SSLN Reading Professional Learning Resource
Contents
This resource comprises several sections:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Introduction
A note on reading comprehension in CfE
A note on using information from SSLN to inform classroom practice
General observations when analysing and reflecting on learners’ responses
Things to think about when analysing and reflecting on learners’ responses
Six case studies (two at first, second and third levels), each of which contains an analysis of
the answers provided by the learners who responded to one of these SSLN assessment
items
analyses of the responses of learners from each year group to the questionnaire sections
most directly related to their practice in reading
The resource may be used by members of a learning community, small groups of practitioners,
departments or individuals. The resource aims to help practitioners to use SSLN findings to:




reflect on their own practice in developing and promoting literacy
share understanding of literacy across learning
consider how to enhance children and young people’s literacy skills in all areas of the
curriculum
plan how to develop their practice through incorporating new concepts and ideas.
Introduction
Reading is a significant aspect of learning in Literacy and
English and Literacy and Gàidhlig. It is the responsibility
of all practitioners to develop learners’ knowledge and
understanding, skills, attributes and capabilities in
reading, including specifically in reading comprehension.
This Professional Learning Resource uses results from the
Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) to
promote and inform professional reflection, dialogue and
debate about progression in reading comprehension.
At the heart of this resource are case studies based on
pupils’ responses to the following SSLN reading assessments carried out in 2012 and on their
responses to the associated pupil questionnaire.
Print Text
Digital Text: Video
P4
The Present
Healthy Eating
P7
Be Closer to Nature
S2
Into Space
Digital Text: Website
Acting Your Age
Interview with Alistair
Brownlee
Reading comprehension in CfE
Reading a text for understanding, often referred to as ‘reading to learn’, is not a simple process.
The Principles and Practice Paper: Literacy Across Learning outlines how the Experiences and
Outcomes in Literacy provide a framework for planning to develop pupils’ reading. The paper also
provides a broad definition of text as the medium through which ideas, experiences, opinions and
information can be communicated. As they plan teaching, learning and assessment of reading
comprehension, practitioners will, therefore, make use of a wide range of types of print and digital
texts.
As practitioners use Experiences and Outcomes relevant to their own pupils to plan learning, they
will recognise that, after the initial stages of learning to read, learners draw on a range of knowledge
and understanding, skills, attributes and capabilities whenever they read a text for understanding.
Competent readers will habitually use these routinely, without being fully aware of their full range
and complexity.
Prior skills
Competent readers come to a text with knowledge and understanding of:

the range and variety of the types of texts which they may need to access and use

conventions related to how texts are constructed, for example
-
in the case of print texts: design and layout, relation between pictures, illustrations
or diagrams and the wording of the text, use of sub-headings, use of paragraphs, use
of typeface
-
in the case of on-line materials: design and layout, use of tabs, menus and internal
and external hyperlinks, role of diagrams and illustrations, colour and typeface,
types of interactive response available
-
in the case of moving image texts: relationship between images and spoken/written
text, focus of camera to draw attention to particular ideas, use of sound and music
to reinforce mood/message

the author’s purpose, the intended audience and genre, and how these are reflected in the
structure and language of the text

topic or subject information related to the content of the text

vocabulary (both general and that specific to a topic or curriculum area) and understanding
of what words mean in a particular context, not just what they ‘say’ on the page, in the
script or in the voiceover

their own purpose for reading the text.
Readers’ skills
Readers’ skills, attributes and capabilities related to reading comprehension include:

their motivation to access and read the text for understanding

their understanding of their own purpose in reading the text (e.g. for enjoyment, to learn
about something, to find out others’ views, etc.)

linking the text to its context (including in-school curricular context) and to the author’s
purpose

selecting and applying appropriately their own prior knowledge and experience to inform
their understanding of the text

using text features to guide reading, for example:
-
in the case of print texts: title, sub-headings and illustrations
-
in the case of moving image texts: making use of any written title, headings and/or
introduction to guide watching
-
in the case of on-line materials: making use of tabs, menus, links, design and layout
and illustrations

constructing and accessing a mental map of the text as they read

skimming to find the gist or general idea

scanning to find a specific piece of information or answer a specific question

resilience in persevering to construct meaning from the text

self-monitoring of their understanding during reading, related to their purpose for reading

willingness to draw on sources of support (e.g. teacher, other pupils, dictionaries, links to
other sites) and the capability to make effective and efficient use of them

talking or writing about the text, including
-
making notes
-
summarising
-
retelling
-
explaining
-
making use of their own words

using the text to support them in carrying out a process or in the creation of a product

using technology (including using a mouse and keyboard) to navigate on-line materials and
to make or construct responses, including more extended responses

selecting the techniques appropriate to the text and to their purpose for reading.
Skills development
Learners will have developed relevant knowledge, understanding, skills, attributes and capabilities to
different extents through their different experiences, including experiences outwith the school.
Some will readily understand when they should use a specific skill; others may have limited
knowledge and understanding and/or they may not be able regularly to make use of relevant skills,
attributes and capabilities appropriately.
Practitioners can assess the extent of a learner’s understanding of a text through observation and
informal assessment of responses in the course of teaching. In particular, dialogue between teacher
and learner and amongst learners provides insights into how much and how well they have
understood a text. Such shared enquiry involving teachers and learners is central to teaching which
is informed by 'inquiry- based improvement/reflective practice'
Practitioners can also make use of more formal written assessments. This resource is primarily
concerned with how written assessments, such as those used in the SSLN, can be used to provide
information on how learners use their knowledge, skills and capabilities as they navigate and make
sense of a text. Ideas about these approaches are developed in the six case studies, each of which
contains an analysis of the answers provided by the learners who responded to an SSLN assessment
item.
Fuller understanding of how a learner has come to an understanding of a particular text can be
provided through the use of a diagnostic interview.
Understanding of a learner’s motivation, attitudes to reading, and broader experience of reading
and reading competences can be developed through use of a questionnaire and/or through an
interview.
Using SSLN findings
Taking a close look at what learners do in test circumstances can tell us something about the ways
that they use their knowledge, skills and competences to tackle texts and technology independently.
Teachers can use this information to develop their own practice in their classrooms.
The assessments used in the SSLN Literacy survey assess pupils’ achievement in reading in a
selection of the Experiences and Outcomes set out in Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Literacy across
learning. The Experiences and Outcomes selected are those that are judged to be amenable to
testing in this way1.
SSLN materials reflect the Curriculum for Excellence principle that there are many types of text,
going beyond conventional reading texts to include moving images and digital media.
Answering someone else’s questions in a test is a specific kind of activity which differs from those
learners come across in their daily learning in class. In particular, learners have to apply their
knowledge, understanding, skills, attributes and capabilities in new and unfamiliar situations, using
what they know about navigating text without the benefit of support from their peers or teachers.
The texts to which they are asked to respond may have less contextual support than those read in
the classroom, which are likely to be related to a current topic or curriculum area.
SSLN materials have been carefully constructed and trialled to ensure that they provide readers with
appropriate levels of challenge as they apply their learning in these new situations and contexts.
1
Literacy and English: (First level) 1-14a, 1-16a, 1-18a; (Second level) 2-14a, 2-16a, 2-18a; (Third level) 3-14a, 3-16a, 3-18a
Analysing and reflecting on learners’ responses: general
observations
Analysing and reflecting on the written responses to a reading task that involves answering a series
of questions will always involve consideration of relationships among text, questions and learners’
responses. Indeed, the set of questions forms a text in itself.




The wording of questions in relation to the text, in particular the extent to which particular
phrases in the text are clearly signposted in a question, will affect the answers given.
Simply because they relate to the same source text, the questions (and the answers to
them) can never be really independent of one another.
The sequence of questions may relate to the text in various ways.
Because very often (but not always) the order of questions matches the order in which the
narrative or information is presented, learners come to expect that each question in the
sequence will relate to the next section of the source text.
Learners will adopt different strategies as they relate the questions to a text. Repeated targeted
cross-reference may be a big demand on learners who are struggling from the beginning. Some of
their strategies may be limited or inappropriate to the task in hand, with the result that they may
not be able to construct a mental ‘map’ of the original in their head. Learners may:










read the whole text passively with little regard to purpose
make inappropriate use of headings and/or illustrations and/or other markers which
indicate the structure and organisation of the text
read the source text through and then answer the questions without referring back to the
text
start to answer individual questions before they have read the whole passage and gained an
overview of its structure, missing contextual or narrative information relevant to the
question they are considering
adopt a ‘hunt the answer’ approach in which they look for a specific point or phrase
signposted by the question without due regard to the sentence or paragraph context
lack IT skills and have difficulty in using tabs, menus or links
misunderstand the sort of answer required by a particular type of question (e.g. confusion of
‘how’ and ‘why’)
bring their own prior knowledge to a text in relation to word meanings and question
interpretation and as a result not use the passage to answer the question
rely excessively on their own existing knowledge of a topic or an issue and ignore or distort
important aspects of the content of the text
find that a particular topic arouses strong emotions which act as a block to their
understanding.
Learners’ responses: things to think about
Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam2 developed the model below as they reflected on the ways in which
assessment and learning are mutually supportive. They present the classroom as a learning
community in which all have responsibilities.
Practitioners can use this model to:

think about and discuss how the learning community of the classroom can be organised

to provide everyone involved with opportunities to participate and play their part

and support the development of reading comprehension.
Where the learner is
going
Where the learner is
right now
How to get there
Teacher
Promoting effective
classroom
discussions,
Clarifying and sharing
activities and
learning intentions
other learning
and criteria for
tasks that elicit
success
evidence of
learner
understanding
Peer
Understanding and
sharing learning
intentions and
criteria for success
Supporting one another’s learning by acting as
instructional resources for one another
Learner
Understanding and
using learning
intentions and
criteria for success
Sharing responsibility for understanding,
assessing and taking forward their own
learning
Providing feedback
that moves
learners forward
Planning
These considerations will inform practitioners as they start to plan learning in relation to
Experiences and Outcomes for Literacy including, specifically, reading comprehension.
Consider the following questions and their implications for teaching in your classroom.
Learning intentions and success criteria:
a.
2
What do good learning intentions and success criteria related to reading comprehension look
like?
Black P & Wiliam D (2009) ‘Developing the theory of formative assessment’ Educational Assessment, Evaluation and
Accountability 21:5–31
b.
c.
d.
How can you involve learners in developing, sharing and understanding these learning
intentions and success criteria?
How can you use the professional learning resource on assessing achievement in Literacy and
English (or Literacy and Gàidhlig) to support your development of well-focused learning
intentions and success criteria for reading?
How can you use the related Literacy progress framework for the same purpose?
Structuring and supporting discussion in your classroom related to reading:
e.
How can you support and maintain the contribution of all learners to effective discussion
about reading?
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
How can you ensure clarity of roles, promoting a culture of responsibility for completing tasks
and setting up means of recording and reporting outcomes?
How can you relate reading to carrying out practical activities?
How can you use directed activities related to texts (DARTs)3 to support discussion about
reading?
How can you use diagnostic interviews as part of classroom discussion?
How can you provide scaffolding and teacher and peer modelling of classroom discussion?
What opportunities can you provide for pupils to talk with you and with each other about text
conventions, punctuation to support and clarify meaning, pictures and illustrations in relation
to text, metaphorical language?
What kind of feedback is most likely to help learners to understand how they are getting on in
reading and how they can improve?
How can you structure and support reading activities to ensure that learners have opportunities
to:
m. be clear about purpose
n. reconstruct texts, for example through text completion, sequencing, table completion,
completing and labelling diagrams, prediction
o. analyse texts, for example through text marking, text segmenting and labelling, table/chart
construction, diagram construction, questioning, summarising
p. use texts as a prerequisite for practical activity, for example by carrying out an experiment,
following a recipe, participating in an online activity?
How can you develop an understanding of pupils’ prior experience, learning and progression:
q.
r.
through observation in the classroom
through the use of diagnostic interviews?
3 http://www.swanseagfl.gov.uk/literacy/res/lang_across_curr/DARTS_Information_booklet.pdf and
http://oer.educ.cam.ac.uk/wiki/File:DARTs.doc provide access to more information on DARTs
First Level
1.
Case Studies Introduction
These case studies are based on pupils’ performance on SSLN
reading assessments carried out in 2012. They are one
component of the Professional Learning Resource related to
SSLN and the development of reading comprehension, and
share a common structure and format.
The case studies are intended to serve as a model which can
be used by practitioners as they consider the answers,
provided by learners, based on their comprehension of a
source text.
In the 2012 SSLN (Literacy) each sample pupil was expected to complete:

One pencil and paper reading assessment booklet of 30 questions based on a range of
paper-based texts

