Early reading-related skills and performance, reading self-concept, and the development of academic self-concept: A longitudinal study.

TLDR

Past studies have underestimated when academic self‑concept and achievement become causally linked in young children. The study examined how academic self‑concept relates to reading performance and self‑concept in 60 children categorized by ASC after two years of schooling. Data were collected at school entry, at the end of Years 1 and 2, and mid‑Year 3. Children with negative ASC performed poorly on reading tasks and reported more negative reading self‑concepts, and reading ability predicted membership in negative and positive ASC groups but not typical ASC, highlighting the adverse consequences of negative ASC patterns.

Abstract

Relations between academic self-concept (ASC) and measures of reading-related performance and self-concept were examined in 60 beginning school children who, after 2 years of schooling, were assessed as having positive, negative, or typical ASCs. Data were collected soon after school entry, toward the end of Years 1 and 2, and during the middle of Year 3. Children with negative ASCs performed poorly on reading-related tasks and reported more negative reading self-concepts than did children with positive or typical ASCs. Reading was also highly predictive of negative and positive ASC group membership, but not of typical ASC group membership. Past studies of relations between ASC and achievement involving full-range samples of young children have underestimated the point in time when these factors become causally related to each other. The negative consequences of young children developing patterns of difficulty in learning to read are discussed.