Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Studies in Educational Evaluation, cilt.89, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
This study explores how student characteristics, the home environment, and the classroom environment relate to the reading achievement of fourth-grade students in Türkiye. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner and Morris’s bioecological theory, the study conceptualizes reading achievement as an outcome that develops through proximal processes occurring in home and classroom environments. It further posits that the effectiveness of these processes varies as a function of students’ individual characteristics, contextual conditions, and the time periods in which they take place. Data were drawn from the 2021 cycle of PIRLS, collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze hierarchically structured data, and the analyses were conducted using the HLM 8 software package. Two-level models examined student and home contexts at the student level, while the classroom level analysis focused on classroom/teacher-related variables. At the student level, gender, home socioeconomic status, early literacy activities, reading confidence, students’ enjoyment of reading, digital self-efficacy, classroom engagement, and experiences of bullying were significantly associated with reading achievement. At the classroom level, teacher experience, the availability of digital devices, language difficulties, and the provision of reading materials were significant predictors. Factors such as the frequency of speaking the test language at home, early literacy tasks, parents' interest in reading, and preschool attendance were not significantly associated with reading achievement. These findings offer practical implications for schools and education policymakers in addressing individual and contextual factors that enhance reading achievement.