School Engagement and Language Achievement: A Longitudinal Study of Gender Differences across Secondary School

Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Oct 2009 by Van de gaer, Eva, Pustjens, Heidi, Van Damme, Jan, De Munter, Agnes

The present study investigated (1) gender differences in the longitudinal development of language achievement and school engagement (i.e., effort for language, attitude toward learning tasks, interest in learning tasks, and relationship with teachers) across secondary school (Grades 7-12, ages 12-18) and (2) gender differences in the association between these developmental processes. Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Project in Secondary School (LOSO project) that followed a cohort of 2,270 students in Flanders (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium) during secondary school. We used univariate and multivariate latent growth curve models to analyze the longitudinal data. The results showed, as expected, significant gender differences in the development of language. Girls showed a quasi-linear positive learning gain in language across secondary school, whereas boys started with a decline followed by acceleration in their learning gain in language. With regard to school engagement we observed a decline both for boys and girls, but the decline in the effort for language and the attitude toward learning tasks was steeper for boys than for girls. In addition, we found evidence for a positive longitudinal association between language achievement and school engagement, meaning that students who showed a smaller decline in school engagement also showed more learning gains in language. Moreover, only for boys were the school engagement starting levels related to their learning rates in language.

During the past three decades the focus of educational research on gender differences has shifted from the underachievement of girls to the underachievement of boys (Barnett & Rivers, 2006). Girls now outperform boys on almost every educational outcome (Marks, 2008; Mead, 2006; Stowe, Arnold, & Ortiz, 2000). Especially in language areas the gender differences are large and pervasive, and these gender differences are considered to be a major factor in the origin of gender differences in national exams, the widening of the gender gap in college attendance, and degree attainment rates (Burgess, McConnell, Propper, & Wilson, 2004; Sum, Kirsch, & Taggert, 2002).

One of the crucial determinants of boys' underachievement is their lower levels of school engagement (Arnot, David, & Weiner, 1999; Clark & Trafford, 1995; Davies & Brember, 2001; Engels, AeI terman, Van Pe tegem, & Schepens, 2004; Lamb, 1997; Walsh, Hickey, & Duffy, 1999). According to Finn (1993), low levels of achievement and, eventually, school dropout may be the end point of a developmental process of disengagement and withdrawal from school that may have begun in the early years of schooling (see also Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004; Jacobs, Lanza, Osgood, Eccles, & Wigfield, 2002). To test this hypothesis, we need to investigate the developmental trajectories of school (dis)engagement and those of achievement. However, most studies to date that have investigated these issues have relied on cross-sectional methods, which cannot provide insight into the way educational outcomes, such as school engagement and achievement, change over time.

The present study aims to fill this gap in the literature by tracking the same group of students over time and by investigating the association between changes in school engagement and changes in language achievement. Previous research has focused either on the longitudinal development of language or on the development of school engagement, but very few studies have investigated the link between these two developmental processes. In addition, we focus on gender differences. We want to address the question of whether boys become more disengaged with schooling than girls over time and whether this negative development is accompanied by a decline in boys' learning rates in language. In order to answer these questions, we will provide longitudinal data on the development of language achievement and of school engagement measures (i.e., attitude toward homework, effort for language, relationship with teacher, interest in learning tasks) for boys and girls across secondary school in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). In Flanders, secondary school consists of six years (equivalent to U.S. Grades 7-12), and students start secondary school at age 12.

Gender Differences in the Development of Language and of School Engagement

Studies investigating gender differences in language achievement at different ages drive home to the point that girls achieve better than boys in language. However, only small to nonexistent gender differences exist during elementary school, whereas the gender differences are larger at the end of secondary school (Cole, 1997; Coley, 2003; Hill & Russell, 1999). Although these results suggest that girls have higher learning rates in language, only longitudinal research, which tracks the language achievement of the same group of students over time, can test such a claim. However, longitudinal evidence of gender differences in learning rates in language is still scarce. One of the few exceptions is Kiplinger's (2004) study, which investigated students' growth in reading and writing achievement from Grade 3 to Grade 10 and found that only at the high school level did girls progress at a significantly faster rate in reading.