Poster #38 - Does Print Literacy Fully Mediate the Relations of Motivation and Early Literacy to Internet Literacy?

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Recent education-based challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a growing need to read and understand multiple internet-based sources in both academic and daily life, have highlighted the importance of better understanding how children read and learn both online and in traditional print-based environments. Previous research suggests that there may be some differences in the ways children approach and process internet-based and print-based literacy-focused tasks (Afflerbach & Cho, 2009; Castek et al., 2011; Coiro, 2011). Research has also demonstrated a strong link between student motivational factors, early home-based literacy experiences and reading comprehension (Baker & Scher, 2002; Jeynes, 2005; Lehrl et al., 2013), but less is known about whether print-based reading comprehension mediates the relation between the home literacy environment and internet literacy, or between student reading motivation and internet literacy.

The current study used data of 4451 students (51% female, mean age = 9.9 years) from the Canadian sample of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2016 (PIRLS2016), which is designed to assess fourth grade students’ print-based reading comprehension and internet literacy. Students’ home literacy experiences (early literacy tasks beginning primary school, early literacy tasks before school, parent enjoyment of reading, and number of children’s books in the home) and student motivation (reading self-efficacy, computer self-efficacy, reading enjoyment, and reading engagement) were examined in relation to their print-based reading comprehension of informational text (PIRLS) and their internet literacy scores (ePIRLS). Child gender, parents’ highest level of education, and amount of English spoken at home were control variables. The PIRLS assessment provided students with passages and asked multiple-choice and short answer comprehension questions about each text. The ePIRLS assessment asked students to answer multiple-choice and short answer questions while navigating through simulated webpages, reading and evaluating text across pages, and interpreting online graphics, photos and links. Home-literacy variables were assessed through parent survey, and motivation variables were assessed through student surveys. Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether print-based reading comprehension mediated the relation between home-literacy and internet literacy and the relation between motivation and internet literacy.

Results of the analysis (figure 1) showed a statistically significant positive relation between early home literacy and both print-based reading comprehension and internet literacy as well as between motivation and each reading outcome. Print-based reading comprehension was found to partially mediate the relation between home literacy and internet literacy with a significant direct effect between home-literacy and internet literacy remaining. Print-based reading comprehension also partially mediated the relation between motivation and internet literacy with a significant direct effect from motivation to internet literacy. Gender was not significantly related to either outcome, but how often children spoke English at home was positively related to print-based reading comprehension, and parent education was positively related to both forms of comprehension. The current study establishes the direct relations between motivation and internet literacy and between home-literacy environment and internet literacy after accounting for the influence of print-based literacy and highlights the importance of focusing on factors that influence children’s internet literacy directly.

Authors

• Laura DeWyngaert, Goucher College
  Presenting Author

• Linda Baker, University of Maryland - Baltimore County