Review 

Reading literacy 

Source – Google scholar

Date – August 2004

Author 

Ina v.s, Ann M.kennedy, Miachel O Martin ,Maraian Sainsbury

(International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement).

Reference 

PIRLS 2006 assessment framework and specifications

The study was conducted in 2004 under the supervision of IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement).

The study is consists four parts:

• Overview of IEA’s PIRLS Assessment.
• PIRLS Reading Purposes and Processes of Reading Comprehension.
• Contexts for Learning to Read.
• Assessment Design and Specifications

Reading is the first step to being literate. Reading is a multifaceted process involving word recognition comprehension, fluency and motivation. For the development of a country it is really important to have literacy.

The PIRL also have a look over the improvement of reading and literacy achievement around the world. IEA was founded in 1959 and its main purpose was focusing on educational policies all over the world.

Reading abilities are important for the progress of one individual. Reading skill is the basis for the upcoming education. It is not about language. Reading literacy helps to grow ones personally and professionally and prepare for communication with the world. The PIRL conducts a framework which is revised every five years, to help to understand the achievement of children across the world in reading literacy.

PRIL defines reading literacy and its importance in IEA framework 2001. Readers are regarded as actively constructing meaning and as knowing effective reading strategies and how to reflect on reading.

Reading literacy also brings changes in the behavior and attitude including the construction of meaning from a variety of text and behavior which is going to support lifelong reading. It helps the children to develop a positive attitude, self-confidence and gain valuable experiences with the help of different texts. Reading literacy establishes an individual/reader as a member of a literate community.

The process of comprehension and purpose of reading are two elements which help to understand the importance of reading literacy. The process of comprehension helps the reader to examine their understanding and adjust their approach. 

The texts could vary on the basis of length, complexity, abstractness of idea and structures. Readers not only get information from the content but also focus on relevance to the question posed. It makes straightforward inference about the ideas and information. The purposes of reading are

1. Reading for literacy experience.
2. Reading to acquire and use information.

The context of reading literacy is also important. There are contexts which impact on the reading of children such as school, home, community, national and international. 

The study also focuses on assessing/evaluating the children on the basis of their reading literacy. They focus not to put a burden on the student so they provide a comprehension to evaluate.

Reflection 

The article had old data and its focuses on reading literacy only. But I feel the writer should focus on the other aspects too. How reading literacy influenced the other aspects of literacy? The whole study is conducted over the fourth class students. The fourth class students were literally very small to answer the questions. I think the writer can involve more people of different ages because a child is still in the learning process so they can answer the question with their cognitive ability. According to me, the writer should consider the people who have left their studies or continue their study or have interest in studying and fulfilling their desire by reading the texts. We can get better results from them too. 

The four parts are very well explained by the writers. The study consists of the appendix, research and questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of multiple choice, short and long questions. 

In the end there is Comparison between the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).