Self-efficacy, attribution, and outcome expectancy mechanisms in reading and writing achievement: Grade-level and achievement-level differences.

This study examined grade- and achievement-level differences in 4th-, 7th-, and 10th-grade students' control-related beliefs and relations between students' beliefs and their reading and writing achievement. MANOVA results indicated grade- and achievement-level differences in self-efficacy, causal attribution, and outcome expectancy beliefs but no interaction between grade and achievement level. Canonical correlations identified a single dimension linking students' beliefs to achievement in both reading and writing. Quadratic relations to achievement were found for outcome expectancy and intelligence attributions. As grade increased, beliefs for reading were more highly related to comprehension skill relative to component skills, whereas beliefs for writing were more highly related to component skills relative to communication skills. At all achievement levels, a similar pattern of beliefs was related to achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy expectancy, outcome expectancy, and outcome value: Relative effects on behavioral intentions.

Used a persuasive communications paradigm to examine the relative contributions of self-efficacy expectancy, outcome expectancy, and outcome value (importance) in influencing and predicting behavioral intentions. 88 college students were asked to react to a promotional brochure presented as a discussion of the broken-record technique. Outcome expectancy was manipulated independent of self-efficacy expectancy and had a main effect on behavioral intentions, but self-efficacy expectancy failed to produce a main effect on intentions. The outcome-value manipulation also had a main effect on intentions, although problems with the manipulation check made interpretations of this effect problematic. Correlational data reveal that assessments of self-efficacy expectancy, outcome expectancy, and outcome value were all significant and roughly equivalent predictors of intentions. Each component significantly contributed to the other 2 components combined in the prediction of behavioral intentions. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and expectancy: Old wine with new labels.

Discusses inconsistent definitions of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies, which have been a source of conceptual confusion. A. Bandura (1977; see also PA, Vols 58:5733 and 71:6766) used the term outcome expectancy in 2 different ways, each implying a different relation to self-efficacy. In tests of ability, self-efficacy had been operationalized in ways that are virtually identical to J. B. Rotter's (1954, 1972, 1982) expectancy construct, and both theories generate identical predictions. In these situations, low self-efficacy does not elicit fear. Bandura's examples of low snake-approach self-efficacy are inconsistent with his method of measuring the construct. Questionnaires purporting to measure people's judgments about their ability to approach a feared stimulus actually measure their willingness to approach the stimulus. Willingness to approach a feared stimulus is affected by anticipated harm, expected anxiety, and the magnitude of expected reinforcements. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How does Bennett Woods Elementary School produce such high reading and writing achievement?

The authors developed a grounded theory about how a school serving relatively advantaged children produces high reading and writing achievement compared with schools serving similar populations of students. The school's faculty is reading and writing focused, and students experience many books as they receive explicit, demanding instruction (i.e., about how to read words, comprehend, write) connected to content learning. The school offers a positive, motivating environment. In sum, many elements that potentially supported achievement were identified, including explicit teaching of skills in the context of much reading, writing, and content learning, which is consistent with balanced perspectives on reading and writing development. A major hypothesis in the grounded theory is that even with relatively advantaged populations, great efforts may be required to produce high reading and writing achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interspersed postpassage questions and reading comprehension achievement.

Examined the effect of interspersed postpassage questions on reading comprehension of 54 2nd graders classified as having top, middle, or lower 3rd entering reading level. Ss were either instructed in the use of questions or taught reading in a regular fashion. Results from the Reading Comprehension subtest of the SRA Achievement Series show that although questioning instruction had little effect on the above average readers, both normal and below average readers made significant gains in comprehension when instructed in the use of postpassage questions. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and mathematics achievement: A study of their relation.

In this study, I investigated the relation between self-efficacy and mathematics achievement when other factors, such as self-concept of math ability, prior task achievement, and prior self-efficacy were taken into account. I assessed self-efficacy over 4 trials in a repeated-measures design with 72 children, aged 9–10 years. I assessed task performance after the first and third self-efficacy assessment. Regression analysis indicated small or no predictive relation between self-efficacy and task performance, depending on task familiarity, when these other factors were included in the analysis. Results of the study lend one to doubt that there is a simple relation between self-efficacy and task performance in the field of mathematics learning. The complexity of self-efficacy, its sources, and consequences are also illustrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of a voluntary summer reading intervention on reading activities and reading achievement.

The causal effects of a voluntary summer reading intervention on children's reading activities and reading achievement were assessed in a randomized experiment involving 331 children in Grades 1-5. Children were pretested in the spring on a standardized test of reading achievement (Stanford Achievement Test, 10th ed.), on the Elementary Reading Attitudes Survey, and on a reading preference survey. At the end of the school year, children were stratified by their grade level and classroom and were randomly assigned to receive 10 books matched to their reading levels and preferences during summer vacation or after the administration of posttests. Children in the treatment group received books through airmail in July and August. In September, children were readministered the reading test and completed a survey of their summer reading activities. Although the treatment group reported reading more books and participating in more literacy activities than did the control group, there was no significant difference in reading achievement. Recommendations for enhancing the effects of voluntary reading through teacher-directed instruction and for conducting a replication study are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructor reputation: An expectancy relationship involving student ratings and achievement.

