The role of vocabulary depth in predicting reading comprehension among English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual children in elementary school

The present study investigated the role of vocabulary depth in reading comprehension among a diverse sample of monolingual and bilingual children in grades 2?C4. Vocabulary depth was defined as including morphological awareness, awareness of semantic relations, and syntactic awareness. Two hundred ninety-four children from 3 schools in a Mid-Atlantic district and 3 schools in a Northeastern school district participated in the study and were assessed at the beginning and end of one school year on a wide variety of language and literacy measures. Bilingual children were assessed in English and Spanish. A latent difference score model that assessed change in a latent indicator of English reading comprehension from Time 1 (Fall) to Time 2 (Spring) was tested with results showing that vocabulary depth measures made significant contributions to initial status, but not change, in reading comprehension over and above between-subjects factors (grade, ethnicity, language status) and baseline control within-subject factors (word identification and vocabulary breadth). There was no added contribution of Spanish language measures to English reading comprehension among the bilingual students.     

Who benefits from which reading intervention in the primary years? Match the intervention with the reading profile

Abstract

Reading difficulties may have multiple causes. Effective approaches to reading intervention need to target the specific causes for individual readers. The Early Reading Intervention Knowledge program comprises three intervention pathways: a phonological-phonemic pathway, a phonic-orthographic pathway, and an oral language pathway. This study examines the effectiveness of each pathway for 902 underachieving students in their second to fifth years of primary education. The students differed in their reading profiles. The interventions were implemented in a regular school context. Intervention in the three pathways improved reading accuracy and comprehension for both the younger (Years 2 and 3) and older (Years 4 and 5) age groups. The pattern in accuracy gains across the three pathways was similar for each group, with the older students making smaller gains. Reading profiles influenced the rate or amount of gain. For comprehension, the phonological and oral language pathways yielded higher gains for both age groups than the orthographic pathway. The most at-risk students showed the highest gains. The implications for intervention are discussed.     

Do vocabulary,syntactic awareness,and reading comprehension in second language facilitate the development of each other in young children?

This study explored whether children's second language (L2) vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension contributed to the growth of each other. A total of 184 Chinese primary school children (91 girls) aged 8–10 years old in Hong Kong participated in the pre-test of this study. Among them, 88 were in Grade 3 and 96 were in Grade 4. One year later, 178 of these children also participated in the post-test. These children learned English as an L2 at school. They completed a series of English language tasks. The results from a cross-lagged panel model show that vocabulary predicted the growth of syntactic awareness and reading comprehension. Syntactic awareness predicted the growth of vocabulary and reading comprehension. Reading comprehension facilitated the growth of vocabulary, and it also predicted the growth of syntactic awareness in Grade 4 students but not in Grade 3 students. Implications for teaching children an L2 are discussed.     

Do schools affect girls’ and boys’ reading performance differently? A multilevel study on the gendered effects of school resources and school practices

Few studies on male–female inequalities in education have elaborated on whether school characteristics affect girls’ and boys’ educational performance differently. This study investigated how school resources, being schools’ socioeconomic composition, proportion of girls, and proportion of highly educated teachers, and school practices, being schools’ application of well-rounded assessment methods, influenced girls’ and boys’ reading performance differently. We hypothesised that positive effects of school resources would be greater for boys than for girls, and that more frequent use of well-rounded assessment methods would be associated with increased girls’ and decreased boys’ reading performance. Using advanced multilevel analyses of 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, we found that boys profited more than girls from having a large proportion of girls in school. Contrary to our expectations, girls gained more than boys from a school’s advantaged socioeconomic composition. These gendered effects of school resources were not explained by differences in school learning climate.     

‘Mind the Gap’: the influence of assessment criteria in primary school mentoring

This paper considers the signs student teachers on a PGCE Secondary Course display as evidence of a readiness to progress to a higher level of performance. It includes activity types which enable mentors to assess progress in relation to established competence areas. The arguments and proposals are founded on the outcomes of qualitative research methods conducted over a period of time with mentors and student teachers on a PGCE Secondary Modern Foreign Languages programme.     

Synergetic effects of phonological awareness,vocabulary, and word reading on bilingual children’s reading comprehension: A three-year study

Using comparable measures of first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English, this three-year longitudinal study examined the synergetic effects of phonological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading on reading comprehension development among 227 Hong Kong Chinese-English bilinguals from Grades 2-4. Structural equation growth modeling revealed that all three factors were significantly linked to one another and to initial reading comprehension for each language. Across languages, L1 Chinese vocabulary was directly linked to initial L2 English reading comprehension, while L1 Chinese phonological awareness was indirectly linked to initial L2 English reading comprehension via L2 English vocabulary and word reading. These findings underscore the synergetic effects of early phonological and lexical skills in determining early reading comprehension ability in both L1 and L2.     

