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2004 |
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| Attitudes
and Motivation |
| The national
monitoring assessment programme recognises the impact of attitudinal and
motivational factors on student achievement in individual assessment tasks.
Students’ attitudes, interests and liking for a subject have a strong
bearing on progress and learning outcomes. Students are influenced and
shaped by the quality and style of curriculum delivery, the choice of
content and the suitability of resources. Other important factors influencing
students’ achievements are the expectations and support of significant
people in their lives, the opportunities and experiences they have in
and out of school, and the extent to which they have feelings of personal
success and capability. |
| |
|
| Reading
and Speaking Surveys |
The
national monitoring reading and speaking surveys sought information
from students about their curriculum preferences and their perceptions
of their achievement. Students were also asked about their enjoyment
of and involvement in reading and speaking activities, within school
and beyond. The surveys were administered in a session which included
group and independent tasks, with a teacher reading the survey to year
4 students and available to help with writing. There were five questions
that invited students to select up to three choices from lists of 8
to 10 options, one question that asked for very brief written responses,
and 21 questions in a 4-or-5 option rating format, with students circling
the option they preferred.
Students were asked
to select their three favourite school subjects from a list of fourteen
subjects. Among the year 4 students, physical education was the most
popular subject, listed as first, second or third choice by 46 percent
of year 4 students. Mathematics came second (43%), visual arts third
(38%), reading fourth (34%) and writing fifth (24%). Music rated sixth
(23%), and technology tenth (11%). The results for physical education,
mathematics and reading are similar to those in the 1996 survey, but
in 1996 art was first (70%) and music fourth (31%), just ahead of reading.
The addition of drama and dance to the list, and the renaming of art
as “visual art” might have had a substantial effect on the
results for art and music. |
| |
|
| PREFERRED
READING ACTIVITIES AT SCHOOL |
Year
4
2004 (00') ['96] |
|
Year
4
2004 (00') ['96] |
silent
reading |
57
(54) [62] |
69
(66) [78] |
listening
to the teacher reading |
51
(50) [61] |
42
(53) [58] |
reading
with a buddy or partner |
41
(41) [47] |
35
(29) [29] |
reading
with the teacher |
35
(28) [30] |
8
(7) [7] |
looking
at or browsing through books |
28
(19) [20] |
33
(39) [35] |
written
work |
20
(34) [31] |
23
(34) [37] |
reading
aloud |
15
(16) [12] |
13
(12) [11] |
talking
about books |
12
(20) [16] |
15
(19) [16] |
|
| |
|
For
year 8 students, physical education was first in popularity (69%), technology
second (46%), visual art third (25%), mathematics fourth (23%), and
music, drama, and dance fifth equal (20%). Reading was ninth equal (14%).
Eight years earlier, in 1996, physical education was first (55%), art
second (44%), mathematics third (40%), and technology fourth (23%),
with music sixth (20%) and reading seventh (19%). Technology clearly
has gained ground, while music has maintained its position (despite
the addition of dance and drama) and reading has lost a little ground.
The students were presented with a list of eight reading activities
and asked which they liked doing most at school. They were invited to
tick up to three activities. The responses are shown above, in order
of popularity for year 4 students.
Year 4 and 8 students gave similar responses to most of the activities.
However, year 4 students expressed much stronger preferences than year
8 students for reading with the teacher. Enjoyment of listening to the
teacher reading has declined (especially for year 8 students) since
1996, and over the past four years written work has declined markedly
in popularity for both year 4 and year 8 students.
Another question
asked the students to select up to three “important things a person
needs to do to be a good reader”. They were given 10 approaches
to choose from. The responses are shown adjacent, in order of indicated
importance for year 4 students. |
| |
|
| IMPORTANT
THINGS TO BE A GOOD READER |
Year
4
2004 (00') ['96] |
|
Year
4
2004 (00') ['96] |
| learn
hard words |
56
(53) [44] |
25
(21) [22] |
| concentrate
hard |
39
(34) [42] |
25
(28) [34] |
| read
a lot |
35
(35) [32] |
39
(45) [35] |
| go
back and try again |
35
(37) [45] |
31
(32) [42] |
| listen
to the teacher |
31
(33) [29] |
14
(8) [9] |
| sound
out words |
30
(29) [31] |
36
(39) [36] |
| enjoy
reading books |
26
(29) [28] |
58 (56) [52] |
| practise
doing hard things |
14
(15) [12] |
8
(7) [6] |
| choose
the right book |
13
(15) [19] |
29
(33) [28] |
| think
about what I read |
12
(13) [13] |
25
(21) [27] |
|
| |
|
The
results show that year 4 students tend to think about reading as a technical
task, requiring learning hard words, concentrating hard and listening
to the teacher, whereas year 8 students place greater emphasis on enjoying
reading (especially), choosing the right book and thinking about what
they read.
