11. Educational Improvement and Quality Assurance
Paper
Effectiveness of Ways of Working With Text Types to Increase Students' Functional Literacy
Aigul Aitan, Altynay Dimissanova, Saltanat Kabdenova, Kulpiya Amandossova
NIS, Kazakhstan
Presenting Author: Dimissanova, Altynay;
Kabdenova, Saltanat
One of the most urgent problems observed in the educational process is the low functional literacy of students. Developing functional literacy in young people is one of the planned steps in the education system in the age of modern education and technology. This is because the main indicator in the educational system is the performance of tasks based on reading literacy, which is analyzed, summarized, and evaluated at a comparative level around the world. In this regard, it is important that students can sort the knowledge and information they have acquired and apply it to their needs in life. That is why every teacher needs to form skills with professional, public, and scientific information to increase reading literacy by working with students' functional literacy tasks in their subject.
Our research aims to create a person who, paying attention to the environment, not only understands the changes in the environment but also decides based on them. We sorted and interpreted the surrounding information, selected information, and considered ways to implement it.
Expected result:
- Pupils will be able to determine the purpose of the text and distinguish its form;
- Know the basic sequence of working with text;
- Make logical connections using their knowledge and ideas;
- Learn to critically reflect and formulate;
- Learn to evaluate the ability to use skills in life situations;
- Read information selectively and think logically;
- Quickly overcome difficulties and obstacles encountered in life;
- Know how to solve problems and communicate in the implementation of their ideas.
Functional literacy is the knowledge and skills formed by a person adapting to the social environment as a result of connecting school education and the multidisciplinary activities of a person in everyday life. The main feature of functional literacy is the ability to solve life problems based on applied knowledge in various areas of a changing society [1]. Functional literacy is considered to be the main factor contributing to lifelong learning, which overcomes the obstacles faced by people in the cultural, political, social, and economic spheres and finds solutions through creative ideas. That is why functional literacy shows the highest potential in society. This is to prevent our society from getting out of the social crisis in some directions.
In the PISA program, texts on personal (30%), social (30%), educational (25%), professional (15%) topics must be selected to form public opinion in accordance with their needs in life. As PISA coordinator, Andreas Schleicher strongly supports this approach, emphasizing the importance of Pisa in providing a comprehensive assessment of how well education systems are preparing students for real challenges[6].
Another aspect to consider when developing a task should be in a system that emphasizes the search, selection, integration and interpretation of Information, Analysis and evaluation. Together with our colleagues, we discussed the topic: "how to improve the reading literacy of students?"we will discuss the issue""." We were looking for an answer to the question and conducted an informal professional conversation. During a professional conversation, we decided that the problem can be solved by changing from the level of understanding and knowledge to the level of analysis, discussion, decision-making. A series of lessons on general topics:" biodiversity"," nature protection " was developed. We planned to use graphic and mobile texts during the lesson. Why were graphic texts chosen? This is because, through a collaborative approach, it is concluded that it will be more effective to work with graphic and moving text to develop reading skills, increasing reading literacy.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedAccording to the feedback received from the students, there were a lot of graphic and moving texts in the last tests, and due to their lack of skills in their execution, they did not have enough time, so the development of their digital literacy skills was taken into account.
Working with whole and non-whole texts and counting time were our main goals. In this regard, effective ways of working with non-complete, mixed, and complex texts, such as working with a graphic text or searching for an answer from a second text using a hyperlink, were considered for the students.
And how do we achieve this? Of course, in order to achieve the results, we have chosen the methods, tasks, and resources to be performed in the process of the research lesson in order to obtain social and professional information so that they are available for our research purpose. Our goal is to form a relationship with the environment, to choose a future profession, to be ready for environmental and economic conditions, and it is based on the development of a self-directed person. The main goal of reading literacy is to interpret the information received by these students and apply it according to their needs in life. Linda Darling-Hammond echoes this sentiment, advocating for education systems that prioritize equity and learning for all students, ensuring a broad range of skills and knowledge are assessed and valued, much in line with the objectives of PISA [5]. The tasks aim to identify and evaluate the information provided in the text. In most cases, the advantages and disadvantages of the problem are compared. According to the study "Critical Reading Strategies" by Professor Vincent R. Ruggiero of the State University of New York, "before reading any text and relying on the information contained in it, everyone should use a four-step critical reading strategy: review, analyze, read, and evaluate." It is recommended to use this reading strategy in order to understand the information in the text in general.