One online reading assessment task of 20 questions based on online texts (webpages and
film clips)
Definitions of terms
The tables in each case study summarise learners’ responses to the questions associated with each
text. Definitions of terms used in the case study tables are outlined below:
Question: questions are listed in order, from most to least difficult (see Facility Value below).
Es and Os: The Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes assessed by each question, at
the relevant CfE level.
Domain: Three domains or aspects of reading comprehension were used to structure the SSLN
assessments (these domains are also used internationally, in the OECD’s Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) reading literacy assessments). They are access and retrieve,
integrate and interpret and reflect and evaluate.
-
Accessing and retrieving involves referring to the text and from within it locating and retrieving
one or more distinct pieces of information.
-
Integrating and interpreting involves processing what is read to make internal sense of a text; it
may involve recognising a relationship that is not explicit and demonstrating an understanding
of the coherence of the text.
-
Reflecting and evaluating involves drawing upon knowledge, ideas or attitudes beyond the text
in order to relate the information provided within the text to the learner’s own frames of
reference.
Facility value (FV): A statistical measure of an item’s easiness/difficulty. For assessment items like
those used in the SSLN, which are marked right/wrong, the facility value is based on the proportion
(%) of pupils who answered it correctly. Hence, the nearer the facility value to 100, the easier the
question.
The mean (average) facility value for each column is given in the final row of the table.
Deprivation: The sample was designed to ensure that there were:
-
30% of sampled pupils living in the most deprived areas of Scotland
30% of sampled pupils living in the least deprived areas of Scotland
40% of sampled pupils living in the remaining areas of Scotland
Facility values in the table are given for:
-
all sampled pupils
girls in the sample
boys in the sample
the most deprived 30% pupils in the sample
the least deprived 30% pupils in the sample
(Statistically) significant difference
Tests for statistical significance tell us what the probability is that the relationship between two
numbers is due only to random chance, or on the other hand where there is a good chance that
there is a real relationship between two variables.
The final two columns in the table indicate the questions where there is a good chance that the girls
in the sample really did find the question easier than the sampled boys and the questions where the
least deprived pupils in the sample really did find a question easier than the most deprived, rather
than the differences being due to random chance.
2.
Print assessment: The Present
This case study focuses on P4 responses to the SSLN reading assessment task, ‘The Present’.
The Present – Text
The Present – Questions
1.
Why were the boy’s hands shaking?
(Tick  one answer)
a. because he was afraid
b. because he was cold
c. because he was excited
d. because he was angry
2.
What did the boy hope his present would be?
3.
How did the boy feel just after the present was put in his hands?
(Tick  one answer)
a. puzzled
b. frightened
c. happy
d. upset
4.
The boy’s present was about as heavy as ...
(Tick  one answer)
a. a book.
b. an empty lunch box.
c. a sandwich.
d. a full lunch box.
5.
What had his parents given him?
Learners’ responses
Table 1 below provides a summary of learners’ responses to the five questions associated with the
text The Present. In the table the questions are listed in order of difficulty, from most to least
difficult: Q3, Q1, Q4, Q2, and Q5. With a mean facility value of 68, this short story was one of the
more challenging reading tasks for P4.
Girls were more likely to choose the right answer than boys for three of the five questions, Q1, Q3
and Q4.
Children from less deprived areas were more likely to choose the right answer for all but one of the
questions (Q1).
There is no evident pattern of difficulty associated with a particular question type (e.g. multiple
choice) or domain (e.g. access & retrieve); neither is there any evidence of a relationship between
gender and success with a particular question type or domain.
Table 1
Summary of learner responses
Format
Facility Value
(FV)
FV
Female
FV
Male
FV
Most
Deprived
FV
Least
Deprived
Gender
Significant
difference
Deprivation
Significant
Difference
Integrate &
interpret
Multiple
choice
52
58
46
43
58
Girls
least>most
1-18a
Reflect &
evaluate
Multiple
choice
58
61
54
58
59
Girls
4
1-16a
Integrate &
interpret
Multiple
choice
75
79
71
73
79
Girls
2
1-16a
Integrate &
interpret
Open
response
76
76
76
63
81
least>most
5
1-14a
Access &
retrieve
Open
response
81
81
80
71
88
least>most
Mean FV
68
Mean FV
71
Mean FV
65
Mean FV
62
Mean FV
73
Question FV
L>H
1st Level
Es&Os
Domain
3
1-16a
1
Key to colour coding
Low facility value
Medium facility
value
High facility value
Boys found the
question
significantly
easier than
girls
Girls found the
question
significantly
easier than
boys
The least deprived
pupils found
the question
significantly
easier than the
most deprived
pupils
least>most
Patterns of choice of response options
Table 2 shows the percentage (%) of the sampled pupils who chose each option for each of the questions. In this table the questions are again listed in
order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q3, Q1, Q4, Q2, and Q5.
Table 2
Patterns of choice of response options
Question
FV L>H
Correct
Answer A
%
Answer B
%
Answer C
%
Answer D
%
Other
3
A
Puzzled
52
Frightened
17
Happy
27
Upset
4
n/a
0
1
C
Because he was
afraid
28
Because he was
cold
12
Because he was
excited
58
Because he was
angry
2
n/a
0
4
D
Book
6
17
Sandwich
1
Full lunch box
75
n/a
0
2
A
Puppy
76
Empty lunch box
Lunch box
(without the
contents)
5
A
Tortoise/turtle
81
Puppy
4
Key to colour coding
Correct answer
Percentage
providing
correct
response
Percentage
providing
incorrect
response if
greater than
5%
6
(Soldier's) Helmet
%
No
response
0
0
7
12
6
0
5
3
Commentary on learner responses to each question
The comments below are informed suggestions about the ways in which young people have arrived
at responses, right or wrong.
There were 5 questions in all, three in multiple choice format and two in open response format.
The two hardest questions (Q1 & Q3) were both in multiple choice format. Both related to the way
the boy was feeling at different points in the narrative and on the face of it, look very similar. The
similarity may of itself have misled some less skilled or confident readers.
Q3, ‘How did the boy feel just after the present was put in his hands?’ (Bold type as in question text)
Multiple choice question, 4 options.

This was the hardest of the five items for children to answer correctly. It looks quite like Q1.
Around half of the sampled pupils chose the correct answer, A: ‘Puzzled’. Just over a quarter,
however, chose option C, ‘Happy’. Nearly 1 in 5 chose option B, ‘Frightened’. Very few chose
option D, ‘Upset’.
-
The key to finding the correct answer here is understanding the importance of ‘just after’, in
bold in the question, in relation to ‘the present was put in his hands’. Supposing that pupils
do go back to the original text, finding the right answer involves identifying the single
sentence, ‘Something was very gently placed in my upturned palms’ as equating to ‘the
present was put in his hands’ in the question (no matching words) and then the ‘’Hmm. This
is strange’ (in italics) at the start of the next paragraph as representing puzzlement.
-
Pupils will be helped by the chronological sequence of the questions in relation to the text,
so that they look for the next ‘chunk’, but we do not know if the textual conventions of bold
type and italics will draw attention to particular bits of text as we might assume. In this text,
it is quite important to understand that the words in italics are what the narrator was
thinking.
-
Both words in the term ‘upturned palms’ may be unfamiliar to less experienced readers.
However, the phrase does relate to the picture at the start of the text. We do not know if
pupils made use of the cues in the picture to shape their reading of the text, but it seems
likely that if they did, they might have been more likely to answer this question correctly.
-
Some pupils who chose ‘happy’ may have referred to the previous bit of text. Having done
so, if they missed the ‘almost’ in ‘I could almost feel my new puppy’s warm and furry bottom
in my hands’, (or even if they didn’t) they might well have identified the boy’s main feeling
as ‘happy’ rather than ‘puzzled’.
Q1, ‘Why were the boy’s hands shaking?’
Multiple choice question, 4 options.

Around 6 in 10 of the sampled pupils chose the correct answer, C: ‘Because he was excited’.
Over a quarter, however chose option A, ‘Because he was afraid’. A rather smaller number,
around 1 in 10, chose option B, ‘Because he was cold’. Very few chose option D, ‘Because he was
angry’.
-
The ‘Why?’ question with possible answers framed as ‘Because …’ offers a likely familiar
pattern of questioning. It clearly signposts the opening line of the text, which is where pupils
might expect to begin the task: the words ‘shaking’ and ‘hands’ both appear here.
-
We might wonder if pupils had read through the whole text before attempting their answers
(as advised), or tackled one bit at a time, this being the first, without any sense of the overall
story or meaning.
-
Possibly the ‘hardly daring to breathe’ immediately following the sign-posted line, with the
word ‘daring’ associated with risk and danger, might have misled some.
-
It is possible that those who chose option A or option B selected a response without any
(further) reference to the main text, relying only on the text of the question. In this case,
both fear and cold are plausible reasons for ‘shaking’ hands, and possibly more familiar from
experience as a cause of shaking than ‘excitement’.
Q4: The boy’s present was about as heavy as ….
Multiple choice question, four options.

This question followed on in sequence from Q3 to the next sentence in the text. Around threequarters of the sampled pupils chose the correct answer, D: ‘A full lunch box’. Nearly one in five,
however, chose option B, ‘An empty lunch box’. Just a few chose Option B, ‘A book’.
-
Thus almost all of the pupils were able to find the appropriate section of text and associate
‘about as heavy as’ in the question with ‘weighed about the same as’ in the text, and then
identify ‘my school lunch box’ following as part of the correct answer.
-
The word ‘weighed’ may have been difficult for a few less competent readers, so that they
did not make the link with ‘heavy’ in the question.
-
It seems likely that those who chose Option B either ignored or misunderstood the following
text in brackets and selected the first option in the list that contained ‘lunch-box’.
-
The last sentence in the paragraph, referring to a new lunch-box, may have led them
towards the empty lunch-box option, as a new lunch-box would likely contain no food.
-
It is also possible that the use of brackets may of itself have confused some pupils, who
might not have been familiar with the convention and treated the text they contained as
separate and not relevant.
Q2: What did the boy hope his present would be?
Open-response question.

This question followed on in sequence from Q1, referring to the next section of text. Around
three-quarters of the sampled pupils chose the correct option A, ‘A puppy’. Nearly one in seven,
however, chose to write an alternative, the most popular being a (empty) lunch-box. More than
10% made no response to this question.
-
Choosing the correct answer depended on identifying and understanding the short
paragraph beginning ‘Him? Oh my goodness, they had…’. Both this first phrase and the final
sentence of the paragraph may have presented particular difficulties for less competent
readers.
-
The first of these two sentences is in italics (see also Q3 above), with meaning that is implicit
rather than explicit. It also involves two uses of punctuation ? and …., whose function in this
context, to indicate how the words might be said, may have been unfamiliar.
-
In the last sentence understanding that the word ‘almost’ indicates anticipation of feeling,
linking to ‘hope’ in the question, rather than an actual experience, is important for
understanding (see also Q3 above).
-
For those pupils whose recall and mental ‘mapping’ of the text from a first reading was only
partial or fragmented, the middle paragraph in the text contained several references to a
lunch-box, and so might be a plausible choice if they did not return to the text to check their
response.
-
There is no way of knowing why one in ten of the sampled pupils made no response to this
question, but as almost all did answer the last (open-ended) question, it seems unlikely that
the question type was the reason. It may be that they did not really understand what the
question was asking, or did not grasp the significance of the ‘hope’ in bold type.
Q5: What had his parents given him?
Open-response question.

