The Reading of Informational Text and Literary Text in Fourth Grade: A Latent Profile Analysis

• In Event: Critical Issues in Literacy Research 3

Abstract

Several national and international studies (e.g. NAEP, PIRLS) have indicated that there is a gap between student literary reading achievement and student informational reading achievement, with the gap favoring literary reading. One plausible explanation for this gap is that U.S. students have little experience with informational text in their early years of schooling (Dreher, 2003; Kletzien & Dreher, 2004; Moss, 2008). Bearing this in mind, this study aims to explore the patterns of reading informational text relative to literary text in 4th grade classroom. Using latent profile analysis, this study identified two subgroups of classes with different exposure to informational text and literary text, and compare subgroups in terms of student reading performance and socioeconomic status.

Authors

• Dan Li, Iowa Department of Education

• Daihong Chen, Seattle Colleges