We determined the influence of the students' functional literacy development on the skills of analysis, collection, and interpretation of the information obtained by the "FILA", "GROW", "FISHBONE", "SWOT" methods. And we were also considering providing space for the thinking process by making a complete analysis of the information by describing the numerical information seen by the students and the collected information by speaking with graphic texts and pictures.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsOn the other hand, it is possible to get used to turning information from a whole text into a non-whole text by focusing on creative thinking such as "put it in a table, give a graph, convey the main idea with a picture".
Entering the second text through a hyperlink, we integrated texts about the weather forecast with information about the environment or endangered animals into the task of searching for the answer to the question, and we worked with the moving text "find the answer to the question by visiting the link." In this regard, the grouping of geographical and biological knowledge was taken into account. We did not forget that the tasks aimed at execution by means of hyperlinks are often based on increasing the application of the knowledge gained in many other subjects in life, and the ability to search for information in accordance with the times is formed. The goal is that students should be able to use the time effectively to access the hyperlink and find the answer to the highlighted question. In tasks aimed at analyzing information in mixed texts, read and draw conclusions from different points of view and dual opinions. He can stop and compare the information he needs. This is the problem that we take into account when creating the main task and when creating open questions and interpretation and comparison questions. In order to create conditions for that, it is necessary to appropriately use questions at the level of constant analysis, application, and evaluation of the thinking process [4].
If the human world is functionally literate in the period of rapid development of technology in modern life, a person who is inclined to live and who can effectively use the acquired knowledge will be formed.
References1. International program PISA 2000, M.: Center for Quality Assessment of Education, IGSE RAE, 2003, p. 8
2. Methodological guide for the formation of reading literacy among students Nur Sultan-2020
3. Rozhdestvenskaya L., Logvinova I. Formation of functional reading skills. Teacher's manual. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://slovesnic.ru/attachments/article/303/frrozhdest.pdf
4. PISA Test Questions/URL: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisa-test-questions.html
5. Darling-Hammond, Linda. "The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future," Teachers College Press, 2010.
6. Schleicher, Andreas. "PISA 2018: Insights and Interpretations," OECD, 2019.
11. Educational Improvement and Quality Assurance
Paper
Predictors of Schoolchildren's Agency: a Multilevel Model
Mikhail Goshin, Pavel Sergeevich Sorokin, Dmitry Grigoryev, Sergey Kosaretsky
Higher School of Economic, Russian Federation
Presenting Author: Goshin, Mikhail
The contemporary "Age of Uncertainty” requires the ability to respond effectively to global challenges, such as climate change, economic instability and inequality, human rights violations, military-political conflicts, and pandemics, and others. In this context, the task of the formation of agency, that is, the ability to act and transform the surrounding reality, to make decisions and take initiative in various contexts and spheres of public and personal life without external control or support is becoming increasingly important for education systems (Manyukhina, 2022; Sorokin & Froumin, 2022).
Agency is defined as the ability of an individual to act, exercising control over his/her life, the ability to set and achieve goals (Cavazzoni et al., 2021), proactively influence the environment, including the transformation of existing and the creation of new forms of interaction in various spheres of public life (Udehn, 2002). Agency is expressed in the ability to be an active participant, guiding and shaping one's life path (Schoon & Cook, 2021). It also implies the optimization of resources, overcoming or transforming constraints on the way to achieve self-set goals (Zimmerman & Ceary, 2006), both in individual subjective reality and in objective social reality. The variety of approaches to the definition of agency and the difficulties in unifying the methodology for measuring this construct are primarily due to its multidimensional (umbrella) character (Schoon & Cook, 2021; Schoon & Неckhausen, 2019).
