Individual Differences in Reading Development

Abstract

The idea of Matthew effects in reading—the widening achievement gap between good and poor readers—has attracted considerable attention in education research in the past 25 years. Despite the popularity of the topic, however, empirical studies that have analyzed the core assumption of Matthew effects in reading have produced inconsistent results. This review summarizes the empirical findings on the development of early interindividual differences in reading. We did not find strong support for the general validity of a pattern of widening achievement differences or for a pattern of decreasing achievement differences in reading. The inclusion of moderating variables, however, allowed a clearer picture to be painted. Matthew effects were more likely to occur for measures of decoding efficiency, vocabulary, and composite reading scores when the achievement tests were not affected by deficits in measurement precision. Furthermore, moderators such as the applied analytic method or the orthographic consistency of the language were of less importance for the emergence of Matthew effects in reading. An additional meta-analysis of studies reporting correlations between a baseline level and a growth parameter yielded a small, negative mean correlation (r = −.214), which again was moderated by properties of the measures. Possible explanations for the reported findings are discussed.

Personality‐achievement associations in adolescence—examining associations across grade levels and learning environments

“…He speculated that an increasing validity of personality measures through primary education as well as a change in the significance of grades through secondary and tertiary education may contribute to changes in associations. From another theoretical point of view, the cumulative nature of skills acquisition suggests that associations should increase in strength across grade levels (Pfost, Hattie, Dörfler, & Artelt, 2014;Stanovich, 1986). If students' personalities and their academic performances affect each other, these effects should accumulate over time, especially because they are reinforced by daily repetition in the school context.…”

Reading and Oral Vocabulary Development in Early Adolescence

“…Growth and stability can also be distinguished from spread (see Figure 1), which relates to whether the distribution of scores over time stays the same, decreases, indicating a compensatory pattern, or increases, such that the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer" (so called Matthew effects; Pfost, Hattie, Dörfler, & Artelt, 2014;Stanovich, 1986). Matthew effects have been reported for reading comprehension between 7 and 10 years (Quinn et al, 2015), and for vocabulary knowledge between childhood and 16 years (Duff et al, 2015).…”

Breaking the Cycle: Cumulative Disadvantage in Literacy

“…There are three main developmental patterns: the cumulative advantage model, the compensatory model, and a stable differences model (Pfost, Hattie, Dorfler, & Artelt, 2014). In the cumulative advantage model, students who begin with high-level skills continue to outpace and outachieve their peers.…”