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.