Hans Luyten’s research while affiliated with University of Twente and other places

This chapter addresses the relationship between increased online chatting during 2000-2018 and changes in reading literacy. The findings relate to per-country changes and involve 39 countries from five continents. The data was derived from the international PISA surveys. Two groups of countries are distinguished: those with a low prevalence of online chatting in 2009 and accelerating growth during 2009-2018 and those with high chatting prevalence in 2009 but decreasing growth afterward. The first group shows substantially improved reading literacy during 2000-2009. However, this positive trend changed around in the subsequent period when online chatting clearly accelerated in these countries. In contrast, the second group shows improvement during 2009-2018, when the growth in online chatting decelerated in these countries. By 2009 the prevalence of online chatting was already high in these countries. This coincided with a small decrease in reading literacy. Additional analyses indicate that during 2000-2009 the relationship between increased online chatting and decreased reading literacy is mediated by changing percentages of students reading fiction at least once a month. During 2009-2108 the relationship is mediated by changing awareness of useful reading strategies.

In the past decade, reading has moved massively from printed paper to digital displays. Thus far, large-scale surveys have not shown clear-cut effects of ICT use on reading literacy. This study addresses the impact of per country increases in online chatting, using data from the worldwide PISA surveys in 2009 and 2018 covering 63 countries. During that period, online chatting increased substantially in nearly every country, but the rate of increase varied considerably across countries. The empirical evidence shows a strong correlation of per country increase in online chatting among 15-year-olds with per country declines in both reading literacy and awareness of useful reading strategies.

Knowledge of the absolute effects of schooling provides a useful reference for the interpretation of the effectiveness of educational interventions. We use discontinuities in test scores between the oldest pupils in one birth cohort and the youngest in the next to assess the absolute effects of schooling. Our study includes 90 % of all pupils in year-groups 4–6 of primary education (ages 7–10) in Northern Ireland. Assignment to year-groups is strictly determined by date of birth in Northern Ireland. This creates a situation which parallels randomized controlled experimentation. The findings support the view that the guidelines suggested by Cohen (in 1969) may be overly ambitious when evaluating the effectiveness of educational interventions.