In response to a list of seven types of reading material, students indicated
up to three which they liked reading in their own time. The responses
are shown below, in order of popularity for year 4 students. |
| |
|
| PREFERRED
READING MATERIAL IN OWN TIME |
Year
4
2004 (00') ['96] |
|
Year
4
2004 (00') ['96] |
| story
books [fiction] |
61
(68) [69] |
68
(80) [71] |
| comics
|
49
(44) [48] |
37
(27) [31] |
| magazines
|
42
(31) [26] |
72
(61) [64] |
| books
about real things and people [non-fiction] |
37
(35) [57] |
39
(40) [46] |
| poetry
|
33
(40) [38] |
17
(14) [19] |
| junk
mail |
18
(20) [18] |
17
(16) [14] |
| newspapers
|
15
(19) [20] |
21
(14) [24] |
|
| |
|
| The results
reveal some important changes of voluntary reading activity between year
4 and year 8. In particular, year 8 students reported a considerably greater
focus on reading magazines, and markedly less interest in poetry. Between
1996 and 2004, magazines have increased in popularity substantially for
year 4 students, with a corresponding decline in the popularity of non-fiction
books. |
| |
|
| PREFERRED
ACTIVITY IN OWN TIME |
Year
4
2004 (00') |
|
Year
4
2004 (00') |
| play
games or sport |
46
(34) |
47
(44) |
| play
with friends |
39
(33) |
38
(41) |
| play
video or computer games |
40
(40) |
40
(34) |
| watch
TV |
38
(44) |
41
(41) |
| do
art |
31
(44) |
11
(14) |
| read
|
28
(34) |
22
(30) |
| talk
on telephone with friends |
23
(26) |
33
(33) |
| make
things |
19
(14) |
9
(12) |
| music
|
16
(14) |
31
(25) |
|
| |
|
The
students were presented with a list of nine activities that they might
do in their spare time, and asked to tick up to three activities that
they most liked to do. The responses are shown above, in order of popularity
for year 4 students.
Comparative results from the 1996 survey are not included because a change
in the ordering of the list of activities between 1996 and 2000 may have
differentially affected the results between 1996 and the two later surveys. |
|
The notable
differences between year 4 and year 8 responses are the markedly lower
interest of year 8 students in “doing art” and “making
things”, and their higher interest in activities relating to music.
The most notable changes between 2000 and 2004 are the increased popularity
among year 4 students of playing games or sport, and a decline for year
4 students in the popularity of art activities. For both year 4 and year
8 students there was a noticeable decline in the popularity of reading.
It may be relevant that in 2000 the Harry Potter books were enormously
popular.
Students were also asked if they had a favourite author. Sixty-two percent
of year 4 students said yes (compared to 61 percent in 2000 and 69 percent
in 1996). There is evidence of a moderate decline among year 8 students,
with 45 percent saying yes in 2004, compared to 53 percent in 2000 and
56 percent in 1996.
Responses to the 21 rating items are presented in separate tables for
year 4 students (p61) and year 8 students (p62). Some interesting positive
features were present in the responses of both year 4 and year 8 students: |
| |
|
| • |
more
than 80 percent were positive about reading at school, their own
competence in reading, going to a library, having their teacher
read a story out loud, and talking to a group in their class; |
|
• |
more
than 70 percent were positive about reading as an activity when
not at school, getting a book for a present, looking at books in
a bookshop, the books they read as part of their reading programme
at school, and having their teacher read a story out loud. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Less
positive features common to year 4 and 8 students were: |
| |
|
|
|
|
| • |
substantial
proportions (at least 18 percent) did not know how good their teacher
thought they were at reading (but this has improved, especially
for year 8 students), said their teacher never told them what they
need to improve at in reading, and clearly disliked reading out
loud to their class; |
|
• |
more than
10 percent said they never read to others at school, disliked reading
out loud to their teacher, and disliked talking to their whole class. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| There
were substantial differences between year 4 and year 8 students on some
questions. Our experience with previous NEMP surveys (in all subjects)
has shown that year 8 students are less inclined than year 4 students
to use the most positive rating category. The comparisons used here are
based on the percentages in the top two categories. Some noteworthy differences
between year 4 and year 8 responses were: |
| |
|
| • |
15
percent more year 4 students liked getting a book for a present; |
| • |
15
percent more year 4 students liked looking at books in a bookshop; |
| • |
12
percent more year 4 students liked going to a library. |
|
| |
|
| Looking
at the most positive and least positive categories, there were some noteworthy
changes from 1996 to 2004: |
| |
|
| • |
the
percentage of students who were very positive about how good they
were at reading improved markedly, by 10 percent for year 4 and
11 percent for year 8 (question 2); |
| • |
18
percent fewer year 4 and 10 percent fewer year 8 students were very
positive about their teacher reading a story aloud; |
| • |
11
percent fewer year 4 and 10 percent fewer year 8 students were very
positive about getting a book for a present; |
| • |
13
percent fewer year 8 students were very positive about looking at
books in a bookshop, or about going to a library. |
|
| |
|
| |
| Year
8 Reading and Speaking Survey 2004 (2000) [1996] |
| |
  |
|
|
|
don't know |
| 1.