Education is extremely important from the point of view of the agency formation. The construct of agency is based on two components (Cavazzoni et al., 2021; Abebe, 2019; Veronese et al., 2019): personal characteristics ("self-efficacy", "personal autonomy", "optimism”, “self-esteem”, "internal locus of control"), and structural capabilities (socio-economic conditions, the territory of residence, the role of family, and the formal requirements of the institutions). This idea helps to understand the role of education in the formation of appropriate qualities and skills of schoolchildren in the learning process (Manyukhina, 2022). It is noted that institutional and pedagogical practices can contribute either to the expansion or limitation of the manifestation of agency (Ruscoe et al., 2018; Sirkko et al., 2019; Kirby, 2019).
At the same time, educational practices that are implemented outside strictly formal school education, including the participation of schoolchildren in extracurricular activities and private lessons, can acquire special importance from the point of view of the formation of proactive behavior. A number of studies have shown that extracurricular activities make a significant contribution to the formation of such qualities as perseverance, independence, self-confidence, creativity, and social activity (Baker, 2008; Durlak, Weissberg, Pachan, 2010; Baharom et al., 2017). The students who study privately tend to practice longer, "smarter," and more efficiently as they establish practice objectives, maximize time and concentration through shorter but generally more productive practice segments (Hamann, Frost, 2000).
At present, literature lacks tools for assessing agency of children and adolescents comprehensively, in various spheres of manifestation (Sorokin, Froumin, 2022; Cavazzoni, 2021). Also, there are no general models allowing to correlate different types and levels of children’s agency with individual and structural factors, including educational practices.
The purpose of this study was to search for predictors of schoolchildren’s agency at the individual and school levels.
Research questions:
- What are the individual characteristics of students (gender, age, socioeconomic status, parental level of education, participation in private lessons, and extracurricular activities) are significant predictors of the agency level?
- What significant predictors of agency level can be found at the school level (number of students, number of young teachers, proportion of students with low/high socioeconomic status, and others)?
- How does the significance of these predictors change when they interact with each other?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe data were obtained as a result of the survey of students in grades 4 to 8 (N = 4,603; Mage = 12.4, SD = 1.46; 49.7% female) conducted in 2022 in Yaroslavl, Russia. The population of Yaroslavl is about 600,000 people. The sample is representative of urban schools: a random stratified selection of schools was carried out, taking into account their size as a characteristic of the socio-economic status of an educational organization. A total of 31 schools were selected for the study.
Among the study participants, 48.6% noted that the mother or stepmother has tertiary education, and 31.26% of the respondents have both parents with tertiary education. Next, 37.8% of the respondents have a father or stepfather with tertiary education. At the same time, 0.8% of the respondents noted that they do not have "this parent – mother or stepmother," and 5.8% of the respondents – "there is no parent – father or stepfather." Thus, it can be argued that the vast majority of the study participants live in full families, and 48.8% of the respondents live with a brother or sister.
More than half of the respondents (65%) attend some extracurricular activities. Slightly more than a quarter of schoolchildren (28.7%) take private lessons.
The questionnaires had special section aimed at assessing proactive behavior (agency). In particular, the respondents were asked whether their parents participated in choosing of extracurricular activities (or the decision was made solely by a child him- or herself), whether they tend to take the initiative and make decisions about everyday activities in the company of peers, how the decisions are made about joint activities with parents, and where from they obtain most of the money for their personal expenses (for instance, do they have a paid working experience). The respondents' responses for each category were ranked and as a result, a total integral indicator (agency index) was calculated, i.e., the level of agency for each respondent.
