The Relation Between Global and Specific Mindset With Reading Outcomes for Elementary School Students

Description

An emerging body of research has evaluated the role of the growth mindset in educational achievement, yet little work has focused on the unique role of the mindset to standardized reading outcomes. This study presents four key outcomes in a sample of 195 fourth-grade students. First, the authors evaluated the dimensionality of general and reading-specific mindset and found that a global factor of growth mindset (GGM) existed, along with specific factors of the general and reading mindsets. Second, GGM and the reading mindset strongly predicted word reading and reading comprehension performance. Third, GGM and the reading mindset uniquely predicted reading comprehension performance after controlling for basic word reading skills. Fourth, GGM was more strongly associated with reading comprehension for individuals with weaker reading comprehension skills, whereas the reading mindset was more strongly associated with reading comprehension for those with stronger reading comprehension skills. The findings suggest the potential importance of assessing general and reading-specific mindsets linked to reading

Citation

Petscher, Y., Al Otaiba, S., Wanzek, J., Rivas, B., & Jones, F. (2017). The relation between global and specific mindset with reading outcomes for elementary school students. Scientific Studies of Reading. Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/10888438.2017.1313846