This study investigated the constructs of reading motivation (i.e., affective and cognitive reading attitude, and reading self-concept) and examined their relations with reading behavior and performance. Hong Kong data from PIRLS 2016 were analyzed to address the questions. A special attention was paid to the indirect influences of the…

The present study validated the Preschool Reading Attitude Scale (PRAS) using a longitudinal sample of young Chinese children in Hong Kong (N = 197; age: mean [SD] = 52.38 [3.32] months at the first wave of assessment). Children were asked to rate their own attitudes toward reading in a Likert format with pictorial aids, and received individual…

Reading is a core element in language education. Despite extensive research in second/foreign language (L2/FL) reading, relatively little is known about the differences between two common practices: Compulsory reading (i.e. reading assigned by teachers) and voluntary reading (i.e. self-initiated reading). This article reports two related…

Despite much attention having been paid to foreign language (FL) reading and related variables such as self-efficacy, relatively few studies have focused on young learners, and even fewer on storybooks, arguably the commonest genre read by children worldwide for language learning. As FL learning commences at a young age in many contexts globally,…

This study investigated the associations among reading strategy instruction, student motivational factors (i.e., attitudes toward reading, reading self-concept, and motivation to read), gender, and reading achievement. The analyses were conducted using the Hong Kong sample (students at Level 1, n = 3,875 and teachers at Level 2, n = 133) from the…

There appears to be a dramatic decline in attitude toward reading between 2006 and 2011 for ten year-olds taking the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) examination. This "decline", however, is probably not real but is the result of a change in the attitude questionnaire, mentioned only in the fine print in the 2011…

Based on the data of Program for International Student Assessment 2009, this paper examines how various aspects of home literacy environment, school climate and students' reading engagement related to their reading performance. A profile of Hong Kong students' three indices of reading engagement -- namely, reading enjoyment, reading diversity and…

The outperformance of Chinese students in large-scale international assessments has increasingly attracted the attention of researchers. This study explored the relationship between an important student factor, self-regulated learning (SRL), and Hong Kong students' reading performance on Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA). Using…

Many scales contain both positively and negatively worded items. Reverse recoding of negatively worded items might not be enough for them to function as positively worded items do. In this study, we commented on the drawbacks of existing approaches to wording effect in mixed-format scales and used bi-factor item response theory (IRT) models to…

This study examined the influence of classroom pedagogic reading practices and out-of-school practices in explaining why the reading attainment of Hong Kong Grade 4 students was superior to that of their counterparts in Taiwan in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Analyses of scores from 9,301 students (4,712 from Hong Kong…

Background: This study examined the impact of the reading-related affective factors "home environment" and school "environment" on predicting the likelihood of students being either high-proficiency or low-proficiency readers. Data from 3,875 Hong Kong SAR Grade 4 students participating in an international comparative…

This study aimed to establish the validity of the Language Development Rating Scale and the Attitudes toward Reading and Voluntary Reading Behaviour Rating Scale in Morrow's Checklist for Assessing Early Literacy Development for use with preschool children in Hong Kong. The sample comprised 2619 preschool children aged three-five years who were…

This study investigated the relationships among Hong Kong Chinese students' reading attainment in Chinese and English, their attitudes toward reading, and their self-concept as readers. The sample consisted of 1,232 fourth-grade students from thirty-eight primary schools. Predictably, the students' reading attainment was better when tested in…

The study examines the reading attitudes and attainment of Hong Kong, Singapore and English primary-school students using data collected in the PIRLS 2001 international reading survey. A total of 13,486 students aged 9-10 years were assessed. Singaporean students were found to have more positive reading attitudes and confidence than Hong Kong and…