Finally, the linear mixed regression model predicting the agency Index was built. The model encompassed both individual and school-level predictors and their interactions.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsAt the individual level, several predictors were found to be significant. Age positively predicted the Agency Index (B = 0.11, SE = 0.01, p < .001), meaning that as the age of the participants increased, their agency index scores also tended to be higher. Parents’ educational level, particularly the mother’s, was also a significant predictor of the Agency Index (B = 0.08, SE = 0.04, p = .033). Participation in private lessons (PL) and extracurricular activities (PEA) both were associated with a higher Agency Index (PL: B = 0.38, SE = 0.05, p < .001; PEA: B = 0.79, SE = 0.04, p < .001). However the students who took private lessons and also participated in extracurricular activities had a slightly lower Agency Index compared to those who only participated in extracurricular activities.
At the school level, the number of young teachers was a significant predictor (B = 0.04, SE = 0.01, p < .001), suggesting that schools with more young teachers tend to have students with higher agency index scores. Other school-level predictors were not statistically significant.
Cross-level interaction effects revealed a significant interaction between participation in extracurricular activities and the number of young teachers (PEA × Number of young teachers: B = -0.05, SE = 0.01, p < .001), indicating that the positive effect of extracurricular activities on the Agency Index decreased as the number of young teachers in a school increased. That is, schools with more young teachers had a reduced benefit of extracurricular activities for the Agency Index, whereas those with fewer young teachers had a more pronounced benefit.
However, the Agency Index appears to be mainly an individual-level phenomenon, with only a minor portion of its variance being explained by differences between schools.
In more detail the results will be presented on the Conference.
ReferencesBaharom M. N., Sharfuddin M., Iqbal J. (2017) A Systematic Review on the Deviant Workplace Behavior. Review of Public Administration and Management, 5(3), 1–8.
Baker C. N. (2008) Under-Represented College Students and Extracurricular Involvement: The Effects of Various Student Organizations on Academic Performance. Social Psychology of Education, 11(3), 273-298.
Cavazzoni, F., Fiorini, A., & Veronese, G. (2021). How Do We Assess How Agentic We Are? A Literature Review of Existing Instruments to Evaluate and Measure Individuals' Agency. Social Indicators Research, 159(3), 1125-1153.
Durlak J. A., Weissberg R. P., Pachan M. (2010) A Meta-Analysis of After-School Programs that Seek to Promote Personal and Social Skills in Children and Adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45(3). P. 294-309.
Hamann D.L., & Frost, R.S. (2000). The Effect of Private Lesson Study on the Practice Habits and Attitudes Towards Practicing of Middle School and High School String Students. Contributions to Music Education, 27(2), 71–93.
Kirby, P. (2019). Children’s agency in the modern primary classroom. Children & Society, 34(1), 17–30.
Manyukhina, Y. (2022). Children’s agency in the National Curriculum for England: a critical discourse analysis. Education 3-13, 50, 506–520.
Ruscoe, A., L. Barblett, and C. Parrath-Pugh. (2018). Sharing power with children: repositioning children as agentic learners. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 43(3), 63–71.
Schoon, I., & Cook, R. (2021). Can individual agency compensate for background disadvantage? Predicting tertiary educational attainment among males and females. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(3), 408–422.
Schoon, I., & Heckhausen, J. (2019). Conceptualizing individual agency in the transition from school to work: a socio-ecological developmental perspective. Adolescent Research Review, 4(4), 135–148.
Sirkko, R., Kyrönlampi, T., and Puroila, A. M. 2019. Children’s agency: opportunities and constraints. International Journal of Early Childhood, 51(3), 283–300.
Sorokin P. S., Froumin I. D. (2022) Education As a Source for Transformative Agency: Theoretical and Practical Issues. Voprosy Obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, 1, 116-137.
Udehn L. (2002) The Changing Face of Methodological Individualism. Annual Review of Sociology, 28(1), 479–507.
Veronese, G., Pepe, A., Cavazzoni, F., Obaid, H., & Perez, J. (2019). Agency via life satisfaction as a protective factor from cumulative trauma and emotional distress among bedouin children in Palestine. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1674.
Zimmerman, B. J., & Cleary, T. J. (2006). Adolescents’ development of personal agency. In F. Pajares, & T. Urdan (Eds.), Adolescence and Education (Vol. 5): Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents, 45-69.
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