A Case of Zimbabwe

1. Using Regression Analysis to Establish the
Relationship between Home Environment and
Reading Achievement: A Case of Zimbabwe

3. Ø Past research has indicated that a significant relationship exists
between children's home environment and reading
achievement.
Ø However, most such studies have been conducted in Western
countries where the concept of home environment is different
from that in developing countries.

4. • In developed countries, almost all students have amenities like
electricity and piped water in their homes, and these factors are
never thought of being influential in a student’s academic
performance.
• In the current study, the home environment factors considered the
possession of amenities like piped water, electricity, refrigerator and
TV, which were taken to be a measure of social economic status
(SEC). SES, together with several other factors were used as
measures of the students’ home environment.

5. The purpose of this study was to investigate the
relationship among home environment variables and
reading scores among Grade 6 students in Zimbabwe.

6. • The current study seeks to answer the two major following
questions:
• a) What family environment variables are predictive of
reading achievement among Grade 6 students in Zimbabwe?
• b) How strong are family environment variables at predicting
reading scores among Grade 6 students in Zimbabwe?

8. • Original data obtained from SACMEQ were already
treated for missing values and screened for outliers.
• In the current study, the descriptive statistics for all
the variables were examined
– to make sure they fell within acceptable range and skewness
is one such statistic that was carefully looked at
• Only one variable, STAY, was found to be highly
skewed and its treatment is described.

9. • The dependent variable in this study was READING
SCORE and it was measured by a reading test.
• The independent variables were several home
environment variables.
– These variables that were based on recommendations from
previous research were selected for use in this study.
• Four home environment variables were combined to
be a measure of SES.
– (a) Possession of a TV,
– (b) Possession of a refrigerator,
– (c) Possession of piped water, and
– (d) Possession of electricity.

10. • Five other variables,
– (a) Someone makes sure you did homework,
– (b) Someone helps with homework,
– (c) Someone asks you to read to him or her,
– (d) Someone questions on what you read, and
– (e) Someone looks at school work were combined to form a
variable, HOME.

11. • The other variables considered in the present study are:
GENDER, READING AT HOME, STAY, MEALS, and
BOOKS.
– The variable, READING AT HOME, measured whether students
did any reading at home.
– The variable, STAY measured the place where the student
stayed during school week and it was originally measured on a
4-point scale with 1 being ‘stay with parents, 2 ‘stay with
relatives’, 3 ‘stay in a hostel’, and 4 ‘stay by myself’.
– However, since the distribution was highly skewed, with more
than two thirds choosing category 1, categories 2, 3, and 4 were
combined, yielding two categories; 1 ‘with parents’ and 2 ‘other’.

12. – The variable, MEALS, measured the number of times that the
students ate breakfast, lunch and supper per week, and BOOKS
measured the number of books that the students had at home.
– Information about the independent variables and how they were
measured is provided in Table 1.

14. • The results are presented according to the research
questions asked in this study.

15. Research question 1:
What home environment variables are predictive
of reading achievement among Grade 6 students in
Zimbabwe?

16. • Answered by obtaining the regression weights and
the p-values for these weights.
– In Table 2, the results of the regression analysis are
displayed.
– In the table, the estimated regression weights, standard
errors and p-values for all the predictors are given.
• GENDER was not a significant predictor of reading
achievement, (β = 0.03, p = 0.13), so was BOOKS (β =
0.02, p = 0.39).

17. • However, STAY ( β = -0.13, p < 0.00); SES (β = 0.27, p
<0.00); MEALS (β= 0.11, p <0.00); HOME( β = 0.08, p
<0.00), and READING AT HOME (β= 0.17, p < 0.00)
were all significant predictors of reading
achievement.
• The variable STAY had a negative relationship with
READING SCORE.
– This makes sense since this variable was coded as 1- stay
with parents and 2 – stay with others.
– Students who stayed away from parents
tended to perform poorly academically.

19. Research question 2:
How good are family environment variables at
predicting reading scores among Grade 6 students
in Zimbabwe?

20. • Standardised regression weights of all the variables
were obtained.
– The standardised regression weights give the weighted
contribution of each predictor to the dependent variable.
– Using the standardised weights makes sense since the
variables are measured in different units.
– Another advantage of using the standardised regression
weights is that these weights can be taken as measures of
effect size.
• The effect sizes provide an indication of the practical
importance of each predictor.
• The larger the standardised regression weight (effect
size), is that variable in predicting the dependent
variable.

21. • Besides the standardised weights, we also obtained
the squared multiple correlation.
• The squared multiple correlation provides a measure
of the contribution of all the predictors taken
together. (Table 3)
• SES was the strongest predictor as indicated by its
estimated standardised regression weight, (β = 0.27, p
<0.000).
– The estimated standardised regression weights show the
relative importance of each predictor in the model.
• Collectively, all the seven predictors account for
about 21% of the variance in reading achievement
(R2 = 0.21).

24. GENDER, STAY, READING AT HOME, BOOKS, MEALS, HOME,
and SES
• SES is the strongest predictor of reading achievement.
• The findings revealed a negative relationship between STAY and
reading achievement, this consistent with previous research that
students live with parents do better work of reading than who not
live with parents.
• Home environment plays a critical role in influencing reading
achievement in schools. SES plays a greater role in influencing than
Home environment.

25. GENDER, STAY, READING AT HOME, BOOKS, MEALS, HOME, and SES
• BOOKS contribute to reading achievement was surprisingly
low.
• One would think that the number of the book at home would a
significant predictor of reading achievement, but the current
result is no, because the research only mentioned the number
of the books, not the number of ‘reading book’, maybe they
would never read.

26. GENDER, STAY, READING AT HOME, BOOKS, MEALS, HOME, and SES
• It is a limitation of the study that just consider the number of
books, not the number of ‘reading books’.
• Another limitation of the instrument is that it was not
developed to collect accurately data on the home literacy
environment.

28. Ø This instrument in this study was not made for collect data on
home literacy. Much better if such instrument would be made,
we can use it for future literacy research.
Ø The instrument should be designed for specific community and
specific country. Undeveloped country and Developed country
use different instrument, may produce accurate results.