Progress In International Reading Literacy Study Research Articles

Re‐examining the relationship between patience, risk‐taking, and human capital investment across countries*

SummaryHanushek et al. (2022) show that students in countries in which people are more patient and less risk‐taking perform better in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test. In this paper, we probe the robustness of this study. Our narrow replication shows that most of the results are robust to alternative model specifications. Our broad replication shows that the main results are robust to measuring student performance with data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) instead of PISA.

Exploring school factors of academic achievement in Macau: The application of educational data mining in Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 assessment

International large-scale assessments, provide structured and static data, and due to their extensive databases, they can be considered as a valuable resource for Big Data in Education. In this paper, we propose an educational data mining approach to detect and analyze factors linked to academic performance in Macau schools using data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016. We conducted a secondary data analysis based on a set of socioeconomic, process, and outcome variables from PIRLS and other sources, and built decision trees to obtain a predictive model of school performance. By doing so, we were able to identify the school and student-level variables that are most significant in predicting student performance in Macau. These findings will be useful for informing educational policy decisions and shedding light on the causes of poor performance in Macau schools. Overall, our study highlights the potential of educational data mining approaches in analyzing large-scale assessment data and generating insights for educational research and practice.

The effect of peer bullying on academic achievement: A meta‐analysis study related to results of TIMSS and PIRLS

AbstractFocusing on the variables that can affect both academic achievement and the well‐being of students has been crucial for their development, making schools effective and designing educational policy as well as curriculum. The study has aimed to investigate the effect of peer bullying on academic achievement and to determine moderators in the relationship between these two terms by using TIMSS (The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) data through the meta‐analysis method. Based on seven international survey data sets from TIMSS (2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015) and PIRLS (2006, 2011, and 2016), the current research has focused on 793 independent findings, including 3,503,005 students in 77 countries. In the analysis process, the mean effect size was measured by using the coefficient of standardized means (Cohen's d) based on the random effect model. In addition, the significance of the moderator variables was calculated by using the Q statistic. The findings of the study revealed that peer bullying had a significant effect on academic achievement, and in this effect, grades of the students and course types played moderator roles, while the culture of the countries was not a moderator. It could be concluded that the effect of peer relationships not only on the social development of students but also on their academic performance should not be ignored.

Investigating the relationship between parental attitudes toward reading, early literacy activities, and reading literacy in Arabic among Emirati children

Emirati children’s reading skills have consistently lagged behind global standards on international standardized tests. Given the United Arab Emirates’s Vision 2031, which aims for a world-class education system, and given the importance of Arabic literacy in preserving national identity and cultural heritage, there is an urgent need to investigate the factors that influence Arabic literacy among Emirati children. Therefore, this study, using data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 database, aimed to examine the relationships between parents’ attitudes toward reading, early literacy activities, early literacy tasks, and Arabic literacy. Specifically, the study aimed to (1) determine the predictive value of parental attitudes toward reading for Arabic reading literacy among Emirati children; (2) examine how early literacy activities and tasks contribute to Arabic reading literacy; and (3) examine the mediating role of early literacy activities and tasks in the relationship between parental attitudes and Arabic reading literacy. The results of the study suggest that parental attitudes toward reading are an important predictor of their children’s Arabic reading literacy. Participation in early literacy activities before primary school and mastery of early literacy tasks at the beginning of primary school were both associated with reading proficiency in Arabic. Furthermore, both early literacy activities and early literacy tasks significantly mediated the relationship between parental attitudes toward reading and children’s reading proficiency in Arabic. The findings are critical for educators to adapt teaching methods, curricula, and parental involvement programs to more effectively support Arabic literacy development. The study highlights the need for an inclusive approach involving parents, educators, and policymakers to create an enabling environment for the development of Arabic literacy, which is essential for academic success and cultural preservation.

Regularized Mislevy-Wu Model for Handling Nonignorable Missing Item Responses

Missing item responses are frequently found in educational large-scale assessment studies. In this article, the Mislevy-Wu item response model is applied for handling nonignorable missing item responses. This model allows that the missingness of an item depends on the item itself and a further latent variable. However, with low to moderate amounts of missing item responses, model parameters for the missingness mechanism are difficult to estimate. Hence, regularized estimation using a fused ridge penalty is applied to the Mislevy-Wu model to stabilize estimation. The fused ridge penalty function is separately defined for multiple-choice and constructed response items because previous research indicated that the missingness mechanisms strongly differed for the two item types. In a simulation study, it turned out that regularized estimation improves the stability of item parameter estimation. The method is also illustrated using international data from the progress in international reading literacy study (PIRLS) 2011 data.

