirty students
participated in the study. The experimental design was used in which 2 groups were compared
on Pre test and post test measures by using Assertiveness Inventory (GRAQ, 1975) and
Academic Self-efficacy Inventory. The experimental group was given 12 week training. The
collected data were analyzed to the ANCOVA analyses. The results revealed that there were
significant differences between the two groups based on Assertiveness scores (p-value<0/001).
However, there were significant differences found on Academic Self-efficacy scores between
the two groups. Social skills training can significantly increase those aspects of Self-
Assertiveness in Students with dyslexic.

Keywords: Social Skills, Self-Assertiveness, Academic Self- Efficacy, Dyslexic Students.

1. Introduction

The most important variables concerning the education development are self efficacy and Self-
Assertiveness .Self efficacy means person’s judgment about capabilities ,capacities and abilities
for an specific action (Bandura, 1977).Educational Self efficacy will cause the student to try self
motivation in the environment through the internal motivation and obtain his efficient beliefs
and behaves bravely .In recent years one of the most attractive variables for researchers has
been the social abilities and it’s affect on the bravery and self efficacy of students which is due

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to the fact that the bravery is the main factor of inter personal relationships and the key of
human connections(Lin et al., 2004). And has a very significant role in talents finding and the
student creativity progress. Social abilities are some abilities that help people to have the
positive interactions with others and continue them and involves connection establishment,
problem solving ,decision making ,self- management and relationships with other people in the
same age(Aydogan, Klince, & Tepetas, 2009) .Children who have learnt the social behavior are
more efficient in connection establishment with other children(Asher & Taylor 2001) and social
environment learning in comparison with children failing these social behaviors .These abilities
assist children to have a more effective relationship with others .Normal children learn this
ability in relationships with others like parents, sibling and peers ) without trying .But most of
the dyslexic children encounter with negative reactions of adolescents and other children which
is due to the failure of appropriate connection with friends .In recent years the researchers
have attended the social abilities subject cause according to several investigations ,the lack of
social abilities affect badly on students educational performance and intensifies problems of
learning and obstacles the children development and results in the inappropriate events in the
educational period. According to distinct investigations students with disorders in learning like
dyslexic children defect in social information process (Bauminger & Kimhi-Kind, 2008),weak
interpersonal connections (Ladd & Troop-Gordon, 2003; Wiener, 2004), social rejection levels
and loneliness(Estell et al., 2008), adjustment problems with both internal and external kind(Al-
Yagon & Mikulincer, 2004; Sharma, 2004; Wiener, 2004).There are several investigations
concerning social behaviors importance in people with specific needs like dyslexic children and
according to the results ,social abilities are specially crucial for them .One of the crucial
procedures for them is the social abilities training(Gresham, Sugai, & Honer, 2001) .There is no
doubt in social capabilities importance in total change and adjustment of all children with
special needs ,in a way that the ability to make positive connections with adolescents and other
people is one of the most important dimensions of each person change .The importance of
appropriate social abilities in children success in classes has been proved several
times(Gresham et al., 2001) .The failure of appropriate social abilities is relevant to next
problems in life like the failure in school ,failure of employment or job loss ,withdrawal and
social isolation .(Fantuzzo, Sekino, & Cohen, 2004; Hyatt & Filler, 2007). Generally ,according to
the investigations the social abilities interference necessity in dyslexic children is stated this
way :social behavior lack is the most important factor of dyslexic children failure in social
displacements and is the main reason of their job loss .Social behaviors training will decrease
the level of inappropriate behaviors in classes like aggression and improve student personal
relationship with others(Fraser, 2005; Kamps & kay, 2002; Kamps, Tankersley, & Ellis, 2000).
Social behavior training will decrease delinquency behaviors and will increase the inclusion of
dyslexic children (Matson, Dempsey, & LoVullo, 2008).Emotional and social change of children
will increase their capacity for focusing on educational activities ,improvement of general
psychology health and behavioral problems decrease(Boo & prins, 2007; Hennessey, 2007; Hill
& Furniss, 2006) .Generally the insufficiency in social abilities is relevant to the extended
territory of problems like delinquency in the adolescence(Matson & Wilkins, 2009) insufficiency
of attention with the deficit of attention(Boo & prins, 2007) ,change incapability ,withdrawal
and social isolation, challenging behavior (Matson &Wilkins, 2009), school abandoning.

