UC Irvine

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate how the quality and quantity of literacy instruction are related to children's language and reading achievement at the elementary level. To this end, I conducted three studies: Study 1 used a meta-analytic approach to synthesize extant research findings regarding the correlational coefficients reported between the observed classroom practices (including both quality and quantity of teaching behaviors) and students’ language and literacy achievement from Pre-K to 6th grade; Study 2 employed multilevel multivariate models to examine the how the instructional quantity (i.e., amount of code-based or meaning-based instruction) is related to Grade 1 to Grade 3 students’ reading outcomes while accounting for the relation of students’ initial reading skills to teachers’ instruction as well as a variety of student-and teacher-level characteristics such as students’ race, gender and teachers’ teaching experience; Study 3 employed multilevel multivariate models to examine the how the instructional quality (i.e., teacher warmth and responsiveness, and organization for instruction) is related to student language (listening comprehension) and reading achievement while accounting for the relation of students’ initial reading skills to teachers’ instruction in Grade 1 to Grade 3.

Study 1 obtained a significant but weak association between the observed classroom practices and students’ language and literacy achievement from 108 studies: the average zero-order correlation is .12 and the partial correlation is .04. The relation was slightly weaker in upper than in lower grade levels and stronger for observations capturing macro quality and an instructional dimension than those capturing micro quantitative measurement and an emotional or structural dimension, respectively. Study 2 used data from 800 students and their teachers from Grade 1 to Grade 3, and detected a positive relation of a greater amount of meaning-based instruction to Grade 1 and Grade 2 students’ reading comprehension and a negative relation of the increasing amount of code-based instruction to Grade 2 and Grade 3 students’ reading comprehension. Study 3 used data from 372 students and their teachers in Grade 1 to Grade 3 (part of the sample in Study 2), and found a positive relation of teacher warmth and responsiveness to students’ word reading in Grade 2 and a positive relation of organization for instruction to listening comprehension in Grade 3. These results collectively suggest a weak relation of the observed quantity and quality of literacy instruction to students’ language and reading development at the elementary level. In addition, this dissertation shed light on the complexity and multidimensionality of classroom instruction and advocated more deliberated consideration in developing and applying observational tools in informing teaching and monitoring students’ language and literacy development.

Keywords: classroom observation, language and literacy development, meta-analysis, elementary education