Literacy as Epistemology and Educational Policy: An Exploration of a Large Swedish Professional Development Programme for Teachers

ABSTRACT From once being synonymous with reading and writing, literacy, as a concept has expanded in the last three decades to today being associated with multiple meaning making forms and competences. Impactful, in this shift, has been the research orientation of New Literacy Studies. Besides academia, the literacy concept has also had a major influence on the global assessment frameworks of Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). This study is interested in the epistemological potential of this perception of literacy, but also on how it affects educational policy. Material examined is a large Swedish governmentally-initiated professional development programme for teachers, launched in 2014. Two main variants of the literacy concept can be identified in the programme, one more closely aligned with New Literacy Studies, and the other more influenced by PISA and PIRLS. Findings show, strong impact from the global assessment version of the literacy concept, resulting in a mainly skills-based and instrumental educational discourse, far from the concept of Bildung, traditionally characteristic of the Nordic school systems. Further, of the two variants, New Literacy has a broader epistemological potential, and is, as such, more closely related to Bildung.

Comparing parental and school pressure in terms of their relations with students' well-being

Towards the end of the elementary school years, children experience increased learning demands and pressure to perform, which can threaten their well-being. However, while parents and teachers are considered the main sources of academic pressure, a systematic comparison of the two has not yet been conducted. Therefore, this study examined the relation between those sources of academic pressure and five different facets of well-being among elementary school children. Our sample comprised 342 fourth graders (45.9 % female, Mage = 10.29) participating in the field test of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021 in Germany. Controlling for gender and academic achievement, parental and school pressure were negatively related to several facets of students' well-being, with our findings showing that parental pressure was associated with a greater number of aspects of well-being. However, a direct comparison of the two sources of academic pressure did not reveal significant differences in the relations with the various facets of students' well-being. Limitations of the study and implications for research and practice are discussed. Educational relevance statementStudents' well-being is an important educational goal and research on this topic is of great relevance. This study represents an important contribution to the current literature as it examines the relationship between students' well-being and academic pressure among elementary school children. Studies of this age group in this context are rare but nonetheless of great importance. In addition, the present study included two different sources of academic pressure (parents, individuals in the school environment). Direct comparison of different sources of academic pressure in the elementary school context provides a more nuanced picture of how it affects students during their early school career.We found that both, parental and school pressure are negatively related to several facets of well-being. However, the results did not show a preponderance of one source of academic pressure over the other in terms of its association with students' well-being.The findings are of great practical importance, as they indicate that the behavior of teachers and parents is related to the well-being of students at a sensitive stage of their school career and general development. Therefore, their awareness of this issue should be raised. In addition, students' resilience and stress management skills should be strengthened so that they can better cope with academic pressure.

The Impact of the Presence of Prosodic Features (Tone Markings) on Comprehending Setswana Words in Reading

The paper is about the impact of prosodic features, more especially tone marking, in extracting the meaning in Setswana readings, because of its contribution to meaning in Setswana. The research was conducted in response to the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which found that more than 80% of Grade 4 students tested in an African Language were unable to read for comprehension. The semiotic theoretical framework, which is concerned with how signs are used for interpretation, served as the foundation for this study. The focus of the study was on the Intermediate Phase learners from eight schools where Setswana is taught as a First Additional Language and/or as a Home Language. Qualitative and quantitative method approaches were used to collect data. Participants were chosen through random sampling. The study discovered that when words are not marked, learners are unable to determine which meaning is intended. It was discovered that in reading the most difficult aspect is comprehending what has been read. The study proposes that new means of emphasizing prosodic markers (such as tones, accent, stress, and rhythm) be given special focus in the South African education system so that learners may be able to extract meaning and comprehend what they read.