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According to the importance of Self-Assertiveness variables ,educational efficacy and social

abilities and the fact that there was no research concerning this subject on dyslexic children in
Iran and the fact that the failure of appropriate social behaviors to make positive connections
will cause the dyslexic children the withdrawal and social rejection ,one of the best options for
these people to become sociable and capable of showing existence tools and efficacy in the
society is the social abilities training .Therefore this research is dedicated to study the affect of
social abilities training on the self educational efficacy and the existence tools of dyslexic
students in the schools of Teheran city .

2. Materials and Methods

The present research is a semi-experimental research with pretest - post test design with
control group. The target population for this study was students with dyslexia, ages 21-16
years-old who was studying schools of Tehran city during the 2013-2014 academic years. The
studied people in the research were 30 male students. In this research multistage cluster
random sampling was used. At first one region was chosen randomly among Tehran’s regions
and then among educational areas of that region one region was chosen randomly. Then two
schools were selected from male schools. Considered sample was chosen randomly. Then
randomly assigned to an experimental and a control groups. The experimental group received
social skills training two times a week and total sessions lasted in two months all training
session were conducted by researcher at the school.

2-1. the Assertion Inventory (AI; Gambrill & Richey, 1975). The Al is a 40-item self-report
questionnaire that assesses discomfort and response probability concerning assertive
responding in a range of situations that demand an assertive response. For each item the
respondent is requested to indicate the degree of discomfort or anxiety on a 5-point
scale that ranges from I (none) to 5 (very much) and to indicate the probability of displaying the
behavior if actually presented with the situation on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (always do it)
to 5 (never do it). The scale has been shown to have good test-retest reliability, and discomfort
scores have been shown to discriminate adequately between unassertive and assertive college
students. Furthermore, improvement in discomfort scores has been found following AT. The
assessment of both discomfort and response probability allows identification of different
subgroups of clients. In our study, subjects were selected on the basis of a combination of high
discomfort and low response probability.

2-2. Academic Self Efficacy :scale is an Indonesian version instrument that intended to asses
the level of student’s efficacy in regards with academic environment. Consists of 15 items this
scale was developed by Rahardjo (2012) based on self-efficacy dimensions from Bandura, which
reflect one’s person Magnitude, Strength and Generality as a student. An adjusted scale was
intended to academic environment. The responses alternatives were presented of six grades
scale that extended from strongly agree into strongly disagree.

First the intervention and control groups were examined by the social skill subscales. The two
groups were compared and no significant difference was found in the variable like IQ and age.

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Intervention group was received the social skills training at 2 months, in 12 sessions. Training
was conducted through a program that included coaching, feedback, modeling, and role playing
and making chips. It is worth mentioning that during the intervention, children in control group
did not receive special training and proceeded to perform daily activities. The skills that were
trained during 12 sessions in the intervention group included: Greet and introduce themselves
to the others, To allow others to use their devices, Follow the instructions and rules, Attention
to others speaking, To apologize when doing mistake, To cooperate with friends, Maintenance
of school facilities
At the end of training period, and 2 months later, all subjects were evaluated again by above
measure.
The intervention program attempts to increase understanding of social skills in boys with
dyslexia, and attention to improving Self- Assertiveness and academic self- efficacy functioning.
. The SPSS version 21 was used to statistical analysis of data, and ANCOVA analyses test was
used to examine relationships between variables.

3. Results
30 children with dyslexia participated in this research. The youngest child was 12 years old and
the oldest one 25 years old. The Statistical indexes of the subjects’ age concerning the group
have been reported in Table 1.

Table 1: Descriptive indexes of the subjects’ age concerning the group:

Groups N Max Min M SD t P

Experimental 15 15 12 4..9 1.21 .293 .834

Control 15 15 12 4.21 1..2

Regarding the written figures in Table 1, the average of the subjects’ age of the experimental
group was more compared to the control group. The isotropy of the control and experimental
groups in the age average was analyzed through the statistical test called Independent T. There
was not the significant statistical difference in the subjects’ age average in control and
experimental groups (p=. / 834)

Table 2: Descriptive indices of Self- Assertiveness and self- efficacy for experimental and control
groups in pretest and posttest situations

Experimental group Control group

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Variable Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest

M SD M SD M SD M SD

Self- 105.4 11.58 135.8 14.53 101.63 13.54 99.2 14.23

Assertiveness 3

self- efficacy 122.2 `13.26 144.5 17.55 124.86 14.032 123.46 15.88

As Table 2 shows there are some differences between the average of control group and
experimental one in the research variables; but being significant of these differences is not
clear to us. Then for comparing the group the ANCOVA analyses has been used regarding the
existence of some dependent variables and their interval nature and also the performance of
pre test.

