Reading Achievement Research Articles

Construct validation of the revised Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI-R) and its relation to learning effort and reading achievement

Language students apply different strategies to learn a second language (L2), especially when they want to attain proficiency in reading. The aim of the present study was to revisit the validity of the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI-R) among Saudi students using a new statistical method of confirmatory composite analysis (CCA). Past studies modeled MARSI-R as a common factor and applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test its validity. However, studies struggled to provide support for the validity of the MASRI-R with each suggesting different model. Instead, we treat the inventory as a composite, meaning that the items in MARSI-R form and define the inventory and not the other way around. We use partial least squared structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to allow the composite model to be estimated. The results indicated that the constructs of MARSI-R are better operationalized as composites not common factors as supported through CCA exclusively. After confirming the nature of the inventory, we evaluated the extent to which MARSI-R is related to reading proficiency through the mediational mechanism of motivational intensity (i.e., learning effort). Descriptive statistics illustrated that problem-solving strategies are the most used strategy and that females used the strategies more frequently than their male counterparts. Most importantly, the structural model showed that metacognitive reading strategies only exert an indirect effect on reading proficiency, suggesting that the effect of strategies is mediated by motivational intensity (i.e., learning effort). Thus, motivational intensity seems to be mediator in the relationship between metacognitive reading strategies and reading proficiency. Finally, methodological and educational implications are provided.

Does the optimism hypothesis hold true when assessed using large-scale data? Evidence from Norwegian PIRLS 2016

ABSTRACT The optimism hypothesis claims that immigrant students do better in the Norwegian education system than their socioeconomic status would suggest, due to the strong educational aspirations that immigrant parents might have for their children. Grounded in an educational equity paradigm, this study aims to test this hypothesis by investigating direct and indirect influences on students’ reading achievement, assessing both how often the students speak the language of instruction, Norwegian, at home; and the effect for students of parents’ educational levels that affect parents’ academic expectations and parents’ help with homework. Using PIRLS 2016 data from Norway (n = 4,232, mean age 10.8), path analysis provided evidence that both students’ home language and parents’ educational level directly influence reading achievement. The mediating roles of parents’ academic expectations and parents’ help with homework on these relationships fluctuated. Thus, the data provided evidence that only partially supports the optimism hypothesis.

The role of perspective-taking in mediating the relationship between teacher feedback and reading achievement

The role of perspective-taking in mediating the relationship between teacher feedback and reading achievement

The effects of Success for All in the Netherlands on the reading achievement of first-grade students at risk of reading problems

This article reports outcomes of a quasi-experimental evaluation of Success for All (SfA), a comprehensive school reform program that has recently been introduced in the Netherlands. The Response to Intervention framework is used to describe how SfA supports students at different Tiers. The effects of SfA on five reading subskills were investigated for first-grade students at risk of reading problems. 299 students from two different cohorts were involved. Multilevel analyses demonstrated a significant effect of SfA on reading comprehension (ES = +0.26) in the first cohort. For the second cohort and the other reading subskills, mostly small positive effects of SfA were found, though these effects were not statistically significant. Furthermore, the relationship between tutoring intensity and reading achievement was examined. In the second cohort, a significant negative association of tutoring intensity with word and text reading skills was found. Implementation issues that may have impacted the outcomes are discussed.

Predicting Reading Achievement Through Progress Monitoring in Elementary School

ABSTRACT This longitudinal study examined the effectiveness of a progress monitoring method, namely the Multilayer Instruction Model-Progress Monitoring (MIM-PM), which is a word reading fluency measure. It was used from 1st grade onward to predict the overall reading achievement of students in elementary school by tracking their reading achievement over the following six years. A total of 827 elementary school students in Japan participated in this study. At the end of every other year—2nd, 4th, and 6th grades—a standardized Reading Test (RT) was administered to assess overall reading achievement. The relationship between each MIM-PM measure and RT was determined using the latent growth curve model (LGCM). Using the LGCM, we confirmed that the MIM-PM had an acceptable fit for use in the prediction model for RT from 2nd to 6th grades. The MIM-PM slope explained the intercept of RT, rather than that of MIM-PM. Thus, it can assist in predicting reading achievement in later grades based on word reading fluency, as well as monitor students’ progress from an early stage of the educational process.