Associations between teacher quality, instructional quality and student reading outcomes in Nordic PIRLS 2016 data

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) focuses on the reading proficiency of students mostly in the fourth year of schooling. A wide selection of studies has shown that family background and early literacy activities at home have substantial associations with student achievement in reading literacy. However, research focusing on teacher qualities and teaching processes is inadequate. In this study, we focus on associations of teacher quality (formal qualifications and professional identity) and instructional quality (classroom management, cognitive activation and teacher support) with cognitive and affective-motivational student outcomes (variables Reading Achievement, Students Confident in Reading, and Students Like Reading). We analyzed PIRLS 2016 data from four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), consisting altogether of 923 teachers and 17,161 students. Using path analysis, we considered selected background variables from teacher and student questionnaires in relation to the outcomes. Overall, the associations of student outcomes with teacher quality and instruction quality were found to be weak in all the countries, and there was little variation between the countries. The strongest association observed in all countries was the positive relation between Teacher Support Perceived by Students and Students Like Reading. Further, a positive Working Atmosphere in the Classroom tended to promote Reading Achievement and Students Confident in Reading. Teacher’s Specialization in reading and the language of the test was positively associated with Teacher’s Self-Efficacy in teaching reading, which in turn was related to measures of instructional quality. The implications for practice are discussed.

Associations between having breakfast and reading literacy achievement among Nordic primary school students

ABSTRACT Having breakfast is associated with improved diet quality, cognitive- and academic performance and can therefore positively impact learning and health, although the impact on reading literacy is unknown in the Nordic countries. The aim of this study was to assess the association between having breakfast often versus rarely and reading literacy achievement based on Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) from 2016. The sample consisted of Danish (N = 3508), Finnish (N = 4896), Norwegian (N = 4232) and Swedish (N = 4525) students, 10–11 years old. Students self-reported their frequency of having breakfast. Linear regression analysis (adjusted for socio-economic status and gender) showed that those who often vs. rarely had breakfast achieved a higher reading literacy score. The results suggest that having breakfast may be important for reading literacy achievement even after adjusting for socioeconomic status. This potential relationship between breakfast intake and students’ academic achievement should be given priority for further research and practice as breakfast is a modifiable factor that can be both improved and be intervened on.

Moderate Gaming and Internet Use Show Positive Association with Online Reading of 10-Year-Olds in Europe

• The paper examined the relationship between four screen activities and online reading scores of 10-year-olds in six high-income European countries. • Playing computer games and surfing the web showed a right-skewed inversed U-shape with moderate use having a mildly positive association with online reading when compared to both no-use and heavy use (above 2 hours daily). • Online chatting and watching videos showed a negative association with online reading above the threshold of 1 hour daily. • There were not significant differences between top and bottom performers apart from heavy gaming associated with 26-point (or over a quarter of a standard deviation) lower score for low-performers and 6-point lower score for high-performers. • The paper documents the emergence of online-offline reading gaps of the same children: 10-year olds who reported no screen use scored 6-11 points lower on online than offline test. Analogically, children who spent more time online scored higher on online tests than on offline tests. The paper analyses how four screen activities relate to reading scores using the representative sample of 21,217 ten-year-olds who sat online and offline Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) test in six high-income European countries. In regression models, gaming and Internet use showed a right-skewed inverted U-shape relationship to online reading with moderate use (30-60 minutes daily) showing a positive association when compared to both no-use and heavy use (above 2 hours). Online chatting and watching videos showed negative relationship to online reading above the threshold of approximately one hour daily. Quantile regression showed that all four types of screen time had similar influence on top and bottom performers except for gaming over 2 hours daily which was associated with 26-point (or over a quarter of a standard deviation) lower score for low-performers and 6-point lower score for top-performers. The paper documents the emergence of online-offline reading gaps: children who reported no screen use scored 6-11 points lower on online than offline test. Similarly, children who spent more time online scored higher on online tests than on offline tests. Whenever the heavy screen use yielded significant results, it was associated with higher online score (ranging from 8 to 16 points) when compared to offline score. A common finding for all screen activities, testing modes and groups of performers is an adverse effect on reading of more than two hours daily of screen time.

Investigating the differential item functioning of a PIRLS Literacy 2016 text across three languages

This study forms part of a larger study (Roux, 2020), which looked at the equivalence of a literary text across English, Afrikaans, and isiZulu from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). PIRLS is a large-scale reading comprehension assessment that assesses Grade 4 students' reading literacy achievement. PIRLS Literacy 2016 results for South African Grade 4 students indicated poor performance in reading comprehension, with approximately eight out of 10 Grade 4 students who could not read for meaning. Descriptive statistics led to the Rasch analysis, which was conducted using the South African PIRLS Literacy 2016 data. Even though the Rasch analysis indicated differential item functioning across the three languages for this specific passage, there was no universal discrimination against one particular language. By conducting differential item functioning, it was possible to determine whether the selected text had metric equivalence, in other words, whether the test questions were of similar difficulty across languages.

