Reading Achievement Research Articles

Text Considerations to Motivate Boys to Want to Read

Increasing motivation to read among elementary boys is an important consideration in closing the gender achievement gap in reading as students who are motivated to read typically increase their reading volume which can positively impact reading achievement. This article discusses the following text considerations that can impact boys’ motivation to read: (a) topic; (b) genre; (c) series, and (d) text layout. It is critical that books with these text considerations are accessible in classroom libraries, as male students in previous studies have not found texts of interest at school. The article provides a checklist for teachers to self-evaluate the types of texts that are needed in classroom libraries that can appeal to male students.

Bridging the Literacy Gaps: Examining the Impact of the Morphoread Intervention on the Reading Achievement of Children From Low SES Backgrounds

This study examined an intervention program designed to enhance reading comprehension among struggling readers from low socioeconomic backgrounds by improving their understanding of word structure and meaning. Delivered by college education students, the program targeted second-grade students. Change scores in morphological awareness (MA), reading, spelling measures, and reading motivation were compared among the intervention group, a school-based support group, and typical readers. Results showed academic improvements across all groups. Differences were noted in MA and reading measures, with both struggling reader groups showing higher improvement in word reading tests than typical readers. The intervention group outperformed the school-based group in orthographic word recognition, reading comprehension, spelling, and MA. No significant differences were found in reading motivation change scores. However, the intervention group showed better overall improvement in reading and language measures and self-concept as a reader. Findings highlight the importance of MA in enhancing lexical representations and reading acquisition.

The Impact of Growth Mindset on K-12 Students' Academic Performance in Australia

Students' performance in academic courses highlights the curriculum's development of knowledge and abilities, which is a crucial sign of academic success. The goal of the study is to determine how growth mindset affects students' academic performance in terms of engagement, skill development, information acquisition, and resilience. The purpose of this study is to emphasize the influence on Australian primary and secondary school students (K-12) aged 5-18 years, given the significance of this growth mindset on academic performance. In this study, the content analysis technique is used from 10 different studies and it is identified that there was no discernible growth mindset mediating effect in the relationship between reading achievement and formative assessment approaches. This study makes two different literary contributions. First of all, it links two related study streams: attitude and formative evaluation. This study has demonstrated that the connection between these two strands might lead to enhanced synergy between exterior educational approaches and internal psychological processes.

The Correlation among Personality Traits, Reading Motivation, and Reading Achievement at Higher Education

Membaca merupakan sebuah kemampuan dasar penting yang diperlukan dalam berbagai aspek, terutama dalam pendidikan. Kemampuan membaca dapat ukur melalui prestasi membaca dan studi-studi menunjukan bahwa bermacam-macam factor dan mempengaruhinya. Akan tetapi, hanya sedikit studi yang menginvestigasi hubungan antara ciri-ciri kepribadian, motivasi membaca dan prestasi membaca dalam satu penelitian, terutama di Kalimantan Tengah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengecek apakah ada hubungan antara antara ciri-ciri kepribadian, motivasi membaca dan prestasi membaca. Empat puluh Sembilan mahasiswa semester enam jurusan bahasa Inggris Institut Agama Islam Negeri Palangka Raya berpartisipasi dalam penelitian ini. Partisipan dipilih menggunakan teknik sampling acak berstrata. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kuantitatif dengan desain regresi berganda. Peneliti mendapatkan data dengan angket dan tes. Angket yang digunakan adalah Motivation for reading questionnaire (MRQ) yang diadaptasi dari Huang & Reynolds (2022) dan Big Five Inventory 2 (BFI2) yang diadaptasi dari Soto & John (2017b), dan tes diadopsi dari TOEFL IBT Barron (2016). Data yang dikumpulkan dianalisis menggunakan regresi linear berganda pada perangkat lunak JASP. Hasil dari analisis memaparkan bahwa ciri-ciri kepribadian kenegatifan emosi dan motivasi intrinsik berkorelasi secara negative dan signifikan dengan prestasi membaca. Baik kenegatifan emosi dan motivasi intrinsic secara bersama-sama berkontribusi 15 persen terhadap varian prestasi membaca. Secara terpisah, Kenegatifan emosi merupakan prediktor yang signifikan pada prestasi membaca sedangkan motivasi intrinsik merupakan prediktor yang tidak signifikan terhadap prestasi membaca ___________________________________________________________________________________ Reading is an essential basic skill needed in various aspects, especially in education. The reading skill can be measured using reading achievement, and studies show that numerous factors can influence it. However, only a few studies have investigated the relationship between reading and personality traits toward achievement in a single study, especially in Central Kalimantan. This study aimed to check whether there is a relationship among personality traits, reading motivation, and reading achievement. Forty-nine students in the sixth semester of the English Department of the State Islamic Institute of Palangka Raya participated in this study. The participants are taken using a stratified random sampling technique. This study used a quantitative method with a multiple regression design. The researcher obtained the data through questionnaires and a test. The questionnaires are the motivation for the reading questionnaire (MRQ) adapted from Huang & Reynolds (2022) and the Big Five Inventory 2 (BFI-2) adapted from Soto & John (2017b), and the test adopted from Barons TOEFL IBT (2016). The data was analyzed using multiple linear regression on the software JASP. The analysis revealed that negative emotionality and intrinsic motivation correlated negatively and significantly with reading achievement. Both negative emotionality and intrinsic motivation contribute 15 percent to the variance of reading achievement simultaneously. Partially, negative emotionality was a significant predictor of reading achievement even intrinsic motivation was not a significant predictor for reading achievement .

