Theories of reading development emphasize the importance of syntactic skills, which involve understanding and manipulating sentence structures, in relation to reading comprehension. Some researchers regard syntactic skills to be universal predictors of reading comprehension. A recent meta-analysis by Tong and colleagues investigated the relation between syntactic skills and reading comprehension for two languages with distinctive syntactic structure: Chinese and English. The meta-analysis included a total of 59 articles, comprising 75 independent samples and 235 correlations. Among these, 37 studies had participants whose first language was English, while 22 studies involved participants whose first language was Chinese.  The results of the meta-analysis are shown below: Overall, a positive moderate correlation was found between syntactic skills and reading comprehension (r=+0.54). There was no significant difference in this correlation between English and Chinese (r = +0.54 for both languages). For English language studies, correlations were generally higher among secondary school students compared to...

Robot-assisted language learning involves the use of robots to aid students in learning and expressing language. In this educational approach, robots engage in interactive social behaviors. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis by Wang and Cheung investigated different types of robots’ social behaviors in language learning and their impacts. The review synthesized 59 empirical studies to explore in what contexts and how different social behaviors exhibited by robots have contributed to language learning, and the effectiveness of robots’ social supportive behaviors compared to their neutral behaviors. Results showed that robots’ social behaviors have predominantly been observed in contexts involving fewer than 80 K-12 students, for learning English vocabulary within a single session. In the process, robots interacted with students socially via non-verbal and verbal behaviors. Non-verbal behaviors consisted of physical appearance, gesture, posture, face and eye behaviors, and environment and space. Verbal behaviors included vocal behaviors, verbal immediacy, verbal feedback,...

The influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) on the development of children’s reading ability has been widely studied. A meta-analysis by Li and colleagues explored a mechanism through which SES affects reading ability. They proposed that SES not only has a direct effect on reading outcomes (reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension), but also indirectly affects reading ability through two linguistic skills, namely, phonological awareness (PA) and vocabulary knowledge (VK). To test this proposed mediation role, meta-analytic structural equation modeling was employed. The results of the modeling, based on 385 studies with participants age ranging from 2.16 to 17.9 years, revealed that SES had significant direct effect on linguistics skills and reading outcomes. Both PA and VK played a significant mediation role in the relation between SES and reading. Put differently, SES influenced students’ reading both directly and through its impact on phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. Moderation effects were also...

The American Educational Research Journal has published a meta-analysis on the impact of tutoring programs on student academic achievement in preK-12. The study aims to show how the effects vary based on a range of characteristics. For inclusion in the review, studies had to use randomized designs and evaluate preK-12 tutoring interventions on learning outcomes measured through independent tests (i.e., not created by researchers/developers of the program). A total of 90 studies were included in the review. Of these, 72 studies measured literacy outcomes and 22 math outcomes. Most of the programs were delivered by a paraprofessional (43 studies), while the others were delivered by teachers and non-professionals or parents. The authors also coded the following characteristics to assess the variation in impact of tutoring: teacher-student ratio, setting, grade level, and the quality of the study design. Overall, results showed significant positive effects of tutoring programs on student achievement (ES...

Numerous empirical studies suggest that social-emotional learning (SEL) programs generally yield positive outcomes for students. These programs have been shown to enhance academic performance and reduce conduct problems. Shi and Cheung conducted a comprehensive and rigorous meta-analysis to identify the program components that have a significant impact on SEL effectiveness across four domains: social-emotional skills, affect and attitudes, prosocial and antisocial behaviors, and academic performance. The final sample comprised 12 high-quality SEL programs, 59 studies published between 1980 and 2020. The program components were classified into five categories: cognitive elements, pedagogical activities, teacher social-emotional skills, climate support, and family engagement. Each program could consist of more than one component, and each component was treated as an individual dichotomous moderator when it was indicated as included in the program. Overall, SEL programs demonstrated significant improvements in youth social-emotional skills (ES=+0.17), affect and attitudes (ES=+0.09), academic performance (ES=+0.13), behaviors (ES=+0.14), and overall...

Efforts to address student reading increasingly look to technological solutions as a means of reaching more students in effective ways. In particular, the need for remote and blended learning options increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Personalized and adaptive learning technology (PAL) has become a key focus on innovation and research to address ongoing reading needs of students across the world. To be adaptive and deliver personalized learning support, PAL analyzes student responses and skills to adapt the pace, content, and difficulty of material for each student, ideally moving students through the program at their ideal pace. To address ongoing uncertainty as to the effectiveness of PAL in K-12 settings, Alrawashdeh and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis including 27 studies from 12 countries, including both high- and low-income nations (U.S.A., U.K., China, France, Malawi, and France, among others). Their analysis found that PAL interventions were significantly positive overall (ES...

Understanding the intricate workings of the human brain during the learning process has the potential to inform and improve classroom pedagogy, instructional design, and curriculum development. A recent study by Woolnough and colleagues from the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston examined brain structures during reading that provide useful insights into the learning process. In their study, the researchers conducted recordings of 36 patients’ brains to locate and identify the specific roles and brain area interactions that are involved in the act of reading. Doctors surgically placed electrodes in patients’ brains and measured neural activity while patients read three forms of sentences: regular sentences, sentences using common grammar and syntax but with nonsense words and lists of words or nonsense words. The measurements detected two distinct brain networks that are activated when a person reads a sentence, with the two networks cooperating to...

Using research data in practice is not an easy task; rather, it requires educators and local decision makers to delve beyond the summary data and dive into a series of analyses that show the performance and experiences of specific groups of students. A recent report by WestEd offers local decision makers valuable insights on using disaggregated quantitative data to understand educational disparities. Because one overall effect size might not reflect the specific performance of a given subgroup, separating quantitative data for student subgroups by specific criteria (e.g., ethnicity) provides a better picture of the inequalities that inform educational decisions. For example, is a certain outcome consistent for all ethnic groups? Does it differ by socio-economic status? Is it specific to students facing challenges? The report focuses on three measures to address disproportionality, namely, overrepresenting or underrepresenting groups of students in an educational context. Take, for example, a district with 10%...

In recent research studies, concerns have arisen regarding the potential inflation of intervention effects in reported findings, a phenomenon known as the ‘winner’s curse’. This raises questions about whether clearinghouses inadvertently contribute to this issue by prioritizing studies with statistically significant results for replication or funding. The latest article by Valentine, who has experience as an investigator at the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), explores the challenges faced by these organizations in this context. Clearinghouses have the challenging task of evaluating the credibility of claims relevant to their consumers, distinguishing between more and less credible ones. This complexity arises due to the intricate nature of studies and the limited empirical evidence available regarding the importance of various aspects of study conduct. Despite these challenges, the author argues that establishing evaluation standards can benefit the research community by serving as a communication tool to emphasize crucial aspects of research design and implementation....