Academic performance of secondary education students in socio-familial risk contexts / Rendimiento académico de estudiantes de educación secundaria en contextos sociofamiliares de riesgo

Abstract Introduction: The relationship that socio-familial and non-cognitive variables have on students in regards to their academic performance is a very important element for success in Secondary Education. In this study the influence of non-cognitive variables (academic self-concept, self-efficacy and perceived family affective support) and socio-familial variables (educational level and expectations of each parent) on the academic performance of secondary school students were analysed. Method: Students were grouped according to their accumulated socio-familial risk index (at-risk students, n = 305; not-at-risk students, n = 991). To measure the variables, the scales What do you think of yourself, General Self-Efficacy and Perceived Family Support were used. Socio-family variables were measured with an ad hoc questionnaire, and academic performance with the end-of-course evaluation scores. Results: The receiver operating characteristic curve showed a decrease in students' academic performance from three or more accumulated risks. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was performed for each group. The results showed that for at-risk students, academic performance was mainly determined by two variables: academic self-concept and self-concept; in contrast to the not-at-risk students in which self-efficacy was the one that had the greatest effect on performance. In both groups, the parents' expectations were the family variable with the highest incidence being performance, although, for the at-risk group, the effect was greater. Conclusions: The relevance of the identification of non-cognitive and socio-familial variables on the academic performance of at-risk students in regards to secondary education due to socio-familial factors is discussed.

Resumen: Introducción: La relación que las variables sociofamiliares y no cognitivas de los estudiantes tienen con el rendimiento académico es un elemento muy importante para el éxito escolar en la educación secundaria. En este estudio se analizó la influencia de variables no cognitivas (autoconcepto académico, autoeficacia y apoyo afectivo familiar percibido) y variables sociofamiliares (nivel educativo y expectativas de cada progenitor) en el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de secundaria. Método: El alumnado fue agrupado de acuerdo con su índice de riesgo sociofamiliar acumulado (estudiantes en riesgo, n = 305; estudiantes sin riesgo, n = 991). Para medir las variables se utilizaron las escalas Qué opinas de ti mismo, Autoeficacia general y Apoyo familiar percibido. Las variables sociofamiliares se midieron con un cuestionario ad hoc, y el rendimiento académico con las calificaciones de la evaluación de final de curso. Resultados: La curva ROC mostró una disminución en el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de tres o más riesgos acumulados. Se realizó un modelo de ecuación estructural (SEM) para cada grupo. Los resultados mostraron que en los estudiantes en riesgo el rendimiento académico estuvo determinado principalmente por dos variables: el autoconcepto académico y el autoconcepto; a diferencia de los estudiantes sin riesgo en los que la autoeficacia fue la que tuvo un mayor efecto en el rendimiento. En ambos grupos, las expectativas de los progenitores fueron las variables familiares con mayor incidencia en el rendimiento, aunque en el grupo de riesgo el efecto fue mayor. Conclusiones: Se discute la relevancia de la identificación de variables no cognitivas y sociofamiliares para el desempeño académico de estudiantes de educación secundaria en riesgo por factores sociofamiliares.

Socio-familial risk factors and personal protective variables of academic performance in secondary education students / Factores de riesgo socio-familiares y variables personales protectoras del rendimiento académico de estudiantes de Educación Secundaria

Background: Socio-familial risk factors negatively affect the academic performance of students. The objective of this study consisted in analyzing which personal variables can reduce the negative relationship between socio-familial risk factors and academic performance. Method: A sample of 1268 Secondary students was selected, of which 443 had two or more risk factors. The examined variables were the following: Socio-familial, academic goals, causal attributions, academic self-concept, self-efficacy and academic performance. Results: The incidence of accumulation of risk factors in the performance was confirmed. We distinguished at-risk students with good and poor performance from the personal variables analyzed, and showed the protective effect of these variables on performance against risk accumulation. Conclusions: Based on the identification of risk factors that may hinder performance, the findings offer information to develop both educational intervention strategies that improve performance and personal variables that mediate positively in school outcomes