Table 3: The results of ANCOVA for comparing Self-Assertiveness and self- efficacy in two
groups
Source of Dependent SS Df MS F Sig 1η
change variable

group Self- 1019..9 1 567/46 67/46 0/001 ./ 80

Assertiveness

self- efficacy 1517.9. 1 758/34 45/36 0/001 ./67

ANOVA revealed There was statistically significant difference between the two groups at
p=2/222with and ‘f value of 67/96

The ANOVA analysis shows that the difference between them is significant at .05 level,
therefore occurred by chance.

4. Discussion
The purpose of this study was the effectiveness social skills Training on Self- Assertiveness and
academic self- efficacy of dyslexic students. The results revealed that there were significant
differences between the two groups based on Assertiveness scores. However, there were
significant differences found on Academic Self-efficacy scores between the two groups. In other
words, the level of the self assertiveness and the academic self efficacy of dyslexic students of
experiment group have increased considerably in comparison with the pre training period.

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According to the results of diverse investigations ,dyslexic students defect in social abilities
processing, weak interpersonal abilities, high level of social rejection and loneliness, disorders
of behaviors and depression ,less intimate friends ,high level of aggressive behaviors ,disruption
of interpersonal relationships ,different problems concerning interpersonal conflicts ,adjusting
problems and the low level of positive social behaviors .Describing this issue, diverse problems
that dyslexic students manifest interacting with social behaviors ,is due to the lack of the
leadership and positive social abilities maintenance .Actually the lack of appropriate social
abilities will decrease the self assertiveness and self efficacy of students .Describing this issue
,the self assertiveness and academic self efficacy of these students has lowered which is due to
the weakness of the interactive and nonverbal abilities and attending the fact that this ability is
one of the main factors of social abilities .On the other hand, it is possible to mention that these
students have lower grades in social behaviors establishment in comparison with the other
students because they utilize the aggressive pattern and the weak isolation pattern and the lack
of ability to decode the nonverbal signs in social behaviors and this lack will result in the self
assertiveness and the academic self efficacy .The possible reason of increasing the self
assertiveness level of dyslexic students in the acquisition and application of the social
behaviors ,is a foundation on which the individual relationships are constructed. Students who
learn the social behaviors truly, practice and apply their competence ,will succeed in friends
finding and memberships of friends groups ,have positive interactions with their friends and
show a range of acceptable behaviors .Dyslexic students who learn the social behaviors well
and learn the rules of their friends groups and establish positive and strong relationships with
the family members and the society ,mostly will show the high level of the self assertiveness
and the academic self efficacy .In fact dyslexic students who learn social behaviors well and
show appropriate behaviors socially have a more positive self concept which will result in the
high level of the self assertiveness and recognizing limitations and capabilities of their own and
an appropriate academic self efficacy. The social behavior application influences the
improvement and regulation of interpersonal relationship ,social responsibilities acceptance
,correct decision making and conflict solution and it is possible to obtain these aims only by
teaching the fundamental abilities to the dyslexic students .Social abilities training will improve
the abilities regarding the self assertiveness and concerning this issue ,the weak social abilities
of dyslexic students will harm their self assertiveness and academic self efficacy which will
exacerbate their situation by their consecutive fails in the school and the incorrect comparison
between them and their friends .In fact the social behavior training can increase the level of the
self assertiveness and self efficacy of students by providing applicable sources (verbal
encourages and individual experiences ).When a student can assert himself in the class and can
ask his question without any shame and stress of the class population or the teacher and states
his opinions in the class or be able to assert himself in the class and manifest his academic
capabilities ,will increase his functionality .It is possible to recognize 75 percent of dyslexic
students by their lower social ability in comparison with other children ,so according to the
findings of this investigation ,it is recommended to add the social abilities in their academic and
therapeutic programs .

Acknowledgements

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The authors would like to thank the children, schools, the managements and all those who
participated in the study

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