The impact of text reading fluency on reading comprehension has been extensively studied. However, a consensus on the direction of their relationship is lacking, which may be compounded by the nature of this relationship that continues to evolve during the course of reading development.
This study aimed to examine the relationship between text reading fluency and reading comprehension, focusing on whether the pattern of this relationship varies across different reading development stages.
A total of 416 elementary school students in China were selected as participants.
Assessments were conducted twice at a 6-month interval for children studying in grades 2, 4, and 6. The cross-lagged panel model was constructed to explore the dynamic relationship between text reading fluency and reading comprehension. Non-verbal intelligence, decoding, vocabulary knowledge, word-reading fluency, and the auto-regressive effects of text reading fluency and reading comprehension were strictly controlled.
The results showed that for children in grade 2, the longitudinal effects between text reading fluency and reading comprehension were not significant. In 4th-grade children, text reading fluency in the first semester was found to be a significant positive predictor of reading comprehension in the next semester, whereas for children in grade 6, reading comprehension in the first semester significantly predicted text reading fluency in the next semester.
The results suggested that the nature of the relationship between text reading fluency and reading comprehension is dynamic and complex, varying as a function of grade or the reading development stage.
Previous research has shown that foundational linguistic skills (i.e., phonological awareness and grammatical ability) indirectly (through arithmetic skills) predict growth from fifth-to sixth-grade geometric and fraction skills.
Our study aimed to investigate the linguistic precursors of sixth-grade geometric and fraction skills in children with and without DLD, while examining potential (cognitive) strengths within the DLD group that may partly compensate for learning geometry and fractions, at both the group and individual level.
Participants were 46 children with DLD and 122 typically developing peers from 9 to 11 years of age.
Classroom and individual measures were administered in both grade 4 and grade 6.
At the group level, results showed children with DLD to score below their peers on arithmetic, geometric, and fraction skills. Furthermore, indirect effects of phonological awareness and naming speed, via arithmetic skills, on geometric and fraction skills were found to be equally strong for both groups. In addition, similar strengths for both groups were found for nonverbal intelligence, academic vocabulary, and verbal reasoning in directly predicting the scores in geometric and fraction skills. Finally, at the individual level, a strength in verbal reasoning was found to partly compensate the delays in mathematics in children with DLD.
The educational needs of children with and without DLD in mathematics learning might be more quantitative in nature than that they are qualitative. In addition, identifying individual strengths should be integrated into standardized test batteries and treatment approaches.
Some students are more motivated that others in one or multiple academic domains, and more motivated in one domain than another. These inner hierarchies of motivational beliefs are important because they can influence students’ achievement and study or career choices. However, little is known about the heterogeneity in inner hierarchies of motivational beliefs during early secondary school, when motivation typically declines.
The aims of this study were to (1) identify profiles of self-concept and intrinsic value in mathematics and German during the first two years of secondary school, (2) explore stability and change in these profiles, and (3) explore how profile membership relates to student competence and gender, and perceived teacher behaviour.
Participants were 721 secondary school students from Germany.
Students completed measures of self-concept, intrinsic value, and competence in grades 5 and 6, and measures of perceived teacher behaviour in grade 5. Data were analysed using latent transition analysis.
Five profiles characterised by inter- and intraindividual differences in self-concept and intrinsic value were identified. Membership in these profiles was relatively stable. Inner hierarchies of self-concept and value were related to competence, with students demonstrating higher competence in domains they were more motivated in. Gender and perceived teacher behaviour were related to profile membership, but not profile transitions.
When supporting the motivational development of students during the first two years of secondary school, teachers may need to adopt a holistic approach that recognises the heterogeneity in students’ inner hierarchies of motivational beliefs.
Academic self-concept (ASC) is a key predictor of learning behaviors and educational outcomes. In adolescence, the evaluation of academic abilities is mainly shaped by the social environment and comparisons with various reference groups. The effect of making social comparisons with the academic achievement of a reference group is known as the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE).
