Nele McElvany

How Effective Are Family Literacy Programs?: Results of a Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis examines the effects of family literacy programs on children’s literacy development. It analyzes the results of 30 recent effect studies (1990–2010), covering 47 samples, and distinguishes between effects in two domains: comprehension-related skills and code-related skills. A small but significant mean effect emerged (d = 0.18). There was only a minor difference between comprehension- and code-related effect measures (d = 0.22 vs. d = 0.17). Moderator analyses revealed no statistically significant effects of the program, sample, and study characteristics inferred from the reviewed publications. The results highlight the need for further research into how programs are carried out by parents and children, how program activities are incorporated into existing family literacy practices, and how program contents are transferred to parents.

Lesekompetenz und Lesemotivation : Entwicklung und Mediation des Zusammenhangs durch Leseverhalten

Zusammenfassung. Die vorliegende Studie beschaftigt sich mit der Entwicklung der Lesekompetenz und der intrinsischen Lesemoti- vation in den Klassenstufen 3 bis 6 sowie den Zusammenhangen zwischen Kompetenz, Motivation und Leseverhalten. Hintergrund sind der Mangel an langsschnittlichen Analysen der Entwicklung der Konstrukte in dieser Altersgruppe in Deutschland, die unzureichende empirische Uberprufung theoretischer Wirkungsannahmen (zsf. Moller & Schiefele, 2004) und die berichteten Defizite in der Lesemo- tivation alterer Schuler (u. a. Artelt, Stanat, Schneider & Schiefele, 2001). Die empirische Uberprufung erfolgt anhand der langsschnitt- lichen Daten des Berliner Leselangsschnitts der Klassenstufen 3 bis 6 mit Hilfe von Wachstumskurvenmodellen und autoregressiven Cross-lag Panel-Modellen. Die Ergebnisse bestatigen die erwartete gegenlaufige Entwicklung von ansteigender Kompetenz und sich verringernder Motivation im Untersuchungszeitraum. Die Pfadanalysen weisen auf die wechselseitigen Einflusse der drei Konstrukte im Quer- und Langsschnitt sowie auf einen indirekten Effekt der fruhen Lesemotivation auf spatere Lesekompetenz vermittelt uber das Leseverhalten hin. Die Lesekompetenz wird von der Motivation und dem Leseverhalten insgesamt jedoch in vergleichsweise geringem Umfang vorhergesagt, wahrend umgekehrt beide Konstrukte auch von der Kompetenz beeinflusst werden. Implikationen fur zukunftige Forschung und padagogische Praxis werden diskutiert. Schlusselworter: Lesekompetenz, Lesemotivation, Leseverhalten, Langsschnitt, Cross-lag Panel-Design, Kompetenzentwicklung Abstract. This study examines the development of reading literacy and intrinsic reading motivation from grades 3 to 6, as well as the mutual relations between reading performance, reading motivation, and reading behavior. The analyses were motivated by the dearth of longitudinal research on the development of these constructs in this age group in Germany, by the lack of empirical evidence for the mechanisms hypothesized to underlie the relationships (for a summary, see Moller & Schiefele, 2004), and by the deficits in reading motivation reported for older students (e.g., Artelt, Stanat, Schneider & Schiefele, 2001). Data from the Berlin Longitudinal Reading Study by were analyzed using growth curve models and autoregressive cross-lag panel models. Findings confirmed the expected devel- opmental trajectories, with reading literacy increasing, but reading motivation decreasing, from grades 3 to 6. The path coefficients revealed mutual cross-sectional and longitudinal influences of the three constructs, as well an indirect effect of early reading motivation on later reading literacy mediated by reading behavior. Altogether, reading literacy is comparatively little predicted by motivation and reading behavior, while conversely both constructs are also influenced by reading competence. Implications for further research and educational practice are discussed.

