FINDINGS OF THE PROGRESS IN INTERNATIONAL READING LITERACY STUDY 2001 & TRENDS IN READING ACHIEVEMENT 1991-2001 STUDY
Introduction
In 2001, about 7000 Primary Four pupils from all Singapore primary schools participated in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001. Singapore also participated in the study on Trends in Reading Achievement 1991-2001, a 10-year Trend Study (10YTS). Both studies were conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Altogether, 35 countries took part in PIRLS 2001 and 9 in 10YTS. IEA has released the findings of PIRLS 2001 and 10YTS.
PIRLS 2001
2. In PIRLS 2001, the framework of the study was built on three aspects of reading literacy: processes of comprehension, purposes for reading, and reading behaviours and habits. The study aimed to investigate pupils’ reading literacy achievement as well as home and school contexts for learning to read. The reading passages used to assess reading literacy contained literary texts and informational texts.
Performance in PIRLS 2001
3. For Singapore, the PIRLS test was administered in English. Singapore ranked 15th with an average reading score of 528, which was significantly above the international average of 500. The average reading scores for all 35 participating countries ranged from 327 to 561 (see Annex A). Our pupils performed as well as native English-speaking countries like New Zealand and Scotland, and better than many countries that tested in their native language.
4. About 15% of our pupils did well enough to meet the top 10% international benchmark. They achieved a score of at least 615 and demonstrated the ability to integrate ideas to explain the broader significance of a story and apply information to real world situations (See Annex B). Singapore pupils who always or almost always spoke English at home scored the highest on average among the countries that took the test in English. This group of pupils also performed almost as well as Sweden, which topped PIRLS 2001.
5 Our pupils performed equally well in the two purposes of reading tested, reading to acquire and use information and reading for literary experience. According to PIRLS, performance in these two reading purposes might be related to factors like emphases in intended curriculum, textbooks used, and the grade level at which certain reading comprehension strategies were introduced.
6 The PIRLS findings showed that the language pupils spoke at home, the emphasis that parents and pupils placed on reading, the resources in schools, and the school climate were among the key factors affecting children’s reading literacy. Singaporewas among the countries where there was high availability of school resources like staff, instructional materials and instructional space. Our teachers’ classroom strategies for teaching reading were aligned with international practices.
10YTS
7 For countries involved in PIRLS 2001, IEA provided an option for those countries that participated in the 1991 Reading Literacy Study to measure trends in their children’s reading literacy since 1991. This one-off study was achieved by re-administering the 1991 reading literacy tests to a sample of pupils in 2001. There was no link between the performance in PIRLS 2001 and that in 10YTS as the two studies had different assessment framework. The 10YTS showed that our pupils had made significant improvement in reading document texts, like charts, tables and maps, since 1991.
Conclusion
8 Singapore’s education system and schools have given our pupils a strong foundation for the development of reading literacy in English, even though many of them come from a non-English speaking background. MOE will continue to review the English language syllabuses regularly to ensure that our pupils continue to be equipped with the skills that they need for the future.