Antecedentes: los factores sociofamiliares de riesgo afectan negativamente al rendimiento académico de los estudiantes. Este estudio analizó qué variables personales pueden reducir la relación negativa entre factores sociofamiliares de riesgo y rendimiento académico. Método: se seleccionó una muestra de 1.268 estudiantes de Secundaria, de los cuales 443 tenían dos o más factores de riesgo. Se examinaron variables sociofamiliares, metas académicas, atribuciones casuales, autoconcepto académico, autoeficacia y rendimiento académico. Resultados: se confirmó la incidencia de la acumulación de factores de riesgo en el rendimiento. Se diferenció a los estudiantes en riesgo con buen y bajo rendimiento a partir de las variables personales analizadas, y se mostró el efecto protector de las mismas en el rendimiento frente a la acumulación de riesgos. Conclusiones: los hallazgos ofrecen información para desarrollar estrategias de intervención educativa que mejoren el rendimiento, a partir de la identificación de factores de riesgos que puedan obstaculizarlo, y el desarrollo de variables personales que medien positivamente en los resultados escolares

Socio-familial risk factors and personal protective variables of academic performance in Secondary Education students.

BACKGROUND: Socio-familial risk factors negatively affect the academic performance of students. The objective of this study consisted in analyzing which personal variables can reduce the negative relationship between socio-familial risk factors and academic performance. METHOD: A sample of 1268 Secondary students was selected, of which 443 had two or more risk factors. The examined variables were the following: Socio-familial, academic goals, causal attributions, academic self-concept, self-efficacy and academic performance. RESULTS: The incidence of accumulation of risk factors in the performance was confirmed. We distinguished at-risk students with good and poor performance from the personal variables analyzed, and showed the protective effect of these variables on performance against risk accumulation. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the identification of risk factors that may hinder performance, the findings offer information to develop both educational intervention strategies that improve performance and personal variables that mediate positively in school outcomes.

Instructional Practices for Spelling by Spanish-Speaking Children With and Without Learning Disabilities in Early Grades.

The main objectives of this study were to examine the type of adaptations made by Grades 1 through 3 primary school teachers working with children who are poor spellers of a transparent language such as Spanish and to analyze whether these adaptations were determined by the grade taught by these teachers. Using the total population of primary school classroom teachers in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands as a base, the authors took a random sample that was stratified by level, resulting in a representative sample of 300 teachers. For data collection, the authors employed an online questionnaire containing a list of specific teaching activities or procedures the teachers used to work on spelling. Results revealed that regardless of the grade taught, the teachers made a variety of adaptations in these teaching activities or procedures when working with weaker spellers, as compared to when working with stronger spellers. Furthermore, the results provide information on Spanish language spelling practices for these specific grades.

Prevalencia de las dificultades específicas de aprendizaje: La dislexia en español / Prevalence of specific learning disabilities: The case of dyslexia in Spain

El presente trabajo ha tenido como objetivo analizar la prevalencia de las dificultades de aprendizaje en niños españoles. El primer estudio fue diseñado para analizar en la Comunidad Autónoma de Canarias la prevalencia de alumnado identificado dentro de esta categoría de diagnóstico. Se diseñó un segundo estudio, centrado en el área curricular de lengua escrita, con objeto de averiguar si en la detección de las dificultades de aprendizaje es suficiente el criterio curricular o, por el contrario, es necesario establecer además criterios diagnósticos específicos asociados al área curricular. Los resultados del primer estudio demuestran que en la categoría diagnóstica de dificultades de aprendizaje se registran las cifras de prevalencia más altas en el ámbito de la Educación Especial. Asimismo, los hallazgos obtenidos en el segundo estudio sugieren que delimitar de forma operativa la dificultad específica de aprendizaje, combinando el criterio curricular con el psicométrico, reduce el porcentaje de alumnado identificado. Se discuten las implicaciones de estos hallazgos con vistas a facilitar en la práctica educativa el establecimiento de pautas de intervención más eficaces y mejor adaptadas a las necesidades educativas de este alumnado (AU)