This was the easiest of the five questions for the sampled pupils, with four in five correctly
identifying the final sentence as containing the right answer, a tortoise. Of the 20% who made
an incorrect response, ‘helmet’ was the most popular alternative, with a few choosing ‘puppy’.
-
The answer was clearly signposted by the question, being the last in the sequence, thus
matching the narrative in the text. The wording contained the word ‘parents’, which was
repeated in this final, stand-alone sentence. The syntax of the question matched that of the
text, with ‘given’ substituting for ‘got’. ‘Tortoise’ was the final word in the text, thus likely to
have been in pupils’ minds from a first reading.
-
Those pupils who chose ‘helmet’ may have been misled into thinking that the helmet was
real, rather than used as a simile, by the phrase ‘…… shot out from beneath the helmet’ in
the previous paragraph. The words ‘something resembling’ to introduce the simile may also
have been difficult for some less skilled readers.
-
It seems likely that those who chose ‘puppy’ or other alternatives may have struggled to
read the whole passage, and recalled only a few disconnected fragments of the first few
lines.
3.
Online Assessment: Healthy Eating
The online reading assessment tasks and film clips were accessed through the pupil assessment area
within www.ssln.org.uk.Pupils viewed or read the texts (film clips and webpages) onscreen and
submitted their responses online.
This case study focuses on P4 responses to the SSLN online reading assessment task, Healthy Eating
(a short film clip).
Healthy Eating – film clip
Watch BBC Video Class clip:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/five-types-of-food/2289.html
Healthy Eating - Questions
What does Amanda Jones do?
Choose one
a. She is an athlete.
b. She is a teacher.
c. She is a doctor.
d. She is a chef.
2. Why does Amanda say ‘Think of your body like a car'?
Choose one
a. Petrol and food both cost money.
b. People use their car to go shopping.
c. She can run as fast as a car.
d. Petrol makes a car work, food makes your body work.
3. What do carbohydrates give the body?
Choose one
a. energy
b. fat
c. protein
d. muscles
4. Which of these is an example of a protein?
Choose one
a. lentils
b. rice
c. fruit
d. cake
5. What is the main aim of this clip?
Choose one
a. to encourage young people to eat healthily
b. to encourage young people to exercise more
c. to encourage young people to learn to cook pasta
d. to encourage young people to learn to look after a car
6. What does Amanda choose for pudding?
Choose one
a. cake
b. fruit
c. trifle
d. chocolate
7. Why has the film maker used an athlete to talk about healthy eating?
Learners’ responses
Table 1 below provides a summary of learners’ responses to the five questions associated with the
text Healthy Eating. In the table the questions are listed in order of difficulty, from most to least
difficult: Q3, Q1, Q4, Q2, Q5.
In the table the questions are listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q7, Q4, Q3, Q1,
Q2, Q5, and Q6. With a mean facility value of 72, this proved to be a relatively straightforward
literacy tasks for P4 although two questions were notably more difficult than the others.
Boys were more likely than girls to choose right answers for Q3, while girls were more likely to
answer Q7, the open-response question, correctly. There was no statistically significant gender
difference for other questions. Overall, boys and girls found this task equally difficult.
There is no evident pattern of difficulty associated with a particular question type (e.g. multiple
choice) or domain (e.g. access & retrieve); neither is there any evidence of a relationship between
gender and success with a particular question type or domain.
Table 1
Summary of learner responses
Format
Facility Value
(FV)
FV
Female
FV
Male
Gender
Significant
difference
Integrate &
interpret
Open
response
27
33
23
Girls
1-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
32
33
32
3
1-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
81
75
85
1
1-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
84
85
84
2
1-14a
Integrate &
interpret
Multiple
choice
91
92
91
5
1-16a
Reflect &
evaluate
Multiple
choice
95
97
92
6
1-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
96
97
95
Mean FV
72
Mean FV
73
Mean FV
71
Question FV
L>H
1st Level
Es&Os
Domain
7
1-18a
4
Key to colour coding
Low facility value:
Medium facility
value
High facility value
Boys found the
question
significantly
easier than
girls
Girls found the
question
significantly
easier than
boys
Boys
Patterns of choice of response options
Table 2 shows the percentage (%) of the sampled pupils who chose each option for each of the
questions. In this table the questions are again listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult:
Q7, Q4, Q3, Q1, Q2, Q5, and Q6.
A consistent 19% recorded ‘nil response’ for this assessment, across all questions. These pupils were
unable to view the clip for technical reasons, so have not been included in calculating facility values
for the commentary.
Patterns of choice of response options
Question
FV L>H
Correct
7
A
Answer A
She (an athlete)
knows the importance
of a healthy diet
4
A
3
%
%
No
response
14
3
n/a
n/a
52
4
n/a
n/a
0
12
n/a
n/a
0
91
n/a
n/a
0
2
She is a chef
Petrol makes a
car work, food
makes your body
work
To encourage
young people to
learn to look
after a car
0
n/a
n/a
0
1
Chocolate
1
n/a
n/a
0
%
Answer C
%
27
Answer B
An athlete (she) is
healthy / eats
healthy food
6
Answer D
To make you
healthy / eat
healthy food
36
She is an athlete
Lentils
32
Rice
7
A
Energy
81
Fat
1
A
She is an athlete
84
2
D
Petrol and food both
cost money
13
Fruit
7
Cake
1
2
Protein
13
Muscles
She is an teacher
1
She is a doctor
2
6
People use their
car to go shopping
1
A
To encourage young
people to eat healthily
95
To encourage
young people to
exercise more
3
She can run as fast
as a car
To encourage
young people to
learn to cook
pasta
5
6
B
Cake
2
fruit
96
Trifle
Key to colour coding
Correct answer
Percentage
providing
correct
response
Percentage
providing
incorrect
response if
greater than
5%
2
%
Other
Commentary on learner responses to each question
The comments here are informed suppositions or deductions about the ways in which pupils have
arrived at responses, right or wrong.
Q7: Why has the film maker used an athlete to talk about healthy eating?

This question, the only open response, proved the most difficult of the seven questions with
only 27%, just over a quarter of the sampled pupils, providing the correct answer. This question
and Q5 are the only two that require pupils to consider the text as a whole. It is also the only
question to consider the perspective of the author/film-maker, in terms of matching the
author’s craft to intended purpose and audience.
-
The words ‘film maker’ and ‘used’ signal this focus. Thinking about the clip from a
perspective other than their own may be unfamiliar or challenging for some P4 pupils.
-
The question starts with a ‘Why?’, which might be expected to prompt a ‘because’ response,
providing a brief explanation. Looking at the pattern of answers suggests that explaining
something that involves integrating different bits of information (in writing) is very
challenging for P4 pupils.
- Just over a quarter of pupils correctly answered (because) an athlete knows/understands the
importance of a healthy diet. Just over a third of those who responded said (because) an
athlete is healthy/eats healthy food, or to make you healthy/eat healthy food (just over 1 in
10) obliquely answering but missing the essential link between being an athlete and
understanding the importance of a healthy diet for fitness.
-
Just over 1 in 20 of those who responded answered (because) she is an athlete, simply
restating the premise in the question. Just over 1 in 6 provided another incorrect response,
or no response. There is no way of knowing whether these were due to lack of
understanding, reluctance to write on-line or lack of technical/keyboard skills more
generally.
-
This was the one question which proved easier for girls; around a third of girls answered
correctly, compared with just under a quarter of boys. There may be several explanations
for this, linked to the observations above, that would be worth following up for teachers:
-
Girls may be better at seeing things from a perspective other than their own
-
Girls may be better at making links within a text to allow them to make an explanation
-
Girls may find it easier to concentrate, ‘map’ a text in their heads or see the text as a
whole
-
Girls may be more willing / able to construct a more extended piece of text, on or offline
-
Girls may be more skilled at using a keyboard to compose a response in a text box
Q4: Which of these is an example of a protein?

This question was the most challenging of the multiple choice items. Only around a third of
pupils who responded chose the correct answer. To do so required them to be able to recognise
and read the terms ‘protein’ and ‘lentils’, and to make the (possibly counter-intuitive) link
between them from the voiceover.
-
Just over half of the sampled pupils provided no answer to this question. There is no way of
knowing whether this was ‘don’t know’ or the equivalent of ‘none of these’. ‘Don’t know’
might have been a response from those who did not recognise lentils as a food at all, while
‘none of the above’ might have been the choice of those who did not know that pulses
contain proteins.
-
It seems likely that most P4 pupils might come to the assessment knowing about meat, eggs
and fish as proteins, but not pulses/legumes. Their subject knowledge will thus have been in
conflict with the information in the voiceover, and perhaps used in preference to a less
familiar idea.
-
The focus of the camera at the point where lentils were discussed was on a large bowl of
lentil stew. Pupils could be forgiven for seeing this as a bowl of mince or Bolognese sauce,
containing the meat they might have expected from the question.
-
‘Fruit’ and ‘cake’, the most popular incorrect options chosen by just under 15% of pupils
overall, may have been selected as known rather than unknown foods or words.
-
These points may raise questions about P4 pupils’ disposition to use and adjust prior
knowledge, willingness to learn and open-mindedness in the context of unexpectedness.
Q3: What do carbohydrates give the body?

Around four fifths of respondents to this multiple choice question correctly selected the option
‘energy’, making it one of the easier of the 7 questions.
-
The most popular wrong answer, chosen by just under 15% of pupils who responded, was
‘protein’, simply picking up another food group discussed in the clip and not making the link
with the function of foods in ‘give the body’ in the question.
-
It was one of two questions (Q3, Q7) where there was a significant gender difference, in this
case in favour of boys. 85% of boys selected the correct response, compared with 75% of
girls. It is possible that the connection between carbohydrates and energy is more familiar to
boys through an interest in sports (especially football) training and fitness.
Q1: What does Amanda Jones do?

Nearly 85% of pupils selected the correct answer to this question, the first in the sequence of
seven, again making it one of the easier questions.
-
The answer to the question was in the written title at the start of the clip, and for those who
reviewed and checked back on their work, was signalled again by the wording of Question 7.
-
Just over 10% of pupils chose the option ‘she is a chef’ as their answer to this first question.
If pupils had missed the caption at the start, they could be forgiven for thinking that the clip
was from a programme about cookery featuring a chef (currently popular on TV), given the
focus of the camera on food. The athlete’s clothing was not sufficiently distinctive to suggest
her real occupation.
Q2: Why does Amanda say ‘Think of your body like a car’?
Q5: What is the main aim of this clip?
Q6: What does Amanda choose for pudding?

Over 90% of sampled pupils selected the correct options for all three of these questions.
-
For questions 5 and 6, no significant numbers chose anything but the correct answers. Both
answers were very clearly signalled, Q5 in the title of the clip and Q6 in the film and
voiceover together. The last thing Amanda does in the clip is to talk about, select and then
toss an orange into the air, providing clues in both words and visuals.
-
For Q2, there is no reference in the film clip or the voiceover to suggest either Option B (an
athlete running as fast as a car) or Option C (using a car to go shopping for food). The most
likely explanation for a few pupils’ choice of Option A is likely that their experience at home
associates both choice of food and running a car with money rather than health, making this
a plausible answer.
4.
Analysis of first level pupil questionnaire responses
Introduction
All sampled pupils in P4, P7 and S2 responded to a questionnaire about their learning and literacy.
The observations following are organised into four sections, relating to pupils’:
1.
2.
3.
4.
classroom experiences
motivation and self-esteem
attitudes to reading
out-of-school activities.
It should be noted that the questionnaire data do not tell us what pupils understood as ‘reading’ as
they responded to general questions or what they think of as ‘enjoying’ reading. They may have
taken reading as including all or some of the following kinds of text:









only text printed on paper
on-line texts and/or moving images
only longer texts (e.g. novels, non-fiction books)
short texts (e.g. recipes)
only continuous texts
texts with tables/illustrations
only ‘formal’ or ‘approved’ texts (e.g. novels, textbooks)
comics and graphic novels
blogs and fanzines.
They may have understood enjoying reading as referring to a traditional idea of reading a story or
graphic novel to oneself for pleasure or to reading a fanzine or technical book for the pleasure of
gaining knowledge or skills. Some pupils may have included enjoyment from reading collectively
with others (e.g. with a group of friends or in an on-line community). They may think of those who
would talk with them about their reading in different ways: for example, friends or family; an on-line
community devoted to reading or a particular author; an ‘open’ on-line community.
Through discussion with learners, teachers can explore these issues further and encourage and
support their reading appropriately.
Pupils’ views
The detailed views of sampled pupils are reported for four groups in each of the years sampled,
representing the most deprived and least deprived 30% of girls and 30% boys in Scotland, by pupil
postcode. These are reported below at the end of the Questionnaire section and refer to most
deprived girls; most deprived boys; least deprived girls; and least deprived boys. This section reports
the most notable findings about their learning and literacy from the questionnaires for P4 pupils.
Classroom Experiences - most deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Hardly ever or never
50%
Sometimes
40%
Very often
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
A1.4 A1.5 A1.6 A1.7 A1.9 A1.11 A2.1 A2.3 A2.4 A2.5 A2.6 A3.2
Classroom experiences - least deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Hardly ever or never
50%
Sometimes
40%
Very often
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
A1.4 A1.5 A1.6 A1.7 A1.9 A1.11 A2.1 A2.3 A2.4 A2.5 A2.6 A3.2
In your classes, how often do you:
A1.4 Work on your own?
A1.5 Find out things by exploring or investigating?
A1.6 Use computers?
A1.7 Talk about what you are learning?
A1.9 Give other pupils feedback on their work?
A1.11 Think things through and solve problems?
In your classes, how often do your teachers:
A2.1 Tell you what you are going to learn about before you start working?
A2.3 Help you understand how you can do better?
A2.4 Go through work too slowly?
A2.5 Explain how you will know you have done well?
A2.6 Go through work too fast?
How often does someone in school (your class teacher or perhaps your head teacher) talk with you
about:
A3.2 What you need to do to improve your learning?
Motivation and self-esteem - most deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
60%
Don't know
50%
Disagree a lot
40%
Disagree a little
30%
20%
Agree a little
10%
Agree a lot
0%
Nil
B1.1
B1.2
B1.3
B1.4
B1.5
B1.6
C1.1
C1.2
C1.3
C1.4
Motivation and self-esteem - least deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
60%
Don't know
50%
Disagree a lot
40%
Disagree a little
30%
Agree a little
20%
Agree a lot
10%
Nil
0%
B1.1
B1.2
B1.3
B1.4
B1.5
B1.6
C1.1
C1.2
How much do you agree with the following?
B1.1 I enjoy learning
B1.2 I am interested in learning about different things
B1.3 I don't like learning
B1.4 I want to do well in my learning
B1.5 Learning is boring
B1.6 I try to find out answers on my own
How much do you agree with the following?
C1.1 I usually do well in my learning
C1.2 Learning is harder for me than for others in my class
C1.3 I am just not good at learning
C1.4 I learn things quickly
C1.3
C1.4
Attitudes to reading - most deprived
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
Don't know
Disagree a lot
Disagree a little
Agree a little
Agree a lot
Nil
D1.1
D1.2
D1.3
D1.4
D1.5
D1.6
D2.1
Attitudes to reading - least deprived
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
Don't know
Disagree a lot
Disagree a little
Agree a little
Agree a lot
D1.1
D1.2
D1.3
D1.4
D1.5
D1.6
How much do you agree with the following?
D1.1 I read only if I have to
D1.2 I like talking to other people about things I have read
D1.3 I would be happy if someone gave me a book as a present
D1.4 I think reading is boring
D1.5 I enjoy reading
D1.6 I only read in school or for homework
How good do you think you are at the following?
D2.1 Reading
D2.1
Nil
Out-of-school activities - most deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Hardly ever or never
50%
Sometimes
40%
Very often
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
E1.2
E2.1
E2.2
E2.6
E2.7
E2.8
E2.9
Out-of-school activities - least deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Hardly ever or never
50%
Sometimes
40%
Very often
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
E1.2
E2.1
E2.2
E2.6
E2.7
How often does someone at home do the following?
E1.2 Help you with your homework if you need help
How often do you do these things outside of school?
E2.1 I watch television and DVDs
E2.2 I play computer games
E2.6 I read comics
E2.8
E2.9
E2.7 I read stories or storybooks
E2.8 I read books that explain things (for example, books about your favourite sports person or
animals)
E2.9 I read online (for example, web pages or blogs)
Summary of pupils’ responses
Positive things that nearly all pupils said, regardless of gender or socio-economic status:

