Emmelien Merchie

Development of the Text-Learning Strategies Inventory: Assessing and Profiling Learning from Texts in Fifth and Sixth Grade.

Independently learning from informative texts becomes increasingly important from the age of 11. Little information is available, however, on (a) how and to what extent late elementary education students already apply specific text-learning strategies, and (b) whether different learner profiles can already be distinguished. In this study, a 37-item Text-Learning Strategies Inventory (TLSI) was developed and validated by means of exploratory (Sample 1; 896 students) and confirmatory factor analysis (Sample 2; 644 students). The TLSI contains nine subscales reflecting overt, covert, surface- and deep-level cognitive and metacognitive text-learning strategies. Based on these subscales, four learner profiles (i.e., integrated strategy users, information organizers, mental learners, and memorizers) were identified and validated by means of hierarchical and k-means cluster analysis and study traces. No differences in text free recall score between profiles were found. More girls were profiled as integrated strategy users, whereas more boys were identified as mental learners or memorizers.

The challenge of promoting self-regulated learning among primary school children with a low socioeconomic and immigrant background

ABSTRACT The authors explore the effects of student tutoring as an approach to provide support on self-regulated learning (SRL) to fifth- and sixth-grade students with a low socioeconomic or immigrant background. In total, 401 Flemish (Belgium) students participated. A quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest, and retention test control group design was used, combining teacher ratings, self-report questionnaires, and think-aloud protocols. The teacher rating results show a significantly positive effect from pretest to posttest for the experimental condition, but this was not maintained at the retention test. The questionnaire and think-aloud results reveal no significant effects on students’ SRL. However, differential effects depending on students’ motivational profile were found. This study illustrates the complexity of promoting SRL among primary school children with a low socioeconomic or immigrant background, recommending further research into conditions and factors influencing the effectiveness of student tutoring programs promoting SRL.

Evaluating teachers’ professional development initiatives: towards an extended evaluative framework

Abstract Evaluating teachers’ professional development initiatives (PDI) is one of the main challenges for the teacher professionalisation field. Although different studies have focused on the effectiveness of PDI, the obtained effects and evaluative methods have been found to be widely divergent. By means of a narrative review, this study provides an extended framework to guide the evaluation of (the effectiveness of) PDI. Furthermore, and in accordance with this framework, an overview of measurement instruments that are currently in use is provided. The study concludes with implications for educational research and developers of PDI.