Literacy Underachievement Research Articles

Democracy or legacy? Boys’ views on early literacy in three Maltese state schools

Malta, a former British colony, has inherited a legacy of formal education, which remains stubbornly in place even after almost 60 years of independence. Similarly, persistent are arguments in research and policy highlighting democracy and children’s rights in early years practice and boys’ underachievement in literacy. This paper examines 5- to 6-year-old boys’ perspectives about their schooled reading and writing experiences in three Maltese state schools through the dual lenses of children’s rights and democratic practice to create new understandings of these widely discussed longstanding phenomena. The paper discusses themes emerging from three focus group interviews which were part of a broader mixed-methods phenomenological doctoral study. Findings revealed that most boys experienced undesirable reading and writing practices, pointing to a need to rollback the highly formalised approach to literacy practised in many early years of educational settings in Malta. This paper questions whether countries like Malta will remain paralysed by a legacy of early formal schooling or move forward to an actual realisation of children’s rights through sustained democratic early childhood paedagogies.

Gender differences in early literacy: Boys’ response to formal instruction.

Research consistently documents that girls outperform boys in literacy achievement, yet, when considering the starting point—early literacy—we do not have consensus on the origin, meaningful nature, or persistence of such differences. In this two-part study analyzing 5,816 Norwegian students (48.1% girls, average age of 6.1 years), we first considered the presence and meaningful nature of gender differences at school entry. Presence of differences, advantaging girls, was found in letter-recognition, phonemic awareness, word reading accuracy, and spelling. We found no differences in vocabulary performance. However, wide score distributions suggest that intragroup differences are more meaningful than intergroup differences. In our second analysis, using a longitudinal design with three time points (school entry, end of Grade 1, end of Grade 2), we calculated a general latent literacy score based on an IRT model. Multilevel analysis tested the persistence of gender differences after formal instruction. Growth curve analysis of the latent literacy score verified an advantage for girls at school entry and that boys’ scores grew at a significantly higher rate than girls across Grades 1 and 2. Patterns of effect sizes complement the statistical analysis. In summary, findings indicate that girls’ small initial advantage in literacy skill at school entry persists into Grade 2, but it is substantially attenuated with formal instruction. Implications include that gender differences are secondary to other sources of heterogeneity in early literacy and that gender differences in early literacy at school entry do not directly lead to boys’ long-term underachievement in literacy. Future directions should examine if self-selection of activities in early childhood education may contribute to early literacy differences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Literacy teaching in disadvantaged South African schools

AbstractThis article analyses the experiences of teachers of literacy working in underprivileged communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. The purpose is to provide teachers in poorly resourced schools within economically deprived areas an opportunity to voice their experiences of teaching literacy. The article is based on an empirical study using interviews and classroom observation with a sample of 10 teachers. A descriptive account of the observation data was followed by an interpretive analysis. The content analysis of the interview data led to the development of themes and patterns for the discussion. The study reveals the social complexity of literacy education in a post‐apartheid and multilingual society and focuses on teachers in Grade 4 classrooms, which is the grade when learners switch from mother tongue (mainly isiXhosa and Afrikaans) to English as language of instruction. Key factors for literacy underachievement include lack of resources, parental support, lack of teacher knowledge, changes in the curriculum, absence of cognitive activities and the social complexity of poverty. The article recommends that a new model of literacy that challenges inequality and provides strategic and sustained teacher support in disadvantaged schools is crucial in a society emerging from oppression and racism.

Children, Literacy and Ethnicity: Reading Identities in the Primary School By LexieScherer. UK: Palgrave MacMillan, 2016 ISBN 978‐1‐137‐53736‐2, 189 pp, £89.99 (hb)