Early Indicators of Good Reading Skill: Grade 3 Learners in Focus, Ethiopia

The article presents early indicators of good reading skills for Grade 3 learners. It employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design by which quantitative data collection and analysis occurred first, followed by qualitative data collection and analysis. The intention of using this design was that qualitative data would explain and contextualize the quantitative findings. The quantitative part constitutes a non-equivalent control group design in a quasi-experimental approach. It used naturally occurring intact groups that already existed before and after a quasi-experimental treatment occurred to make comparisons between groups. It involved 1,325 Grade 3 learners selected by convenient sampling technique from 10 primary schools. It used a reading achievement test for quantitative data collection in both groups after and before the intervention. It analyzed quantitative data with the help of a t-test and ANCOVA. Under the qualitative part, a multiple case study design was employed via interviews and observation of learners, teachers, and parents. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The findings indicated that there was an association between reading achievement and learners’ linguistics skills, schema, motivation, and reading self-efficacy. Therefore, teachers are advised to emphasize early indicators of reading skills in order to make Grade 3 learners more beneficiaries.

Using Pictionary as An Effective Way to Improve Young Learners' Reading Skill on A Procedure Text

This study aims to see how successful Pictionary is at teaching procedural text. Fifty students from Mojokerto's MA Al-Istiqomah second year participated in this study. This study employed a one-group pretest-posttest design. Field notes were used to collect data, and pupils' reading achievement was determined using the minimum passing score. The current research examines the impact of utilizing Pictionary to increase students' comprehension of process language, particularly in determining primary verbs used in the procedure text. As the research tool, a vocabulary test was conducted. The results demonstrated that applying the Pictionary game approach improved vocabulary attainment. This implies that the Pictionary game approach makes it easier for kids to learn a new language.
 
 Keywords: Pictionary Game, Reading Comprehension, Visual Learning

Urgency of E-Books Based Multimodal Approach Towards Reading Motivation for Elementary School Students

Reading motivation is an important predictor of reading achievement in elementary school. Electronic book or digital book is one of the media that students can always access by technological assistance. This study aims to determine the urgency and potential of developing a teaching material product in the form of E-Book based multimodal approach on reading motivation for elementary school students. This research is included in the mixed method approach using explanatory sequential design. The research subjects consisted of teachers and 79 students in fifth grade. The data collected in this study are qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data was collected using observation techniques, and interviews whose instruments were observation sheets and interview guidelines. Quantitative data was collected using non-test techniques, namely questionnaires and followed by questionnaires as instruments. Furthermore, the research data will be analyzed descriptively with interactive analysis through data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results showed that during the implementation of learning, teachers only used teaching materials in the form of printed books that causes students to be lazy to read and student responses stated that they needed interesting ICT-based teaching materials to increase engagement, reading habit and motivation to read which in this case as many as 94% of students agreed if there was development in interactive teaching materials in e-book format for language learning.Therefore, this study concluded that to encourage good reading habits among students, schools especially teachers should provide access to learning using ebooks and sufficient facilities to accommodate all students. Implication of this study can be a reference for teachers to develop similar electronic media. Librarians should intensify their efforts to create more reading awareness among students.

