Examining Factor Structure of the Chinese Version of the PIRLS 2011 Home Questionnaire

Stephanie W Y Chan,Wai Ming Cheung,Hector W H Tsang,Doreen W H Au,Joseph W I Lam

doi:10.1155/2016/7574107

Stephanie W Y Chan, Wai Ming Cheung + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/7574107

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Abstract

The home questionnaire of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS-HQ 2011) was designed to gather information from parents or primary caregivers of fourth-grade pupils on their reading literacy development related to aspects of pupils’ home lives across countries/districts. The questionnaire was translated into different languages for international comparison and research purposes. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the PIRLS 2011 home questionnaire (PIRLS-HQCV 2011) and identify the underlying factor structure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) among Chinese fourth-grade pupils in Hong Kong. A 7-factor structure model has been identified by EFA and confirmed to resemble much to the original PIRLS structure by CFA. Additional conceptually important domains have been identified which add further insights into the inconclusive results in the literature regarding the relationship between home factors and reading achievement. Implications for further studies are discussed.

Highlights

It has long been known that students’ home background affects their reading skills
This study aims to assess the psychometric properties and explore the underlying factor structure of the home questionnaire using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) among Chinese fourthgrade pupils in Hong Kong so that more detailed regression analysis and structure equation modelling may be done to explore the relationship between home factors and reading achievement at a later stage
The data were found to be suitable for factor analysis by the Kaiser-Meyer-Oklin (KMO) value (0.85) and Barlett’s Test of Sphericity (0.000)

Summary

Introduction

It has long been known that students’ home background affects their reading skills. The influence of students’ home background on school achievement has been of interest to researchers for several decades [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Compared to PIRLS 2001 and 2006, Hong Kong raised her levels of reading achievement in 2011 and was the topperforming city among 49 participating countries/regions, with a mean score of 571 [10] This remarkable jump in Hong Kong, as a city with a Chinese culture, has attracted much attention from researchers and educators all over the world. PIRLS examined four key factors affecting the reading performance which included “school,” “teacher,” “parent,” and “student” [11]. Among these four questionnaires, home factor was identified in this study because early literacy experiences at home would establish a foundation for learning long before children develop the cognitive and linguistic skills necessary for reading [1, 12, 13]. Language spoken with their child (16A–G) Parents’ education (17A–L) Parent’s educational expectations for their children (18) Parents’ employment status (19A–E) Parents’ occupation (20A–L)

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