Does Performance in Digital Reading Relate to Computer Game Playing? A Study of Factor Structure and Gender Patterns in 15-Year-Olds' Reading Literacy Performance

Analysis of the responses of 139 male and 83 female Lithuanian 12-14 year-olds to a translation of the Self-Description Questionnaire-1 (SDQ-1; Marsh, 1988 ) supported the internal consistency and factor structure of this instrument. Some evidence of a “positivity” response bias was found, however. Comparison of the Lithuanian responses to those of like-aged Australian, Chinese, Filipino, Nepalese, and Nigerian children indicated the Lithuanians tended to report rather lower self-esteem. The Lithuanian males also tended to report lower self-esteem than their female peers. Interpretation of the results are considered in terms of reactions to the recent upheavals in Eastern Europe, stable cultural dimensions, and possible cultural and gender biases in the items of the SDQ-1.

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Disentangling general achievement levels and subject-specific strengths and weaknesses in mathematics, reading, and science

Educational Assessment Evaluation and Accountability ◽

10.1007/s11092-020-09352-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Olesya Gladushyna ◽

Rolf Strietholt ◽

Isa Steinmann

Keyword(s):

Reading Literacy ◽

Performance Levels ◽

Fourth Grade Students ◽

Subject Specific ◽

The Subject ◽

Overall Performance ◽

Cross Country ◽

And Gender ◽

Mathematics And Science ◽

Achievement Levels

AbstractThe paper uses data from the combined TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) assessment in 2011 to explore the subject-specific strengths and weaknesses among fourth grade students worldwide. Previous research came to the conclusion that students only differed in overall achievement levels and did not exhibit subject-specific strengths and weaknesses. This research did, however, not control for differences in overall performance levels when searching for profile differences. Therefore, the present study uses factor mixture analysis to study qualitatively different performance profiles in mathematics, reading, and science while controlling for differences in performance levels. Our findings suggest that the majority of students do not show pronounced strengths and weaknesses and differ mainly in performance levels across mathematics, reading, and science. At the same time, a smaller share of students does indeed show pronounced subject-specific strengths and weaknesses. This result does not represent an artefact, but we find clear and theory-conforming associations between the identified profiles and covariates. We find evidence for cross-country differences in the frequency of subject-specific strengths and weaknesses and gender differences, as well as differences between students who do not or only sometimes speak the language of test at home.

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Reliability, Validity, and Gender Invariance of the Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale: An Emerging Evidence for a More Concise Research Tool

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18073516 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 3516

Author(s):

Stefan Koehn ◽

Farzad Amirabdollahian

Keyword(s):

Factor Structure ◽

Adult Population ◽

Research Tool ◽

Future Research ◽

Gender Invariance ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

And Gender ◽

The Uk ◽

Fit Index ◽

Northwest Region

The Exercise Benefits/Barriers Scale (EBBS) research instrument has been extensively used to investigate the perceived benefits and barriers of exercise in a range of settings. In order to examine theoretical contentions and translate the findings, it is imperative to implement measurement tools that operationalize the constructs in an accurate and reliable way. The original validation of the EBBS proposed a nine-factor structure for the research tool, examined the EBBS factor structure, and suggested that various factors are important for the testing of the perception of exercise benefits and barriers, whereas a few items and factors may not be vital. The current study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using hierarchical testing in 565 participants from the northwest region of the United Kingdom, the results of which provided evidence for a four-factor structure of the benefits measure, with the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.943, Tucker–Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.933, and root means square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.051, namely life enhancement, physical performance, psychological outlook, and social interaction, as well as a two-factor structure of the barrier measures, with the CFI = 0.953, TLI = 0.931, and RMSEA = 0.063, including exercise milieu and time expenditure. Our findings showed that for a six-factor correlated model, the CFI = 0.930, TLI = 0.919, and RMSEA = 0.046. The multi-group CFA provided support for gender invariance. The results indicated that after three decades of the original validation of the EBBS, many of the core factors and items are still relevant for the assessment of higher-order factors; however, the 26-item concise tool proposed in the current study displays a better parsimony in comparison with the original 43-item questionnaire. Overall, the current study provides support for a reliable, cross-culturally valid EBBS within the UK adult population, however, it proposes a shorter and more concise version compared with the original tool, and gives direction for future research to focus on the content validity for assessing the perception of the barriers to physical activity.

