NWO / PROO
Dutch 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
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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 nonimmigrants with poor economical prospects)
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Tale of Three Cities (TTC)
Toronto (OISE) Alister Cumming, Esther Geva: ALTUR
Geneva (SRED) Anne Soussi, Jacqueline Lurin: EVOLIT
Amsterdam (SCO-Kohnstamm Institute): SALSA
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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
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Common frame 1
Home &
Community
School Environment
Environment
student literacy
Individual Attributes
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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 atrisk students.
4) Comparison of the role of literacy related variables across the
three multilingual contexts
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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, sociocultural and individual variables.
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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)
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SALSA: part-projects
1.
2.
3.
4.
School environment (I. de Milliano, P. Sleegers)
Home environment (C. Van Kruistum, P. Leseman)
Individual attributes (M. Trapman, J. Hulstijn)
Student Literacy (R. van Steensel, R. Oostdam)
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Variables in part projects 1 and 2
school
environment
(part- project 1)
1) nature of literacy tasks
2) embeddedness of literacy in curriculum
3) use of and instruction directed at selfregulatory
literacy strategies
4) connections with home-environment
5) social context of teaching & learning
home and
community
environment
(part-project 2)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
nature of literacy tasks
embedding of literacy
use of selfregulatory literacy strategies
connections with school-environment
social context
personal backgrounds of students
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Variables in part projects 3 and 4
individual
attributes
(part-project 3)
1) knowledge of vocabulary and grammar
2) metacognitive knowledge about reading and
writing
3) fluency of word and sentence processing
4) non-verbal intelligence
5) attitudes towards literacy (in first and second
languages)
6) immigrants’ home language literacy
Integration
(part-project 4)
literacy (reading comprehension & writing
composition)
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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)
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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
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Instruments
–
–
–
–
–
Questionnaires
Interviews
Diaries
Observations
Tests
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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.
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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.
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Construct validation
- student questionnaire about knowledge about reading and writing
strategies;
- student questionnaire about own strategy use.
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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 largescale administration in the cross-sectional study (tests and
questionnaires)
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