The double‐edged sword effect of reading self‐concept on math achievement: Additional insights for making dimensional comparisons

AbstractA common belief underlying the dimensional comparison theory is that reading self‐concept has a positive relation to reading achievement but a negative relation to math achievement. However, this belief is incomplete and potentially misleading as supporting evidence is usually derived from studies without simultaneously considering the mediated effect of reading self‐concept through reading achievement. The current study examined the direct and indirect effects of reading self‐concept on math achievement through reading achievement, using PISA 2018 data from 501,766 students across 74 countries/territories. Multilevel structural equation modeling was performed to control for confounding variances from the school level and above. The results showed that reading self‐concept had a direct and negative effect on math achievement, while also exerting a positive indirect effect on math achievement through reading achievement. Overall, the indirect effect outperformed the negative direct effect on math achievement. We concluded that reading self‐concept exerted a double‐edged effect on math achievement. These results should be able to shed new light on the contrasting comparison effect of self‐concept on academic achievement.

ICT and academic achievement in secondary education: A hierarchical linear modelling

AbstractBackgroundThe unprecedented access to information in the 21st century entails a deep understanding of information and communication technology (ICT)‐related factors in education and their impacts on learning and teaching. The role of attitudes towards ICT is a proven factor in student achievement. However, there is no consensus about the direction of this impact.ObjectivesThis study aimed to explore the relationship between student attitudes towards ICT including interest in ICT (INTICT), perceived ICT competence (COMPICT), perceived autonomy related to ICT use (AUTICT) and ICT in social interaction (SOIAICT), and their achievement scores for mathematics, reading, and science by analysing student‐, school‐, and country‐level factors hierarchically in the quartiles of performance.MethodsThe study group was determined as 300,279 15‐year‐old students from 21,903 schools in 53 countries. Descriptive and correlational analyses were carried out in addition to the hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) employed to reveal the relationship between attitudes towards ICT and academic achievement in mathematics, reading, and science through the investigation of student‐, school‐, and country‐level factors hierarchically in the quartiles of performance.Results and ConclusionsThe results detected moderate to weak relationships among the constructs of INTICT, COMPICT, AUTICT and SOIAICT. Based on the HLM findings, complex interactions between ICT attitudes and academic performance were identified with a tendency towards positive associations between specific attitude components and high achievement levels, particularly in mathematics and science. The research identified the significance of considering student‐, school‐, and country‐level factors for high, above‐average, below‐average, and low achievers to comprehensively understand the role of ICT attitudes in shaping educational outcomes.TakeawaysPolicymakers should design educational policies, subject‐specific strategies and ICT‐related interventions by considering the multifaceted factors influencing student performance across different subjects and achievement quartiles. Particularly at the school and country levels, contextual factors should be evaluated when designing interventions to support low achievers.

Millions of Students are (Still) Above Grade Level: Achievement and Achievement Variability in Mathematics and Reading Before and During COVID-19 in the United States

According to a 2017 article by Peters and colleagues, millions of students have already demonstrated they know the material slated to be taught that year. Consequently, grade-level standards are unlikely to be appropriately challenging for these students. In this paper, we conceptually replicated and extended this prior study. Using data from schools that administered the Renaissance Star assessment in Fall 2018 and Fall 2021, we quantified pre-COVID and mid-COVID average achievement and variance in achievement in mathematics and reading in fifth grade and estimated the grade level of instruction needed for students. Our results indicate that (a) achievement dropped during COVID-19 relative to pre-COVID, but the drop in mathematics was larger, and (b) achievement variability increased during COVID-19, but the variability in reading was slightly more pronounced. Further, our results replicated Peters et al.’s (2017) results showing that large numbers of students still performed above grade level, and substantial variability in achievement was present within schools.