The main purpose of this research has been to analyze the prevalence of specific learning disabilities in Spain. A first study was conducted in the Canary Islands region to demonstrate that “learning problems” is one of the most identified areas in the Special Education field. This fact is a consequence of the lack of specific criteria to identify students with “Learning Disabilities”. Consequently, a second study was designed to test whether the identification of LD students should not be only based on curricular criteria but also on standardized specific criteria in each academic subject (i.e., reading, writing, arithmetic, etc.). We found that the greater proportion of individuals with special educational needs is identified as LD. Likewise, when used psychometric criteria for LD identification, the percentage obtained is lower. By this way the counsellors could provide an educational response more appropriate to these children (AU)

[Speech perception development in children with dyslexia]. / Desarrollo de la percepción del habla en niños con dislexia.

Several studies have indicated that dyslexics show a deficit in speech perception (SP). The main purpose of this research is to determine the development of SP in dyslexics and normal readers paired by grades from 2nd to 6th grade of primary school and to know whether the phonetic contrasts that are relevant for SP change during development, taking into account the individual differences. The achievement of both groups was compared in the phonetic tasks: voicing contrast, place of articulation contrast and manner of articulation contrast. The results showed that the dyslexic performed poorer than the normal readers in SP. In place of articulation contrast, the developmental pattern is similar in both groups but not in voicing and manner of articulation. Manner of articulation has more influence on SP, and its development is higher than the other contrast tasks in both groups.

[Spelling development in the Spanish language]. / Evolución de la escritura de palabras de ortografía arbitraria en lengua española.

This study focused on spelling development in Spanish children from elementary grades. A sample of 1045 was selected from 2nd to 6th grade belonging to four schools in Tenerife Island with an age range between 7 and 12 years old (M = 113.8, SD = 17.6). We administered a standardized writing test that includes diverse subtests to assess spelling, ruled and not ruled, and various written composition tasks (i.e., writing a story based on vignettes, describing a character and writing a story). We calculated the average of correct spellings in each variable and school level, and we also analyzed the type of misspellings that children made across different writing tasks. We found that spelling is acquired by 4th-grade children when it is not ruled, whereas the spelling of ruled words is acquired by 5th-grade children. When we analyzed the misspellings in a dictation task, we found that the children confused spelling of the graphemes c/s/z/x. Across different writing tasks, we found that students committed more misspellings with the graphemes b/v, h y c/s/z/x before they finished the 4th elementary grade.

Desarrollo de la percepción del habla en niños con dislexia / Speech perception development in children with dyslexia

Numerosos estudios han mostrado que los disléxicos presentan déficit de percepción del habla (PH). El objetivo de esta investigación es examinar el desarrollo de la PH en disléxicos y normolectores emparejados por curso de 2º a 6º de Primaria y explorar si los contrastes fonéticos, relevantes para percibir el habla, varían a lo largo del desarrollo en función de las diferencias individuales en lectura. Se comparó el rendimiento de ambos grupos en tareas de discriminación de sonoridad, punto y modo de articulación. Los resultados mostraron que los disléxicos obtuvieron un rendimiento en PH inferior al de los normolectores. El patrón de desarrollo de PH de ambos grupos es similar en punto de articulación, y diferente en sonoridad y modo de articulación. El modo de articulación es lo que tiene más peso en la PH, y muestra un mayor nivel de desarrollo en ambos grupos

Several studies have indicated that dyslexics show a deficit in speech perception (SP). The main purpose of this research is to determine the development of SP in dyslexics and normal readers paired by grades from 2nd to 6th grade of primary school and to know whether the phonetic contrasts that are relevant for SP change during development, taking into account the individual differences. The achievement of both groups was compared in the phonetic tasks: voicing contrast, place of articulation contrast and manner of articulation contrast. The results showed that the dyslexic performed poorer than the normal readers in SP. In place of articulation contrast, the developmental pattern is similar in both groups but not in voicing and manner of articulation. Manner of articulation has more influence on SP, and its development is higher than the other contrast tasks in both groups

