Tobias Dörfler

Individual Differences in Reading Development A Review of 25 Years of Empirical Research on Matthew Effects in Reading

The idea of Matthew effects in reading—the widening achievement gap between good and poor readers—has attracted considerable attention in education research in the past 25 years. Despite the popularity of the topic, however, empirical studies that have analyzed the core assumption of Matthew effects in reading have produced inconsistent results. This review summarizes the empirical findings on the development of early interindividual differences in reading. We did not find strong support for the general validity of a pattern of widening achievement differences or for a pattern of decreasing achievement differences in reading. The inclusion of moderating variables, however, allowed a clearer picture to be painted. Matthew effects were more likely to occur for measures of decoding efficiency, vocabulary, and composite reading scores when the achievement tests were not affected by deficits in measurement precision. Furthermore, moderators such as the applied analytic method or the orthographic consistency of the language were of less importance for the emergence of Matthew effects in reading. An additional meta-analysis of studies reporting correlations between a baseline level and a growth parameter yielded a small, negative mean correlation (r = −.214), which again was moderated by properties of the measures. Possible explanations for the reported findings are discussed.

The influence of chronotype and intelligence on academic achievement in primary school is mediated by conscientiousness, midpoint of sleep and motivation

Individuals differ in their timing of sleep (bed times, rise times) and in their preference for morning or evening hours. Previous work focused on the relationship between academic achievement and these variables in secondary school students. The main aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between chronotype and academic achievement in 10-year-old children (n = 1125) attending 4th grade of primary school. They filled a cognitive test (Culture Fair Intelligence Test, CFT 20-R) and questions about rise times and bed times, academic achievement, conscientiousness and motivation. We used the “scales for the assessment of learning and performance motivation” (SELLMO; Skalen zur Erfassung der Lern- und Leistungsmotivation for motivation), the short version of the Five-Factor Personality Inventory Children (FFPI-C) to measure conscientiousness, and the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) to assess morningness–eveningness. Mean CSM score was 37.84 ± 6.66, midpoint of sleep was 1:36 ± 00:25 and average sleep duration (time in bed) was 10:15 ± 0:48. Morningness orientation was positively related to intelligence, conscientiousness and learning objectives. Eveningness orientation was related to avoidance performance objectives and work avoidance. Early midpoint of sleep, conscientiousness and intelligence were associated with better grades. The multivariate model showed that intelligence was the strongest predictor of good grades. Conscientiousness, motivation, younger age and an earlier midpoint of sleep were positively related to good grades. This is the first study in primary school pupils, and it shows that the relationship between evening orientation and academic achievement is already prevalent at this age even when controlling for important predictors of achievement.

How accurate are teacher and parent judgements of lower secondary school children’s test anxiety?

This study examined teacher and mother judgement accuracy of children’s worries and emotionality in the school subjects of German and mathematics. The participants were 59 German language and 58 mathematics teachers, 572 mothers and their children at the end of Grade 6. The analyses for the total sample revealed weak-to-moderate correlations between adult’s and children’s perception of test anxiety. Moreover, we found that teachers overestimated children’s emotionality as well as children’s worry, whereas mothers underestimated children’s worry and overestimated children’s emotionality in both subjects. However, when looking at the highly test-anxious children, we found quite low correlations and an underestimation of children’s worry and emotionality in both school subjects. Thus, it seems important to provide teachers and parents with information about test anxiety and possibly training to improve their judgement accuracy because of moderating effects of test anxiety on achievement.

Personality similarity between teachers and their students influences teacher judgement of student achievement

This study examined personality similarity between teachers and their students and its impact on teacher judgement of student achievement in the domains of reading comprehension and mathematics. Personality similarity was quantified through intraclass correlations between personality characteristics of 409 dyads of German teachers and their students. This similarity index was combined with teachers’ global and task-specific judgements of student achievement. Personality similarity has a significant effect on global judgement in both domains under study. Students who are similar to their teacher are judged more positively than students who are dissimilar, even when students’ test performance is controlled. This effect could not be verified for task-specific judgements. Results indicate that impact of potential sympathy bias in social judgements differs between different types of judgement. That is, global judgements are more likely to be biased than more specific judgements. Theoretical and educational relevance of the findings are discussed.

Diagnostic Competence of Mathematics Teachers: Unpacking a Complex Construct

Although diagnostic competence of teachers is regarded as a key component of successful teaching, there are many open questions regarding the structure, the development and the impact of diagnostic competence. This chapter presents an overview of different approaches to pinpoint diagnostic competence theoretically and to investigate it empirically: measuring judgment accuracy, assessing competences in diagnostic situations or analyzing judgment processes. These approaches are discussed with respect to their advantages, restrictions as well as some of their main findings and they are allocated within an overarching model of diagnostic competence as a continuum, comprising diagnostic dispositions, diagnostic thinking and diagnostic performance.

Vergleich von Patienten mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund am Anfang und Ende einer Suchttherapie

Fragestellung: Gibt es Unterschiede zwischen Migranten aus Osteuropa und Deutschen mit einer Suchterkrankung in der subjektiv erlebten Belastung, in depressiven Beschwerden, Personlichkeitseigenschaften und Stress- und Argerreaktionen? Wie unterscheiden sich diese Faktoren am Ende einer abgeschlossenen 9-monatigen stationaren Therapie? Methodik: Von den Patienten einer Suchtklinik wurden 20 Migranten aus der GUS bzw. Polen und 20 Klienten deutscher Herkunft gematcht. Anhand der durchgefuhrten Testdiagnostik wurden diese Gruppen retrospektiv hinsichtlich der erfassten subjektiv erlebten Belastung, depressiven Beschwerden, Personlichkeitsfaktoren, Argerreaktionen und Stressverarbeitung in Quer- und Langsschnitt verglichen. Ergebnisse: Es lies sich eine signifikant hohere subjektiv erlebte Belastung der Migranten und eine haufigere Nutzung von negativen Stressverarbeitungsstrategien feststellen. Im Laufe der Therapie verbesserten sich beide Gruppen in ahnlicher Weise. Schlussfolgerung...

Evaluating Prerequisites for the Development of a Dynamic Test of Reading Competence: Feedback Effects on Reading Comprehension in Children

Dynamic assessments are often assumed to produce more valid indicators of students’ competencies than do static assessments. For the assessment of reading competence, there are only a few, and very specific, approaches to dynamic assessments available, and thus there is almost no support for the validity of dynamic measures, compared to static measures. Against this background, we explain the theoretical and practical prerequisites for a dynamic test of reading competence. After describing the concept of dynamic assessments (particularly for the area of reading competence), three computer-based experiments are presented that implemented the core principles of dynamic assessment in the domain of reading. In these experiments different, theoretically derived feedback and prompting conditions were varied systematically. The results show the benefits but also the costs and shortcomings of the implementation of a dynamic test of reading competence. Finally, further challenges and subsequent stages concerning the development of a dynamic assessment tool in this domain are outlined.