Almost all pupils said that they worked on their own sometimes or often.

Similar numbers made use of computers in the classroom while almost as many had
opportunities to explore or investigate.

The great majority had opportunities to talk about their learning and to give feedback to other
pupils.

The great majority had opportunities to solve problems and think things through.

Teachers told pupils what they were going to learn, explained how they would know that they
had done well and helped them understand how they could do better.

Very many pupils stated that someone in the school would talk with them about what needed
to be done to improve their learning.

Pupils’ attitudes to learning were overwhelmingly positive.

The great majority of pupils believed that they learned things quickly and usually did well in
their learning.

Pupils’ attitudes to reading were generally positive.

The great majority got help at home with homework if needed.

The great majority read story books and/or books that explained things.

Around 2/3 read on-line material out of school.
Rather less positive things that pupils said, regardless of gender or socio-economic status:

Many pupils in all four groups said their teachers sometimes went through work too slowly.

Many pupils in all four groups said their teachers sometimes went through work too fast.

A substantial minority belied that they were just not good at learning.

Substantial numbers of pupils said that they read only if they had to.

Some found reading boring.

Substantial numbers of pupils said that they read only in school or for homework.
Differences by gender and deprivation

The least deprived girls and boys were more likely than the most deprived to say that they
often worked on their own.

The least deprived pupils were more likely than most deprived to say they got help at home
with their homework

The most deprived boys and girls were more likely use computers in school than the least
deprived boys and girls.

The most deprived girls and boys were more likely to give each other feedback very often than
the least deprived.

The most deprived girls and boys were more likely than the least deprived to say they very
often thought things through.

The most deprived girls and boys were more likely to say their teacher very often explained
how they would know they’d done well.

The most deprived girls and boys were more likely to say that teacher very often explained
what they needed to do to improve.

Almost 1 in 5 of the most deprived boys and girls said they felt they were just not good at
learning.

The most deprived pupils, and boys in particular, were much more likely to say that they read
only if they had to.

The most deprived pupils were more likely to say they enjoyed talking to others about what
they had read.

The most deprived pupils were much more likely than the least deprived to agree that they
only read in school or for homework.

The most deprived girls and boys said they read non-fiction very often more than least
deprived.

The most deprived pupils were noticeably more likely than the least deprived to say that they
read on line sometimes or very often.

Girls were more likely than boys to say they enjoyed talking to others about what they had
read.

More girls said they would be happy if someone gave them a book as a present.

Girls were noticeably more likely than boys to agree a lot that they enjoyed reading.

Girls overall, and the least deprived in particular, were more likely than boys to say they read
story books very often.

Boys in both groups were more likely than girls to agree that reading was boring. A quarter of
the most deprived boys agreed that reading was boring.

Overall, boys were more likely than girls to agree with the statement that they only read in
school or for homework. Almost half of the most deprived boys agreed.

Overall, boys were much more likely than girls to say that they played computer games.
Second Level
1.
Case Studies Introduction
These case studies are based on pupils’ performance on SSLN
reading assessments carried out in 2012. They are one
component of the Professional Learning Resource related to
SSLN and the development of reading comprehension, and
share a common structure and format.
The case studies are intended to serve as a model which can
be used by practitioners as they consider the answers,
provided by learners, based on their comprehension of a
source text.
In the 2012 SSLN (Literacy) each sample pupil was expected to complete:

One pencil and paper reading assessment booklet of 30 questions based on a range of
paper-based texts

One online reading assessment task of 20 questions based on online texts (webpages and
film clips)
Definitions of terms
The tables in each case study summarise learners’ responses to the questions associated with each
text. Definitions of terms used in the case study tables are outlined below:
Question: questions are listed in order, from most to least difficult (see Facility Value below).
Es and Os: The Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes assessed by each question, at
the relevant CfE level.
Domain: Three domains or aspects of reading comprehension were used to structure the SSLN
assessments (these domains are also used internationally, in the OECD’s Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) reading literacy assessments). They are access and retrieve,
integrate and interpret and reflect and evaluate.
-
Accessing and retrieving involves referring to the text and from within it locating and retrieving
one or more distinct pieces of information.
-
Integrating and interpreting involves processing what is read to make internal sense of a text; it
may involve recognising a relationship that is not explicit and demonstrating an understanding
of the coherence of the text.
-
Reflecting and evaluating involves drawing upon knowledge, ideas or attitudes beyond the text
in order to relate the information provided within the text to the learner’s own frames of
reference.
Facility value (FV): A statistical measure of an item’s easiness/difficulty. For assessment items like
those used in the SSLN, which are marked right/wrong, the facility value is based on the proportion
(%) of pupils who answered it correctly. Hence, the nearer the facility value to 100, the easier the
question.
The mean (average) facility value for each column is given in the final row of the table.
Deprivation: The sample was designed to ensure that there were:
-
30% of sampled pupils living in the most deprived areas of Scotland
30% of sampled pupils living in the least deprived areas of Scotland
40% of sampled pupils living in the remaining areas of Scotland
Facility values in the table are given for:
-
all sampled pupils
girls in the sample
boys in the sample
the most deprived 30% pupils in the sample
the least deprived 30% pupils in the sample
(Statistically) significant difference
Tests for statistical significance tell us what the probability is that the relationship between two
numbers is due only to random chance, or on the other hand where there is a good chance that
there is a real relationship between two variables.
The final two columns in the table indicate the questions where there is a good chance that the girls
in the sample really did find the question easier than the sampled boys and the questions where the
least deprived pupils in the sample really did find a question easier than the most deprived, rather
than the differences being due to random chance.
.
2.
Print assessment: Be Closer to Nature
This case study focuses on P7 responses to the SSLN reading assessment task, ‘Be Closer To Nature’.
Be Closer to Nature’ – text
Be Closer to Nature’ – questions
1. What does the writer mean when he says that if you buy new binoculars ‘a whole
new world seems to open up’?
(Tick
one answer)
a. You will be able to travel to see wildlife.
b. You will see wildlife that you couldn’t see with just your eyes.
c. You won’t see any wildlife at all.
d. You will get help from the staff at the visitor centres.
2. What is most important when choosing binoculars?
3. Why is it a good idea to be a member of the Scottish Wildlife Trust if you are going to
buy binoculars?
4. What does the title ‘Be Closer to Nature’ mean? It means with binoculars you will be
able to ...
(Tick
one answer)
a. see nature more clearly.
b. get nearer to the animals and birds.
c. sympathise with the wildlife.
d. visit wildlife centres.
5. What is the main purpose of this text?
(Tick
one answer)
a. To advise people about buying binoculars.
b. To encourage people join the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
c. To explain to people how to go birdwatching.
d. To advertise wildlife centres
Learners’ responses
Table 1 below provides a summary of learners’ responses to the five questions associated with the
text Be Closer to Nature.
In the table the questions are listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q5, Q4, Q2, Q3,
and Q1. With a mean facility value of 72, this was not one of the survey’s most challenging reading
tasks for P7, though two questions did pose considerable difficulties.
Girls were more likely than boys to choose right answers for Q1, Q2 and Q4 while boys were more
likely than girls to choose right answers for Q3; there was no gender difference in relation to Q5, the
question with the highest number of incorrect responses. Overall, boys and girls found this task
equally difficult.
Young people from less deprived areas were more likely than those from more deprived areas to
choose the right answer to questions except for Q5. Overall, pupils from less deprived areas found
this task easier than those from more deprived areas.
There is no evident pattern of difficulty being associated with a particular question type (e.g.
multiple choice) or domain (e.g. assess & retrieve); neither is there any evidence of a relationship
between gender and success with a particular question type or domain.
Table 1
Summary of learner responses
Question FV
L>H
2nd Level
Es&Os
5
2-18a
4
2-16a
2
2-14a
3
2-14a
1
2-16a
Domain
Reflect &
evaluate
Integrate &
interpret
Access &
retrieve
Access &
retrieve
Reflect &
evaluate
Format
Multiple
choice
Multiple
choice
Open
response
Open
response
Multiple
choice
Facility Value
(FV)
FV
Female
FV
Male
FV
Most
Deprived
FV
Least
Deprived
Gender
Significant
difference
Deprivation
Significant
Difference
44
44
43
46
44
66
70
61
58
70
Girls
least>most
80
81
78
68
87
Girls
least>most
80
78
82
72
87
Boys
least>most
92
Mean FV
72
94
Mean FV
73
89
Mean FV
71
86
Mean FV
66
93
Mean FV
76
Girls
least>most
Key to colour coding
Low facility value
Medium facility
value
High facility value
Boys found the
question
significantly
easier than
girls
Girls found the
question
significantly
easier than
boys
The least deprived
pupils found
the question
significantly
easier than the
most deprived
pupils
Patterns of choice of response options
Table 2 shows the percentage (%) of the sampled pupils who chose each option for each of the
questions. In this table the questions are again listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult:
Q5, Q4, Q2, Q3, and Q1.
Table 2
Commentary on learner responses to each question in SSLN P7 exemplar Be Closer to Nature
Question FV
L>H
Correct
Answer A
5
A
4
A
To advise people
about buying
binoculars
see nature more
clearly
2
A
3
1 of A or B
That they are
right for you/ that
you feel
comfortable
You get a
discount/ money
off
B
You will be able
to travel to see
wildlife
1
%
44
66
Answer B
To encourage
people to join the
Scottish Wildlife
Trust
get nearer to the
animals and birds
80
42
6
n/a
You get help/
advice
You will see
wildlife that you
couldn't see with
just your eyes
Key to colour coding
Correct answer
Percentage
providing
correct
response
Percentage
providing
incorrect
response if
greater than
5%
%
Answer C
%
48
To explain to
people how to go
bird watching
sympathise with
the wildlife
3
30
3
Answer D
To advertise
wildlife centres
visit wildlife
centres
%
Other
%
No
response
5
n/a
n/a
1
1
n/a
Type of lens/
design/ all those
numbers
n/a
1
12
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Others
7
1
41
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Others
17
3
92
You won't see any
wildlife at all
0
You will get help
from staff at the
visitors centres
1
n/a
n/a
1
Commentary on learner responses to each question
The comments below are informed suggestions about the ways in which young people have arrived
at responses, right or wrong.
Q5: What is the main purpose of this text?

This was clearly the most difficult question with only a minority of respondents (44%) providing
the correct answer ‘To advise people about buying binoculars’ while more than that number
(48%) responded ‘To encourage people to join the Scottish Wildlife Trust’.
-
The ostensible purpose of the text is indeed to provide initial advice on how to choose
binoculars. But it seems reasonable from learners’ knowledge of advertising, from the 10%
price reduction offered members and from the fact that little real advice is provided in the
text (rather the information that this can be obtained from staff of the Trust) to perceive
this text as being concerned with recruitment.
-
A similar point can be made about the response ‘To advertise wildlife centres’ which is
similar to the last and supported clear geographical reference to three centres.
-
It can be argued that many readers did not share the views of the testers about the aims of
advertising on the part of a well-regarded charity.
Q4: What does the title ‘Be Closer to Nature’ mean?
It means with binoculars you will be able to ...