A Cultural-historical Pedagogical Model as a Potential Developmental Tool in Schools

South Africa consistently lags behind other nations on international benchmarking tests of literacy, mathematics and, especially, science as illustrated in the low achievement outcomes on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests. Research in the 21st century has shown that learning science at an early age is a predictor of scientific literacy later in life. The low science achievement in South Africa is impacted by several variables, however, one important aspect of students’ failure to acquire science reasoning skills lies in how they are taught science. Drawing on the work of Vygotsky, Hedegaard, Freire, and Feuerstein, this paper reports on an intervention using a novel pedagogical model to teach science in grade two classrooms. A comparative case study is presented where one teacher is trained in the novel pedagogical model and one is not trained to use this model. Both teachers teach in the same school and the demographics of the children in the two separate classes studied are similar. Findings indicate that where the novel pedagogical model is used, the teacher uses more scientific, abstract concepts in her lesson; she links the abstract to the children’s everyday concepts and, perhaps most significantly, she illustrates to students why they must learn the content she is teaching them.

Building the Quality of the Nation by Fostering a Literacy Culture for Elementary School Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Based on the recently released PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) report, Tuesday, December 3, 2019, Indonesia's reading score was ranked 72 out of 77 countries, mathematics scores were ranked 72 out of 78 countries, and science scores were ranked 70 out of 78 countries. . Data from international research institutions such as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMS) show similar findings. In connection with this condition, the author wants to discuss the causal factors and how to improve the literacy culture of students in elementary schools. The approach method in this paper uses literacy studies. From various literatures it is found that there are three factors that cause low interest in reading. First, the lack of reading habits that are instilled from an early age. Second, the lack of book production in Indonesia as a result of the undeveloped regional publishers. Third, the lack of main educational facilities for internet-based information systems, which during the Covid'19 pandemic became the only reliable access to obtain various information, while not everyone has the ability to access the internet. Therefore, efforts are needed to solve the problem of low literacy culture. Various literatures suggest several efforts to improve literacy culture among elementary school students, including: firstly implementing the School Literacy Movement program launched by the Government, secondly holding literacy competitions such as writing competitions, reading poetry, etc., as well as reading corners in each class. , and the third held a one day one page program through assignments to read 1 page every day and summarize the reading results. Through these programs, it is expected to be able to improve the literacy culture of elementary school students and can systemically improve the quality of the nation.

Item wording effects in self-report measures and reading achievement: Does removing careless respondents help?

This study examined the impact of item wording effects on the factor structure of the Student Confidence in Reading (SCR) scale in the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). First, using a large sample of students from seven English-speaking countries, item wording effects in the SCR scale were investigated for the entire sample and the subgroups of students based on their reading achievement levels in PIRLS 2016. Second, the presence of item wording effects was re-examined after identifying and removing students who answered negatively worded items inconsistently. The results showed that the use of negatively worded items distorted the factor structure of the SCR scale, leading to an unintentionally multidimensional factor structure. Removing students with careless responses had a negligible impact on the model fit for students at the lowest achievement level, whereas it considerably improved the model fit for other students with moderate to high reading achievement.

Developing a Multimodal Interactive Learning Environment to Enhance the Reading Comprehension of Grade 4 Students in the UAE Public Schools

The research aimed to develop and validate a Multimodality Interactive Learning Environment (MILE), in order to enhance the reading comprehension skills of Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) public schools. The reading comprehension skills and strategies were drawn from Davis’s (2013) model Building Comprehension Strategies, which include: making the connection, visualization, prediction and pre-prediction, asking and answering questions, inferencing, retelling and paraphrasing, and summarization. Since the international exam for Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) targets Grade 4 students, the MILE was developed pedagogically and technologically to address specific and well-selected activities for Grade 4 students to practise cognitive skills and strategies related to the intended curriculum and syllabus. The study was guided by a developmental and design-based research approach. The MILE was designed on the basis of the Four Components of the Instructional Design model (4C/ID); and it was validated in a public school in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The participants were 27 students from Grade 4. The research findings showed that the proper design of MILE to enhance Arabic reading comprehension is a combination of constructive learning, based on self-generated activities and cognitive strategies. In addition, the proposed MILE was designed for a progression of 200% among low-level committed students. The ‘retelling and paraphrasing’ skills were the easiest, whereas ‘summarisation’ was the hardest. Based on these findings, the research suggested some recommendations, in order to ensure the quality of the learning, and the assessment of the Arabic language in the UAE public schools.

