A multilevel analysis of Swedish and Norwegian students’ overall and digital reading performance with a focus on equity aspects of education

Abstract

Background: Influence of external factors in general, and socioeconomic background factors in particular, on traditional reading performance has been extensively researched and debated. While traditional reading is well investigated in this respect, there is a lack of studies on equity aspects related to digital reading achievement, in spite of the fact that time spent on reading from digital devices such as computers, tablets, and smart phones without doubt is increasing all over the world. In the hope of contributing to an area that up until now to a great extent has been left unresearched, the present study aims at investigating to what degree external factors, such as cultural and economic capital, parental pressure, and school choice, are related to 15-year-old students' achievement in digital reading and in overall reading on both the student level and the school level in Norway and Sweden. Methods:To conduct the analysis, multilevel structural modeling techniques have been used on PISA data from the two countries. Results:The results for the Norwegian as well as for the Swedish sample showed that overall reading achievement was related to cultural capital in both countries, as expected, and in line with previous research. An identified digital reading factor, representing the unique aspects of digital reading achievement when overall reading was controlled for, was less influenced by the external factors of cultural and economic capital, and by parental pressure and school type, compared to performance in overall reading. Interestingly, on the school level, it was found that the external factors, school choice, and parental pressure related to overall reading achievement differently in the Norwegian and Swedish samples. School choice influenced overall reading in the Swedish data but not in the Norwegian data, and the opposite pattern was found for parental pressure. Conclusion:In conclusion, it is suggested that the results indicate aspects of inequity in the school systems in Norway and Sweden. However, no influence of background factors on the unique aspects of digital reading ability was found, and a tentative interpretation could be that digital reading ability is not (yet) perceived as a part of a cultural capital.

Equity and Diversity in Reading Comprehension—A Case Study of PISA 2000–2018

“…Indeed, the impact of SES weakens in online reading and digital competence compared with traditional reading proficiency studies (Frønes & Narvhus, 2011;Olsen et al, 2015;Rasmusson, 2016), and our findings confirm this. However, why does reading online texts in new formats place students in a more equitable learning situation?…”

“…For our purposes, dynamic texts refer to interactive hypertext where the readers choose their own reading path, here including texts designed for the Internet and social media. Studies have shown that gender and home background seem to have less of an effect on students' performance in Nordic countries, among others, when reading digital texts compared with reading traditional texts (Fraillon, Ainley, Schulz, Friedman, & Gebhardt, 2014;Frønes & Narvhus, 2011;Olsen, Hatlevik, & Loi, 2015;Rasmusson, 2016). However, none of these studies have investigated whether the weakened effect on performance is covaried with the digital format, the text types or the reading tasks.…”

The Main Determinants of Moroccan Students' Outcomes

“…This observation was confirmed by Hanchane, Benbiga, and Idir [21], Linn, Hyde, and Else-Quest (2010), Ian, Armstrong, and Rounds (2009), Fuchs and Wößmann [19], Murphy [17], and Lamon, Fennema, and Hyde (1990). A meta-analysis by Su, Armstrong, and Rounds [18] explained this difference by noting that men prefer to work with things and tend to study fields such as science, mathematics, and engineering, while women prefer to work with people, and thus develop interests related to artistic and social activities.…”

“…These studies have suggested that girls outperform boys in reading, while the reverse is true in quantitative subjects. Adopting an international perspective, Rasmusson [19] examined gender differences in the variability of student performance and found that boys performed better in mathematics and science subjects.…”

A Bivariate Multilevel Analysis of Portuguese Students

“…Wu et al studied the relationship between principals’ leadership and student achievement using PISA 2015 United States data [ 12 ]. In [ 13 ], the study aimed at investigating to what degree external factors, such as cultural and economic capital, parental pressure, and school choice, are related to 15-year-old students’ achievement in digital reading and in overall reading on both the student level and the school level in Norway and Sweden, using PISA data from the two countries.…”