The Matthew Effect in reading describes how small differences in reading ability can grow into large differences over time. Children who read well tend to read more and become even better readers, while those who struggle often read less and fall further behind. This article explores the Matthew Effect, the research behind it, and why early intervention matters.
Table of contents:
- The importance of reading
- What is the Matthew Effect in reading?
- Studies on the Matthew Effect report mixed results
- The Matthew Effect and closing the gap (video)
- Closing the gap: A parent’s testimony.
The importance of reading
Reading is essential to success in our society. A Gallup study on behalf of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy found that low levels of adult literacy could be costing the U.S. as much as $2.2 trillion a year (Nietzel, 2020). Adults with poor reading skills make up a disproportionate number of high school dropouts, unemployed individuals, people living in poverty or receiving government assistance, and incarcerated individuals.
Reading is a skill that serves both society and the individual throughout life, yet many people take it for granted. For most children, reading is acquired effortlessly during the early school years and becomes the primary means of acquiring knowledge throughout their education.
Children’s literacy skills grow rapidly during the elementary school years. They begin by understanding the alphabetic principle of letter-sound correspondences and progress to understanding prefixes and suffixes as they decode unfamiliar words. They continue to refine their comprehension skills as they move from answering simple questions about picture books to identifying cause-and-effect in narrative and expository texts. By the end of elementary school, many children can participate in oral presentations, read nonfiction texts, and “publish” their own writing.
Reading during adolescence brings new demands. While adolescents have usually mastered the fundamentals of word analysis and word recognition, they continue to learn about the Latin and Greek origins of words and expand their vocabularies as they become more sophisticated readers. They draw on their growing knowledge and experience to learn from what they read and develop increasingly advanced ways of interacting with text. Students must be able to solve problems, consider different perspectives, and analyze and reflect on reading material. Adults continue to rely on reading skills to keep pace with advances in their profession, stay informed about current events, and read for pleasure (Giess, 2005).
What is the Matthew Effect in reading?
Typically, students with reading difficulties have struggled academically throughout school, often just barely passing each grade level. Some never received effective reading instruction or experienced poor environmental conditions in childhood. Others have a specific learning disability in reading, often called dyslexia.
Dyslexia has been recognized as a learning disability for many decades. Some dyslexia experts maintain that the term “dyslexia” should be reserved only for people who experience difficulty with reading. Other experts argue that dyslexia describes a broad set of neurological differences that affect various capacities, including listening, speaking, reading, writing, sequencing, and memory. All dyslexia experts agree that dyslexia helps explain why some children have more difficulty learning to read than their peers. Even a slight reading delay can translate into a significant gap between what a child is expected to read at school and what they can learn from reading in just a few short years.
This gap is often exacerbated for children with dyslexia because they tend to avoid reading. The avoidance is understandable; for these children, reading is arduous. However, avoidance places them at an even greater disadvantage. This phenomenon is referred to as the Matthew Effect, a term coined by Robert K. Merton in 1968 and adopted for education by psychologist Keith Stanovich in 1986.
In the biblical Gospel of Matthew, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In the case of young readers, good readers read more and get better at reading, whereas less-skilled readers read less and fall farther and farther behind their peers. Over time, the difference in reading ability can become significant and begin to affect other areas of learning, such as vocabulary development and comprehension.
Other capacities, such as speaking and writing, can also be influenced by how much reading a child does. For many children with dyslexia, delayed progress in these areas diminishes self-esteem and motivation to complete schoolwork, further hindering their ability to learn at school (Franklin, 2018). In the words of Stanovich (1986):
Slow reading acquisition has cognitive, behavioral, and motivational consequences that slow the development of other cognitive skills and inhibit performance on many academic tasks. In short, as reading develops, other cognitive processes track the reading skill level. Knowledge bases in reciprocal relationships with reading are also inhibited from further development. The longer this developmental sequence is allowed to continue, the more generalized the deficits will become, seeping into more and more areas of cognition and behavior. Or, to put it more simply – and sadly – in the words of a tearful nine-year-old, already falling frustratingly behind his peers in reading progress, “Reading affects everything you do.”
Studies report mixed results
Studies attempting to confirm the Matthew Effect in reading have reported mixed results. Protopapas and colleagues (2015) followed 587 Greek students with varying reading, spelling, and vocabulary skills for two years, from Grades 2 through 4. The authors concluded that the Matthew Effect pattern was not evident. However, there was no evidence that poor readers eventually closed the gap either. Thus, “although the poor students may not be getting poorer, they do not get sufficiently richer either.”
Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) followed 11th-grade students who had been administered a battery of reading tasks in 1st grade. Ten years later, they were assessed on measures of exposure to print, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and general knowledge. First-grade reading ability was a strong predictor of all 11th-grade outcomes and remained so even after partialling out measures of cognitive ability.
A meta-analysis of 78 studies reported that 33 studies (42.3%) found a decreasing achievement gap, 20 (25.6%) found stable achievement differences, and 18 (23.1%) found an increasing achievement gap consistent with the Matthew Effect. Furthermore, 6 studies (7.7%) reported a pattern of delayed compensation, meaning that achievement differences initially increased and later decreased (Pfost et al., 2014).