In this comparatively difficult item, it seems that one in three of respondents did not understand
the punning metaphor used in the title.
-
Some 30% chose the phrase ‘get nearer to the animals and birds’ which is a
straightforward paraphrase of the literal meaning of ‘be closer to nature’. Very few opted
for another metaphorical use (‘sympathise’) and few more for the more complex literal
interpretation (‘visit wildlife centres’): others capable of such sophisticated responses were
presumably also capable of obtaining the correct answer.
-
It would seem that learners’ responses were thus constrained by their lack of knowledge of
the broader linguistic context and, possibly, by lack of awareness of the common
convention of using puns in headlines.
Q2: What is most important when choosing binoculars?

The two open response questions were both comparatively easy but had different response
patterns.
-
In this case there was a single acceptable answer: words to the effect that the binoculars
are right for you or that you feel comfortable when using them. This was selected by four
out of five respondents. To get this it was necessary to read through to the end of the
paragraph which was clearly signalled by the opening sentence ‘Choosing binoculars can be
difficult’.
-
The sizeable minority who gave answers referring to such matters as the type of lens or
design or all those numbers had identified the right paragraph but were unlikely to have
read through to the final sentence.
Q3: Why is it a good idea to be a member of the Scottish Wildlife Trust if you are going to buy
binoculars?

In this case there were two possible answers, each chosen by just over two out of five
respondents.
-
One group had noted the ‘sticker’ outside the main text which presented a powerful
reason for becoming a member if one intends to buy binoculars.
-
It is unclear why others focused on the perhaps less powerful reason in the text
(‘knowledgeable staff will assist...’). It may be that they read on from the final sentence of
the previous paragraph and so moved into the paragraph clearly signalled by the sentence
‘Help is at hand.’ It may be that they had a narrow view of what makes a text and focused
on the body of the text and ignored the ‘sticker’ either consciously or unconsciously.
Q1: What does the writer mean when he says that if you buy new binoculars ‘a whole new world
seems to open up’?

This was the easiest question to answer correctly.
-
Readers, even weaker readers, were probably assisted by the facts that the answer to the
first question was to be found in the first paragraph, that the quotation directed readers to
the appropriate sentence and that phrase ‘just your eyes’ directed attention to ‘your eyes’
in the first line. In these circumstances with this support almost all readers seemed to find
it comparatively easy to find the right answer within the first paragraph.
3.
Online assessment: Acting Your Age website
The online reading assessment tasks were accessed through the pupil assessment area within
www.sssln.org.uk. Pupils viewed or read the texts (film clips and webpages) onscreen and
submitted their responses online.
This case study focuses on P7 responses to the SSLN online reading assessment task, Acting Your Age
(website).
‘Acting Your Age’ – website (5 pages presented here as images)
‘Acting Your Age’ - questions
1. What does the phrase ‘making it big’ mean?
Choose one
a. growing up
b. getting stronger
c. becoming famous
d. putting on weight
2. Click on ‘Learning to Perform’. Which phrase best sums up the first paragraph?
Choose one
a. Acting is easier than it looks.
b. Acting is glamorous.
c. Acting is harder than it looks.
d. Acting is very boring.
3. Write one way in which a child can get involved in acting.
4. According to the rules, all child actors under the age of 16 must have …
Choose one
a. a licence.
b. fame.
c. an audience.
d. a qualified teacher.
5. What is Calum’s favourite subject?
Choose one
a. Maths
b. English
c. Drama
d. Dance
6. What does Suzie want tickets for?
Choose one
a. the lunchtime play
b. the ferry from Mull
c. West Side Story
d. the auditions
Learners’ responses
Table 1 below provides a summary of learners’ responses to the five questions associated with the
text Acting Your Age.
In the table the questions are listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q3, Q5, Q6, Q4,
Q1, and Q2. With a mean facility value of 77, this was one of the survey’s easiest reading tasks for
P7.
Girls were slightly more likely than boys to choose right answers for Q3, Q5, but these differences
were not statistically significant. Overall, girls and boys found this task equally difficult.
There is no evident pattern of difficulty being associated with a particular question type (e.g.
multiple choice) or domain (e.g. assess & retrieve); neither is there any evidence of a relationship
between gender and success with a particular question type or domain.
Table 1
Summary of learner responses
Question FV
L>H
2nd Level
Es&Os
Format
Facility Value
(FV)
FV
Female
FV
Male
Domain
3
2-14a
Access &
retrieve
Open
response
67
70
65
5
2-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
68
70
66
6
2-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
75
76
74
2-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
80
79
80
1
2-18a
Integrate &
interpret
Multiple
choice
84
84
83
2
2-14a
Reflect &
evaluate
Multiple
choice
89
89
89
Mean FV
77
Mean FV
78
Mean FV
76
4
Key to colour coding
Low facility value
Medium facility
value
High facility value
Boys found the
question
significantly
easier than
girls
Girls found the
question
significantly
easier than
boys
Gender
Significant
difference
Patterns of choice of response options
Table 2 shows the percentage (%) of the sampled pupils who chose each option for each of the questions. In this table the questions are again listed in
order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q3, Q5, Q6, Q4, Q1, and Q2.
Table 2
Patterns of choice of response options
Question FV
L>H
Correct
Answer A
%
Answer B
%
3
1 of A or B
or C
talent shows
31
through family
members
5
D
Maths
2
6
C
the lunchtime
play
4
A
1
2
%
No
response
various
32
1
68
n/a
n/a
1
the auditions
14
n/a
n/a
1
4
a qualified
teacher
14
n/a
n/a
1
84
putting on weight
0
n/a
n/a
0
89
Acting is very
boring
0
n/a
n/a
0
%
Answer D
5
31
n/a
English
9
Drama
20
Dance
7
the ferry from
Mull
3
West Side Story
75
a licence
80
fame
1
an audience
C
growing up
12
getting stronger
4
becoming famous
C
Acting is easier
than it looks
6
Acting is
glamorous
4
Acting is harder
than it looks
Key to colour coding
Correct answer
Other
Answer C
going to
performing arts
schools / acting
schools (classes)
Percentage
providing
correct
response
Percentage
providing
incorrect
response if
greater than
5%
%
Commentary on learner responses to each question
The comments here are informed suppositions or deductions of the ways in which young people
have arrived at responses, right or wrong.
Q3: Write one way in which a child can get involved in acting.

A range of responses was provided by the 32% of pupils who gave an inappropriate answer.
-
A very small number of these pupils evidently had difficulty with the basics of reading.
-
A small number were based on misunderstanding of the question as referring to
motivation or reason rather than means.
-
However, the majority provided answers which responded to the question as asked but
which were based on their wider knowledge of the world rather than on the text (e.g.
‘seeing posters everywhere about a film their making and the child signs up for an act’ or
‘going on the x factor’ or ‘a child can get involved in acting by going on websites to try to
find out how and where to go’).
-
While Q1 and Q2 refer to the website text (implicitly by quotation and explicitly by
instruction), Q3 makes no such reference and some readers, unaware of the ‘rules of the
game’, may have thought it appropriate to draw on their own wider knowledge to provide
responses which were often sensible or, at least, possible. Pupils need to be supported to
be aware of the purpose of their reading and of the relationship between their wider
knowledge and the content of a text.
Q5: What is Calum’s favourite subject?

This, perhaps surprisingly, was one of the more demanding questions. While almost all readers
were able to recognise that ‘Maths’ was inappropriate presumably because of the immediate
presence after it of the word ‘(yuck!)’, there were minorities who opted for ‘English’ or, more so,
‘Drama’.
-
As there was no guidance in the question as to which page was to be referred to, it seems
probable that many of those providing the response ‘Drama’ may have overlooked Calum’s
statement and were guided by an assumption about the value of drama as a preparation
for acting. It may also be that some who did refer to the relevant passage were misled by
Calum’s description of what he did in Drama and by his account of learning his lines; if so,
they read superficially and uncritically.
-
Those who answered ‘English’ may also have assumed that English is a suitable preparation
for acting without obtaining information from the relevant page. It may also be that limited
reading skills or lack of knowledge of the use of the dash led some to associate the phrase
‘then my favourite’ with the word ‘English’ which immediately precedes it rather than with
‘Dance’ after the dash.
Q6: What does Suzie want tickets for?
-
Those P7 pupils who answered ‘the lunchtime play’ and ‘the auditions’ may have lacked
the necessary background knowledge that ‘West Side Story’ is the name of a musical. As
they read the question they may have decided to reject this and select one of these two
answers as more reasonable.
-
Those who answered ‘the lunchtime play’ had clearly referred to the correct web page and
there selected a reasonable phrase.
-
Those who selected ‘the auditions’ may also have referred to the appropriate page and
identified the words ‘practice for next month’s’ and ‘went over my lines’ as implying some
sort of audition.
Q4: According to the rules, all child actors under the age of 16 must have …

While four out five respondents provided the right answer, almost one in seven gave the answer
‘a qualified teacher’.
-
It is evident that both groups had in fact gone to the correct web page; the reference to
the rules in the question may have supported them in so doing. The page itself contains an
introductory reference in bold type to rules for child actors; this may have provided further
assistance in identifying the area in which the correct answer could be found.
-
Those who referred to the qualified teacher may not have found the reference to ‘a
licence from the Local Educational Authority’ meaningful in terms of their prior knowledge
or experience; while it is to be assumed that the reference to a teacher was meaningful
and clear sense to them. It should be noted also that while the question provides specific
guidance that the question relates to all child actors under the age of 16, it may well be
that many of those who selected this wrong answer either did not notice the qualification
‘if a child actor is working on set’ or, perhaps more likely, did not see the significance of
this, assuming that all actors are on set.
Q1: What does the phrase ‘making it big’ mean?

This was one of the easier questions. In this case the assumption of some less successful readers
that the answer to the first question will be found on the first page turned out to be correct.
-
Most readers appear to have dealt with the metaphorical sense of the phrase without
difficulty; presumably the phrase is known from other contexts.
-
The considerable number who misunderstood the phrase as referring to growing up may
have been misled by the use of the heading ‘Acting Your Age’, by the use of this phrase
(accidentally forming a line of its own) as the last phrase in the paragraph, and by the
repeated references in just over three lines to ‘young people’, ‘still children’, ‘child actors’,
‘child star’, ‘child star’ and ‘child’. Thus they were misled by the superficies of the context
rather than reading more critically.
Q2: Click on ‘Learning to Perform’. Which phrase best sums up the first paragraph?

This question provided a detailed indication of where the answer was to be found. This may well
have contributed to this being the least demanding question.
-
Those selecting the right answer from this paragraph, ‘Acting is harder than it looks’, could
further draw on several pieces of evidence to support their conclusion if they had read
through the website. The Home page refers explicitly to ‘very hard work’; ‘Learning to
Perform’ provides information on the demands of schooling; Calum provides detail on the
physical demands made by his training and the long hours of study; and ‘Rules for Child
Actors’ refers to hours of employment between 7 am and 7 pm.
-
Those who answered ‘Acting is glamorous’ had presumably followed the instruction as to
where the answer was to be found and had simply noted the word ‘glamorous’ without
regard to the immediate context. They may not have read through the site and thus
remained unaware of the supporting evidence provided by the wider context available on
other pages.
-
Those who answered ‘Acting is easier than it looks’ may have ignored the direction as to
which page to go to and rapidly gained an erroneous impression from the Home page on
which they had first landed.
-
Members of both of these groups may have been supported in their focus on the Home
page by an assumption that the answer to a question early in the list was to be found at
the beginning of the website or they may have lacked facility in moving round the site.
4.
Analysis of second level pupil questionnaire responses
Introduction
All sampled pupils in P4, P7 and S2 responded to a questionnaire about their learning and literacy.
The observations following are organised into four sections, relating to pupils’:
5.
6.
7.
8.
classroom experiences
motivation and self-esteem
attitudes to reading
out-of-school activities.
It should be noted that the questionnaire data do not tell us what pupils understood as ‘reading’ as
they responded to general questions or what they think of as ‘enjoying’ reading. They may have
taken reading as including all or some of the following kinds of text:









only text printed on paper
on-line texts and/or moving images
only longer texts (e.g. novels, non-fiction books)
short texts (e.g. recipes)
only continuous texts
texts with tables/illustrations
only ‘formal’ or ‘approved’ texts (e.g. novels, textbooks)
comics and graphic novels
blogs and fanzines.
They may have understood enjoying reading as referring to a traditional idea of reading a story or
graphic novel to oneself for pleasure or to reading a fanzine or technical book for the pleasure of
gaining knowledge or skills. Some pupils may have included enjoyment from reading collectively with
others (e.g. with a group of friends or in an on-line community). They may think of those who would
talk with them about their reading in different ways: for example, friends or family; an on-line
community devoted to reading or a particular author; an ‘open’ on-line community.
Through discussion with learners, teachers can explore these issues further and encourage and
support their reading appropriately.
Pupils’ views
The detailed views of sampled pupils are reported for four groups in each of the years sampled,
representing the most deprived and least deprived 30% of girls and 30% boys in Scotland, by pupil
postcode. These are reported below at the end of the Questionnaire section and refer to most
deprived girls; most deprived boys; least deprived girls; and least deprived boys. This section reports
the most notable findings about their learning and literacy from the questionnaires for P7 pupils.
Classroom experiences - most deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
60%
Don't know
50%
Hardly ever or never
Sometimes
40%
Very often
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
Classroom experiences - least deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
60%
Don't know
50%
Hardly ever or never
40%
Sometimes
Very often
30%
20%
10%
0%
In your classes, how often do you:
A1.4 Work on your own?
A1.5. Find out things by exploring or investigating?
A1.6 Use computers?
A1.7 Talk about what you are learning?
A1.9 Give other pupils feedback on their work?
A1.11 Think things through and solve problems?
Nil
In your classes, how often do your teachers:
A2.1 Tell you what you are going to learn about before you start working?
A2.3 Help you understand how you can do better?
A2.4 Go through work too slowly?
A2.5 Explain how you will know you have done well?
A2.6 Go through work too fast?
A2.7 Explain how what you are learning is relevant to the outside world?
How often does someone in school (your class teacher or perhaps your head teacher) talk with you about:
A3.2 What you need to do to improve your learning?
Motivation and self-esteem - most deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Disagree a lot
50%
Disagree a little
Agree a little
40%
Agree a lot
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
B1.1
B1.2
B1.3
B1.4
B1.5
B1.6 B1.10 C1.1
C1.2
C1.3
C1.4
Motivation and self-esteem - least deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Disagree a lot
50%
Disagree a little
Agree a little
40%
Agree a lot
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
B1.1
B1.2
B1.3
B1.4
B1.5
B1.6 B1.10 C1.1
C1.2
C1.3
C1.4
How much do you agree with the following?
B1.1 I enjoy learning
B1.2 I am interested in learning about different things
B1.3 I don't like learning
B1.4 I want to do well in my learning
B1.5 Learning is boring
B1.6 I try to find out answers on my own
B1.10 The subjects and skills that I am learning at school will be useful to me in the outside world
How much do you agree with the following?
C1.1 I usually do well in my learning
C1.2 Learning is harder for me than for others in my class
C1.3 I am just not good at learning
C1.4 I learn things quickly
Attitudes to reading - most deprived
100%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
90%
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Disagree a lot
50%
Disagree a little
Agree a little
40%
Agree a lot
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
D1.1
D1.2
D1.3
D1.4
D1.5
D1.6
D2.1
Attitudes to reading - least deprived
100%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
90%
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Disagree a lot
50%
Disagree a little
40%
Agree a little
Agree a lot
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
D1.1
D1.2
D1.3
D1.4
D1.5
How much do you agree with the following?
D1.1 I read only if I have to
D1.2 I like talking to other people about things I have read
D1.3 I would be happy if someone gave me a book as a present
D1.4 I think reading is boring
D1.5 I enjoy reading
D1.6 I only read in school or for homework
How good do you think you are at the following?
D2.1 Reading
D1.6
D2.1
Out-of-school activities - most deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
60%
50%
Don't know
40%
Hardly ever or never
30%
Sometimes
20%
Very often
10%
Nil
0%
E1.2 E1.3 E2.1 E2.2 E2.6 E2.7 E2.8 E2.9 E2.10 E2.11 E2.12
Out-of-school activities - least deprived
100%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
90%
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Hardly ever or never
50%
Sometimes
40%
Very often
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
E1.2 E1.3 E2.1 E2.2 E2.6 E2.7 E2.8 E2.9 E2.10 E2.11 E2.12
How often does someone at home do the following?
E1.2 Help you with your homework if you need help
E1.3 Tell you that working hard at school is important
How often do you do these things outside of school?
E2.1 I watch television and DVDs
E2.2 I play computer games
E2.6 I read comics
E2.7 I read stories or storybooks
E2.8 I read books that explain things (for example, books about your favourite sports person or animals)
E2.9 I read online (for example, web pages or blogs)
E2.10 I read newspapers.
E2.11 I read magazines.
E2.12 I read directions or instructions (for example, to learn how to play a game or download music).
Summary of pupils’ responses
Positive things that nearly all pupils said, regardless of gender or socio-economic status:
-
Just over half of the pupils said their teacher hardly ever went through work too fast
-
The majority of pupils said they wanted to do well in their learning
-
The majority of pupils overall disagreed that learning was boring
-
Almost 80% of pupils said they were good at reading
-
Almost all pupils said they thought their school learning would be useful in the outside world
-
Almost all pupils agreed that they usually did well in their learning
-
Almost all pupils said they got help at home with homework
-
Almost all pupils said that their parents/carers told them that working hard at school was
important
Rather less positive things that pupils said, regardless of gender or socio-economic status:
-
Overall, around a quarter or more of pupils disagreed that they enjoyed talking to others about
what they had read
-
Overall, about a third of the pupils said they hardly ever read on-line
-
Between 20-25% of pupils agreed that learning was sometimes or very often boring
Differences by gender
Overall, girls were more likely than boys to say that they:
-
strongly agreed that they enjoyed learning
-
strongly agreed that they were interested in learning about different things
-
disagreed that learning was boring
-
talked about their learning
-
enjoyed reading
-
enjoyed talking to others about what they had read
-
would be happy if someone gave them a book as a present
-
strongly agreed that they were good at reading
-
very often got help at home if they needed it
-
very often read story books
-
hardly ever read comics
Overall, boys were more likely than girls to say that they:
-
only read in school or for homework
-
very often explored and investigated to find things out
-
found learning harder than their peers did
-
read only if they had to
-
agreed that reading was boring
-
very often watched TV and DVDs
-
sometimes or very often played computer games
-
hardly ever used computers in schools
Differences by deprivation
The most deprived pupils were more likely than the least deprived to say that:
-
they used computers in school
-
they gave each other feedback very often (with the least deprived more often saying they
sometimes did so)
-
or they hardly ever gave each other feedback
-
their teacher very often explained how they would know they’d done well
-
their teacher very often explained what they needed to do to improve
-
they found learning harder than peers did
-
they were just not good at learning
-
they read only if they had to
-
they only read in school or for homework
-
they very often watched TV and DVDs
-
they sometimes or very often played computer games
-
they sometimes or very often read on-line
The least deprived pupils were more likely than the most deprived to say that:
-
they sometimes or very often worked on their own
-
they sometimes or very often talked about their learning
Differences by gender and deprivation
Overall, the most deprived girls were:
-
most likely to agree that they were interested in learning about different things
-
more likely than the least deprived girls to say that they enjoyed talking to others about
what they had read
-
more likely than the least deprived girls to say that their teachers went through work too
fast
-
more likely than the least deprived girls to say they read only if they had to (40%-29%)
Overall, the least deprived girls were:
-
the most likely to say that they very often read story books
-
slightly less likely than other pupils to say that they read only if they had to
-
slightly more likely than the most deprived girls to say they talked about their learning
-
more likely than the most deprived girls said they would be happy with a book as a gift
-
more likely than the least deprived boys to indicate that they liked learning
The most deprived boys were:
-
the most likely to agree that they read only in school or for homework (almost half)
-
the most likely to agree that they very often worked too slowly, and least likely to say they
hardly ever did so
-
the most likely to agree that they didn’t like learning
-
the least likely to agree that they wanted to do well in their learning
-
the least likely to agree that they were good at learning
-
more likely than the least deprived boys to say that they read only if they had to (60%-40%)
-
more likely than the least deprived boys to agree that reading was boring (40%-25%)
-
more likely than the most deprived girls to say they hardly ever used computers in school
The least deprived boys were:
-
more likely than the least deprived girls to say they hardly ever used computers
-
more likely than the least deprived girls to say they read non-fiction very often
-
the least likely to agree they were good at read
Third Level
1.
Case Studies Introduction
These case studies are based on pupils’ performance on SSLN
reading assessments carried out in 2012. They are one
component of the Professional Learning Resource related to
SSLN and the development of reading comprehension, and
share a common structure and format.
The case studies are intended to serve as a model which can
be used by practitioners as they consider the answers,
provided by learners, based on their comprehension of a
source text.
In the 2012 SSLN (Literacy) each sample pupil was expected to complete:

One pencil and paper reading assessment booklet of 30 questions based on a range of
paper-based texts

One online reading assessment task of 20 questions based on online texts (webpages and
film clips)
Definitions of terms
The tables in each case study summarise learners’ responses to the questions associated with each
text. Definitions of terms used in the case study tables are outlined below:
Question: questions are listed in order, from most to least difficult (see Facility Value below).
Es and Os: The Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes assessed by each question, at
the relevant CfE level.
Domain: Three domains or aspects of reading comprehension were used to structure the SSLN
assessments (these domains are also used internationally, in the OECD’s Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) reading literacy assessments). They are access and retrieve,
integrate and interpret and reflect and evaluate.
-
Accessing and retrieving involves referring to the text and from within it locating and retrieving
one or more distinct pieces of information.
-
Integrating and interpreting involves processing what is read to make internal sense of a text; it
may involve recognising a relationship that is not explicit and demonstrating an understanding
of the coherence of the text.
-
Reflecting and evaluating involves drawing upon knowledge, ideas or attitudes beyond the text
in order to relate the information provided within the text to the learner’s own frames of
reference.
Facility value (FV): A statistical measure of an item’s easiness/difficulty. For assessment items like
those used in the SSLN, which are marked right/wrong, the facility value is based on the proportion
(%) of pupils who answered it correctly. Hence, the nearer the facility value to 100, the easier the
question.
The mean (average) facility value for each column is given in the final row of the table.
Deprivation: The sample was designed to ensure that there were:
-
30% of sampled pupils living in the most deprived areas of Scotland
30% of sampled pupils living in the least deprived areas of Scotland
40% of sampled pupils living in the remaining areas of Scotland
Facility values in the table are given for:
-
all sampled pupils
girls in the sample
boys in the sample
the most deprived 30% pupils in the sample
the least deprived 30% pupils in the sample
(Statistically) significant difference
Tests for statistical significance tell us what the probability is that the relationship between two
numbers is due only to random chance, or on the other hand where there is a good chance that
there is a real relationship between two variables.
The final two columns in the table indicate the questions where there is a good chance that the girls
in the sample really did find the question easier than the sampled boys and the questions where the
least deprived pupils in the sample really did find a question easier than the most deprived, rather
than the differences being due to random chance.
2
Print text: Into Space
This case study focuses on S2 responses to the SSLN reading assessment task, Into Space.
‘Into Space’ – text
‘Into Space’ - questions
1.
What word is used in the first paragraph to show that a great fuss was made about
Yuri Gagarin becoming the first human in space?
2.
Circle a piece of evidence on the front page of this newspaper which shows that
the Americans were disappointed that the Russians entered space first.
3.
When did the Russians and the Americans first work together on manned space
flight?
(Tick one answer)
a. 1995
b. 1975
c. 1998
d. 2001
4.
a. in Russia
b. in space
c. in America
d. in both America and Russia
5.
What is the main purpose of this text?
(Tick one answer)
a. to give information about Russian cosmonauts
b. to show that the U.S. and Russia never work together on space flight
c. to list the names of all of the people who have been into space
d. to show how the U.S. and Russia often work together on space flight
Image © NASA
Learners’ responses
Table 1 below provides a summary of learners’ responses to the five questions associated with the
text Into Space.
In the table the questions are listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q4, Q1, Q5, Q3,
and Q2. With a mean facility value of 74, this was one of the survey’s less challenging reading tasks
for S2.
Girls were more likely than boys to choose right answers for Q2 and Q3 while boys were more likely
than girls to choose right answers for Q4 and Q5; there was no gender difference in relation to Q1.
Overall, boys and girls found this task equally difficult.
Young people from less deprived areas were more likely than those from more deprived areas to
choose the right answer to questions except for Q3. Overall, pupils from less deprived areas found
this task easier than those from more deprived areas.
There is no evident pattern of difficulty being associated with a particular question type (e.g.
multiple choice) or domain (e.g. assess & retrieve); neither is there any evidence of a relationship
between gender and success with a particular question type or domain.
Table 1
Summary of learner responses
Format
Facility Value
(FV)
FV
Female
FV
Male
FV
Most
Deprived
FV
Least
Deprived
Gender
Significant
difference
Deprivation
Significant
Difference
Integrate &
interpret
Multiple
choice
54
45
62
44
61
Boys
least>most
3-14a
Access &
retrieve
Open
response
64
64
63
59
70
5
3-18a
Reflect &
evaluate
Multiple
choice
80
78
82
78
85
Boys
least>most
3
3-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
86
90
82
90
88
Girls
most>least
2
3-16a
Integrate &
interpret
Draw
88
89
87
85
90
Girls
least>most
Mean FV
74
Mean FV
73
Mean FV
75
Mean FV
71
Mean FV
79
Question FV
L>H
3rd Level
Es&Os
Domain
4
3-16a
1
Key to colour coding
Low facility value
Medium facility
value
High facility value
Boys found the
question
significantly
easier than
girls
Girls found the
question
significantly
easier than
boys
The least deprived
pupils found
the question
significantly
easier than the
most deprived
pupils
least>most
Patterns of choice of response options
Table 2 shows the percentage (%) of the sampled pupils who chose each option for each of the questions. In this table the questions are again listed in
order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q4, Q1, Q5, Q3, and Q2.
Table 2
Patterns of choice of response options
Question
FV L>H
Correct
Answer A
%
Answer B
%
Answer C
%
4
B
In Russia
18
In space
54
In America
8
1
A
‘trumpeted’
5
D
To give
information about
Russian
cosmonauts
3
B
2
A or B
1995
‘So close, yet so
far'/ 'US had
hoped' circled
64
n/a
n/a
n/a
10
n/a
To show that the
US and Russia
never work
together on space
flight
5
To list the names
of all the people
who have been
into space
11
1975
86
87
‘To keep up ..'
circled
2
Key to colour coding
Correct answer
Percentage
providing
correct
response
Percentage
providing
incorrect
response if
greater than
5%
Answer D
In both America
and Russia
%
Other
%
No
response
20
n/a
n/a
0
‘accomplishment’
11
n/a
other responses
20
1
3
n/a
To show how the
US and Russia
often work
together on space
flight
80
n/a
n/a
6
1998
2
2001
1
n/a
n/a
1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
other responses
5
5
Commentary on learner responses to each question
The comments below are informed suppositions or deductions of the ways in which young people
have arrived at responses, right or wrong.
Q4: Where was the International Space Station constructed?