This book presents a challenging child-eye view of what it means to be a ‘poor reader’. It specifically provides the views of linguistically diverse and minority ethnic children such as Nicole from Angola, Rahim from Bangladesh, Zora from Morocco, Malik from Iraq, Arvitas from Kosovo and many other children. These pupils range from new arrivals in the UK to those in long-settled communities. For educators and policy-makers, the takeaway learning is that we should listen to the children whom we teach and consider classroom reading from their perspectives. Working in a participative research framework, Lexie Scherer interviewed young children in a super-diverse urban UK primary school. Data illustrate the understandings that the children apply to their school reading, in complex weavings of race, religion, culture, language and ethnicity. The research focus is on picture books and how children ‘read their own concerns into the page’ (p. 106) in terms of images and characters that they consider to be ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and why. It can be uncomfortable for the reader — and for the author/researcher — to hear some children articulate prejudices in response to multicultural picture books, and Scherer reflects honestly on whether some of the children's apparently racist comments mean that they are actually racist children. Beyond the texts, the children are acutely aware of classroom reading hierarchies and peers who are better skilled, ‘more intelligent’ readers. The study reveals how young children from a variety of minority ethnic and linguistic backgrounds respond to the demands put on them by school reading instruction and assessment. It explores how they make sense of what they are given to read in relation to their understanding of themselves and the wider world, and how they self-manage school evaluations of themselves as readers. The book aims to examine the ‘taken for granted’ processes of learning to read, and these processes mainly appear to be the assessment and benchmarking systems. In this sense, Scherer explicitly shows how learning to read in school is an unspoken social, cultural and political process that makes a significant impact on children. The author controversially critiques campaigns and organisations such as the National Literacy Trust and Get London Reading for discourses that ‘race and place’ children, positioning minority status as a causal deficit marker of literacy underachievement, rather than consulting children about their experiences of learning to read. Scherer proposes a ‘Super 7’ set of classroom reading routines which include long-held effective practices such as reading aloud, silent reading, oral storytelling and cultural reading (everything from environmental print to analysing TV programmes and advertising). But there are two standout items in the ‘Super 7’: faith literacy and bilingual reading. Both items receive insufficient attention in primary schools. Most classroom teachers have little or no training in effective support for bilingual children's literacy learning, or how to engage with faith beyond the statutory syllabus and the antiterrorism ‘Prevent’ agenda. The ‘how to’ of the Super 7 is not articulated. Readers must look to programmes such as CLPE's ‘The Power of Reading’, or the ‘Teachers as Readers/Building Communities of Readers’ projects, for ideas on how to improve literacy pedagogy and inclusion in multilingual, multi-ethnic classrooms. Scherer acknowledges ‘informal chats’ with teaching staff and school leaders, but she is committed to foregrounding the voices of children. Her focus makes the salient point that debates about reading are adult-led. The research illustrates, often glaringly, that children in schools cannot alter how reading is taught. They can only succeed or fail within the assessment regime. This study provides, above all, irrefutable evidence that the children of the world are the norm in UK primary schools today. It calls on educators and schools to listen carefully to these children.

Literacy Policy in Ireland

Over the past 15 years or so, individual governments worldwide have put an unprecedented focus on educational policy in an effort to ensure the acquisition of literacy skills for all children, recognising underachievement in literacy as a universal social justice issue preventing many individuals from reaching their promise. In Ireland, literacy has recently moved to centre stage with the publication of the National Strategy to Improve Literacy and Numeracy among Children and Young People 2011–2020 (DES, 2011a) and the Policy on the Continuum of Teacher Education (Teaching Council, 2011). How policies are conceived, constructed, interpreted and translated into action on the ground are key determinants of their success to effect change and achieve intended outcomes. This article examines the process of policy development in Ireland. It begins with a brief outline of primary education and then traces the influences that gave rise to the new policies. Next, the key dimensions of the policies and their expected outcomes are outlined. The article concludes with some reflections on the possibilities, challenges and implications for schools and schooling.

Not just a ‘boy problem’: an exploration of the complexities surrounding literacy under-achievement

This paper examines literacy under-achievement and the limitations of gender-based literacy reforms grounded in essentialist notions of masculinity. It draws on qualitative case-study research conducted in one Ontario secondary school in a working-class community. It focuses on two grade 9 students and their teacher who participated in a larger study which examines how the norms and values associated with school-based literacy practices contribute to under-achievement. The cases highlighted in this paper are employed to raise critical questions about the way in which literacy under-achievement continues to be articulated as a ‘boy problem’. This paper also illustrates how the complex and situated nature of the students’ gendered and classed identities, interwoven with contextual and pedagogical factors, contribute to literacy under-achievement for some boys and some girls. In addition, it argues that the disjuncture between in- and out-of-school literacy practices warrants further study.