Emotional profiles regarding maths among primary school children – A two-year longitudinal study

Learning maths is challenging for many primary school students, and teachers must understand students’ learning and emotional processes specific to learning maths. The current research, grounded in control-value theory, focused on achievement emotions regarding maths. Primary school students (N?=?71) were studied with the primary objective of examining the longitudinal trajectories of achievement emotions of third graders over two years. The Portuguese Achievement Emotions Questionnaire for Elementary Students was administered biannually to assess enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom regarding maths. The results indicate that enjoyment decreased and boredom increased over time, revealing three emotional profiles: positive, negative and moderate. The positive profile showed the highest scores in maths achievement. Profile membership was moderately stable and became increasingly stable and structured. In examining the complexity of students’ emotional profiles and processes, the importance of understanding them to enhance educational support, development, and learning was highlighted.

     

How do primary school teachers develop knowledge by crossing boundaries in the school–university partnership? A case study in China

University experts typically serve as knowledge sources for teacher learning. Experts in China are no exception. Nevertheless, minimal attention has been focused on knowledge flow between experts and teachers, and its contribution to teacher knowledge development. Drawing on the perspective of knowledge process across boundaries, this qualitative study investigates knowledge growth of primary school teachers involved in a small-scale school–university partnership in Northern China. In-depth interview was adapted as the main approach to collecting data. Nine participating teachers, two school administrators, and one university expert were interviewed. Findings show that expert-led knowledge transfer (knowledge-for-practice is directly delivered) and teacher-involved knowledge translation (knowledge-in-practice is reframed and situated) are the main focus of the partnership studied. However, collaboration-oriented knowledge transformation (altering existing knowledge and creating knowledge-of-practice) is insufficiently emphasised. Furthermore, this study discusses significant implications for advancing the transformation of knowledge and expert–teacher collaborative knowledge creation as well as for further study.     

Literature in decline? Differences in pre-service and in-service primary school teachers' reading experiences

In a qualitative investigation informed by phenomenological hermeneutics, we analyzed 249 narratives in which Norwegian pre-service and in-service teachers describe themselves as literature readers. Generally, the in-service teachers have read more than the pre-service teachers. The analysis indicates a development whereby teachers who “unconditionally appreciate” literature, are about to disappear. Instead, literature reading is experienced as being too difficult to cope with, and therefore increasingly opted out of or not prioritized. In the final section, we discuss how the status and function of literature in school can be maintained in the presence of the continuous decline in teachers’ reading.     

‘I am not clever,they are cleverer than us’: children reading in the primary school

This paper examines the experiences of children learning to read in a multi-ethnic London primary school. The data are drawn from doctoral research, based on ethnographic fieldwork, with children aged six to seven years and ten to eleven years. Reading is revealed as a strongly emotional realm for children. The children are weak to resist teacher assessment of themselves, but nonetheless seek to create consoling narratives against what they perceive to be the negative identity of ‘poor reader’. The data are distinctive, as resistance to school hierarchies and strong feelings about educational failure are manifested in the narratives of children as young as six years old.     

What were the processes and outcomes of involving secondary school pupils transitioning from primary to secondary school in pre-arrival shared-reading? A case study

ABSTRACT

Coombe Boys’ School in New Malden worked with Kingston University to establish a ‘Big Read’, a scheme of pre-arrival shared-reading for boys transitioning from local primary schools into year 7 of the Coombe Boys’ secondary school. A novel was chosen for shared-reading, and all arriving pupils were given a copy at their Induction Day (at the end of the summer term). Copies were also made available to all staff. The book was the basis of group-based activities during the school’s Summer School (three weeks before of the start of the autumn term) and of cross-curricular individual and group-based activities during the early teaching weeks of the new school year. Outcomes were monitored using online surveys of pupils, staff and parents/guardians, and through face to face interviews with individuals from representative groups. Here outcomes are reported, both direct and indirect, comparisons made with similar schemes within higher education, and recommendations are made for how the scheme might be adapted for greater effectiveness in future.     

From words to text: inference making mediates the role of vocabulary in children’s reading comprehension

We examined the relationship between inference making, vocabulary knowledge, and verbal working memory on children’s reading comprehension in 62 6th graders (aged 12). The effect of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension was predicted to be partly mediated by inference making for two reasons: Inference making often taps the semantic relations among words, and the precise word meanings in texts are selected by readers on the basis of context. All independent variables were significantly and moderately correlated with reading comprehension. In support of our prediction, the link between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension was significantly mediated by inference making even when verbal working memory was controlled. An alternative mediation hypothesis (vocabulary as a mediator of the effect of inference making on comprehension) was not supported by the data. The study replicates and extends the findings of earlier work (Cromley & Azevedo, 2007; Segers & Verhoeven, 2016; Ahmed et al., 2016).     