Diagnostische Fähigkeiten von Lehrkräften bei der Einschätzung von Schülerleistungen und Aufgabenschwierigkeiten bei Lernmedien mit instruktionalen Bildern

Diagnostische Fahigkeiten von Lehrkraften gelten als wichtige Voraussetzungen fur die adaquate Vorbereitung, Durchfuhrung und Nachbereitung des schulischen Unterrichts. Fur den Unterricht sind wiederum in vielen Fachern Lernmaterialien grundlegend, die Texte mit instruktionalen Bildern enthalten. Vor diesem Hintergrund diente die vorliegende Studie der Untersuchung von zentralen Forschungsfragen zu Niveau und Zusammenhangen der diagnostischen Fahigkeiten von Lehrkraften im Bereich der Text-Bild-Integration, zu moglichen lehrer- bzw. materialseitigen Moderatorvariablen sowie zu Determinanten im diagnostischen Urteilsprozess. Es nahmen 116 Lehrkrafte mit 48 Klassen der Stufen 5 bis 8 unterschiedlicher Schulformen an der Studie teil. Zentrale Ergebnisse waren eine schwache bis moderate Gute der diagnostischen Lehrerurteile bei einer Tendenz zur Unterschatzung der Schulerleistungen, ein heterogenes Befundmuster bezuglich der Zusammenhange mit fachdidaktischem Wissen und Berufserfahrung sowie eine Bedeutung vo...

Die Bedeutung familiärer Merkmale für Lesekompetenz, Wortschatz, Lesemotivation und Leseverhalten

Zusammenfassung. Der Beitrag untersucht vor dem Hintergrund der Forschungsgebiete zu familiaren Einflussen auf Bildungserfolg sowie zu Lesekompetenz den Einfluss familiarer Struktur- und Prozessmerkmale auf Lesekompetenz, Wortschatz, Lesemotivation und Leseverhalten. Es wird ein Wirkmodell abgeleitet, in dem familiare Strukturmerkmale vermittelt uber lesebezogene familiare Prozessmerkmale und uber individuelle Merkmale die Lesekompetenz vorhersagen. Die angenommenen Strukturen werden empirisch anhand von Langsschnittdaten von 772 Grundschulerinnen und -schulern fur den Zeitraum vom Ende der dritten bis Ende der sechsten Klasse uberpruft. Die Ergebnisse unterstutzen die Annahmen einer mehrfaktoriellen Struktur familiarer Lesesozialisation sowie eines differenzierten Zusammenhangsmusters zwischen familiaren Struktur- und Prozessmerkmalen, individuellen lesebezogenen Merkmalen und Kompetenz. Abschliesend wird die wissenschaftliche und praktische Bedeutung der Ergebnisse fur die Forderung der Lesekompetenz di...

Adolescents’ academic achievement and life satisfaction: the role of parents’ education

Drawing on the background of positive psychology, there has only recently been a focus on adolescents’ life satisfaction (LS) in the context of education. Studies examining the relationship between adolescents’ academic achievement and LS have shown conflicting results and the reasons are not fully understood. The present study investigated the role of parents’ education as a potential moderator of the relationship between adolescents’ academic achievement and LS. A sample of German high school students (N = 411) reported parents’ educational attainment, as an indicator of family socio-economic status, and students’ academic achievement was operationalized by grade point average in five subjects. Results indicated that only mothers’ education functioned as a moderator of the relationship between academic achievement and students’ LS. The association between academic achievement and LS was only found in the group of students whose mothers had achieved the same or a higher education (at least high school diploma) as their own children. Fathers’ educational attainment, however, was not a significant moderator of the respective relationship. Directions for future research and the differential influences of fathers’ and mothers’ education are discussed with regard to potential underlying processes.