THE EFFECT OF EXPLICIT STRATEGY-BASED INSTRUCTION ON MOROCCAN EFL UNIVERSITY LEARNERS’ USE OF METACOGNITIVE EVALUATING STRATEGIES (RECALLING AND SUMMARIZING) IN READING ENGLISH (L3) WRITTEN TEXTS

This study, derived from one of the major sections of my unpublished doctoral dissertation tackling the correlation between explicit training in cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies (CMRSs) and EFL reading achievement in tertiary education (Defended in 2015), is an endeavor to reveal the perceived effect of metacognitive evaluating strategies (MESs) instruction on Moroccan English Department learners’ strategic reading behavior. Targeting 113 EFL university learners (experimental group: n=63; control group: n=50), the study explores the impact of explicit metacognitive intervention on the learners’ recourse to recalling and summarizing, as metacognitive reading strategies (MRSs) tapped for assessing their understanding of the EFL textual input. To collect the relevant data, explicit reading strategy instruction (ERSI), reading comprehension texts (i.e., narrative, expository), narrative and expository reading tests, and a retrospective questionnaire (RQ) were relied upon. The results evince that, whilst the experimental group (n=63) advanced at the level of both metacognitive evaluating strategies use and text summary-related scores, its counterpart (control group) in the control condition did not reveal any marked increase in the application of the targeted metacognitive evaluating strategies (MESs) and the scores pertinent to text-based summary performance across the pre-post-test stages. Accordingly, a corpus of relevant recommendations and implications are discussed, and a few limitations are set forth.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0799/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The common element of test taking: Reading and responding to questions.

Taking a reading comprehension (RC) test is a goal-oriented task, with the goal of answering questions correctly. We assume the number of questions students correctly answer represents their ability to engage successfully in the RC processes necessary to understand texts. Students, however, use various test-taking strategies, some of which negatively impact passage comprehension. The present study used eye-tracking procedures to measure what students do when reading the one part of the tests that all students must read to perform well on an RC test, the questions. Participants included 248 third-, fifth-, and eighth-grade students who read six texts and responded to associated questions while researchers recorded their eye movements. Eye-movement records were used to code students' test-taking strategy and measure the time students spent reading multiple-choice questions and each response option. Students were also administered a measure of reading achievement. Analyses suggest eye movements on multiple-choice questions were associated with reading achievement, and the challenges less-skilled readers experience with texts are also present when reading in the question region. Differences in strategies and processes do not only occur in the text region. Therefore, researchers and practitioners should pay increased attention to the strategies that are taught and used by students when reading and responding to RC questions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Does Early Childhood Education Matter on Reading Achievement Among Arab Countries

Our research focuses on the impact of Early Childhood Education (ECE) in the reading achievement of pupils in primary schools in MENA countries. The study employed the international data from PIRLS 2016 to identify the effect of early literacy practices on later reading attainment. Leveraging data from the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, we utilize ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and quantile regression to estimate education production functions for each country individually. This approach enables us to assess how coefficients on explanatory variables vary across the spectrum of test scores. The results show that in MENA countries, early childhood education, which develops pupils’ skills acquisition before formal schooling, improves their reading performance. In sum, The Early childhood education effect can be reinforced through government policy and family background. In addition, we recommend a universal access to early childhood education., concentration of early childhood services in the private sector makes the programs confined only to wealthy people who can afford them, especially people living in urban cities and improve the quality of early education by implementing appropriate curricula and modern teaching.

Reading Motivation and Achievement in Online Extensive Reading of English Text: A Systematic Review

The effect that online extensive reading (ER) of English texts has on learners' reading comprehension and motivation to read is not well understood. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the efficacy of online ER by examining quantitative and mixed-methods studies that examined the effect of online ER on learners' reading achievement, motivation to read, and other perceptual and emotional aspects of English language proficiency. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria were followed in this study. Online ER-related articles were selected based on the predefined eligibility criteria. Then, the 31 English-language online ER studies published between 2010 and 2021 were screened and extracted from electronic databases. The screened studies were those that involved students above 15 years of age. The findings indicated that online ER activities could be used in two ways. First, teachers could incorporate online reading strategies and technological tools for online ER to help students improve their reading achievement. Second, if they wanted to increase their students' motivation to read, they could emphasize the use of online reading management systems and reading resources for ER. Additionally, the study discovered that the size of the vocabulary and the volume of reading were predictors of online ER's success. Additionally, the article discusses the review's implications.

