A social network analysis of student-perceived teaching practices in top-performing countries and regions in reading literacy: Insights from PISA 2018

Teaching practices are considered critical in promoting students’ reading literacy; however, research remains inconclusive regarding the structures of effective teaching practices across countries. Using data from PISA 2018, this study explores the commonalities and differences in student-perceived teaching practices across the 16 top-performing countries and regions through hierarchical clustering analysis and social network analysis. Four patterns of teaching practices were identified: teaching-practice-oriented, teacher-oriented, student-oriented, and minimalistic approaches. Network analyses revealed strong positive correlations among practices across most countries, with the structures of these networks varying in ways that reflected their respective pedagogical foci. The results underscore the importance of teacher support, a critical factor that is strongly linked to other teaching practices and is effective in enhancing reading literacy. • Cross-cultural network analyses compared teaching practices among top-performing systems. • Four patterns were identified: teaching-practice-oriented, teacher-oriented, student-oriented, and minimalistic approach. • Strong positive correlations of all dimensions reflect effective integration of multiple teaching practices. • Teacher support is identified as crucial as it has a strong connection with other practices.