Abstract
The successful early acquisition of reading literacy represents a crucial learning process determining the further course of academic development (Stanovich, 2009). During this process, interactions between children and their proximal social environment are of utmost importance. Therefore, we introduce a systemic framework for the development of learning potential (e.g., Mudrak et al., 2019a, b; Ziegler and Stoeger, 2017) and explore the interactions between the social and motivational processes associated with reading literacy development in school-age children. We base our analysis on a representative Czech sample of fourth-grade pupils involved in the Progress in International Reading Literacy study (PIRLS, Martin et al., 2017). On the basis of the systemic framework, we hypothesized hierarchical relationships among family socioeconomic status, related developmental resources (including parental support, expectations, and reading resources), children’s reading motivation (including reading engagement and reading confidence), and manifested learning outcomes (including school grades and reading competence). We implemented three structural equation models to test the hypothesized relationships. The first model tested the direct effect of developmental resources on reading competence. The second model included the motivational variables as mediators between resources and competence. The third model included school grades as mediators between resources and motivational variables. Our analyses indicated the good fit of the proposed models. The final model explained 37.8% of the variance in children’s school grades and 46.5% of the variance in reading literacy test scores (compared to 34.8% in the first model). Moreover, parental socioeconomic status was strongly associated with parental expectations, which were associated with reading confidence, partially through the effect of parental expectations on children’s school grades. Reading confidence was the main predictor of reading literacy within the model, followed by the direct effects of parental resources. The results illustrate complex processes through which the family environment affects the development of learning competencies such as reading literacy by providing children with the relevant social and material resources associated with their motivation and school outcomes. We discuss some of the reasons that these relationships may take place and consider their implications for educational practice.
Highlights
IntroductionThe development of learning potential represents a complex process that involves multiple reciprocal relationships among the proximal social environment and the characteristics of developing individuals, including their learning behavior (Ericsson et al, 2009, 2018), achievement motivation (Schunk and Pajares, 2005; Schunk and DiBenedetto, 2014; Elliot et al, 2017), and manifested learning outcomes (Stanovich, 2009; Mudrak et al, 2019b)
Parental socioeconomic status was associated with all parental resources, including reading resources represented by the number of books at home (β = 0.531), parental support (β = 0.257), and parental educational expectations (β = 0.683)
We used large-scale data from the Czech version of the PIRLS to test assumptions stemming from the systemic framework regarding the development of learning potential
Summary
The development of learning potential represents a complex process that involves multiple reciprocal relationships among the proximal social environment and the characteristics of developing individuals, including their learning behavior (Ericsson et al, 2009, 2018), achievement motivation (Schunk and Pajares, 2005; Schunk and DiBenedetto, 2014; Elliot et al, 2017), and manifested learning outcomes (Stanovich, 2009; Mudrak et al, 2019b). To understand the complexity of these interactions between developing individuals and their social surroundings, we consider a “systemic” perspective that conceptualizes learning development as a context-dependent and interdependent process of adaptation of the learner and his or her outcomes, learning behavior and motivation to the learning environment, which determines the future learning opportunities of the learner (Ziegler and Phillipson, 2012; Ziegler et al, 2014; Mudrak and Zabrodska, 2015; Ziegler and Stoeger, 2017; Mudrak et al, 2019b) From this point of view, crucial moments in the development of competence stem from the ways in which these cognitive, behavioral, motivational, and environmental components of the developmental systems interact, how these interactions change the system as a whole, and how they stabilize or disrupt the system in learning pathways toward further development (Mudrak and Zabrodska, 2015; Mudrak et al, 2019b). An advantage in one component transfers to other components, which together move the whole system to a new equilibrium, which represents a better position for accumulating further advantages (Mudrak et al, 2019b)
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