Instructor reputation, defined as student expectations of an instructor's teaching ability, was investigated to determine its influence on student ratings and achievement. Two teaching behaviors, instructor expressiveness and lecture content, were combined with reputation in a 2–3 factorial design to assess interaction effects. 198 undergraduates read an introductory statement about an instructor (reputation), viewed a videotape lecture, rated the instructor, and took a test. Results indicate that reputation interacted with expressiveness but not content, in which students rated the positive, high-expressive instructor more favorably than the negative, high-expressive instructor. Results suggest a complex relationship in which reputation interacts with some teaching behaviors and affects some student outcomes. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex roles, classroom instruction, and reading achievement.

Boys learn to read more slowly than girls in American schools, and for some years American educators have been concerned about this fact and the problems it poses. Several explanations have been advanced for sex differences in reading achievement, including hypotheses based on physical maturation, female teacher bias, teacher discrimination, feminization of reading, differential response to pupil behaviors, and sex-relevant teaching styles. Each of these hypotheses is conceptualized here, and evidence for and against each hypothesis is reviewed. Current evidence is found sufficient to reject only 2 of the hypotheses, and it is suggested that more than 1 of the remaining hypotheses may be needed to explain sex differences in reading achievement. (103 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of expectancy timing and outcome consistency in expectancy-guided retrieval.

Two studies investigated how expectancy-timing and expectancy-outcome consistency affect expectancy-guided retrieval. Ss were given a student's grade report for later recall. During the retention interval, Ss' expectancies about the student's future performance (improve vs decline) were manipulated. The expectancy information was presented either at the beginning (T1), halfway through (T2), or at the end of the retention interval (T3). Ss then received outcome information, half consistent and half inconsistent with their expectancy. In both studies, T2 and T3 Ss showed evidence of expectancy-guided retrieval, recalling consistent information accurately but displaying expectancy-congruent distortion of inconsistent information. T1 Ss showed no evidence of expectancy-guided retrieval and accurately recalled both inconsistent and consistent information. Further analyses suggested that T1 Ss appeared to reprocess the original information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tips for writing (and reading) methodological articles.

One reason many methodological articles are not very intelligible to their readers is because the content is often inherently difficult. However, a contributing factor in some cases is the tacit assumption that rules of good writing cease to apply when writing about statistics. The authors of this article argue that good writing becomes even more important as the content of the article becomes more complex. Furthermore, they believe that additional rules pertain to writing methodological articles and highlight various ways that methodological article authors can make their work more accessible (and less painful) to researchers who are not methodological specialists. The authors also suggest how nonspecialists can most effectively approach the task of reading a quantitative article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of reading achievement to verbal processing abilities.

Examined the relationship between reading achievement and ability to process verbal information in 67 achieving and 67 nonachieving readers drawn from 4th-grade classes. Verbal processing abilities were evaluated with 10 instruments, which included measures of memory span, associative learning, semantic association, automatic word processing, and time taken to name pictures, read words, and recode (pronounce) pseudowords. Achieving readers performed better on all measures except automatic word processing. Factor analysis yielded 3 factors, labeled Verbal Coding Speed, Memory Span, and Verbal Operations. Reading comprehension had high loadings on the 1st and 3rd factors but had a low loading on Memory Span. Results suggest that 1 primary component of the reading achievement of 4th-grade children is the ability to perform operations or manipulations on verbal material. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Socioeconomic status differences in preschool phonological sensitivity and first-grade reading achievement.

Two groups of 5-yr-old children whose fathers' occupations differed markedly in education and skill levels were seen in preschool, where they were given tests of performance IQ, receptive vocabulary and grammar, verbal working memory, phonological sensitivity, letter knowledge, and novice reading ability. At the end of 1st Grade, academic achievement was assessed. Marked group differences were observed on most measures. Most differences remained after performance IQ effects were controlled. When general verbal ability effects were controlled, differences in phonological sensitivity and word-level reading and arithmetic achievement remained. When phonological sensitivity effects were also controlled, differences remained only in arithmetic performance. The same general pattern of results was observed in converging hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Overall, the results are consistent with the view that SES differences in word-level reading achievement are mediated partly through preexisting differences in phonological sensitivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual discrimination as a predictor of achievement in reading and arithmetic.

Just prior to their entry into kindergarten, approximately 150 children were given a perceptual discrimination task using letterlike forms and their transformations. During the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, Ss were tested with a battery of tasks, including the arithmetic and reading portions of the Wide Range Achievement Test. The magnitude of the relation to subsequent achievement in reading differed for different transformations, depending on the difficulty of a transformation. More easily discriminated transformations were associated with higher correlations. The patterns of relation were similar for reading and arithmetic, suggesting that the perceptual discrimination test measured nonperceptual abilities related to early scholastic achievement. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal relationships of levels of language in writing and between writing and reading in grades 1 to 7.