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Playing power: gendered discourses in a computer games magazine

Language and Literature ◽

10.1177/096394709700600103 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 43-55 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joanna Thornborrow

Keyword(s):

Computer Games ◽

Computer Game ◽

Stylistic Analysis ◽

Game Playing ◽

Gender Specific ◽

Conflicting Discourses

The focus of this article is the language of computer game previews and guides in the magazine Sega Mean Machines. I examine the presence of conflicting discourses within these texts, and discuss the possible effects they may have on the construction of gender-specific identities for the reader. Through a stylistic analysis of these texts, I will argue that entering the computer game-playing world means essentially a shift for the female readers/players into male-centred discourses.

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Digital reading and gender inequality in higher education

Higher Education Research & Development ◽

10.1080/07294360.2021.2019201 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Axel Kuhn ◽

Ute Schneider ◽

Annika Schwabe

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Gender Inequality ◽

Digital Reading ◽

And Gender

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Leprosy and gender in Brazil: trends in an endemic area of the Northeast region, 2001–2014

Revista de Saúde Pública ◽

10.11606/s1518-8787.2018052000335 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 20 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Eliana Amorim de Souza ◽

Anderson Fuentes Ferreira ◽

Reagan Nzundu Boigny ◽

Carlos Henrique Alencar ◽

Jorg Heukelbach ◽

...

Keyword(s):

The State ◽

Downward Trend ◽

Upward Trend ◽

Annual Percent Change ◽

Detection Rates ◽

Time Series Study ◽

Gender Patterns ◽

And Gender ◽

National Information ◽

Series Study

OBJECTIVE: To analyze, stratifield by gender, trends of the new case leprosy detection rates in the general population and in children; of grade 2 disability, and of proportion of multibacillary cases, in the state of Bahia, Brazil from 2001 to 2014. METHODS: A time series study based on leprosy data from the National Information System for Notifiable Diseases. The time trend analysis included Poisson regression models by infection points (Joinpoint) stratified by gender. RESULTS: There was a total of 40,054 new leprosy cases with a downward trend of the overall detection rate (Average Annual Percent Change [AAPC = -0.4, 95%CI -2.8–1.9] and a nonsignificant increase in children under 15 years (AAPC = 0.2, 95%CI -3.9–4.5). The proportion of grade 2 disability among new cases increased significantly (AAPC = 4.0, 95%CI 1.3–6.8), as well as the proportion of multibacillary cases (AAPC = 2.2, 95%CI 0.1–4.3). Stratification by gender showed a downward trend of detection rates in females and no significant change in males; in females, there was a more pronounced upward trend of the proportion of multibacillary and grade 2 disability cases. CONCLUSIONS: Leprosy is still highly endemic in the state of Bahia, with active transmission, late diagnosis, and a probable hidden endemic. There are different gender patterns, indicating the importance of early diagnosis and prompt treatment, specifically in males without neglecting the situation among females.

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An International Reading Literacy Study: Factor Structure of the Chinese Version of the Student Questionnaire (PIRLS-SQCV 2011)

Education Research International ◽

10.1155/2016/4165089 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joseph W. I. Lam ◽

W. M. Cheung ◽

Doreen W. H. Au ◽

Hector W. H. Tsang ◽

Wendy W. Y. So ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Factor Structure ◽

International Comparisons ◽

Chinese Version ◽

Reading Literacy ◽

Structure Model ◽

Confirmatory Factor ◽

Student Questionnaire ◽

The Relationship ◽

Home And School

The student questionnaire (PIRLS-SQ 2011) of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) was designed to gather information from pupils on reading literacy development as to aspects of pupils’ self-lives, home, and school lives across countries/districts. In order to serve the purposes of research and international comparison, the questionnaire was translated into various languages. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the current study investigates the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the student questionnaire (PIRLS-SQCV 2011) and identifies its underlying factor structure among Chinese fourth-grade pupils in Hong Kong. A 10-factor structure model was identified and much resemblance could be drawn to the original PIRLS structure. While the similarity allows international comparisons of studies in different places following the PIRLS strategy, the findings of this study add to extant literature on the relationship between student factors and reading achievement.