The Problem of Boys' Literacy Underachievement: Raising Some Questions

that boys perform less well than girls on literacy benchmark or standardized tests. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (2009), female students consistently score higher than boys on average in both read ing and writing. This trend is supported by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test results. In 2006, the largest gender gap was found in reading. Girls on average outperformed boys in this area in all of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries (OECD, 2007). Test scores and achievement gaps such as the ones described here have been used to create a sense of moral panic concerning boys' literacy skills and engagement (Hall & Coles, 2001; Rowan, Knobel, Bigum, & Lankshear, 2002). In this paper, we express some concerns about the ways in which boys' literacy underachievement is defined and taken up within a context that con tinues to represent all boys as victims or as the new disadvantaged (Epstein, Elwood, Hey, & Maw, 1998; Lingard & Douglas, 1999; Rowan et al, 2002). We argue for the need to engage with literature and analytic perspectives that are capable of addressing the complex interplay between various social, cultural, and institutional factors?such as gender, social class, race, ethnic ity, and sexuality?that affect both boys' and girls' engagement with literacy (see American Association of University Women [AAUW], 2008; Martino, 2008a). We also draw attention to the implications associated with move ments to reclaim schooling as a masculine domain and suggest pedagogical rather than structural reforms (see Alloway, Freebody, Gilbert, & Muspratt, 2002; Hammett & Sanford, 2008; Lingard, Martino, & Mills, 2009; Martino & Kehler, 2007). 356

Boys, Masculinity and Reading: Deconstructing the Homogenizing of Boys in Primary School Literacy Classrooms

Literature concerning boys' apparent underachievement in literacy, compared to girls, is prolific in popular, political and educational narratives. Many generalizations about boys' underachievement however, are not representative of particular groups of boys and focus on narrow constructions of masculinity that perpetuate a binary divide between boys and girls, positioning young males as homogenous. This paper presents outcomes from a recent doctoral study indicating that boys' experiences as readers at school are diverse, highlighting the need to make visible the differences between groups of boys. Outcomes also suggest that disadvantage plays an interactional role in boy's perceptions of reading indicating a social justice concern. Findings from this study build upon the work of others who advocate the need to determine 'which boys' are underachieving at school while concomitantly allowing a space to make visible differences amongst groups of boys. From an understanding of literacy as socio-cultural practice this paper will provide an overview of the quantitative and qualitative methodological approach implemented to explore differences between students' attitudes and beliefs about reading and other school related endeavours. The study involved a survey of 297 boys and girls and follow up interview with 34 students. Students were clustered into six groups of participants who presented in a similar manner. Within the context of this paper two of these groups will be discussed. The first group is a male dominated cluster of students who indicated anti-reading and anti-school sentiments. The second male dominated group however, included participants who expressed their 'love' of reading within an unsupportive peer group culture, challenging taken for granted assumptions about boys and reading often portrayed in popular literature.

Promoting High School Boys' Reading Engagement and Motivation

It can be difficult for school psychologists to become involved in research within their day-to-day role. This article details real world research undertaken in a single high school to identify and address mechanisms which were contributing to boys' literacy underachievement. In an attempt to promote reading engagement and motivation amongst high school boys, an affective reading intervention was delivered to Year 8 pupils in a single sex comprehensive school. The lack of desired outcomes prompted a systemic enquiry into boys' views and perceptions of reading in this context. Reported here are findings from focus group interviews with staff and pupils which suggest that factors that facilitated or inhibited boys' reading were the result of complex interactions between socio-cultural influences, peer pressures, gender perceptions and literacy preferences. A motivational model is proposed as a useful framework for helping schools explore how school-based literacy practices might facilitate reading development.

Motor impairment and low achievement in very preterm children at eight years of age

Aim To examine the concurrence of motor impairment and academic underachievement in a group of very preterm children at 8 years of age. Methods All surviving children with a gestational age less than 30 weeks, admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit between 1987 and 1997, were prospectively enrolled in developmental follow-up. Children with a neurosensory disability or a low intelligence score (FSIQ ≤ 75 points) were excluded. At 8 years of age the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and standardised tests of academic achievement were administered to a sample of 323 very preterm children. Results One hundred and one (31.3%) of these very preterm children were identified as having Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Of the children with DCD, 54.4% also had underachievement in literacy and/or numeracy. As the severity of motor impairment increased so too did the severity and complexity of underachievement. Significantly fewer children with motor impairments participated in after-school sporting activities. Children with DCD required more mechanical ventilation support during their hospital admission. Conclusions This study demonstrated that a significant proportion of children born very preterm find both motor and academic skills difficult in early school years.

Boys and writing in the primary school

In recent years boys' under-achievement in literacy has become a cause for concern. This article reports the findings of a study undertaken in an urban primary school, which set out to ascertain teachers' perceptions of boys' attitudes towards, and attainment in, writing. The teachers in this study articulated what have come to be seen as stereotypical views in this respect, although a more detailed consideration of their comments led the authors to question exactly who has the problem: is it boys, girls or is it us teachers?