The influence of ICT attitudes on closing the reading literacy gap of students from different economic, social and cultural backgrounds

Abstract

This study examines the moderation effect of students’ attitudinal factors related to information and communication technology (ICT) on the relationship between their economic, social and cultural status and their reading literacy. Four composite variables concerning students’ attitudes towards ICT, i.e., interest in ICT, perceived competence in using ICT, perceived autonomy related to ICT use, ICT use as a topic in social interaction based on the ICT familiarity questionnaire issued by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). A moderation model is applied to analyze the moderation effect of these four ICT attitudinal factors on the gap reading literacy among Chinese young teenagers caused by their different economic, social and cultural statuses. A total, of 9,561 samples from 268 schools in mainland China are drawn from the latest round of PISA in 2015. Two significant results are found: (1) students’ ICT attitudinal factors do have significant moderation effect on the relationship between their economic, social and cultural status and their reading literacy; (2) the high-level of ICT interest, perceived competence, perceived autonomy and ICT use in social interaction might close the gap in the reading literacy between students from high- and low-economic, social and cultural backgrounds. The findings shed light on the promotion of educational equality and the improvement of ICT-assisted reading education.