Self-efficacy as a predictor of reading instruction

A comparison between Norwegian and Swedish teachers

Abstract

This study departs from socio-cognitive theory to describe differences in Swedish and Norwegian teachers' attitudes towards reading instruction. The overall aim of the study is to describe how Swedish (n = 340) and Norwegian teachers' (n = 236) self-efficacy for motivating their pupils and adapting their read-ing instruction vary with their attitudes towards reading instruction—more particularly: reading aloud, conducting text talk in whole class, or conducting teacher-guided text talk in small groups. The study reports a structural equation model using diagonally weighted least squares. We tested that the scales had the same meaning in both countries (invariance analysis) to ensure that the scale was comparable across countries. The results suggest that when compared to Norwegian teachers, the sampled Swedish teachers reported more positive attitudes towards reading instruction and higher self-efficacy for reading instruction. Specifically, reading self-efficacy for reading motivation was substantively higher in the latent (probit) means. In addition, self-efficacy for reading instruction positively predicted higher propensity for positive attitudes towards reading instruction. The study also reports measures for individual reading attitudes (reading aloud, conducting text talk in whole class, or conducting teacher-guided text talk in small groups).