How much do you like reading at school? |
31
(32) [31] |
50
(50) [55] |
16
(13) [12] |
3
(5) [2] |
|
| 2.
How good are you at reading? |
29
(31) [18] |
54
(53) [56] |
15
(14) [23] |
2
(2) [3] |
|
| 3.
How good does your teacher think you are at reading? |
21
(24) [10] |
37
(26) [27] |
7
(7) [8] |
3
(2) [1] |
32
(41) [54] |
| 4.
How good does your Mum or Dad think you are at reading? |
40
(45) [27] |
33
(27) [35] |
8
(8 )[9] |
1
(3) [2] |
18
(17) [27] |
| |
| |
heaps |
quite
a lot |
sometimes |
never |
|
| 5.
Does your teacher tell you what you are good at in reading? |
6
(6) |
16
(15) |
59
(58) |
19
(21) |
|
| 6.
Does your teacher tell you what you need to improve at in reading? |
7
(9) |
18
(16) |
52 (50) |
23
(25) |
|
| 7.
How often do you read to others at school? |
4
(3) |
10
(15) |
61
(59) |
25
(23) |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
don't
know |
| 8.
How much do you like reading in your own time – not at school? |
37
(36) [39] |
36
(36) [38] |
17
(18) [18] |
10
(10) [5] |
|
| 9.
How do you feel about getting a book for a present? |
35
(35) [45] |
38
(37) [39] |
20
(22) [13] |
7
(6) [3] |
|
| 10.
How do you feel about looking at books in a bookshop? |
39
(42) [52] |
37
(41) [37] |
19
(14) [9] |
5
(3) [2] |
|
| 11.
How do you feel about going to a library? |
40
(43) [53] |
41
(38) [32] |
15
(14 )[12] |
4
(5) [3] |
|
| 12.
How do you feel about the stories/books you read as part of your reading
programme at school? |
21
(25) [24] |
49
(42) [52] |
23
(23) [18] |
7
(10) [6] |
|
| 13.
How do you feel when your teacher reads a story out loud? |
41
(42) [51] |
41
(37) [36] |
13
(15) [10] |
5 (6) [3] |
|
| 14.
How do you feel about how well you read? |
39
(43) [30] |
45
(41) [49] |
12
(12) [18] |
4
(4) [3] |
|
| 15.
How do you feel about reading in a group in the classroom? |
31
(24) [26] |
35
(39) [41] |
25
(28) [24] |
9
(9) [9] |
|
| 16.
How do you feel when you are asked to read out loud to the teacher? |
24
(20) [19] |
35
(37) [36] |
24
(26) [25] |
17
(17) [20] |
|
| 17.
How do you feel when asked to read out loud to the class? |
18
(15) [13] |
29
(30) [25] |
23
(24) [23] |
30
(31) [39] |
|
| 18.
How much do you like talking to your whole class? |
29
(24) [17] |
37
(37) [41] |
21
(26) [28] |
13
(13) [14] |
|
| 19.
How much do you like talking to a group in your class? |
51
(46) [51] |
35
(38) [39] |
13
(13) [8] |
1
(3) [2] |
|
| |
| |
heaps |
quite
a lot |
sometimes |
never |
|
| 20.
How often do you get to talk to your whole class? |
11
(7) [3] |
22
(25) [30] |
61
(62) [65] |
6
(6) [2] |
|
| 21.
How often do you get to talk to others in your class? |
47
(40) [50] |
35
(40) [37] |
17
(19) [12] |
1
(1) [1] |
|
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