Gender differences in adolescents' academic motivation and classroom behaviour

© 2013 Taylor & Francis. The present study investigated gender differences in adolescents’ academic motivation and classroom behaviour and gender differences in the extent to which motivation was associated with, and predicted, classroom behaviour. Seven hundred and fifty students (384 boys and 366 girls) aged 11–16 (M age = 14.0, 1.59 SD) completed a questionnaire examining academic motivation and teachers completed assessments of their classroom behaviour. Girls generally reported higher levels of academic motivation, whilst teacher reports of behaviour were poorer for boys. Interestingly, boys’ reported levels of academic motivation were significantly more closely associated with teacher reports of their classroom behaviour. Furthermore, cognitive aspects of boys’ motivation were better predictors of their classroom behaviour than behavioural aspects. On the other hand, behavioural aspects of girls’ motivation were better predictors of their behaviour. Implications for understanding the relationship between motivation and behaviour among adolescent boys and girls are discussed, in addition to interventions aimed at improving adolescents’ classroom behaviour

Adolescents’ perspectives on the barriers to reading for pleasure

Adolescence is often positioned as a particularly vulnerable period for reading motivation and engagement, both for academic reading and reading for pleasure. However, closer scrutiny of the literature reveals a much more nuanced pattern of changing interest, attitude, and motivation for reading during adolescence. Despite this, there is a distinct lack of research that explores the barriers adolescents' face to reading for pleasure from the perspectives of adolescents themselves. Working with a Young People's Advisory Panel, peer- and adult-led interviews were carried out with 46 adolescents (13–15 years old) from six high schools. Six themes were identified from the thematic analysis, reflecting adolescents' perceptions of the barriers to their reading for pleasure: (1) access; (2) mismatch between provision and needs; (3) social factors; (4) reading experiences in school; (5) reading affect; and (6) time and competing activities. This article makes a novel and significant contribution to the limited literature on reading for pleasure during adolescence and provides important qualitative insights for researchers and educational practitioners interested in supporting adolescents' reading motivation.<br/

Adolescents’ perspectives on the barriers to reading for pleasure

Adolescence is often positioned as a particularly vulnerable period for reading motivation and engagement, both for academic reading and reading for pleasure. However, closer scrutiny of the literature reveals a much more nuanced pattern of changing interest, attitude, and motivation for reading during adolescence. Despite this, there is a distinct lack of research that explores the barriers adolescents' face to reading for pleasure from the perspectives of adolescents themselves. Working with a Young People's Advisory Panel, peer- and adult-led interviews were carried out with 46 adolescents (13–15 years old) from six high schools. Six themes were identified from the thematic analysis, reflecting adolescents' perceptions of the barriers to their reading for pleasure: (1) access; (2) mismatch between provision and needs; (3) social factors; (4) reading experiences in school; (5) reading affect; and (6) time and competing activities. This article makes a novel and significant contribution to the limited literature on reading for pleasure during adolescence and provides important qualitative insights for researchers and educational practitioners interested in supporting adolescents' reading motivation.<br/

Exploring the relationship between adolescent's reading skills, reading motivation and reading habits.

The present study examines the extent to which adolescents’ reading affect (reading motivation) and behaviour (reading habits) predict different components of reading (word reading, comprehension, summarisation and text reading speed) and also adds to the limited research examining group differences (gender, age, ability) in adolescents’ reading motivation and reading habits. A representative sample of three hundred and twelve students (aged 11–16) from the UK participated. Adolescents’ reading motivation predicted significant variance in their reading comprehension and summarisation skills, after accounting for word reading and text reading speed. Reading motivation also predicted significant variance in text reading speed after accounting for word reading. Notably, however, different dimensions of motivation predicted variance in different reading skills. Of all the reading habits, only fiction book reading emerged as a consistent predictor of variation in the different reading skills, after accounting for the other reading abilities. Group differences (gender, age and ability) were consistent with previous literature

What factors underlie children's susceptibility to semantic and phonological false memories? Investigating the roles of language skills and auditory short-term memory

Two experiments investigated the cognitive skills that underlie children's susceptibility to semantic and phonological false memories in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott procedure (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). In Experiment 1, performance on the Verbal Similarities subtest of the British Ability Scales (BAS) II (Elliott, Smith, & McCulloch, 1997) predicted correct and false recall of semantic lures. In Experiment 2, performance on the Yopp-Singer Test of Phonemic Segmentation (Yopp, 1988) did not predict correct recall, but inversely predicted the false recall of phonological lures. Auditory short-term memory was a negative predictor of false recall in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. The findings are discussed in terms of the formation of gist and verbatim traces as proposed by fuzzy trace theory (Reyna & Brainerd, 1998) and the increasing automaticity of associations as proposed by associative activation theory (Howe, Wimmer, Gagnon, & Plumpton, 2009). © 2014 Elsevier B.V

Adolescent reading skill and engagement with digital and traditional literacies as predictors of reading comprehension

This study investigates the concurrent predictors of adolescent reading comprehension (literal, inferential) for fiction and non-fiction texts. Predictors were examined from the cognitive (word identification, reading fluency), psychological (gender), and ecological (print exposure) domains. Print exposure to traditional and digital texts was surveyed using a diary method of reading habits. A cross-sectional sample of 312 students in early (11–13 years) or middle adolescence (14–15 years) participated from a range of SES backgrounds. Word identification emerged as a strong predictor of reading comprehension across adolescence and text genres. Gender effects favouring female students were evident for reading frequency but not for reading skill itself. Reading habits also differed, and comprehension advantages were observed among females for fiction and males for non-fiction. Age effects emerged for reading frequency, which was lower in middle adolescence. Although more time was spent on digital than on traditional texts, traditional extended text reading was the only reading habit to predict inference-making in comprehension and to distinguish skilled from less skilled comprehenders. The theoretical and educational implications of these results are discussed

‘There is no better way to study science than to collect and analyse data in your own yard’:Outdoor classrooms and primary school children in Bangladesh

The design and use of outdoor spaces for primary school teaching and learning has been given little consideration in the present context. The existing evidence base is mostly from western perspectives. In this study, an outdoor classroom was designed and built in a primary school in Bangladesh and used to teach children (n = 30) their science curriculum. Multiple methods were used to investigate the impact of the outdoor classroom on students’ learning and engagement, including achievement tests, a questionnaire and focus groups with children and teachers. Children’s science scores were significantly higher after they had been taught outdoors, compared to indoors. Physical qualities of their outdoor classroom (lighting, acoustics, seating), in addition to greater enjoyment and active participation in learning likely explained improved attainment. Qualitative insights from children and teachers supported the quantitative findings. These results provide empirical support for building outdoor classrooms as an effective environment for teaching and learning

The Development and Validation of a Mental Toughness Scale for Adolescents

The present study examined the validity of a newly developed instrument, the Mental Toughness Scale for Adolescents (MTS-A), which examines the attributes of challenge, commitment, confidence (abilities and interpersonal) and control (life and emotion). The six factor model was supporting using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA, n = 373) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA, n = 372). In addition, the mental toughness attributes correlated with adolescents’ academic motivation and engagement (n = 439), well-being (depression and anxiety) (n = 279) and test anxiety (n = 279), indicating relations with a number of affective, cognitive and behavioural dispositions, and demonstrating relevance in education and potentially mental health contexts