JURE 2012 Programme book - EARLI Jure 2012

82
JURE 2012 Conference Programme
PA.5.4. Teaching Strategies for Promoting Reading Performance
Paper Session, 9.30-­‐10.30, Room: H25
Chair: Laura Morosanu
The relation between teachers’ diagnostic competencies, their classroom behavior and
their students’ achievement gains in reading
Lars Behrmann
& Elmar Souvignier
As long ago as 1987, Helmke and Schrader showed math teachers’ diagnostic competencies to be
positively related to student achievement only when the teachers gave structured cues or
individualized their instruction. However, the interaction of teachers’ diagnostic competencies,
their classroom actions and student achievement in reading has not yet been explored. In the
framework of a longitudinal intervention study, 60 reading teachers conducted a program to
promote reading comprehension with their 1448 students (53% boys,47% girls: M age = 11.2
years, SD = 0.99) over a time period of eight months. Data on student achievement were
collected before and after the program conduction; classroom observations and teacher
estimations on students’ individual reading competencies were also collected after completion
of the program. Multilevel analyses were conducted with strategic cues, individualized
instruction, and school type as predictors. The results demonstrated teachers’ relation of
diagnostic competencies and instructional behavior to depend on the school type. Furthermore,
results indicate differential relations of teacher variables with student achievement gains to be
conditional of the respective school type. Implications of the results are discussed.
Boys' and girls' reading performance: Does one instruction fit all?
Christine Eckert
When stigmatized group members are in a situation where they are afraid of confirming
negative group stereotypes, the probability of performance deficits increases. This situational
predicament is defined as stereotype threat. In contrast to research on girls and mathematics,
results of a first suggested that boys (secondary private schools) in a threatening situation (n =
31) significantly outperformed boys in a non-­‐threatening situation (n = 40). The first aim of the
present study was to examine stereotype threat effects on boys in a larger and less selective
sample. Because boys are overrepresented in low-­‐achieving school forms, it is of further interest
to explore whether belief in stereotype is more salient for boys in low-­‐achieving than for boys in
high-­‐achieving school forms and can therefore explain boys’ underperformance in reading tasks.
A total of 155 boys and 156 girls (8th and 9th grade) from five secondary schools (grammar
school, secondary modern school) completed 30 reading tasks in either a stereotype threat
(emphasizing of gender differences) or a non-­‐threat condition (nullifying of gender differences).
Additionally, they answered a question about their belief in stereotype. A three-­‐way ANOVA
(school form x gender x experimental condition) revealed that―for grammar schools―in the
stereotype threat condition, girls significantly outperformed boys. We also found a stereotype
lift effect for girls in grammar schools because girls in the threat condition performed
significantly better than girls in the non-­‐threat condition. Furthermore, belief in stereotype was
not more salient for boys in secondary modern schools than for boys in grammar schools.
Overall, it is important to acknowledge environmental circumstances to explain stereotype
threat effects for both boys and girls so that they are able to perform according to their ability
potential.