Issues in the development of children’s centres on nursery and primary school sites

This paper explores the development of children’s centres in England between 2004 and 2008, focusing on the newly created centres that have been located on primary and nursery school sites. Using both an analysis of policy documents and interview data from three urban local authorities, we examine the use of premises and the differing priorities of centre staff and school heads, particularly in relation to the balance of services between early years education, childcare and family support. We also explore governance issues, focusing especially on patterns of accountability. In so doing, we also examine the tensions that exist between children’s centres located on primary and on nursery school sites and the schools themselves.     

A study of children’s conceptions of school rules by investigating their judgements of transgressions in the absence of rules

This study investigated 202 elementary school children’s judgements and reasoning about transgressions when school rules regulating these transgressions have been removed in hypothetical school situations. As expected, moral transgressions were judged as more wrong and less accepted than structuring, protecting and etiquette transgressions. In turn, etiquette transgressions were judged as less wrong and more accepted than moral, structuring and protecting transgressions. Structuring transgressions were judged beyond expectations as more wrong and less accepted than protecting transgressions. Judgements and justifications made by the children showed that they discriminated between transgressions as a function of school‐rule category (relational/moral rules, structuring rules, protecting rules and etiquette rules). The findings confirm as well as extend previous social‐cognitive domain theory research on children’s socio‐moral reasoning.     

Is changing teaching practice the mission impossible? A case study of continuing professional development for primary school teachers in Senegal

This paper reports on research into a continuing professional development (CPD) project, Projet de Renforcement de l’Enseignement des Mathématiques, des Sciences et de la Technologie (PREMST) [Strengthening Mathematics, Science, and Technologies in Education Project]. The literature review reveals few examples of CPD changing the teaching practices of teachers, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. By using the cases of five teachers, this research seeks to understand the complexities of pedagogical change. The research found that PREMST has helped teachers envision how teaching should be conducted, but it has not necessarily brought a positive change in the learning of pupils because it has not changed how teachers think about teaching. Given the difficulties involved in pedagogical change, emphasising specific skills may have been the necessary and practical first step, but changing these teaching practices is not enough. The research found that teachers still paid little attention to the learning of individual pupils. The research concludes that the recently initiated practice of lesson study shows considerable potential to build on what has already been achieved.     

Does learning the alphabet in kindergarten give children a head start in the first year of school? A comparison of children’s reading progress in two first grade classes in state and Montessori schools in Switzerland

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine whether the age at which children start to learn to read affects their later progress. The study was conducted in Zürich, Switzerland, and compared a first grade class in a local school with two first grade classes in a Montessori school. It was found that although the Montessori children had an advantage over the local children in alphabet knowledge at entry to Grade 1, this was not translated into a significant advantage at the end of Grade 1 in either phonemic awareness or reading ability. Further analysis revealed that pretest alphabet knowledge for the whole group was significantly related to progress. In addition, scatterplots showed that some children started school with high levels of alphabet knowledge but did not make progress, indicating that alphabet knowledge is necessary for literacy progress but not sufficient.     

To what extent does Hong Kong primary school students’ Chinese reading comprehension benefit from after-school private tuition?

The reading attainment of the 3,875 primary 4 Hong Kong primary school students participating in the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study ranked first among 49 countries and regions surveyed worldwide. Analysis of the association between (a) participating students’ reading attainment and (b) responses to questionnaires completed by the students and their parents revealed that classroom teaching, the school curriculum, the reader’s social and economic background and support from home had all helped shape reading performance. It is not unusual for school students in many Asian countries to receive after-school tuition in various areas of the curriculum to boost performance in impending examinations. The study reported here focussed (1) on the Chinese language reading attainment of students who had attended private tutoring classes after school in this subject against the scores of fellow students who had not and (2) asking whether such after-school tutoring had been of any notable benefit to their reading. Although a majority of the parents questioned said they paid for extra tuition for their children after school, analyses of the data found there was a statistically significant difference between the scores of students who received extra tuition and those who did not, the score of the latter group being superior. It is suggested that the Hong Kong education authorities reassure parents about the quality of teaching in primary schools and publicly pronounce on the potential value of after-school private tutoring.     

How are leaders integrating the ideology of globalisation in primary school contexts?

This study carried out research focusing on diverse learners, such as pupils who have English as additional language (EAL) in primary schools in the Midlands, England. Essentially, we wanted to know how they are supported to become global learners. Therefore, questions were posed to school leaders on their understanding of the concept of globalisation; how globalisation is developed, supported, monitored and evaluated. Research on the concept of globalisation is contentious, with as many definitions as there are cultural contexts. But the central message is that the movement of a global economy brings with it the potential to make knowledge and information accessible to all. We interviewed senior leaders in primary schools over a period of 3 months and our sampling isopportunistic rather than truly random. The findings suggest the need for strong leadership for embedding globalisation in the curriculum, an enabling team structure, and partnership development locally and globally.