The way cultural capital works: A meta-analysis of the effects of cultural capital on student's reading performance

Abstract

Student's reading performance affects their academic achievement not only across various disciplines but also through all grade levels. Reading performance is also deemed as a cross-curricular competence, an important precondition for success in school. While many contextual factors have been identified, family background stands out, and inequality related to family cultural capital comes to the front. However, the effect of cultural capital on student's reading performance is still not decisive, and requires further exploration. This study was devoted to utilizing a meta-analysis to examine how different types of cultural capital, say, institutional cultural capital, objectified cultural capital and embodied capital, influence student's reading performance. Based on the outcome of a meta-analysis of 37 articles, our study finds a positive correlation between cultural capital and student's reading performance as well as some nuanced differences caused by moderators, which still results in inequality.