The effect of teacher support on primary school students’ reading engagement: the mediating role of reading interest and chinese academic self-concept

Abstract

The subjects of this research were 776 pupils from grade three to grade six in Shandong Province, China. This study examined the influence of teacher support on students’ reading engagement, and the mediating variables between those two factors, as measured by the perception of teachers’ support scale, reading engagement scale, reading interest scale and Chinese academic self-concept scale. Results showed that the reading engagement of primary school students who lived in urban areas was significantly greater than that of students in rural areas. Moreover, teacher support positively influenced primary school students’ reading engagement, and reading interest had a mediating effect on teacher support and reading engagement, whereas the Chinese academic self-concept did not mediate such relations. However, Chinese academic self-concept completely mediated the relationship between teacher support and reading interest, such that there was a specific sequential effect between teacher support and reading engagement that formed an intermediating chain.

Keywords:

• Primary school students
• teacher support
• reading engagement
• reading interest
• Chinese academic self-concept

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the students and teachers of the participating schools for their time and support.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Scholars (01301) of Shandong Normal University, P. R. China.