The Effect of Goal Setting Based on China’s Standard of English Proficiency Scales on Reading Achievement

Language proficiency scales (LPS) are widely used in testing and assessment. Research on how to apply LPS in guiding learning, especially in terms of goal setting, is limited. Goals based on LPS can guide students’ learning, diagnose their problems, and provide a benchmark for achievement assessment. Mixed methods were used to investigate the effect of goal setting on reading achievement and students’ experience of the new approach. China’s Standard of English Proficiency Scales (CSE)-based goals were used to guide students’ reading. The quasi-experiment revealed that students’ test scores were significantly improved; the interview proved that students were generally positive about this way of learning. This study is significant in tapping the more profound value of LPS and has some enlightenment in language learning. The small sample size is one limitation of this study. Students’ achievements and engagement should be examined in future research.

Severe Malaria and Academic Achievement.

Cerebral malaria (CM) and severe malarial anemia (SMA) are associated with neurocognitive impairment in childhood but their effects on long-term academic achievement are not known. Ugandan children 5 to 12 years old who participated in a previous study evaluating cognitive outcomes after CM (n = 73) or SMA (n = 56), along with community children (CC, n = 100) from the same household or neighborhood, were on average enrolled 67.1 months (range, 19-101 months) after the severe malaria episode or previous study enrollment. Academic achievement in word reading, sentence comprehension, spelling, and math computation was evaluated using the Wide Range Achievement Test, Fourth Edition. Age-adjusted z-scores for academic achievement outcomes were calculated from CC scores. After adjustment for age and time from enrollment, reading scores were lower (mean difference from CC [95% confidence interval]) in children with CM (-0.15 [-0.27 to -0.03], P = .02) or SMA (-0.15 [-0.28 to -0.02], P = .02) than CC. Postdischarge malaria episodes were associated with worse spelling and reading scores in CM and worse spelling scores only in SMA. Pathway analysis showed that incidence of postdischarge uncomplicated malaria contributed significantly to the association of CM or SMA with poorer reading scores. Children with CM or SMA have poorer long-term reading skills. Postdischarge malaria episodes contribute significantly to this association. Postdischarge malaria chemoprevention should be assessed as an intervention to improve long-term academic achievement in children with severe malaria.

قة بين الأنشطة القرائية والكتابية التي يقوم بها الوالدان في مرحلة ما قبل التعليم الابتدائي وتحصيل أبنائهم لتلك المهارات

The current study aimed to investigate the degree to which parents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia practice reading and writing activities in the pre-school stage with their children to develop their reading and writing skills in the general education stages. In addition, studying the impact of these activities on students’ achievement in reading and writing skills when they reach the fourth grade of primary school. The data of Saudi Arabia was published by IEA, it was based on PIRLS 2016. The questionnaire of the student’s guardians in the study included a scale containing several reading and writing activities for the pre-primary stage to determine the extent to which parents practice them. Using multiple linear regression analysis, the results showed that building cubes and playing with shapes are among the most important activities that positively affect reading and writing skills. In addition, followed by reading stories and writing letters of words as another set of important activities, which parents provide to their children before they enter school. The study recommended the necessity of implementing developmental programs for parents to show the importance of their participation in developing children's reading and writing skills, as well as providing courses to teach them effective strategies that contribute to developing children’s reading and writing skills.

Effects of Having an IEP on the Reading Achievement of Students With Learning Disabilities and Speech or Language Impairments

The extent to which reading achievement is causally impacted by eligibility for special education services due to a learning disability (LD) or speech or language impairment (SLI) is currently unclear. In this registered report, we analyzed national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort of 2010–2011 (ECLS-K: 2011) using student-fixed effects with a lagged dependent variable estimated by maximum likelihood to assess (a) whether being assigned an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and so receiving special education services affects individually measured reading achievement for students with LD or SLI ( N = 2,400) and (b) heterogeneity in the effect of having an IEP for different demographic groups. We observed small, negative effects in early grades ( d = −0.09) but larger, positive effects in later grades ( ds = 0.29–0.67). These more negative early effects primarily occurred among students identified with SLI, male students, and students who faced socioeconomic barriers. Effects were more positive for students who are Black, Hispanic, or who exited special education.