This proved the most difficult of the five questions with only 54%, just over half of the sampled
pupils, identifying the correct answer ‘In space’.

Around a fifth responded ‘In both America and Russia’.


-
They may have been misled by the two references (2nd and 3rd paragraphs) to US and
Russia working together which may have led to a deduction that this included construction
of parts of the space station in each country, as must indeed have been the case.
-
The correct answer depends on a particular interpretation of the word ‘constructed’.
Just under a fifth of respondents chose the answer ‘In Russia’.
-
They may have been misled by the focus on Russian achievement in the earlier part of the
article and simply led into the deduction that they built the space station.
-
This may have been supported by their confusing the ‘orbiting space station’ with Vostok 1;
the picture of the former stands immediately above the account of the latter’s flight.
Thus layout, lack of contextual knowledge and/or fragmented reading which led to failure to
construct an accurate map of the whole text in their heads may all have contributed to this
decision.
Q1: What word is used in the first paragraph to show that a great fuss was made about Yuri Gagarin
becoming the first human in space?

The word ‘word’ is emboldened in this question which, presumably, helped ensure that the
majority of answers were in fact single words.

While the correct answer, ‘trumpeted’, was chosen by 64% of learners, 11% opted for
‘accomplishment’.
-
It may be that they drew on their own experience and associated the word
‘accomplishment’ with personal congratulations in a school or sporting or similar context
and/or they may have lacked familiarity with the notion of playing trumpets to celebrate
something. Thus contextual knowledge (or lack of this) may have led to error.
Q5: What is the main purpose of this text?

Although this question was correctly answered by 80% of respondents, a sizeable 10% opted for
the answer ‘To give information about Russian cosmonauts’. They may have been misled by:
-
the prominence given to the photograph of Yuri Gagarin
-
the prominence given to Gagarin’s name in the first sentence of the short article, which they
may have taken as the equivalent of a title or regarded as a topic sentence for the article,
and a consequent failure to follow the development of the argument in the succeeding
paragraphs.

by the use of the word ‘cosmonaut(s)’ in both the first and last paragraphs as they failed
refer adequately to the surrounding text.
Again, layout and/or fragmented reading may have led to failure to construct an accurate map
of the whole text in their heads which contributed to this decision.
Q3: When did the Russians and the Americans first work together on manned space flight?

This proved to be one of the easiest questions (88% of respondents answered correctly).

Those who answered incorrectly seem likely to have used inefficient ‘hunt the year’ techniques
which did not take into consideration the whole text and, perhaps, to have been misled by
specific details in the wording:
-
Some learners may not have equated the phrase ‘manned space flight’ with the phrase ‘
joint human space flight project’ (which is how the 1975 flight is flagged up) and thus may
have looked for dates after 1975.
-
The choice of 1995, the most common error, may have been determined by its use in the
phrase ‘from 1995 to 1998’ with its implication of a start date; some may have been further
misled by the reference to the US and Russians being within the space laboratory with the
implications of their carrying out common research tasks.
-
The phrase ‘work together’ may have led some readers to choose the date 1998 if they
chose a literal interpretation of word ‘work’ as involving a specific task, here the building of
the space station.
Q2: Circle a piece of evidence on the front page of this newspaper which shows that the Americans
were disappointed that the Russians entered space first.

This proved to be another easy question with 89% choosing a correct answer. It is unclear why
inappropriate answers were chosen by 5% of respondents and, more intriguingly, why some 5%
seem not to have answered. Some may have made use of random guesswork; others may not
have understood the wording of the instruction; others may have had difficulty in understanding
the text as a whole.
3.
Online assessment: Interview with Alistair Brownlee
The online reading assessment tasks and film clips were accessed through the pupil assessment area
within www.ssln.org.uk.Pupils viewed or read the texts (film clips and webpages) onscreen and
submitted their responses online.
This case study focuses on S2 responses to the SSLN online reading assessment, Interview with
Alistair Brownlee.
Interview with Alistair Brownlee – film clip
Watch BBC Video Class clip:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/world-olympic-dreams-alistairbrownlee/11920.html
Interview with Alistair Brownlee - Questions
1. Alistair Brownlee is a…
a. triathlete.
b. heptathlete.
c. cyclist.
d. runner.
2. What is Alistair’s attitude to training and sport?
a. Training is part of his life.
b. Training is a chore.
c. It’s all about winning medals.
d. It wasn’t his dream job.
3. Why is Yorkshire a good place to train?
a. It has lots of footpaths.
b. The weather is good.
c. Its roads are long and wide.
d. It’s busy everywhere.
4. Many athletes time their cycling runs to the minute. How does Alistair differ?
5. What does Alistair accept as a downside of being an athlete?
a. He can’t do everything he wants.
b. He has to be outdoors.
c. He has to travel a lot.
d. He has to get up early.
6. What is Alistair’s biggest motivation?
a. his desire to win lots of medals
b. his love of the Yorkshire countryside
c. his dislike of other professions
d. his need to be a famous athlete
Learners’ responses
Table 1 below provides a summary of learners’ responses to the five questions associated with the
text Interview with Alistair Brownlee.
In the table the questions are listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q4, Q5, Q6, Q3,
Q1, Q2. With a mean facility value of 69, this task was a moderately challenging literacy task for S2.
Girls were more likely than boys to choose right answers for Q4 (the most difficult, and the only
open response task) and Q5, while boys were more likely than girls to choose right answer for Q6.
Overall, boys and girls found this task similarly difficult.
There is no evident pattern of difficulty associated with a particular question type (e.g. multiple
choice) or domain (e.g. access & retrieve); the only evidence of a relationship between gender and
success with a particular question type or domain is that girls found the only open response question
easier than the boys did.
Patterns of choice of response options
Table 2 shows the percentage (%) of the sampled pupils who chose each option for each of the
questions. In this table the questions are again listed in order of difficulty from most to least difficult:
Q4, Q5, Q6, Q3, Q1, and Q2.
Table 1
Summary of learner responses
Question FV
L>H
3rd Level
Es&Os
Domain
4
3-16a
5
Format
Facility Value
(FV)
FV
Female
FV
Male
Access &
retrieve
Open
response
47
50
42
3-16a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
56
61
51
6
3-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
64
61
67
3
3-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
73
72
73
1
3-14a
Access &
retrieve
Multiple
choice
86
84
86
2
3-14a
Integrate &
interpret
Multiple
choice
88
90
86
Mean FV
69
Mean FV
70
Mean FV
67
Key to colour coding
Low facility value
Medium facility
value
High facility value
Boys found the
question
significantly
easier than
girls
Girls found the
question
significantly
easier than
boys
Gender
Significant
difference
Patterns of choice of response options
Table 2 shows the percentage (%) of the sampled pupils who chose each option for each of the questions. In this table the questions are again listed in
order of difficulty from most to least difficult: Q4, Q5, Q6, Q3, Q1, and Q2.
Table 2
Question
FV L>H
Correct
Answer A
4
A
5
A
He enjoys riding
his bike / riding
with friends
He can’t do
everything he
wants
6
B
His desire to win
lots of medals
3
A
1
2
%
47
Answer B
He isn’t
constantly
counting the
minutes until he’s
finished
%
Answer C
15
%
Answer D
0
%
%
No
response
Other
constantly
counting the
minutes
15
0
other
1
22
4
He has to travel a
lot
6
He has to get up
early
26
n/a
n/a
7
18
He has to be
outdoors
His love of the
Yorkshire
countryside
64
His dislike of
other professions
1
His need to be a
famous athlete
8
n/a
n/a
8
It has lots of
footpaths
86
The weather is
good
3
Its roads are long
and wide
5
It’s busy
everywhere
1
n/a
n/a
6
A
Triathlete
5
Heptathlete
1
Cyclist
1
Runner
74
n/a
n/a
7
A
Training is part of
his life
77
Training is a chore
3
It’s all about
winning medals
1
It wasn’t his
dream job
0
n/a
n/a
6
56
Key to colour coding
Correct answer
Percentage
providing
correct
response
Percentage
providing
incorrect
response if
greater than
5%
Commentary on learner responses to each question
The comments here are informed suppositions or deductions about the ways in which young people
have arrived at responses, right or wrong.

The questions more or less follow the thread of Alistair’s narrative about his experience and
attitudes to his professional career as an athlete. Pupils who construct a mental ‘map’ of the
text as they listen, integrating sound and moving images, are likely to find answering the
questions easier than those whose listening and watching is more fragmented and
impressionistic.

Pupils who take full advantage of the facility to move back and forth between film clip and
questions to find or check their responses, and are able to do so confidently and efficiently, are
likely to be more successful in selecting the correct answers. It is likely that less confident or
proficient watchers, or those who find navigation difficult, are less likely to review the text more
than once, if at all, relying on their initial impressions and memory.
Q4: Many athletes time their cycling runs to the minute. How is Alistair different?

This was the only open response question, and proved the most difficult of the five questions
for the sampled pupils. Just under half constructed a correct answer, identifying that unlike
some athletes Alistair enjoyed his riding (and therefore did not worry about timing his rides).
-
This question came in the middle of the test, following the sequence of Alistair’s narrative.
The ordering may have been helpful to pupils, but the wording of the question did not relate
directly to the correct answer, which required some inference from the spoken text.
-
Finding the correct answer to this question required careful listening to quite complex ideas
about the experience of being a professional athlete, how others as well as himself
experienced it, and comparing his personal experience with that of other athletes.
-
Although the clip is about an athlete’s training, and contains sections showing Alistair in
action (going to work, running and cycling), constructing the correct answer to this question
requires pupils to listen carefully to quite a lengthy description of his experience that relates
only generally to what is in the moving images.
-
Girls found this question easier than boys, with around half of the girls answering correctly,
compared with around 40% of the boys. It is possible that girls related more readily to a film
clip about experience and found it easier to empathise with the athlete. The idea that exact
timing of parts of his training schedule might seem less important than enjoyment may be
counter-intuitive for pupils with experience of sports training, perhaps boys in particular.

Around 15% of pupils wrote that Alistair was different because he wasn’t constantly counting
the minutes until he had finished his run. While this is true, it simply restates the question,
failing to explain the connection between what he does and his enjoyment of riding, and how
this is different from other athletes.

A further 15% of pupils provided a variety of other incorrect answers, while just under a fifth
provided no answer at all, a total of just over a third of all sampled pupils. It is impossible to
judge whether very brief or nil responses were due to lack of recall/understanding, or lack of
technical skills in answering on-line using a keyboard to compose in a text box.
Q5: What does Alistair accept as a downside of being an athlete?

This proved the most challenging of the multiple-choice questions, with just over half of pupils
providing the correct answer, ‘He can’t do everything he wants’. Although the question comes
in sequence with the clip’s narrative, it requires interpretation of quite a complex section of the
script, to identify that training must take priority over other things he enjoys if Alistair is to be a
successful athlete, and that this is a compromise that he is happy to make. These ideas are set
amongst several plausible competing possibilities in the clip.

