Self-regulatory efficacy (SRE) among elementary school children is of interest because pupils' self-regulation capacities and SRE influence in managing learning situations. This study investigated variations in the four sources of SRE and how these variations were related to SRE, reading skills and arithmetic skills. The participants were 1284…

In this longitudinal study, we examined what kind of profiles of reading fluency and spelling skills could be identified among pupils (N = 467) and how stable these profiles were during the first three years of school. We also investigated how monolingual (Swedish) and simultaneously bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) pupils and gender were distributed…

The aim of the study was to investigate what kinds of assessment practices classroom teachers and special educational needs (SEN) teachers use in assessing first grade students' pre-reading skills (letter knowledge and phonological skills). Further, we investigated to what extent teachers were able to identify difficulties in pre-reading skills of…

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…

Identifying the factor structure of online reading to learn is important for the development of theory, assessment, and instruction. Traditional comprehension models have been developed from, and for, offline reading. This study used online reading to determine an optimal factor structure for modeling online research and comprehension among 426…

Specific language impairment (SLI) is a condition that affects children's emerging language skills. Many different language skills can be affected in SLI, but not all individuals with SLI have the same set of difficulties. As a result, SLI is a highly heterogeneous condition. The ability to read and understand written text is a higher function of…

Research Findings: The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent to which the quality of teacher-child interactions and teachers' self-reported curriculum emphases are related to children's reading skill development during their 1st school year. To accomplish this, we assessed the reading skills of 1,029 Finnish children (M…

Development of reading skills has been shown to be tightly linked to phonological processing skills and to some extent to speech perception abilities. Although speech perception is also known to play a role in reading development, it is not clear which processes underlie this connection. Using event-related potentials (ERPs) we investigated the…

The present study extends research on classroom quality profiles by examining the differences between profiles with respect to children's development in pre-academic skills and motivation across the kindergarten year. Teacher-child interactions were observed in 49 Finnish kindergarten classrooms using the CLASS Pre-K instrument. Based on prior…

This study examined cross-lagged associations between positive teacher and peer relations and academic skill development. Reading and math skills were tested among 625 students in kindergarten and Grade 4. Teacher reports of positive affect toward each student and classmate reports of peer acceptance were gathered in Grades 1-3. The results…

This study investigated the connection between language (i.e., word comprehension, reading comprehension and spelling skills) and mathematical performance. The sample consisted of grade nine students (N = 810) in 14 lower secondary schools in the Swedish speaking areas of Finland. Standardized tests for reading and writing skills, and mathematical…

This longitudinal study investigated the associations between the frequency of parents' reading-related activities at home and their children's reading-related skills during the transition from kindergarten to Grade 1. Longitudinal data were obtained for 1436 Finnish children (5- to 6-year-olds at baseline) and their mothers and fathers. 684 girls…

Background: This study investigates the posited relationship between learning to read, and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviours, during the transition from preschool to primary school. Methods: A total of 196 (104 boys, 92 girls) children participating in the Jyvaskyla Entrance into Primary School (JEPS) study were followed up six…