A Study on the Effects of Parental Involvement on Academic Achievement

This study analyzes the effects of the type of parental involvement on students academic achievement based on the Asian culture of education, which is widely recognized as being different to the Western culture of education. Based on the research assumption, Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006 data are utilized for the analysis. Using two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), this study s three main results related to the research questions are: First, home-based parental involvement has a significant positive relationship with student achievement, whereas school-based parental involvement does not have a significant relationship with student achievement. Second, both student-level and school-level home-based parental involvement have a significant impact on student achievement, with school-level involvement having a stronger effect. Third, the effects of parental involvement on student achievement do not vary between schools. In addition to the results, some suggestions for educational policy and further research are also provided.

Curriculum and assessment mismatch: Examining the role of images in literacy assessments

In light of the shift towards incorporating multimodality in the curriculum, it is of interest and value to examine the extent to which multimodal literacy is assessed in national and international literacy tests. This is so as to surface any misalignment between the two and highlight gaps which curriculum planners and assessment designers can address. Given the significant influence that the nature of assessment has in shaping classroom practices and teaching priorities, it is imperative that assessment is aligned with curriculum goals. Our paper examines the assessment items in the visual text comprehension in Singapore’s national examinations, the Graduate Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (GCE O’ Level) and the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), for the English Language exam, as well as the literacy components of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) reading items. We adopt the approach of an earlier study by Unsworth et al. (2019) and position our work as a replication study, extended to a new context. In adopting a common approach, we hope to offer an independent verification of the framework, analyses and findings from the earlier study and contribute towards consolidating and building up proven practices in the analysis of text-image relations within the field of multimodal studies. Our results similarly show an overall low proportion of test items that deal with images and image-language relations in the Singapore and international assessments. While the proportion of questions where the image is essential or supports answering the question is higher for the Singapore GCE O’ Level exams, the role of images in the PSLE and international assessments is limited, which suggests a greater focus on assessing multimodal literacy is required. As curriculum reforms to incorporate multimodality in education become more commonplace around the world, we argue that attention on assessment must be the next frontier of change.

An international comparison using Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment: Fourth graders’ diagnostic profile of reading skills on PIRLS 2016

Cognitive diagnostic assessment (CDA) approach has been increasingly applied to non-diagnostic large-scale assessments to extract fine-grained diagnostic feedback about students’ ability in a given domain and meet accountability demands for student achievement. This study aimed to diagnose the reading abilities of 4324 students from 19 European Union (EU) member countries that participated in the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), one of the most comprehensive international studies that investigate students’ reading achievement. The PIRLS data were analyzed by using the Log-linear Cognitive Diagnosis Modeling (LCDM), a type of cognitive diagnostic classification model (DCM). Students’ weaknesses and strengths were identified based on a four-skill reading ability model. The results revealed that the methodology could provide more fine-grained diagnostic information about students’ reading skills than traditional aggregated-test scoring could. Such information could be utilized by teachers, school administrators, decision-makers, and students for maximizing the learning outcomes of reading programs and instruction.

Avaliação internacional em larga escala: a participação de Portugal no TIMSS, PIRLS e ICILS

In the last few decades, the large-scale evaluation has acquired an importance in the educational field. International studies developed from surveys are increasingly numerous and cover different domains. Portugal has been participating in several studies, allowing to obtain information about the educational system and the socioeconomic context of the families and students. These data are reflected in the definition and implementation of educational policies. In this article we present an analysis of three international studies in the field of education, in which Portugal participates: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS), carried out by International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). In this article we present an analysis of the general results of Portugal and we use an interpretative methodology, based on the analysis of reports and databases produced by different organizations, and undertaken by IEA. Despite the different fluctuations, in the different study cycles, Portuguese students have been showing positive results.