Reading in kindergarten Arabic-speaking children with low linguistic skills: A longitudinal study

AbstractThe present longitudinal study aimed to explore the connections between different linguistic profiles at kindergarten and reading achievements at first grade. These profiles are based on the two-dimensional model (Bishop & Snowling, 2004), which associates reading skills with phonological and other language abilities. This model was examined mainly in Indo-European languages but scarcely in Arabic. Arabic-speaking children were assigned to four linguistic profiles in kindergartens: low language (LL; N = 111), low phonology (LPh; N = 120), low language and low phonology (LLLPh; N = 139), and typical language and typical phonology (TLTPh; N = 135). Multivariate analysis was used to compare their reading achievements at first grade, and the overlap between linguistic and reading profiles was estimated. The results revealed significant differences between the different linguistic profiles in all reading measures. LLLPh group gained lower scores in reading tasks compared to the other groups. Significant relationships have been found between linguistic and reading profiles indicating reading difficulties among 14.5% of the children from TLTPh, 63% of LLLPh, 35% of LL, and 35.6% of LPh. The findings support the relationship between low linguistic skills and reading difficulties and emphasize the potential roles of both phonological and language skills for reading.

Explore the Relationship between Accelerated Reader Program and Secondary Learners Reading Ability

Various explanations and remedies have been presented in relation to the effects of AR usage for students' reading in the UK over the last decade. This article explores the research on the usage of AR and designs an experiment with 46 grade 7 students in England to test the primary reasons of AR's influence on Year 7 students' reading achievement. The findings of this study will provide relative recommendations for AR software developers and schools in order to reduce the detrimental effects on students' learning.

The Influence of Taiwanese Teachers’ Reading Teaching on Students’ Reading Achievement: Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling

The Influence of Taiwanese Teachers’ Reading Teaching on Students’ Reading Achievement: Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling

Educational Inequalities at the Intersection of Multiple Social Categories: An Introduction and Systematic Review of the Multilevel Analysis of Individual Heterogeneity and Discriminatory Accuracy (MAIHDA) Approach

Intersectional approaches have become increasingly important for explaining educational inequalities because they help to improve our understanding of how individual experiences are shaped by simultaneous membership in multiple social categories that are associated with interconnected systems of power, privilege, and oppression. For years, there has been a call in psychological and educational research for quantitative approaches that can account for the intersection of multiple social categories. The present paper introduces the Multilevel Analysis of Individual Heterogeneity and Discriminatory Accuracy (MAIHDA) approach, a novel intersectional approach from epidemiology, to study educational inequalities. The MAIHDA approach uses a multilevel model as the statistical framework to define intersectional strata that represent individuals’ membership in multiple social categories. By partitioning the variance within and between intersectional strata, the MAIHDA approach allows identifying intersectional effects at the strata level as well as obtaining information on the discriminatory accuracy of these strata for predicting individual educational outcomes. Compared to conventional quantitative intersectional approaches, MAIHDA analyses have several advantages, including better scalability for higher dimensions, model parsimony, and precision-weighted estimates of strata with small sample sizes. We provide a systematic review of its past application and illustrate its use by analyzing inequalities in reading achievement across 40 unique intersectional strata (combining the social categories of gender, immigrant background, parental education, and parental occupational status) using data from 15-year-old students in Germany (N = 5451). We conclude that the MAIHDA approach is a valuable intersectional tool to study inequalities in educational contexts.

