DOI: 10.5176/2251-1814_EeL18.123
Authors: Yuwen Chang
Abstract: Reading expose ourselves to the new world. Today, the internet is redefining the nature of reading. New reading literacy is required to participate effectively in modern society and successfully exploit their potentials. In response to the increase of information and communication technology, IEA’s TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center has developed a new assessment of online reading, ePIRLS, in 2016. Using asimulated internet browser window, students navigate within and across webpages and read texts to complete authentic assignments. Fourteen countries and 2 benchmarking entities participated in the ePIRLS 2016. The international results for ePIRLS shows average student achievement for the 14 countries and 2 benchmarking areas. The report also indicates that three variables at the student level are associated with variations in ePIRLS achievement. The three factors are home resources for learning, access to digital devices in the home, and self-efficacy for computer use. At country level, countries which had high achievement on ePIRLS are not necessary to have high achievement on PIRLS(1). There are important differences between online and offline reading (2). Online readings require students to use keywords and search engine to solve problem with online information. In addition, with a diverse set of voices and the lack of traditional gatekeepers requires an especially high level of critical evaluation by readers. However, the ePIRLS assessment was developed based on the same assessment framework as PIRLS. It is likely that they will be highly correlated. The study is aimed to investigate the combine influence of the PIRLS achievement and student-level variables on ePIRLS achievement. The predictors of variation in ePIRLS achievement are: PIRLS achievement, students confident in reading, home resources for learning, access to digital devices in the home, and self-efficacy for computer use. Students included in the analysis for each country from 2179 (Demark) to 11983(United Arab Emirate). Multiple regression analysis is conducted. For each national sample, regression coefficients for variables were estimated as well as the coefficient of determination ( R2). The results show that R-squared for the countries range from .49 in Georgia to .73 in Singapore and United Arab Emirates_Abu Dhabi. The PIRLS achievement is the best predictor. The standardized coefficients ranged from .64 in Georgia to .79 in United Arab Emirate, indicating that online and offline reading comprehension skills have something in common. Among the four student factors, students confident in reading had statistically significant association with ePIRLS achievement in all participating countries/entities. In contrast, the effects of self-efficacy for computer use only were observed in Chinese Taipei and Portugal. Chinese Taipei had lowest average in the self-efficacy for computer use scale. It could be the Chinese characters input method is more complicated to master. Student who is unfamiliar with the Zhuyin input method may take more time to answer the constructed questions. Home resources for learning had statistically significant positive effects on ePIRLS achievement in all but three countries (Chinese Taipei, Georgia, and Slovenia). The access to digital devices in the home had statistically significant associations with ePIRLS achievement in about half of the participating countries even after taking home resources for learning into account. For these countries, increasing access to digital device is suggested.
Keywords: access to digital devices; ePIRLS; home resources for learning; PIRLS 2016; self-efficacy
Updating...