The Matthew Effect has also featured in legal disputes. One example is the 1997 court case of James Brody versus the Dare County Public Schools. James Brody was found eligible for special education after being administered an IQ test in 3rd grade. After three years of special education, he was retested. According to the new assessment, his IQ score had dropped from 127 to 109.
Two years later, when James was tested again, his IQ score had declined even further. Experts testified that the declining scores were an example of the Matthew Effect and evidence that James was not receiving appropriate remediation. The Administrative Law Judge and the Review Officer agreed, finding that the school district had not provided James with an appropriate education (Briggs, 2013).
The Matthew Effect, and closing the gap
Closing the gap: A parent’s testimony
My son Preneil was diagnosed with dyslexia in June 2010. He was in Grade 7! We were both quite unsettled and not sure of the way forward. Not only did he have to attend a school program to help learners struggling with reading, but he also had to work with me every night, completing exercises in eye movement and word recognition. The issue that troubled Preneil the most was being labeled a “remedial” child by fellow students. Preneil’s confidence was always quite fragile, given his small stature and quiet, introspective nature, but this diagnosis dragged him back even further.
Both his teachers and I picked up quite early in his schooling career that Preneil struggled with reading. I had his eyes and hearing tested, but found that both were fine. He participated in several reading programs, but there was no significant improvement in his reading. His teachers never recommended that he be tested for ADD or any reading disability, so it never occurred to me that Preneil could be dyslexic.
To find out when he was 13 (Grade 7) filled me with feelings of anger and annoyance to sadness and despair. I had not been able to give Preneil the support he needed, and I could only imagine the frustration he experienced from one class to the next. The program he attended at school didn’t improve his reading.
He entered high school, and the first 6 months were difficult to say the least. Preneil was withdrawn and tried very hard to “look” happy because he didn’t want to worry me. At the end of the 2nd term, he had failed Afrikaans [additional language] and obtained 42% for English. Our morale was at an all-time low. I did not know how to help my child.
As is common among 21st-century moms, I spent many hours researching possible solutions on Google. I came across Edublox and learned there was a center in our area. But it was only after a glowing recommendation from a previous Edublox participant that I registered Preneil in the program. The facilitator at Edublox, Sue, confidently told me to give her 18 months to turn Preneil around.
Preneil has been in the program for 22 months, attending one lesson per week. His English has jumped from 42% to 58%; he is writing compositions that bring tears to my eyes. His imagination and vocabulary are astounding, even though his spelling needs a little more work.
Preneil was reassessed for dyslexia in April 2013. The report indicated that only a few dyslexia symptoms could be identified. Preneil has managed to overcome this difficulty, which we can only ascribe to his participation in the Edublox program.
Devigi Pillay
June 25, 2013
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Update, January 6, 2016:
From: Pillay, Devigi [mailto:Pillay.D@]
Sent: January 06, 2016 12:34 PM
To:[email protected]
Subject: Edublox
Dear Sue
I trust you are well and still hold fond memories of Preneil and I.
I wanted to drop you a short note to thank you for the time, effort, knowledge and skills that you invested in Preneil during his time at your center. I firmly believe that this foundation helped him pass Matric [12th grade] comfortably, earning an A in Math Literacy. More importantly, Preneil achieved 63% in English! For Pren and I this is the greatest achievement! We will always be most appreciative of your support and encouragement.
Preneil will be following a career in Human Resources at TUT this year.
Thank you and take care.
Regards,
Devi
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Matthew Effect in reading – key takeaways
Edublox provides support for students with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and other learning difficulties. We help students worldwide overcome academic challenges and reach their full potential. Book a free consultation to discuss your child’s learning needs and discover how we can help.
Matthew Effect in Reading: Why Children with Reading Difficulties Fall Farther and Farther Behind was authored by Sue du Plessis (B.A. Hons Psychology; B.D.), an educational specialist with 30+ years of experience in learning disabilities.
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References and sources:
- Briggs, S. (2013). The Matthew Effect: What is it and how can you avoid it in your classroom? InformEd
- Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 934–945. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.6.934
- Franklin, D. (2018). Helping your child with language-based learning disabilities. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
- Giess, S. (2005). Effectiveness of a multisensory, Orton-Gillingham influenced approach to reading intervention for high school students with reading disability (Unpublished dissertation). University of Florida.
- Nietzel, M. T. (2020, September 9). Low literacy levels among U.S. adults could be costing the economy $2.2 trillion a year. Forbes.com
- Pfost, M., Hattie, J., Dörfler, T., & Artelt, C. (2014). Individual differences in reading development: A review of 25 years of empirical research on Matthew effects in reading. Review of Educational Research, 84(2), 203–244. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654313509492
- Protopapas, A., Sideridis, G. D., Mouzaki, A., & Simos, P. G. (2011). Matthew effects in reading comprehension: Myth or reality? Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44(5), 402–420. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219411417568
- Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21(4), 360-407.