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At Play on the Borders of the Diegetic: Story Boundaries and Narrative Interpretation

Journal of Literacy Research ◽

10.1207/s15548430jlr3501_3 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 591-632 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Margaret Mackey

Keyword(s):

Computer Game ◽

Border Crossing ◽

Common Element ◽

Game Playing ◽

The Novel ◽

Narrative Texts ◽

Special Effects ◽

Young Readers ◽

Scene Construction ◽

Narrative Interpretation

Working with young readers, aged 10 to 14, as they responded to narrative texts in a variety of media (Mackey, 2002), I observed a recurring phenomenon: In a variety of ways they repeatedly stepped in and out of the fictional universe of their different stories. Some examples will perhaps give the flavor of this experience: Two 14-year-old girls playing Starship Titanic alternate between lively engagement in the narrative world of the story and stepping outside the fiction to console themselves, “Oh well, if we die, we can just start again.” A 10-year-old girl speaks of alternating between the novel and the computer game of My Teacher is an Alien, using the novel as a source of game-playing repertoire. Two 10-year-old boys look at the DVD of the film Contact, learning how the special effects of an explosion scene were composed, and commenting on how their new awareness of scene construction would affect how they view the film in the future. As I recorded and analyzed numerous examples of such behaviors, I was struck by a common element of interpretive activity on the boundaries of the fictional universe. Sensitized to the topic, I began to notice, and then to collect, examples of contemporary texts that foster various forms of such border crossing, in and out of the diegesis, the framework of events as narrated in the text. This article explores how an awareness of this aspect of contemporary texts may enhance our understanding of interpretive processes and expand what happens in literature classes.

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Rurality, Ethnicity, and Gender Patterns of Cultural Continuity during the “Great Disjuncture” in the R.M. of Hanover, 1945-1961

Journal of the Canadian Historical Association ◽

10.7202/031061ar ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 161-182

Author(s):

Royden Loewen

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Social Relations ◽

Point Of View ◽

Cultural Continuity ◽

Local Experience ◽

German Speaking ◽

Dialectical Relationship ◽

Gender Patterns ◽

And Gender ◽

Ethnicity And Gender

Abstract Rural Canadian communities underwent profound changes as they adapted to the economic and social context after World War II. Those changes, may be described, using John Shaver's phrase, as a "Great Disjuncture". From a "centrist" point-of-view Canadian farms became more fully mechanized, products commodified and farm goals integrated with government policy. This paper focuses on the "local experience" of the "Great Disjuncture". Its subject is the Rural Municipality of Hanover in Manitoba, an ethnic community, dominated by Low German-speaking Mennonites. In Hanover traditional social relations, both on the primary level affecting gender and on the community level affecting the very idea of rurality, entered a dialectical relationship with the forces for change to create a particular localized culture. Here was an instance of cultural re-creation.

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Malaysian high schoolers’ reading literacy performance: Trends and patterns across states

Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.17509/ijal.v10i1.25031 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 161-172

Author(s):

Marcia Jane Ganasan ◽

Nordin Abd. Razak ◽

Marlina Jamal

Keyword(s):

Peninsular Malaysia ◽

Individual Development ◽

Reading Literacy ◽

Functional Abilities ◽

Literacy Proficiency ◽

Revised Bloom's Taxonomy ◽

Performance Trends ◽

Southern Central ◽

Literacy Performance ◽

Data Driven Decisions

Reading literacy is often understood as a basic skill, and it is gaining recognition as the most functional means to educational attainment and individual development. It not only sets a benchmark but also reveals students’ strengths and weaknesses through performance measurement. This paper attempts to investigate sixteen-year-olds’ reading literacy proficiency using a performance band system in reporting their ‘can’s and ‘cant’s in reading. It drew insights from the Text-Task Respondent Theory of Functional Literacy (White, 2011) and the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy (Anderson Krathwohl, 2001), where pertinent concepts were drawn to address students’ functional abilities. The study involved a total of 813 sixteen-year-old students representing the northern, southern, central, and east coast regions of Peninsular Malaysia (Penang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Johor). A survey research method was employed to capture cognitive competencies that denoted students’ functional abilities when it came to reading literacy. The study measured the students’ reading literacy attainment based on a proficiency scale spanning on five-band levels. The findings of the present study revealed that the majority of the students attained Band 3, where they demonstrated a moderate understanding of texts and were able to integrate some part of texts to infer meaning. The study provides valuable insights to policymakers, educationists, employers in making data-driven decisions to improve educational outcomes. It also attempts to shed some light on the current pedagogical trends and provide suggestive practices in reading.

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