Longitudinal structural equation modeling was used to evaluate longitudinal relationships across adjacent grade levels 1 to 7 for levels of language in writing (Model 1, subword letter writing, word spelling, and text composing) or writing and reading (Model 2, subword letter writing and word spelling and reading; Model 3, word spelling and reading and text composing and comprehending). Significant longitudinal relationships were observed within and across levels of language: spelling to spelling and spelling to composing (Grades 1 to 7), Models 1 and 3, and composing to spelling (Grades 3 to 6, Model 1; Grades 4 to 6, Model 3); spelling to word reading and word reading to spelling (Grades 2 to 7), Models 2 and 3; spelling to word reading (Grade 1), Model 2, and word reading to spelling (Grade 1), Model 3; composition to comprehension (Grades 3 to 5), Model 3; comprehension to composition (Grades 2 to 6), Model 3; and comprehension to word reading (Grades 1 to 6), Model 3. Results are discussed in reference to the levels of language in translating ideas into written language and integrating writing and reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selection mechanisms in reading lexically ambiguous words.

Readers' eye movements were monitored as they read sentences containing lexically ambiguous words. The ambiguous words were either biased (one strongly dominant interpretation) or nonbiased. Readers' gaze durations were longer on nonbiased than biased words when the disambiguating information followed the target word. In Experiment 1, reading times on the disambiguating word did not differ whether the disambiguation followed the target word immediately or occurred several words later. In Experiment 2, prior disambiguation eliminated the long gaze durations on nonbiased target words but resulted in long gaze durations on biased target words if the context demanded the subordinate meaning. The results indicate that successful integration of one meaning with prior context terminates the search for alternative meanings of that word. This results in selective (single meaning) access when integration of a dominant meaning is fast (due to a biasing context) and identification of a subordinate meaning is slow (a strongly biased ambiguity with low-frequency meaning). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting reading and mathematics achievement in fourth-grade children from kindergarten readiness scores.

This study examined age and gender differences in verbal skills and visuomotor skills at kindergarten, in achievement in reading and mathematics at Grade 4, and in the link between skills at kindergarten and later achievement (n?=?281). Older children had higher verbal skills and visuomotor skills than younger children, and girls had higher visuomotor skills and reading achievement than boys. With controls for age, verbal skills uniquely predicted later reading achievement, whereas both verbal skills and visuomotor skills uniquely predicted later mathematics achievement. Readiness in the specific areas of auditory memory and verbal associations predicted later reading achievement, whereas readiness in the specific areas of auditory memory, number skills, and visual discrimination predicted later mathematics achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of writing therapy in comparison to EMD/R on traumatic stress: The relationship between hypnotizability and client expectancy to outcome.

Many psychologists encourage clients to engage in journal writing to supplement individual psychotherapy. Empirical evidence supports the use of writing when targeted at traumatic memories. The most thoroughly researched writing strategy, developed by J. Pennebaker (1989), suggests that writing is most effective when it targets a specific memory along with the emotional components of that memory. Effective writing therapy is thus procedurally similar to effective exposure therapy for fear and traumatic memories. This investigation examined structured writing as a self-contained treatment by comparing it to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, and it was found to be effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Finger recognition skills and reading achievement: A developmental neuropsychological analysis.

Administered to 678 White kindergarten boys 4 finger recognition tasks (FRTs) and a battery of other tests, including the Embedded Figures Test, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, as part of a 6-yr longitudinal project. In their 3rd yr in school, the 80 Ss having the most significant difficulties in learning to read were identified and compared with 80 Ss who had acquired adequate reading skills. These 2 groups received the same FRTs in both their 3rd and 6th school years. FRTs (a) were differentially associated with other developmental variables in kindergarten, (b) were mastered at different ages, (c) demonstrated differential age-dependent relationships with reading status, and (d) were not related to neurological indices of brain integrity. Findings show that FRTs do not provide unitary measures of brain integrity in learning-disabled boys and do not have specific relationships with reading achievement. The significance of FRTs for reading achievement accrued primarily from their sensitivity to other developmental processes underlying reading acquisition. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Seven-year longitudinal study of the early prediction of reading achievement.

Investigated how well a broad, comprehensive battery of tests administered in kindergarten to 286 Ss (aged 5.0–7.1 yrs) predicted reading achievement in Grades 1–6. The test variables were reduced to 6 predictive factors by factor analysis that, together with the S's sex and the parent's language, had multiple correlations with reading achievement of .58 (Grade 1), .65 (Grade 2), .70 (Grade 3), .66 (Grade 6), and .71 (across all reading achievement tests). Path analysis showed that characteristics measured in kindergarten directly influenced reading in early primary grades and that early reading achievement was the primary determinant of later reading performance. It is concluded that the use of a 2-stage testing procedure, a preliminary screening device followed by the full test battery for selected Ss, substantially reduced testing time and resources, but it had almost no effect on the accuracy of predictions in the present study. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)