Reading comprehension in digital and printed texts

Recent studies have yielded contradictory results regarding how reading from print or from the screen influences reading comprehension. This study examined 12-year-old students’ (N = 142) reading comprehension using printed text and digital text. The results indicated that performance was similar for printed text and digital text, even when gender, decoding skills, preference for school tasks on paper, screen, or both, and self-concept as a reader and computer user were controlled for. Regardless of the reading medium, students with better decoding skills and a higher self-concept as a reader performed better, boys outperformed girls, and students equally willing to study with books and computers outperformed students who preferred computers. The results of this study highlight the benefits of flexible use of both printed texts and digital texts for reading comprehension. As students are getting as used to studying via computers as they are to studying from books, the emphasis on the medium of studying seems to become less important. The topic of this study is of great relevance in a modern school context where ICT use has become a part of daily schoolwork worldwide.</p

Early Language Education in Luxembourg

This chapter examines recent language education laws in Luxembourg as well as the ways in which early years practitioners appropriated the new policies and put them into practice. The chapter begins with a brief introduction of the linguistic landscape in Luxembourg and a summary of the dynamic development of the country’s early childhood education system. Special emphasis is put on recent changes in language education policies, which call for a more inclusive and multilingual early language education. Monolingual practices now need to open up to flexible language use and offer children opportunities to capitalize on their entire semiotic repertoire for communicating, meaning-making, and learning. The central concerns of this chapter are the ways in which policy changes influence educational practices in formal and non-formal settings and how professional development shapes this process. In order to address these questions, the authors review literature on language education policy, translanguaging and professional development and examine studies on early language education in Luxembourg. Next, they discuss recent initiatives of professional development in formal and non-formal early years settings as well as their outcomes. Finally, they present critical issues such as the practitioners’ reflexivity and responsibility and the sustainability of professional development. Future research directions include family language policies, partnerships between families and early childhood institutions and children’s languaging practices inside and across these institutions