Exploring the Impact of Working Memory Capacity on Academic Reading and Achievement in South African Online Tertiary Students

Abstract

The relationships between working memory, academic reading proficiency and academic achievement are well-documented globally, but less so in South Africa. This study addresses this gap by exploring these associations among 136 South African undergraduates from an Online Distance e-Learning institution. Participants completed two open-source web-based working memory tasks to evaluate working memory capacity and the online version of the Test of Academic Literacy Levels to examine their academic reading proficiency, while academic achievement was evaluated using their end-of-year grades. Results showed positive correlations between working memory capacity and academic reading proficiency (τ =.10, p =.050) and with academic achievement (τ =.16, p =.003). Thus, as working memory capacity increases so do academic reading proficiency and academic scores. With varying implications for higher education, this paper discusses pedagogical changes that lecturers can consider so as to take into account the diverse cognitive profiles of their students.