Development over time of the reading self-concept in fourth- and fifth-grade students

This study aimed to identify learners’ clusters of reading self-concept as a factor of reading comprehension and vocabulary in a large sample of 4th and 5th grade Hebrew speaking students (N = 1333). The students were followed longitudinally from the beginning to the end of the school year. In terms of changes over time, changes of the student’s cluster affiliation and the changes in academic emotions throughout the year were examined. The results yielded two clusters of learners at both time points (‘High’ and ‘Low’ profiles, based on the mean scores at each measure) that had a different effect on reading self-concept. In addition, it was found that most of the students remained at the same cluster throughout the year and declined in their positive emotions. The understanding that emotional characteristics are an integral part of the individual learner has important implications for our theoretical knowledge as well as for daily work with learners and in the development of intervention programs.