NWO / PROO Dutch Programme Council for Educational Research

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

NWO / PROODutch Programme Council for Educational Research

Literacy development of at-risk

adolescents in multilingual

contexts: A tale of three cities

Amos van Gelderen, Jan Hulstijn,

Paul Leseman, Ron Oostdam, Peter

Sleegers

University of Amsterdam


Backgrounds

Many studies into early development of literacy (especially beginning reading).

Some international comparative studies directed at literacy skills of adolescents in general (e.g. PISA)

Very little is known about literacy development of adolescents and the main factors that influence this development. (Van Gelderen, et al. 2007)

Concerns about:- at-risk students (high risk of school drop out)- multilingual contexts (large numbers of immigrants mixed with non-

immigrants with poor economical prospects)


Tale of Three Cities (TTC)

Toronto (OISE) Alister Cumming, Esther Geva: ALTUR

Geneva (SRED) Anne Soussi, Jacqueline Lurin: EVOLIT

Amsterdam (SCO-Kohnstamm Institute): SALSA


PROJECT SALSA

Studies of Adolescent Literacy of Students At-risk

Studies of At-risk students’ Literacy Skills in Amsterdam

Skills and other Aspects of Literacy of Students in Adolescence

Studie naar Achtergronden van Lees en Schrijfontwikkeling bij Adolescenten


Common frame 1

Home & Community

Environment

Individual Attributes

student literacy

School Environment


Common frame 2

– Research questions:

1) What are important socio-cultural, educational and individual variables associated with literacy development in multilingual contexts?

2) What patterns of resilience can be found (positive literacy development contrary to initial expectations for at-risk students)?

3) Comparison between literacy development of at-risk and non at-risk students.

4) Comparison of the role of literacy related variables across the three multilingual contexts


Common frame 3

– The same literacy test (measuring reading comprehension and writing skills), developed in collaboration between Toronto, Geneva and Amsterdam.

– A selection of other instruments for measuring educational, socio-cultural and individual variables.


Descriptive framework

– Nature of literacy tasks (language, type of communication, medium, topic, addressees, situation) (Jakobssen, 1960);

– Embeddedness of literacy tasks (i.e. exposure in terms of duration, frequency, interruption, timing and intensity) (Bronffenbrenner and Evans, 2000);

– Use of selfregulatory strategies;– Connections of literacy tasks with home/school;– Teaching of literacy in language and non-language curricula from

student and teacher perspectives (reading and writing strategies, literacy tasks, feedback on learning process);

– Individual attributes (skills, attitudes)


SALSA: part-projects

1. School environment (I. de Milliano, P. Sleegers)2. Home environment (C. Van Kruistum, P. Leseman)3. Individual attributes (M. Trapman, J. Hulstijn)4. Student Literacy (R. van Steensel, R. Oostdam)


Variables in part projects 1 and 2

school environment (part- project 1)

1) nature of literacy tasks 2) embeddedness of literacy in curriculum3) use of and instruction directed at selfregulatory literacy strategies4) connections with home-environment5) social context of teaching & learning

home and community environment(part-project 2)

1) nature of literacy tasks2) embedding of literacy3) use of selfregulatory literacy strategies4) connections with school-environment5) social context 6) personal backgrounds of students


Variables in part projects 3 and 4

individual attributes(part-project 3)

1) knowledge of vocabulary and grammar2) metacognitive knowledge about reading and writing3) fluency of word and sentence processing4) non-verbal intelligence5) attitudes towards literacy (in first and second languages)6) immigrants’ home language literacy

Integration (part-project 4)

literacy (reading comprehension & writing composition)


Sample longitudinal study

– 2 year longitudinal study: 40 at-risk students from the junior vocational track (20 Dutch L1, 20 other language at home)

– Main immigrant groups from Turkish, Moroccan, Surinam and Antilles background (a few students from other backgrounds were allowed)

– Immigrants have had at least 3 years residence in The Netherlands

– Exclusionary criteria: diagnosed learning disabilities, behavioral disorders or dyslexia

– Grade 7 (at the start)


Cross-sectional study

after analysis of longitudinal associations (for testing hypotheses):

– 900 students divided over grades 7-9 junior vocational tracks– at-risk students and non at-risk students


Instruments

– Questionnaires– Interviews– Diaries– Observations– Tests


Triangulation

Diverse instruments measuring same constructs, such as:

- classroom observations of reading and writing activities (teachers and students);

- student interview about reading and writing activities in class;- teacher interview about reading and writing activities in class.


Mixed methods

- student questionnaire about literacy related activities outside school context;

- student diary about literacy related activities outside school context;

- student interview about literacy related activities.


Construct validation

- student questionnaire about knowledge about reading and writing strategies;

- student questionnaire about own strategy use.


Analysis

Three times of measurement (grade 7, grade 8, grade 9)

- multiple case analysis (patterns of literacy development and development on associated variables);

- measures of association (simple correlations and ANOVA);

In the end all part-projects deliver instruments suitable for large-scale administration in the cross-sectional study (tests and questionnaires)

Documents

NWO / PROO Dutch Programme Council for Educational Research