In this study, we examined the effectiveness of an innovative approach to literacy instruction in Malawi on teachers' perceptions, attitudes, and instructional practices. Two groups participated in the study: Treatment teachers received complementary teaching and learning materials, workshops, and directive coaching, and control teachers received no intervention. After this five‐month intervention, treatment teachers were significantly more comfortable with their languages of instruction and were more positive about their teaching ability, beliefs about the learning materials in their classroom, and beliefs about the culture of reading in their communities than control teachers were. There were no significant differences between groups when we analyzed their teaching practices or the engagement of their students. The coaching model proved to be associated with changes in teachers' beliefs and perceptions on many of our variables. These findings suggest that the program under examination was successful in promoting the conditions for success (teacher beliefs and perceptions). Further, the findings suggest that the implementation of coaching was an important source of support in implementing changes.

This study examines, within the domain of science, the characteristics of words that predict word knowledge and word learning. The authors identified a set of word characteristicslength, part of speech, polysemy, frequency, morphological frequency, domain specificity, and concreteness-that, based on earlier research, were prime candidates to explain variation in word knowledge and word learning. The outcome measures were the pretest (evidence of word knowledge) and posttest (evidence of word learning) vocabulary scores of second-through fourth-grade students who participated in one of several studies designed to evaluate the efficacy of science units that were part of a multiyear research and development program for an integrated science and literacy curriculum. The authors first examined individual predictors and then built multivariate models from the individually significant predictors of pretest score. Three characteristics were predictive of word knowledge (pretest score) at two or more grade levels; frequency, polysemy, and length predicted word difficulty independent of instruction. These three characteristics accounted for 39% of the variance in third graders' pretest scores. Polysemy and frequency alone accounted for 34% of the variance at second grade and 23% at fourth grade. In addition, frequency and polysemy explained students' vocabulary growth scores (posttest controlling for pretest) over the course of instruction at two of three grade levels. Understanding which characteristics of words are related to difficulty within the domain of science may provide a principled basis both for the selection of words for instruction and for differentiating instruction across categories of science words.

Children in low‐income, postcolonial countries such as Malawi have few opportunities with quality reading materials that promote independence as readers. In this study, we argue that access to locally produced text relevant to linguistic and cultural contexts is a fundamental human right for children throughout the world. Situating this study within the intersection of research on children's rights and complementary reading materials, we analyse data from a project in Malawi. We consider the ways in which a respect for children's educational rights – specifically, their rights to access information via children's books – can help them develop their biliteracy. Additionally, we examine how the Read Malawi program contributes to Malawian children's literacy development in both national and official languages. Our findings suggest not only a humanistic need for quality complementary books, but also the empirical justification for books in the hands of children; in particular, an interconnected relationship between borrowing books from school and engagement with Read Malawi was found, especially when we explore children's English proficiency. Through Read Malawi, this study exemplifies what a quality literacy intervention can do in supporting children's Chichewa and English proficiency and improving their rights to quality education.

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Abstract:It is well known that the home environment is a major factor in a child's literacy development. Exactly how different home-environmental factors play out across different national contexts is not as well understood. Using data from the 2011 Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study (PIRLS), we tested for structural invariance in the relationship between early childhood home literacy practices and later fourth-grade achievement among students across 52 countries or regions within countries (N = 106,297-109,582), while controlling for background characteristics. Findings indicate that the effect of many aspects of the home environment prior to school age, including adult-child interactions and parental values and beliefs about reading, may interact with national factors, particularly factors relating to government-subsidised preschool programmes. Implications include that any 2 D.J. Arya et al.early home reading intervention efforts should include thoughtful consideration of the national policies and funding for preschool learning.