Do Teaching Practices Matter for Students' Academic Achievement? A case of linguistic activity

This paper analyzes the effects of teaching practices on the educational achievement of elementary school students. Using unique student-level test score data and controlling for school fixed effects, we estimate the impact of linguistic activity in the classroom on reading and mathematics test scores of sixth grade students. We find that linguistic activities improve students reading and mathematics test scores and that their impacts are substantial. We find heterogeneity in the effect of these activities across class size environment and home environment such as cram schooling. These findings indicate that the types of language teaching practices matter for students' academic achievement, and the effectiveness may depend on the learning environment in school and at home.