Reading comprehension strategies used by Chilean deaf adults. A think-aloud study

ABSTRACT This qualitative study aimed to identify and analyse reading comprehension strategies used by five deaf adults, 22–47 years old, who were close to complete or had already completed their studies at a higher education institution. The method chosen was a partial replication of the one used by Banner and Wang (2011) in their think-aloud study to describe cognitive and metacognitive reading comprehension strategies use among deaf students and adults. The present study included similar interview questions and think-aloud procedures, which were conducted by a deaf teacher, native user of Chilean Sign Language (LSCh). Participants read informational texts and were interrupted three times during the reading task to answer questions about their cognitive and metacognitive processes. Results showed that these deaf adults can use strategies from all the categories identified by Pressley and Afflerbach (1995): constructing meaning, monitoring and improving comprehension, and evaluating comprehension. Some strategies described in the study from Banner and Wang were observed only in individual cases, and some of them were not used at all. The deaf participants of this study also used some strategies that were not included in some previous studies. Since very few deaf adults in Chile have completed higher education, the information provided by this study could be useful in guiding interventions aimed to improve reading comprehension in elementary, high school, and college DHH students. The relevance of early experiences with reading, and motivational factors associated to reading achievement are discussed.

A comparative study of Texas–Mexico border vs. non-border students’ achievement on high-stakes state test: A propensity score matching method

Texas–Mexico border region is a unique place where two countries and culture connected. We sought to investigate border school district students’ academic performance as measured by Texas standardized test: the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). To do so, we first used propensity score matching (PSM) techniques to analyze data collected from a public database: Texas Assessment Management System (TAMS). Specifically, we provided a PSM analysis of non-border and border school districts regarding their demographic characteristics [i.e., identified as a rural district, percentage of economically disadvantaged (ED) students, percentage of English learners (ELs), mobility rate, instructional hours, principal experience, teacher experience, teacher–student ratio, and teacher turnover rate]. Then, multiple regression analyses were conducted to compare Texas border and non-border school students’ reading, math, and science achievements, respectively, based on a matching sample with control for demographic variables. The results of the current study indicate that no significant difference was found between border and non-border school districts, regarding students’ academic performance in reading, math, and science, when districts were matched and demographic characteristics were controlled. We further found that demographic variables, such as percent of ED students, principal experience, and teacher turnover rate, significantly impact students’ academic achievement. Such findings have suggested that the achievement gap between border and non-border districts can be closed if extra support can be provided to ED students, and funding could be allocated in border districts to maintain experienced principals and teachers.

The Impact of a High-Dosage Tutoring Program on Reading Achievement of Beginning Readers: A Multi-Level Analysis

The purpose of this randomized control trial (RCT) was to examine the impact of one-to-one high-dosage tutoring on reading achievement of kindergarten and first grade students, many at risk of reading failure. This nearly two-year study collected reading assessment data from 185 students, from across 13 classrooms, randomly assigned to either the one-to-one high-dosage tutoring group or the teacher-instruction-only group. Treatment students received tutoring support 2-3 times per week across the school year from specially trained tutors using a digital literacy platform. Tutoring focused on sequenced skills beginning with letter identification and sounds and moved to reading stories. The results of the Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analysis, from both Chapter One assessments as well as the nationally recognized assessments, indicate that Chapter One’s high impact tutoring program is highly effective in helping at-risk kindergarten and first grade students achieve reading proficiency. Tutored students outperformed non-tutored students on multiple measures of reading achievement.

The Impact of Digital Environment vs. Traditional Method on Literacy Skills; Reading and Writing of Emirati Fourth Graders

This study aimed to determine the extent to which fourth-grade students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are able to develop their reading comprehension and creative writing abilities. The study used a quasi-experimental approach to achieve the study objectives, and the sample included (120) male and female students, who were divided equally into two groups: a control group and an experimental group. As a result of the differences observed between the tribal and remote measurements, favoring the dimensional measurements of the experimental group, the results of the study indicated that the use of digital learning platforms (Teams, platform LMS, Nahla and Nahil) led to an improvement in the students’ levels of achievement in reading and writing. The results showed statistically significant differences in the students’ performance in literacy skills, reading and writing, between students learning via digital environment and those learning using traditional methods, with these differences favoring the digital environment. It is recommended that students’ needs and learning styles be met by shifting towards a digital environment, but gradually and cautiously.