| This cross-domain study (N = 656) investigates why many students perform poorly in literacy and whether or not there are relationships between instruction and performance of undergraduate students in the Arts and Humanities (Domain 1), B.Ed. teacher education students (Domain 2), and secondary and elementary students (Domain 3).;While there are relationships between instruction and student performance, excellent instruction alone can do only so much. The researcher provides a theory of measurement for relationships between English instruction and students' literacy performance, in which he argues that students' prior backgrounds are responsible for 50% of their current performance, motivation and efforts for 25%, and the quality of instruction is responsible for 25% of student performance.;In that view, the average literacy scores of four groups are as follows (passed group and failed group) in which each figure in parenthesis represents 25% of the preceding figure: First-year participants (N = 144) literacy 74.30% (18.58%) and 25.70% (6.43%). Secondary and Elementary B.Ed. participants (N = 512) literacy 80.25% (20.06%) and 19.75% (4.94%). High school participants (136,028) literacy 71.65% (17.91%) and 28.35% (7.09%). Elementary school participants (285,536) literacy 53.75% (13.44%) and 46.25% (11.56%).;The value in parenthesis indicates the extent to which there is instructional effectiveness or relationship between instruction and student performance. Briefly, the instructional effectiveness is more to the passed group and less to the failed group, suggesting that the same instruction has different levels of effectiveness for students with varying entering grades, motivation, and efforts. The findings have instruction and policy significance across universities and schools.;The data sources and methods used include four descriptive studies/applied research instruments (a composition test and a reading comprehension test for first-year students; and two different literacy education tests for Secondary and Elementary B.Ed. students), provincial grades 10, 6, and 3 standardized literacy test results, meta-analysis, document analysis, comparative analysis, and reviews of literature. The study finds that reasons why students perform poorly in English composition and reading comprehension stem from entering grades below 80%, unavailability of adequate number of ENG composition and reading courses to first-year students, insufficient B.Ed. admission requirements and specialized courses, inadequate high school English instruction, non-English demographic characteristics, or inadequate family literacy. |
