Marjolein Zee

Teacher Self-Efficacy and Its Effects on Classroom Processes, Student Academic Adjustment, and Teacher Well-Being A Synthesis of 40 Years of Research

This study integrates 40 years of teacher self-efficacy (TSE) research to explore the consequences of TSE for the quality of classroom processes, students’ academic adjustment, and teachers’ psychological well-being. Via a criteria-based review approach, 165 eligible articles were included for analysis. Results suggest that TSE shows positive links with students’ academic adjustment, patterns of teacher behavior and practices related to classroom quality, and factors underlying teachers’ psychological well-being, including personal accomplishment, job satisfaction, and commitment. Negative associations were found between TSE and burnout factors. Last, a small number of studies indicated indirect effects between TSE and academic adjustment, through instructional support, and between TSE and psychological well-being, through classroom organization. Possible explanations for the findings and gaps in the measurement and analysis of TSE in the educational literature are discussed.

Acquiring evidence-based medicine and research skills in the undergraduate medical curriculum: three different didactical formats compared

Medical schools have recently witnessed a call for authentic research activities that equip students with the skills required for evidence-based medicine (EBM) and research. Because it is not always possible to make such activities available as a part of the curriculum, evaluating the effectiveness of the various choices of traditional and authentic EBM and research skills courses is essential. This study’s purpose was to evaluate students’ perceived EBM and research skill acquisition in three different courses in a Dutch medical school. Self-reported surveys were conducted among 163 Dutch medical undergraduates who participated in an undergraduate research project, a basic EBM skills elective, or a traditional lecture-based skills course. MANCOVA was employed to test for group differences in perceived skill acquisition. Students who finished their research project perceived themselves as more experienced in writing and information retrieval skills than students who participated in the lecture-based course or basic skills elective. Students in the lecture-based course identified themselves as being the most experienced in critical judgment. No group differences were found for overall gains. Authentic research activities may have benefits over traditional lecture-based courses in the undergraduate medical curriculum, especially in terms of equipping students with writing and information retrieval skills.

Pathways Into Literacy: The Role of Early Oral Language Abilities and Family Risk for Dyslexia:

The present study investigated the role of early oral language and family risk for dyslexia in the two developmental pathways toward reading comprehension, through word reading and through oral language abilities. The sample contained 237 children (164 at family risk for dyslexia) from the Dutch Dyslexia Program. Longitudinal data were obtained on seven occasions when children were between 4 and 12 years old. The relationship between early oral language ability and reading comprehension at the age of 12 years was mediated by preliteracy skills and word-decoding ability for the first pathway and by later language abilities for the second pathway. Family risk influenced literacy development through its subsequent relations with preliteracy skills, word decoding, and reading comprehension. Although performance on language measures was often lower for the family-risk group than for the no-family-risk group, family risk did not have a specific relation with either early or later oral language abilities.

Students’ self-regulation and achievement in basic reading and math skills: the role of student–teacher relationships in middle childhood

Abstract In this study, we explored both direct and indirect contributions of students’ perceptions of the student–teacher relationship quality (i.e., closeness and conflict) to domains of self-regulation (i.e., task-orientation and metacognition) and basic reading and math skills (i.e., timed word reading and math performance) in middle childhood. Participants were 370 third-to-fifth graders from different regular elementary classrooms across the Netherlands. Using structural equation modelling, evidence was found for positive direct associations between student-perceived closeness and both domains of self-regulation, and a negative direct association between student-perceived conflict and task-orientation. However, indirect associations of closeness and conflict with students’ achievement in basic math and reading skills, through task-orientation and metacognition, could not be established. These results suggest that students’ perceptions of the relationship quality, and closeness in particular, may be especially important for their ability to regulate motivational and cognitive aspects of their own learning.