The interplay of reading-related emotions and updating in reading comprehension performance

Lessons in a Green School Environment and in the Classroom: Effects on Students' Cognitive Functioning and Affect

The positive impact of short-term exposure to nature during a green recess in a school day is documented in the literature. In this study we investigated cognitive, academic, and affective effects of a single contact with nature during a regular school lesson in the greenness, compared to an usual classroom lesson, on young students in second and third grades (N = 65). In a within-subjects design, for the cognitive effects we examined children's (a) selective and sustained attention and (b) math calculation performance in common school tasks. For affective effects we considered (c) their positive and negative mood and (d) the perception of environmental restorativeness. Findings revealed that after a single lesson taught in the green school garden, children had greater selective attention and math calculation performance in two tasks than after a similar lesson in the classroom environment. Moreover, children with higher self-reported emotional difficulties showed greater selective attention and reported a statistically significant increase in positive affect and a tendency to a significant decrease in negative affect after the lesson in the greenness than in the classroom. Students also perceived the green space as more restorative than the classroom environment. Results are discussed against theories on the benefits of exposure to natural environments, highlighting the theoretical and practical significance of the study.

Reading with induced worry: The role of physiological self-regulation and working memory updating in text comprehension

BACKGROUND

An interplay of emotional and cognitive aspects underlies academic performance. We focused on the contribution of such interplay to text comprehension.

AIMS

We investigated the effect of worry on comprehension and the role of two potential moderators of this effect: physiological self-regulation as resting heart rate variability (HRV) and working memory updating.

SAMPLE

Eighty-two seventh graders were involved in a quasi-experimental design.

METHODS

Students read an informational text in one of two reading conditions: to read for themselves to know more (n = 46; low-worry condition) or to gain the highest score in a ranking (n = 36; high-worry condition). Students' resting HRV was recorded while watching a video of a natural scenario. The executive function of working memory updating was also assessed. After reading, students completed a comprehension task.

RESULTS

Findings revealed the moderating role of HRV in the relationship between induced worry and text comprehension. In the high-worry condition, students with higher resting HRV performed better than students who read under the same instructions but had lower HRV. In contrast, in the low-worry condition, students with higher resting HRV showed a lower performance as compared to students with lower HRV. Finally, working memory updating was positively related to text comprehension.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that the cognitive component of anxiety, that is, worry, plays a role in performing a fundamental learning activity like text comprehension. The importance of physiological self-regulation emerges clearly. In a condition of high worry, higher ability to regulate emotions and thoughts acts as a protective factor.

School Belonging and Reading Literacy: A Multilevel Moderated Mediation Model

School belonging is of great significance to students' physical and mental health development, especially academic improvement. However, the mechanism of the influence of school belonging on student academic achievement should be further explored, especially reading performance. Based on ecological systems theory and self-determination theory, the present research constructs a multilevel design to examine a moderated mediation model in which school belonging as a level-1 predictor, mastery goal orientation as a level-1 mediator and school disciplinary climate as a level-2 moderator jointly impact reading literacy. Results of the study were based on the questionnaires from 11,364 (5,455 girls and 5,909 boys) 15-year-olds nested in 332 schools in mainland China that participated in PISA 2018. The cross-sectional analysis indicated that: (1) school belonging had a direct and positive effect on student reading literacy; (2) the relationship between school belonging and reading literacy was prominently mediated by mastery goal orientation; (3) both school disciplinary climate level and strength could negatively moderate the latter half path of "school belonging → mastery goal orientation → reading literacy." Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

The association between anxiety and academic performance in children with reading disorder: A longitudinal cohort study

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between anxiety and overall academic performance (AP) in children with reading disorder (RD). This two-year longitudinal cohort study included 128 participants (aged 7-14 years) with RD. Anxiety symptoms were evaluated using the School Anxiety Scale - Teacher Report for the first year and the eight-item Spence Children's Anxiety Scale for the second year. AP was assessed by teacher ratings of progress in academic content areas, including reading, writing and math. Teachers completed evaluations every 3 months. We standardized all scores (to z scores). Multivariate linear regression models (adjusting for age, sex and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms) assessed the association cross-sectionally at each timepoint of survey completion. Repeated measures analysis using mixed models assessed the relationship longitudinally. Results from both univariate and multivariate analyses showed anxiety being significantly negatively associated with AP in children with RD, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Importantly, increased anxiety was significantly associated with reduced AP over time within an individual (adjusted β = -0.22, p = .002). This lends support to screening for anxiety disorders in children with RD. Future research should examine the directionality of this relationship, potential mediators in the pathway and whether interventions to reduce anxiety increase AP.

Control and value appraisals and online multiple-text comprehension in primary school: The mediating role of boredom and the moderating role of word-reading fluency

BACKGROUND

Online multiple-text comprehension is a key skill of the 21st Century, yet the study of its relations with boredom in young students has been disregarded. Boredom is an achievement emotion expected to be predicted negatively by antecedents like control and value appraisals and to be associated to a negative performance. Notwithstanding its documented domain-specificity, scarce attention has been paid to investigating these relations with primary-school students in the reading domain, and specifically for online multiple-text comprehension, and to how such relations are moderated by basic cognitive abilities.

AIMS

Considering separately two settings (homework, test), we studied the mediation of boredom in the relation between control-value appraisals and online multiple-text comprehension in primary-school students, focusing on the moderating role of word-reading fluency.

SAMPLE

Participants were 334 fourth and fifth graders.

METHODS

We evaluated students' reading-related self-efficacy and task-value, reading-related boredom for homework and tests, word-reading fluency, and online multiple-text comprehension.

RESULTS

Path analyses revealed negative relations between control-value appraisals and boredom for homework and tests, and between boredom and online multiple-text comprehension for tests only. For the latter, word-reading fluency moderated the relation between appraisals, boredom, and comprehension: Boredom negatively related to comprehension only for students with high word-reading fluency.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings are discussed focusing on antecedents of online multiple-text comprehension as a literacy skill critical in the 21st Century. We underlined their implications for learning in general and specifically for the current educational changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.