Abstract

Abstract. This article reviews the literature on the self-efficacy beliefs of students with learning disabilities (LD). Motivational and metacognitive difficulties of students with LD are briefly discussed, followed by a synopsis of Bandura's self-efficacy theory, with special attention to the issue of calibration. From the literature search, 22 studies met the criteria of (a) using a measure of self-efficacy, and (b) including a sample of students identified as having learning dis-abilities. The resulting body of literature is summarized and ana-lyzed in terms of the nature of the sample, the performance task or domain, the self-efficacy measure used, the research question and outcomes, and the accuracy of calibration between perceived self-efficacy and task outcome. The results from this review suggest that in specific contexts- in the writing performance of students with specific writing difficulties, in particular- students appear to opti-mistically miscalibrate their self-efficacy. Methodological problems