Introduction: Across the world, mathematical expressions are represented very differently in braille. The aim of this study was (1) to gain an overall insight in mathematical braille notations and (2) to investigate how mathematical braille notations support braille readers in reading and comprehending mathematical expressions. Method: Twenty…

Recently, several studies have suggested that metacognition emerges early in infancy and toddlerhood. However, to date, the developmental trajectory of these early metacognitive monitoring and control processes and their influence on children's later memory functioning remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to longitudinally document…

Since its official introduction in 2014, an increasing number of Flemish secondary schools provide a CLIL program next to their regular monolingual Dutch programs. This longitudinal study investigates the effect of teaching one or several content subjects in French on secondary school pupils' L2 French listening comprehension (n = 545) and…

Students with dyslexia face particular challenges in higher education. Individuals with disabilities have a right to accommodations to guarantee equal opportunities and participation in education. The present study addresses (1) the frequency of functioning and participation problems of students with dyslexia in higher education, (2) the teaching…

Performing a stay in a country where the L2 is the official language can provide the perfect immersion for L2 development (traditional study abroad). In the case of English learners, internationalization and the role of English as a lingua franca make it unnecessary to perform the stay in an English-speaking country. Hence, an increasing number of…

Background: Providing a rich home literacy environment (HLE) is considered to contribute to the development of students' reading comprehension. However, less research attention has been given to the underlying mechanisms that influence this relationship, including potential mediating characteristics. The present study aims to assess whether…

Literacy is a term generally used for adults and young people. Basically, it is an acquisition that includes the process of reading, writing and understanding symbols in any language. While this concept, whose definition and scope has expanded over time, refers to people who can only say their names in the past, today it refers to individuals who…

Background: Reading and reading comprehension are crucial skills, yet many students in grade 4 struggle with them. To address this, several instructional practices have gained popularity. For one, explicit reading strategy instruction (ERSI) is deemed useful, given the finding that successful readers tend to employ reading strategies. As a second…

School-based language policies (SLP) are expected to have a positive effect on student achievement. To date, few studies have empirically examined the impact of such policies on student outcomes. This study investigates to what extent SLPs are related to pupils' reading performance from an educational effectiveness perspective. In addition, the…

At-risk students are overrepresented in disadvantaged segregated primary schools. Often, these students begin with an educational delay and have less parental support, which makes them more dependent on the quality of their education. Since quality of education depends in great measure upon mechanisms at the class level, it is crucial to gain…

A mixed-methods study was conducted to investigate the relationship between four aspects of quality of teaching (safe and stimulating learning climate, efficient classroom management, adaptation of teaching, teaching learning strategies) and reading comprehension in segregated, low SES classes in Flanders. Second-grade students (n = 312) were…

This study examines how three captioning types (i.e., on-screen text in the same language as the video) can assist L2 learners in the incidental acquisition of target vocabulary words and in the comprehension of L2 video. A sample of 133 Flemish undergraduate students watched three French clips twice. The control group (n = 32) watched the clips…

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) is the fourth assessment in the current trend series, following PIRLS 2001, 2006, and 2011. There were 61 participants in PIRLS 2016, including 50 countries and 11 benchmarking entities (e.g., regions of countries as well as additional grades or language groups from the participating…

PIRLS 2016 data from eight education systems were used to examine how teachers from three different language groups differed in their teaching of reading literacy. Teaching reading practices differed substantially between the three linguistic/cultural groups. In English-speaking systems, effective practices for establishing reading literacy seem…

This study compared the effects of being in different tracks during the first 3 years of secondary education on student academic performance. A sample of a longitudinal cohort study in Flanders (3,205 students in 46 schools) was used to describe the learning gains for mathematics and reading comprehension. Four tracks were distinguished, with a…