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This study investigates the effectiveness of a digital game-GraphoLearn (GL)-in supporting second-grade students who have persistent difficulties with acquiring accurate and fluent reading skills. The participants (N = 37) were randomly assigned either to a 6-week intervention including sessions with GL, in addition to school-provided support, or a control group receiving only school-provided support. The intervention took place at the students' homes and schools under the supervision of their parents and teachers. The results showed that the children who received the GL intervention developed significantly faster in word reading than the control group. Moreover, their reading development was significantly faster during the GL intervention compared with that of the follow-up period, which included only typical school-provided support. No transfer effects on reading fluency, reading comprehension, or spelling were found. Furthermore, the children who, according to the observations of their parents and teachers, showed higher cognitive engagement during the intervention had higher gains in word reading and sentence reading fluency than the children who appeared less cognitively engaged. Higher emotional engagement was related to increased playing time but not to larger gains in reading. The study indicates that a short digital game-based intervention training of letter-sound correspondences and word-level reading can give a boost to the reading development of struggling readers. Inspecting the engagement and in-game performance during gameplay provides important information that can be used for further development of the game to respond to the needs of the learners with severe difficulties.

This study examined to what extent parents' and teachers' beliefs about children's abilities predict children's self-concept of math and reading ability development during the first grade, and whether these predictions depend on the child's gender and level of performance. One hundred fifty-two children and their parents and teachers were followed across first grade. The results showed, first, that the associations between teachers' beliefs and children's subsequent self-concept of ability depended on the level of the children's performance. Among high-performers, the higher the teachers' beliefs about their students' abilities in reading or in math, the higher the subsequent level of self-concept of ability. Among low-performers no association was found between teachers' beliefs and students' selfconcept of ability in either reading or math. Second, mothers' and fathers' beliefs were not predictive of children's self-concept of math and reading ability during first grade. Overall, these results suggest that during the first grade it is teachers' rather than parents' beliefs, that play a role in children's selfconcept of ability. In teacher education, emphasis should therefore be placed on the importance of supporting children's developing self-concept as well as teaching new academic skills.

This study examined the development of adolescents' self-concept of ability in mathematics and literacy during secondary school, and the role that mothers' and fathers' beliefs concerning their child's abilities play in this development. Also examined was whether the role of mothers' and fathers' beliefs about their adolescent child's ability in mathematics and literacy differs according to the adolescent's gender and level of performance. A total of 231 adolescents and their mothers and fathers were followed up across secondary school. The results showed, first, that adolescents' self-concept of ability declined slightly from grade 7 to grade 9 in both mathematics and literacy. Second, mothers' and fathers' beliefs about their adolescent child's abilities in grade 7 predicted the child's subsequent self-concept in grade 9, but only in mathematics. Third, the role of mothers' beliefs in their child's self-concept of mathematics ability was found to be stronger among high-performing than low-performing adolescents.Keywords: self-concept of ability; secondary school; mother's beliefs; father's beliefs Pesu%et%al% % % | F L R ! ! 93! IntroductionStudents' self-concept of ability in different academic domains, that is, the knowledge and perceptions individuals have of themselves in a particular subject area (Bong & Skaalvik, 2003;Brunner, Keller, Hornung, Reichert, & Martin, 2009) influences their academic performance and the academic careerrelated choices they make (Eccles et al. 1983;Marsh, Trautwein, Lüdtke, Köller, & Baumert, 2005;Valentine, DuBois, & Cooper, 2004;Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis-Kean, 2006). Since these self-conceptions guide students' actual performance at school and hence their future education and related decisions, it is important to identify the factors that support the development of self-concept, particularly during the critical period of adolescence when self-concept of ability typically declines (Nagy et al., 2010;Wigfield et al., 1997). Because the development of self-concept of ability has been suggested to be linked to interaction with other people (Dermitzaki & Efklides, 2000), such as parents, the present study examined the development of self-concept of ability in literacy and mathematics among 231 Finnish adolescents from grade 7 to grade 9, and the role that mothers' and fathers' beliefs about their children's abilities play in this development. Also investigated was whether children's gender and level of performance influence the possible associations between parental beliefs and their child's self-concept of ability. Self-concept of abilityRecent research has led to an understanding that self-concept is multidimensional and hierarchical in nature and is formed in social comparison and in communication with significant others (Bong & Skaalvik, 2003). Thus, academic self-concept may be different for the domains of mathematics and verbal skills, for example (Arens, Yeung, Craven, & Hasselhorn, 2011). Previous research has shown that mathematics and verbal se...

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the child-related competence beliefs of mothers are associated with the development of Finnish adolescents' self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability during their transition from primary to lower secondary school and whether these associations depend on adolescents' level of performance. The results showed that, first, adolescents' self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability decreased over time. The impact of maternal beliefs on the linear trend of the self-concept of mathematics and literacy ability was dependent on the level of students' performance. Mothers' high beliefs buffered against the decrease in adolescents' self-concept of ability in mathematics, but only among high-performing adolescents. In turn, mothers' high beliefs in adolescents' literacy ability were detrimental to the development of low-performing adolescents' self-concept of ability in literacy, whereas mothers' beliefs had no effect on the change in the self-concept of students with average or high literacy performance.