The Impact of Pictures-Based Activities in Enhancing Reading Comprehension Skills Among Young Children

The current research aimed to investigate the impact of integrating pictures-based activities on enhancing reading comprehension skills across different levels: literal, interpretive, and evaluative. The study involved 380 children split into experimental and control groups, with the experimental group (190 pupils) exposed to pictures-based activities, while the control group (190 pupils) was taught conventionally without activities. Findings indicated significantly higher average scores in reading comprehension tests for the experimental group than the control group. Statistical analyses confirmed significant differences favoring the experimental group, demonstrating the effectiveness of pictures-based activities in improving comprehension skills. However, there were no statistically significant differences in performance within the experimental group across different reading achievement levels, suggesting that the benefits of using illustrative pictures were consistent across varying initial reading abilities. Moreover, the study highlighted that integrating pictures-based activities helped narrow the performance gap in reading comprehension skills among children, particularly benefiting those with lower and average reading achievement levels. This empirical evidence underscores the importance of visual aids in early childhood reading materials to support comprehension development. Based on these findings, the study recommended integrating pictures-based activities in early childhood reading textbooks. It also emphasized the need for effective training of early childhood educators in designing and implementing such activities to optimize their impact on children's reading comprehension skills.

The influence of ICT competencies on English digital reading achievement

Due to the prevalence of information and communication technologies (ICT) among secondary school students and the increasing significance of digital reading, exploring the impact of ICT on students’ digital reading performance in English seems necessary. The current research aimed to examine the effects of ICT competencies factors on secondary school students’ English digital reading performance. Data were obtained from 7703 15-year-old students from three East Asian economies, Macau, Hong Kong, and Singapore, from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 dataset. The results of hierarchical regression analysis revealed that students’ ICT literacy was negatively correlated with their English digital reading performance, while the influence of attitudes toward ICT varied across the three East Asia economies. Additionally, males had lower English digital reading achievement, while students with higher socioeconomic status (SES) had higher English digital reading performance.

INTEGRATING AI-BASED SPEECH RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE READING ASSESSMENTS WITHIN MOROCCO’S TaRL PROGRAM

This study examined the integration of artificial intelligence-powered speech recognition technology within early reading assessments in Morocco’s Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) program. The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of an automated speech recognition tool compared to traditional paper- based assessments in improving reading skills among 100 Moroccan first to third-graders. The mixed- method approach combined pre-post standardized reading tests with qualitative feedback. Results showed students receiving the AI-enabled speech recognition assessments demonstrated significant gains in reading achievement compared to peers assessed via traditional methods. Qualitative findings revealed benefits of instant feedback and enhanced engagement provided by the speech recognition tool. This study contributes timely empirical evidence on adopting learning technologies, specifically AI-driven automated speech assessment instruments, to enhance foundational literacy development within under-resourced education systems implementing student-centered pedagogical techniques like TaRL. It provides valuable insights and guidance for integrating innovative speech analysis tools within localized teaching and learning frameworks to strengthen early reading instruction and monitoring.

Examining the associations between high achievement in reading and school climate: evidence from five South American countries

An emergent literature has shown that some students overcome adversities related to their low Socio-Economic Status (SES) by attaining high academic achievement. One of the aims of this literature is to identify the factors that explain the capacity of students from low SES backgrounds to attain high academic achievement. However, upon reviewing this literature, I observed that few studies have comparatively investigated the associations between the capacity of students from low SES backgrounds to attain high achievement in reading and school climate characteristics. Additionally, I found that not many studies have researched whether student SES moderates these associations. This paper contributes to fill these two gaps by estimating associations between high achievement in reading and school climate characteristics. Moreover, it examines whether student SES moderates these associations. To do this, this research estimated logit and heterogeneous choice models using representative samples of students from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay who participated in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The results show that high achievement in reading is positively correlated to certain teaching practices, such as perceived teacher enthusiasm during the instruction and adapting instruction to students’ needs. Conversely, it is negatively correlated to teacher feedback and teacher-directed instruction. Furthermore, the findings indicate that high achievement in reading is negatively correlated to the scarcity and low quality of educational material. Interestingly, the results show that student SES does not moderate these associations. In conclusion, these findings indicate that interventions targeting these areas of school climate may help to increase students’ probability of attaining high achievement in reading, regardless of their SES. Likewise, these results suggest that if these interventions are focused in low SES schools, they may contribute to bridge the gap in reading skills between students from low and middle or high socioeconomic backgrounds.