Around a quarter of pupils chose the answer ‘He has to get up early’, and a few chose ‘He has to
travel a lot’.

-
These pupils may have recalled a section early in the clip, where the camera focuses on
Alistair getting into his car early in the morning and setting off for work. The narrative
emphasises that he does not mind doing this as it is part of his job. However, the relevant
part of the narrative for this question comes later, summarising his priorities. There may
have been a problem here for some pupils in listening accurately, integrating sound and
pictures, recalling detail, or constructing a mental map of the text as a whole.
-
The word ‘accept’ in the question may have misled some pupils, who perhaps focused on
‘downside’ and related it to their own experience rather than Alistair’s attitude. This would
take them to the other distractors relating to being an adolescent school pupil rather than
being a professional athlete. Getting up early is an obvious ‘downside’ for an adolescent.
Girls found this question slightly easier than boys, with around 60% selecting the correct answer
compared with around half of the boys. It is possible that girls find it easier to see things from a
perspective other than their own. However, the difference is not statistically significant.
Q6: What is Alistair’s biggest motivation?


This was the final question in the set. It required pupils to integrate material from throughout
the clip, rather than following in sequence from previous questions. Nevertheless, it was
correctly answered by two-thirds of pupils, who selected ‘His love of the Yorkshire countryside’.
-
Even for those who found integration difficult, the considerable emphasis given to Alistair’s
love of Yorkshire throughout the clip, in both voiceover and images, is likely to make it an
obvious choice of option.
-
The question and correct option also clearly match the short, confident assertion ‘Yorkshire
means everything to me’.
However, nearly a fifth of pupils opted for the answer ‘His desire to win lots of medals’.
-
Alistair’s discussion of his motivation in relation to winning and medals come towards the
end of the clip, and may therefore be uppermost in the minds of those whose short-term
memory, integration of ideas or mapping of the text as a whole is less secure. He does say,
‘When you win a race, everything’s worth it … It’s what you .. kind of ... get up for, really’, but
having already said that most of the time he’s just doing what he really enjoys.
-
Pupils with an interest in competitive athletics may expect a response related to the desire
to win, taking their own experience as a basis for their choice rather than listening for the
athlete’s views.

Just fewer than 10% of pupils selected the option ‘His need to be a famous athlete’. The idea of
‘need’ is really quite sophisticated in this context, suggesting a psychological as well as an
emotional dimension. Pupils who chose this incorrect option may nevertheless have picked up
the rather unexpected and perhaps slightly unconventional slant of the clip in relation to being
a successful athlete.

Perhaps unexpectedly, given this question’s emotional focus, boys were slightly more likely than
girls to select the correct response. It is possible that their experience of competitive sport and
training (perhaps in football?) had given them a better understanding of the concept of an
athlete’s ‘motivation’. However, this difference is not statistically significant.
Q3: Why is Yorkshire a good place to train?

This proved to be one of the easier questions in the set. Nearly three quarters of sampled pupils
answered correctly, choosing option A, It has lots of footpaths.
-
Making a correct choice of option depended on accurate listening for the detail of what
Alistair said, but was also strongly reinforced by the focus of the camera as he was speaking
about Yorkshire on Alistair running along narrow, winding footpaths in the hills.
-
Nearly 15% chose option C, its roads are long and wide. Alistair does make reference to long
roads, but also specifically mentions that they are narrow and winding. Choice of this option
involved a failure to integrate pictures and spoken text, and possibly confusion of ‘wide’ with
‘winding’ in recall of what the athlete said.
-
A few pupils chose option B, The weather is good. Alistair did make reference to the
weather, and the weather in the film was good. However, his remark about good weather
was followed with an ironic ‘or not…’, and laugh. General knowledge of the UK climate might
have been helpful in picking up this irony.
Q2, Q1: What is Alistair’s attitude to training and sport? Alistair Brownlee is a ….

These were the easiest two questions for the sampled pupils, with very few failing to choose the
correct options, Training is part of his life and Triathlete respectively.
-
For Q2, the easiest in the set, there were direct references throughout the clip to training
being part of the athlete’s life. The other options are all direct contradictions of what he
said.
-
Those few who answered Q1 incorrectly chose option C, cyclist, possibly because the latter
part of the clip focused on this aspect of being a triathlete, with the reference to being a
triathlete, and the swimming and running activities, coming earlier on.
-
For both questions, the small number of nil responses was most likely due to difficulties in
viewing the clip, rather than failure to understand it.
4.
Analysis of third level pupil questionnaire responses
Introduction
All sampled pupils in P4, P7 and S2 responded to a questionnaire about their learning and literacy.
The observations following are organised into four sections, relating to pupils’:
1.
2.
3.
4.
classroom experiences
motivation and self-esteem
attitudes to reading
out-of-school activities.
It should be noted that the questionnaire data do not tell us what pupils understood as ‘reading’ as
they responded to general questions or what they think of as ‘enjoying’ reading. They may have
taken reading as including all or some of the following kinds of text:









only text printed on paper
on-line texts and/or moving images
only longer texts (e.g. novels, non-fiction books)
short texts (e.g. recipes)
only continuous texts
texts with tables/illustrations
only ‘formal’ or ‘approved’ texts (eg. novels, textbooks)
comics and graphic novels
blogs and fanzines.
They may have understood enjoying reading as referring to a traditional idea of reading a story or
graphic novel to oneself for pleasure or to reading a fanzine or technical book for the pleasure of
gaining knowledge or skills. Some pupils may have included enjoyment from reading collectively with
others (e.g. with a group of friends or in an on-line community). They may think of those who would
talk with them about their reading in different ways: for example, friends or family; an on-line
community devoted to reading or a particular author; an ‘open’ on-line community.
Through discussion with learners, teachers can explore these issues further and encourage and
support their reading appropriately.
Pupils’ views
The detailed views of sampled pupils are reported for four groups in each of the years sampled,
representing the most deprived and least deprived 30% of girls and 30% boys in Scotland, by pupil
postcode. These are reported below at the end of the Questionnaire section and refer to most
deprived girls; most deprived boys; least deprived girls; and least deprived boys. This section reports
the most notable findings about their learning and literacy from the questionnaires for S2 pupils.
Classroom experiences - most deprived
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
Don't know
Hardly ever or never
Sometimes
Very often
Nil
Classroom experiences - least deprived
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
Don't know
50%
Hardly ever or never
40%
Sometimes
30%
Very often
20%
Nil
10%
0%
In your classes, how often do you:
A1.4 Work on your own?
A1.5 Find out things by exploring or investigating?
A1.6 Use computers?
A1.7 Discuss what you are learning?
A1.9 Give other pupils feedback on their work?
A1.11 Think things through and solve problems?
In your classes, how often do your teachers:
A2.1 Tell you what you are going to learn about before you start working?
A2.3 Help you understand how you can do better?
A2.4 Go through work too slowly?
A2.5 Explain how you will know you have done well?
A2.6 Go through work too fast?
A2.7 Explain how what you are learning is relevant to the outside world?
How often does someone in school (e.g. class teacher/head teacher) talk with you about:
A3.2 What you need to do to improve your learning?
Motivation and self-esteem - most deprived
100%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
90%
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
50%
Disagree a lot
40%
30%
Disagree a
little
Agree a little
20%
Agree a lot
10%
0%
B1.1
B1.2
B1.3
B1.4
B1.5
B1.6 B1.10 C1.1
C1.2
C1.3
C1.4
Motivation and self-esteem - least deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Disagree a lot
50%
Disagree a little
Agree a little
40%
Agree a lot
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
B1.1
B1.2
B1.3
B1.4
B1.5
B1.6 B1.10 C1.1
How much do you agree with the following?
B1.1 I enjoy learning
B1.2 I am interested in learning about different things
B1.3 I don't like learning
B1.4 I want to do well in my learning
B1.5 Learning is boring
B1.6 I try to find out answers on my own
C1.2
C1.3
C1.4
B1.10 The subjects and skills that I am learning at school will be useful to me in the outside world
How much do you agree with the following?
C1.1 I usually do well in my learning
C1.2 Learning is harder for me than for others in my class
C1.3 I am just not good at learning
C1.4 I learn things quickly
Attitudes to reading - most deprived
100%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
90%
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Disagree a lot
50%
Disagree a little
Agree a little
40%
Agree a lot
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
D1.1
D1.2
D1.3
D1.4
D1.5
D1.6
D2.1
Attitudes to reading - least deprived
100%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
90%
80%
70%
Don't know
60%
Disagree a lot
50%
Disagree a little
Agree a little
40%
Agree a lot
30%
Nil
20%
10%
0%
D1.1
D1.2
D1.3
D1.4
D1.5
D1.6
How much do you agree with the following?
D1.1 I read only if I have to
D1.2 I like talking to other people about things I have read
D1.3 I would be happy if someone gave me a book as a present
D1.4 I think reading is boring
D1.5 I enjoy reading
D2.1
D1.6I only read in school or for homework
How good do you think you are at the following:
D2.1 Reading?
Out-of-school activities - most deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
60%
50%
Don't know
40%
Hardly ever or never
30%
Sometimes
20%
Very often
10%
Nil
0%
E1.2 E1.3 E2.1 E2.2 E2.6 E2.7 E2.8 E2.9 E2.10 E2.11 E2.12
Out-of school activities - least deprived
100%
90%
Girls LH columns
Boys RH columns
80%
70%
60%
Don't know
50%
Hardly ever or never
40%
Sometimes
30%
Very often
20%
Nil
10%
0%
E1.2 E1.3 E2.1 E2.2 E2.6 E2.7 E2.8 E2.9 E2.10 E2.11 E2.12
How often does someone at home do the following:
E1.2 Help you with your homework if you need help?
E1.3 Tell you that working hard at school is important?
How often do you do these things outside of school?
E2.1 I watch television and DVDs
E2.2 I play computer games
E2.6 I read comics
E2.7 I read stories or storybooks
E2.8 I read books that explain things (for example, books about your favourite sports person or animals)
E2.9 I read online (for example, web pages or blogs)
E2.10 I read newspapers.
E2.11 I read magazines.
E2.12 I read directions or instructions (for example, to learn how to play a game or download music).
Summary of pupils’ responses
Positive things that nearly all pupils said, regardless of gender or socio-economic status:

There were relatively few differences amongst the four groups by S2, suggesting that schools
are working hard to meet the needs of all pupils

Very high numbers in all groups said that they sometimes or very often talked about what they
were learning

Similar high numbers said that they sometimes or very often thought things through or solved
problems

A very high proportion in all groups said that their teachers very often or sometimes told them
what they were going to learn about; helped them to understand how they could do better; and
explained how they would know that they had done well.

A very high proportion in all groups agreed or strongly agreed that the subjects and skills that
they were learning in school would be useful to them later

Similarly large numbers agreed that they enjoyed learning and that they were interested in
learning about different things

They agreed that they wanted to do well in their learning and usually did so, very often or
sometimes thinking things through or solving problems and trying to find out answers on their
own
Rather less positive things that pupils said, regardless of gender or socio-economic status:

Overall about 70% of pupils said that their teachers sometimes or very often went through work
too slowly and around 60% of pupils felt that teachers sometimes or very often went through
work too fast

Almost 40% of all pupils agreed or strongly agreed that learning was boring while overall around
20% agreed that they didn’t like learning

Over a third agreed that learning was harder for them than for others and about 1 in 5 agreed
that they were just not good at learning

About 1 in 5 pupils overall said that adults in school hardly ever or never explained what they
needed to do to improve their learning

Around a quarter said that their teachers never or hardly ever explained how their work in class
was relevant to the outside world

Nearly a third hardly ever or never gave one another feedback

Around 1 in 5 of pupils said that they hardly ever found out things out by exploring or
investigating and a similar proportion said they hardly ever or never used a computer in school

With regard to reading, a clear majority of all pupils agreed that they read only if they had to
and nearly half agreed that they read only in school or for homework

About half indicated that they didn’t enjoy talking about what they had read and just under half
indicated that they wouldn’t welcome a book as a present

About 45% agreed that reading was boring

Nearly half of all pupils indicated that they didn’t read either stories or non-fiction much

About 40% said that they hardly ever read newspapers
Differences by gender and deprivation

Overall, girls were more likely than boys to agree that they didn’t like learning

Girls in the least deprived group were slightly more likely than any other group to say that their
teachers went through work too fast

Girls in the least deprived group were slightly less likely than other pupils to say that they read
only if they had to

Girls in the most deprived group were more likely than pupils of any other group to agree
strongly that they were interested in learning about different things. They were more likely than
boys to agree strongly that they enjoyed learning

Boys in the least deprived group were less likely to agree that they were good at reading than
pupils in the other groups

Boys in the most deprived group were least likely of all to disagree that they didn’t like learning

Boys in the most deprived group were less likely to say they used computers very often in
school than any other group

Boys in the most deprived group tended to agree to a greater extent than boys in the least
deprived group that they enjoyed reading