Evolución de la escritura de palabras de ortografía arbitraria en lengua española / Spelling development in the Spanish language

El objetivo de este trabajo consistió en estudiar la evolución de la escritura de palabras con ortografía arbitraria en alumnado de Educación Primaria (EP). La muestra estaba compuesta por 1.045 escolares de segundo a sexto curso de EP de 4 centros de la Isla de Tenerife, entre 7 y 12 años de edad (M= 113.8; DT= 17.6). Se les dictaban palabras con ortografía arbitraria, reglada y no reglada, y se les pidió también que realizaran tareas de composición escrita (i.e., escritura de una historia apoyada en viñetas, descripción de un personaje y escritura de un cuento). Se analizaron tanto los aciertos como los errores ortográficos en el dictado y la composición escrita. Los resultados encontrados señalan que la ortografía arbitraria, cuando no es reglada, se adquiere a partir de 4º curso de EP, mientras que la escritura de palabras de ortografía reglada la adquieren a partir de 5º curso de EP. Analizando los errores ortográficos en la escritura al dictado se observó que existía mayor confusión en la escritura de los grafemas c/s/z/x. En las diferentes tareas de composición escrita encontramos que, hasta la finalización del segundo ciclo, los escolares tienden a confundir los grafemas b/v, h y c/s/z/x

This study focused on spelling development in Spanish children from elementary grades. A sample of 1045 was selected from 2nd to 6th grade belonging to four schools in Tenerife Island with an age range between 7 and 12 years old (M= 113.8, SD= 17.6). We administered a standardized writing test that includes diverse subtests to assess spelling, ruled and not ruled, and various written composition tasks (i.e., writing a story based on vignettes, describing a character and writing a story). We calculated the average of correct spellings in each variable and school level, and we also analyzed the type of misspellings that children made across different writing tasks. We found that spelling is acquired by 4th-grade children when it is not ruled, whereas the spelling of ruled words is acquired by 5th-grade children. When we analyzed the misspellings in a dictation task, we found that the children confused spelling of the graphemes c/s/z/x. Across different writing tasks, we found that students committed more misspellings with the graphemes b/v, h y c/s/z/x before they finished the 4th elementary grade

Evaluación de la velocidad de nombrar en las dificultades de aprendizaje de la lectura / Naming speed assessment in reading disabilities

En este trabajo se examina la velocidad de nombrar de un grupo de alumnos con dificultades de aprendizaje en la lectura (DAL) que presentan déficit fonológico, utilizando un diseño de nivel lector. Se seleccionó una muestra de 97 sujetos (52 niños y 45 niñas). Se utilizó un diseño de nivel de lectura de tres grupos: un grupo experimental formado por 29 sujetos con DAL de 4° nivel de Primaria; un grupo control de 41 buenos lectores igualados en edad con el grupo anterior; y un grupo control de 27 sujetos de 2° nivel igualados en nivel lector con el grupo con DAL. Se utilizó la técnica de Denckla y Rudel (1976), denominada Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN), para evaluar la velocidad de nombrar. Los resultados mostraron que los niños con DAL y déficit fonológicos son más lentos que los buenos lectores de la misma edad y que su velocidad de nombrar es similar a la de los buenos lectores más jóvenes. Este hallazgo sugiere que los niños con DAL y déficit fonológico no presentan un déficit en la velocidad de nombrar (AU)

The present study was designed to examine if the reading disabled (RD) children with phonological deficit show deficits in naming speed using a reading-level match (RLM) design. A sample of 97 children (52 male, 45 female) was classified into three groups: an experimental group of 29 RD children of 4th grade; a control group of 41 normal readers matched in age with the RD, and a control group of 27 younger children of 2nd grade matched in reading level with the RD group. Children were tested in naming speed using the Denckla and Rudel (1976) technique named Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN). Results showed that the RD children were slower than their age matched controls, but similar to their reading level matched controls. This finding suggests that RD children with phonological deficit did not show deficit in naming speed (AU)