The Effects of Wisconsin’s Universal Prekindergarten Program on Third-Grade Academic Achievement

Many states and communities have invested in public early childhood education programs to improve children’s readiness to enter school and narrow achievement gaps in later grades. This study asked whether and how Wisconsin’s universal state-funded prekindergarten program, Wisconsin 4K, has improved student achievement and helped to reduce the achievement gap. Using publicly available data from 2002–2003 to 2013–2014, the study examined the effects of the program, which features high participation rates and part-day delivery modes. The results showed that Wisconsin 4K enhanced third-grade reading achievement but not math achievement in the participating districts. Its effects were larger for non-White and economically disadvantaged students than for their White and affluent counterparts. The policy implications for large-scale universal pre-K are discussed.

A longitudinal study on the predictors of early grades learning attainments in low-and-middle-income countries: Evidence from Tanzania

Strands of evidence from high-income countries has consistently indicated that early learning attainments predict later learning achievements. However, less are known about these issues from low-and-middle-income countries, particularly from the sub-Saharan region. This longitudinal study examined the extent to which children’s school-entry (N = 597; mean age = 6.34 years) early reading and early math skills predicted their later learning achievement in a low-income country, Tanzania. Further, given the existing disparities of quality of educational services, families’ income, and early learning achievements, the sample included children and families from both rural and urban contexts. Data were collected using Measure of Early Learning Environments (MELE) for controlling of school quality, Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and Early Grade Math Assessment (EGMA) for children’s tests, and parents’ questionnaire for home-related variables. Controlling for family socioeconomic status, intervention status, urbanicity settings, and parental education, findings indicated that school-entry math skills were significantly predictive of children’s end of Grade 2 reading and math achievement. However, while school-entry early reading skills predicted end of Grade 2 reading achievement, it did not predict later math achievements. This article extends research on links between elements of transition to school and later achievement across countries, thus, its implications are discussed.

English digital reading achievement for East Asian students: identifying the key predictors using a machine learning approach

ABSTRACT Students’ digital reading literacy has attracted increasing attention in the current digital era; however, few studies have been conducted to explore how factors at different levels influence students’ digital reading achievement. Grounded by socio-ecological theory, the current comprehensively explored the relative importance of 24 individual, microsystem, and mesosystem variables in predicting English digital reading achievement through the machine learning approach (i.e. random forest regression). The secondary data were retrieved from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, including 7,703 15-year-old students from Macao, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Our study identified 12 key factors that best predicted East Asian students’ English digital reading achievement. Among them, students’ socioeconomic status, subject-related ICT use during lessons, and interest in ICT ranked as the top three factors. The disparities in the roles played by disciplinary climate, gender, being bullied, immigrant status, and home language among the three economies were discussed.

Understanding the relationship between competitive climates and reading achievement in East Asia: a situated expectancy-value theory perspective

ABSTRACT Competitive climates have been found to be critical for language learning. However, most of these studies primarily focused on examining the direct association between competitive climates and language performance. Little attention has been given to exploring how competitive climates interplay with motivational beliefs in influencing language learning, especially in the Confucian culture. To address these gaps, this study aimed to investigate how expectancy-value beliefs mediated the relationship between competitive climates and reading achievement in East Asian regions. The study utilized data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, with 41,872 participants from six East Asian regions, including Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Korea, and Mainland China. The results revealed that competitive climates could enhance students’ reading achievement by fostering expectancy and value beliefs, demonstrating the positive influence of competitive climates on reading achievement within East Asian regions. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The effects of teaching assistants on letter knowledge of foundation phase students in South Africa: Findings from an exploratory trial

There is increasing evidence that letter knowledge is a significant predictor of early grade reading achievements and that interventions designed to improve learning of this constrained skill can be effective. However, little is known about ways to enhance the teaching of letter knowledge in African languages and the degree to which teaching assistants can facilitate this process. This paper reports findings from an exploratory study designed to establish if teaching assistants can improve letter knowledge in African languages. A pre-post-trial with 249 pre-Grade R and Grade 1 students was conducted in two South African provinces with two distinctive African languages, isiXhosa and Sepedi. Our analysis shows significant positive correlations for both languages between students’ exposure to teaching assistants and their improvements in the number of attempted letters as well as correct letters in a standardised test. Therefore, our findings suggest that teaching assistants, who are instructed to play letter games with foundation phase students to complement the teaching of letter knowledge, could be an effective, low-cost strategy to facilitate future improvements in reading.