Abstracts - Earli

developing methods of organizing discourse-in-interaction within the learner (e.g., construction ofdiscourse objects).The characteristics of learning motivation among disadvantaged studentsJózsef Balázs Fejes, University of Szeged, HungaryThe relationship between family background and school success is well documented in theresearch literature. It is known that disadvantaged children’s skills, abilities and learning outcomesare poorer than those of their peers from general or advantaged environment (e. g. Cool and Keith,1991; Csapô, 2003), but the causes of these differences are not totally clear. Although theoriesabout the motivation deficit of the low social class school population have long been presented (e.g. Lawton, 1968), the number of studies focusing on the connections between motivation anddisadvantaged status is relatively low (Howse, Lange, Farran and Boyles, 2003). In the literature,there is no definite explanation for the motivation deficit of at-risk children, partly because of thelack of a coherent theoretical foundation (see Murphy and Alexander, 2000). Empiricalinvestigations revealed connections between some motives (e. g. attributions for success andfailure in mathematics, intrinsic motives) and socioeconomic status (Gottfried, Flaming andGottfried, 1998; Mooney and Thronton, 1999), but no connection was found others (e. g.perceived competence, attitudes toward school, worry about school) (Howse, Lange, Farran andBoyles, 2003; Stipek and Ryan, 1997). There are few investigations in Hungary, whichconcentrate on the impact of family background on learning motivation. Presumably,disadvantaged children’s motivation is low, but there is no empirical evidence. On the basis ofhypotheses, formulated in the Hungarian literature, the present study investigates the followingmotives: mastery motives, reading self-concept, math self-concept, desire of positive feedback forlearning, and the practical value of learning. Although the questionnaire used covers only afraction of possible learning motives, its complexity makes it an appropriate instrument formapping the differences between the individual students.Improving reading differentially: Teaching methods, socioeconomic status, gender and ageAndrea Bertschi-Kaufmann, Padagogische Hochschule der Fachhochschule Nordwes,SwitzerlandFollowing the results of PISA 2000 and 2003 on reading literacy, which have proved thecorrelation of low reading abilities and social background, our study is focussing the effectivenessof teaching methods for children and adolescents of different social groups. The theoreticalbackground consists of a comprehensive model for reading competence, which, in addition to thecognitive dimension, includes emotional and motivational components. Two main approaches toteaching have been developed, put into practice and evaluated: (1) Open methods aiming atindividualized reading in classrooms. These include free choices of texts and free reading timeduring regular reading lessons as well as various methods designed to bridge the distance betweenreading material and individual readers. (2) Training methods for reading strategies and skillsaimed at different levels in the hierarchy of cognitive processing. In an intervention study theeffects of the two different teaching programmes mentioned above are examined. Using a quasiexperimentalintervention design, the two teaching methods are compared for primary schoolpupils in grades 3 and 4 (39 classes, 667 pupils) and for secondary school pupils in grades 7 and 8(19 classes, 219 pupils). The project involves two experimental groups (interventions with openmethods vs. skill-based training) and one control group (no interventions, conventional methods).Over a period of 3 school years, data are collected at four points in time. Findings on therelationships between the teaching approaches, students’ literacy practices, motivation and self-– 531 –