PISA International Conference onEducation Quality and Equality in the Pacific Rim

Hong Kong 21-22 November, 2003

””ReadingReading literacyliteracy is is understandingunderstanding, , usingusing, and , and reflectingreflecting on on writtenwritten textstexts, in , in orderorder to to achieveachieveone’sone’s goalsgoals, to , to developdevelop one’sone’s knowledgeknowledge and and potentialpotential, and to , and to participateparticipate in in societysociety.”.”

Reading literacy is a key competence of learning, working and of rich social and cultural life; a key competence of active citizenship.

What is reading literacy?

Curriculum in mother tongue

Core skills at the initial stage

Cultural identity

Strongly integrated

Active learner

Pragmatic approach

ICT and mother tongue closely related

”Every teacher is also a mother tongue teacher”

Gender diff erences in reading literacy

14

25

25

26

29

29

30

30

32

32

32

34

35

37

37

38

40

43

46

48

51

0 20 40 60

Korea

Denmark

United States

Japan

Hungary

Canada

Germany

Greece

Iceland

New Zealand

Finland

Difference

Gender differences in the different sub-scales of reading literacy

44

30

26

24

28

22

26

51

34

33

29

34

27

27

63

51

48

45

42

37

36

806040200

Finland

Sweden

Germany

OECD AVERAGE

Australia

Ireland

United States

DifferenceRetrieving information Interpreting texts

Reflection and evaluation

Text type and item type and the reading literacy performance by gender

(as percentages of correct answers)

73

76

72

78

70

59

65

66

70

59

30 50 70

TEXT TYPE:

Narrative

Prose

Document

ITEM TYPE:

Multiple-choice

Open-ended

Percentage of correct answers

Girls Boys

The risk to be a low-achiever increases if...The risk to be a low-achiever increases if...

Student is a boy.Parents are born outside of the country.Home language is other than the test languageStudent comes from the single parent family.Parents’ socio-economic status is low.Student has many siblings.Student is a frequent computer user.Student experiences strong achievement press.Student’s effort to achieve is strong.Student skips classes often.

And the risk decreases if…

Cultural communication is common.Student is actively engaged in reading.Student’s reading material is diverse.Student uses Internet frequently.Student’s academic self-esteem is strong.Student favours co-operative learning.

The possibility to be a top achiever increases if…

Student is a girl.Home language is the test language.Parents’ socio-economic status is high.Cultural communication at home is frequent.There are a lot of books at home.Student’s engagement in reading is strong.Student reads fiction frequently.Student’s academic self-esteem is high.There is good disciplinary climate in the classroom.Student’s effort to achieve is strong.

And decreases if…

Social communication at home is frequent.Student uses a lot of time for homework.Student favours memorisation strategy in learning from text.Student favours co-operative learning.

Explained variance in student performance

2

11

8

6

8

13

6

6

6

6

18

22

0 5 10 15 20 25

Self-concept in reading

Socio-economic background

Posessions related to classicalculture at home

Cultural communication at home

Interest in reading

Engagement in reading

OECD average Finland

Engagement in reading by gender 0,64

0,63

0,51

0,32

0,32

0,30

0,29

0,29

0,28

0,27

0,24

0,24

0,22

0,22

0,19

0,19

0,16

-0,28

-0,31

-0,50

-0,31

-0,28

-0,28

-0,24

-0,35

-0,21

-0,32

-0,54

0,06

0,12

0,12

0,14-0,08

-0,12

-0,34

-0,29

-0,07

-0,15

-0,02

-0,34

-0,22

-0,39

-0,80 -0,40 0,00 0,40 0,80

Finland

Portugal

Switzerland

Denmark

Germany

Canada

Italy

Hungary

OECD AVERAGE

Iceland

Sweden

Japan

New Zealand

Russian Federation

Greece

France

Australia

Korea

United Kingdom

Norway

United States

Index

Girls

Boys

Student performance by engagement in reading

440

460

480

500

520

540

560

580

600

620

Bottom qurter Second quarter Third quarter Top quarter

Index of engagement

Finland OECD

Implications for reading instruction

• Reading proficiency cannot be improvedwithout fostering reading engagement.

• Teaching students reading strategieswithout succeeding in engaging them in reading is not enough…

• One obvious illustration of this is thegender gap: one can assume that males & females have got more or less the sameopportunities to learn reading strategies.

Time spent reading for enjoyment each day18

19

22

22

26

27

29

30

30

30

31

31

32

33

33

35

35

36

41

42

55

39

25

27

29

28

36

36

38

37

28

30

30

31

34

30

33

35

31

31

27

18

26

26

23

26

24

23

23

23

19

29

22

23

22

20

21

21

20

21

16

18

15

12

17

20

18

13

9

9

7

10

11

12

13

11

10

12

8

8

9

8

9

8

4

13

9

4

8

4

3

3

4

3

6

4

4

4

4

3

2

3

4

5

4

0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 %

Portugal

Russian Federation

Greece

Finland

Hungary

Denmark

United Kingdom

Iceland

New Zealand

France

Korea

Italy

OECD AVERAGE

Canada

Australia

Switzerland

Norway

Sweden

United States

Germany

Japan

Percentage

Not at all 30 minutes or lessBetween 30 and 60 minutes Between 1 and 2 hoursMore than 2 hours

Activity of reading various media texts and reading literacy performance in Finland

460

500

540

580

620

Never orhardly ever

A few times ayear

Approx. oncea month

Several timesa month

Several timesa week

Fiction Non-fiction books

E-mails and Web pages Magazines

Newspapers Comic books

Reducing gender differences in reading literacy when the four most significant

activity factors are controlled simultaneously

2536 39 42

5339

2512 16 11 16 10 8

-4-10

10

30

50

70

Denmark Sweden Iceland Norway Finland Nordicaverage

OECDaverage

Gender difference total Gender difference controlled

Factors controlled: Engagement in reading, Reading fiction frequently, Self-concept in reading, and Student’s effort and perseverance

The four reader profiles

• 1 = « least diversified » (22 % ). Read moderately magazines, few read anything else.

• 2 = « moderately diversified » (27 %). Read frequently magazines & newspapers, fewread anything else.

• 3 = « diversified in short texts » (28 %). Read frequently magazines/ newspapers/ comics and read moderately books.

• 4 = « diversified in long texts » (22 %). Read frequently books (fiction & non fiction)/ magazines/ newspapers but not comics.

Percentage of readers by how diversified their reading habits

Reader profiles and proficiency

• Reading proficiency is strongly relatedto diversity of reading on averageamong Oecd countries.

• Least diversified = 468.

• Moderately diversified = 498.

• Diversified in short text = 514.

• Diversified in long text = 539.

• With few exceptions, this pattern holdstrue for every country.

gender gap

gifted students

school climate

learning strategies

poor readers in modern society

immigrant students

Challenges