Subjective Well-Being, Test Anxiety, Academic Achievement: Testing for Reciprocal Effects

In the context of adolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB), research has recently focused on a number of different school variables. The direction of the relationships between adolescents’ SWB, academic achievement, and test anxiety is, however, still open although reciprocal causation has been hypothesized. The present study set out to investigate to what extent SWB, academic achievement, and test anxiety influence each other over time. A sample of N = 290 11th grade students (n = 138 female; age: M = 16.54 years, SD = 0.57) completed measures of SWB and test anxiety in the time span of 1 year. Grade point average (GPA) indicated students’ academic achievement. We analyzed the reciprocal relations using cross-lagged structural equation modeling. The model fit was satisfactory for all computed models. Results indicated that the worry component of test anxiety negatively and GPA positively predicted changes in the cognitive component of SWB (life satisfaction). Worry also negatively predicted changes in the affective component of SWB. Moreover, worry negatively predicted changes in students’ GPA. Directions for future research and the differential predictive influences of academic achievement and test anxiety on adolescents’ SWB are discussed with regard to potential underlying processes.

Potentials and Challenges of Family Literacy Interventions: the question of implementation quality

Literacy interventions in the family context have great potential to promote reading development in children. However, the results of meta-analyses indicate that family-based approaches tend not to be as effective as expected. Although the effectiveness of family literacy interventions can be assumed to hinge largely on the quality of their implementation in families, this aspect has attracted surprisingly little research attention to date. This article identifies, analyses, and discusses aspects of implementation quality that may enhance or diminish the effectiveness of family literacy interventions. Data from two evaluation studies of programmes for kindergarten- and school-age children were used to examine three types of implementation variables (intensity and quality of parent-child activities; support and training provided for parents; participation). The results indicate possibilities for how implementation quality in all three areas can be improved. Implications for future family literacy programmes as well as for evaluation and implementation studies are discussed.

Development of Dynamic Usage of Strategies for Integrating Text and Picture Information in Secondary Schools

Students are frequently required to integrate text and picture information into coherent knowledge structures. This raises the questions of how students deal with texts and how they deal with graphics when they try to integrate the two sources of information, and whether there are differences between students from different school types and grades. Forty students from Grades 5 and 8, from higher and lower tiers of the German school system, were asked to process and integrate text and pictures in order to answer items from different hierarchy-levels of a text-picture integration taxonomy. Students’ eye movements were recorded and analyzed. Results suggest a fundamental asymmetry between the functions of text and pictures, associated with different processing strategies. Texts are more likely to be used according to a coherence-formation strategy, whereas pictures are more likely to be used on demand as visual cognitive tools according to an information selection strategy. Students from different tiers of schooling revealed different adaptability with regard to the requirements of combining text and graphic information.

Immigrant Student Achievement and Education Policy in Finland

Finnish society has faced many changes during the past decade. One major change has been the increasing number of students speaking languages other than the national ones. This chapter provides an overview of the immigrant student population in Finland, including its change during the last decades. This chapter also takes a closer look at results of national and international assessments of students with an immigrant background, particularly the PISA 2012 results in which this student group was oversampled in Finland. This oversampling made the data considerably more representative of students having an immigrant background than in any other rounds, and also allowed more reliable statistical analyses. The findings of several analyses present an alarming picture regarding the learning achievement of students with an immigrant background in Finland. For instance, their performance in the PISA assessment in mathematics was clearly below that of the others and a greater portion of first-generation immigrant students did not reach the minimal level of mathematical proficiency. These findings are critically discussed in the increasingly multicultural, multilingual educational context of Finland.

Development and Evaluation of a Competence Model for Teaching Integrative Processing of Texts and Pictures (BiTe)

Teaching and learning from texts with integrated pictures are challenging tasks for teachers and students. Nevertheless, this kind of material is universal in secondary school as well as in elementary school and holds huge potential for student learning, if instruction and presentation are appropriate. The project “BiTe” investigates teachers’ and students’ competencies in secondary and elementary school. This chapter focuses on components of teachers’ competence in the specific field of Picture-Text-Integration (PTI), embracing teachers’ knowledge as well as their attitudes, motivation, and self-related cognitions. Also, teachers’ judgment accuracy is investigated, as especially relevant for judging students’ competencies and the level of difficulty of teaching materials. Regarding the outcomes of teachers’ competencies, instructional quality and students’ engagement are described.