The Iea 10-year Trend Study of Reading Literacy: a Multivariate Reanalysis

In the paper the data from the 9 countries participating in the IEA 10-Year Trend Study of reading literacy was reanalyzed using multivariate methods. In the first step a three-factor latent-variable model was fitted to the scores from the 15 textblocks included in the reading test. One factor was a reading comprehension factor, another was interpreted as a speed factor, and the third factor reflected performance on documents texts. In the next step differences in latent variable means were investigated for the countries. This was done in two different ways: through multiple-group modelling and through computing means on estimated factor scores. The results obtained in these analyses were compared with one another, and with the estimated IRT scores on narrative, expository and documents test types. The most important finding was that the speed factor identified in the latent variable model affected the estimates of the changes in level of reading comprehension over time, as well as the estimated differences between countries. Differences also were noted in the results obtained for the speed factor when using estimated factor scores and results obtained using estimated latent variable means.