Based on social comparison theory and the local dominance effect (LDE), the present study aimed to investigate a pivotal adolescent reference group beside the classroom: the clique. We investigated to what extent students’ social comparison with the mathematics achievement of clique members was related to the ASC of individual students more than general classroom comparisons.
The sample comprised 743 German secondary students in sixth and eighth grade (93 cliques in 40 classrooms).
We estimated a three-level structural equation model using data from a two-wave longitudinal study in one school year. The change in students’ ASC was determined using latent change modeling.
The average academic achievement of the clique negatively predicted ASC development. Classroom academic achievement had no effect.
The results underline the importance of informal peer groups like cliques as important reference groups for social comparisons and ASC development during adolescence.
Teachers who show more developed epistemic cognition teach better and promote more and better learning in their students. Studies indicate that teacher training impacts little on student teachers’ epistemic cognition development. One of the difficulties of epistemic cognition interventions is that, beyond the conceptual level, epistemic change implies identity challenge and emotional distress. Both benefit from a playful setting to be managed. We designed and implemented a university course as a socio-constructivist playful training experience. In a previous study, using growth curve analysis, we showed that this course promoted epistemic cognition development in student teachers.
In this study we analyzed the experience of the course participants to characterize the lived process of change and to propose ways of understanding the relationship between a game-based course and epistemic change.
Twenty-five female student teachers in their second, third, or fourth year of study participated in the study.
Both small and whole group interactions from 15 training sessions, and 8 individual interviews after the course, were recorded and qualitatively analyzed to explore the students’ experiences.
The analysis allows us to acknowledge changes in the students’ attitudes towards the course, their roles in the classroom, and conceptual understandings that we organized in four phases from initial bewilderment and resistance, to the active and applied integration of knowledge.
We discuss how different levels and layers of playfulness can sustain the difficulties student teachers’ face during their epistemic change process.
The widespread adoption of AI-based chatbots has revolutionized the interaction between individuals and machines, providing personalized and immediate responses. Within the educational sector, students increasingly rely on ChatGPT to address academic challenges, but the consequences of this interaction on critical thinking abilities are not well understood. This study aims to explore the relationship between factors such as attitudes and trust towards AI, engagement, knowledge, and the ability to solve complex critical thinking in a sample of Italian students.
Two hundred and thirteen students completed self-report questionnaires and performance measures on the Critical Reasoning Assessment.
The results highlighted significant relationships among the variables considered, emphasizing a direct impact of attitude and trust on knowledge and engagement with AI. Furthermore, engagement proved to have a particularly significant impact on critical thinking performance compared to knowledge.
These findings are relevant in the educational context, suggesting that interaction with AI-based chatbots can be a valuable resource for the development of students' critical thinking skills. However, it is emphasized the importance of adopting an educational approach that fosters active engagement and in-depth understanding to promote the critical analysis of information provided by AI-based chatbots.
Literary discussions represent a promising interaction context for the development of social, linguistic, and cognitive skills among children and adolescents. The one-year intervention of this study is based on a critical-analytic approach (Gasser et al., 2022; Murphy et al., 2009), focusing on the argumentative and inclusive quality of interactions in small group discussions about high-quality children's literature.
The goal is to study the effectiveness of this literary intervention on observed socio-emotional and instructional interaction quality in small group discussions about a moral dilemma text.
The sample included 51 teachers and 159 small groups from fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms.
The study is based on a cluster-randomized control group design with three measurement occasions, considering the multi-level structure of the data (L1: measurement occasions, L2: small groups, L3: teachers). Interaction quality in discussions was measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS).
Multilevel growth curve analyses show positive changes in both socio-emotional and instructional interaction quality in small group discussions in the intervention group, but not in the control group.
The results are discussed with reference to the potential of literary discussions for an integrated approach to promoting socio-emotional and academic learning.