9 For more background information on PIRLS 2001 and 10YTS, please see Annex C.
IEA website: http://www.iea.nl
PIRLS website: http://isc.bc.edu/pirls2001.html
ANNEX A
Ranking of Countries in PIRLS 2001
|
Countries
|
Average Scale Score
|
|
Sweden
|
561
|
|
Netherlands
|
554
|
|
England
|
553
|
|
Bulgaria
|
550
|
|
Latvia
|
545
|
|
Canada (Ontario, Quebec)
|
544
|
|
Lithuania
|
543
|
|
Hungary
|
543
|
|
United States
|
542
|
|
Italy
|
541
|
|
Germany
|
539
|
|
Czech Republic
|
537
|
|
New Zealand
|
529
|
|
Scotland
|
528
|
|
Singapore
|
528
|
|
Russian Federation
|
528
|
|
Hong Kong, SAR
|
528
|
|
France
|
525
|
|
Greece
|
524
|
|
Slovak Republic
|
518
|
|
Iceland
|
512
|
|
Romania
|
512
|
|
Israel
|
509
|
|
Slovenia
|
502
|
|
International Average
|
500
|
|
Norway
|
499
|
|
Cyprus
|
494
|
|
Moldova, Rep of
|
492
|
|
Turkey
|
449
|
|
Macedonia, Rep of
|
442
|
|
Colombia
|
422
|
|
Argentina
|
420
|
|
Iran, Islamic Rep of
|
414
|
|
Kuwait
|
396
|
|
Morocco
|
350
|
|
Belize
|
327
|
ANNEX B
Description of Top 10% PIRLS International Benchmark
Reading for Literary Experience
|
|
Given short stories with one or two episodes of problem/resolution and essentially two central characters, pupils can:
· Integrate ideas across a text to provide interpretations of a character’s traits, intentions, and feelings and give text-based support
· Integrate ideas across the text to explain the broader significance or theme of the story.
|
|
|
Reading to Acquire and Use Information
|
|
Given a variety of short informational materials including text, maps, illustrations, diagrams, and photographs organized topically or chronologically, pupils can:
· Integrate information from various texts and their own knowledge, and apply it to situations that might be encountered in the real world.
|
ANNEX C
Background
The IEA is an international authority on the study of educational standards and has more than 50 institutional members, including countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan. IEA also conducts TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study). Though PIRLS 2001 and 10YTS were conducted under the auspices of the IEA, there is no link between the performance in PIRLS 2001 and that in 10YTS.
PIRLS 2001
2. PIRLS 2001 examined reading achievement for literary and informational purposes among fourth grade pupils (aged 9-10) in 35 countries. Reading literacy was measured through a comprehensive assessment based on authentic reading materials that required pupils to engage in a range of reading processes. PIRLS 2001 administered four questionnaires to the tested pupils, their parents, their English teacher, and their School Principal. In accordance with the framework, four of the assessment blocks contained literary texts and four contained informational texts. These passages, each of 400 to 700 words in length, were authentic texts drawn from children’s storybooks and informational sources. The literary passages included realistic stories and traditional tales and the informational texts included chronological and non-chronological articles, a biographical article, and an informational leaflet. The test items were designed to measure the four major processes of reading comprehension:
(a) Focus on and retrieve explicitly stated information. The pupil needed to recognise the relevance of the information or ideas presented in the text in relation to the information sought, but looking for specific information or ideas typically involved locating a sentence or phrase. These items made up approximately 20% of the assessment.
(b) Make straightforward inferences. Based mostly on information contained in the texts, usually these types of question required pupils to connect two ideas presented in adjacent sentences and fill in a ‘gap’ in meaning. Skilled readers often make these kinds of inference automatically, recognising the relationship even though it is not stated in the text. These items made up approximately 40% of the assessment.
(c) Interpret and integrate ideas and information. For these questions, pupils needed to process the text beyond the phrase or sentence level. Sometimes they were asked to make connections that were not only implicit, but they needed to draw on their own knowledge and experiences. These items made up approximately 25% of the assessment.
(d) Examine and evaluate content, language and textual elements. These questions required pupils to draw on their knowledge of text genre and structure, as well as their understanding of language conventions and devices. These items made up approximately 15% of the assessment.
10YTS
3. 10YTS is not a comparative study on reading achievement between countries. It is not related to performance in PIRLS 2001. A representative sample of about 3,800 Primary Three pupils from half of Singapore’s primary schools participated in the study. The 10YTS was done by administering the 1991 test to a sample of pupils under the same conditions of the 1991 study. The 1991 assessment measured reading literacy experience with three kinds of texts – narrative, expository and document:
- Narrative prose: Continuous texts in which the writer’s aim is to tell a story. These texts normally follow a linear time sequence and are usually intended to entertain or involve the reader emotionally. The selected extracts ranged from short fables to lengthy stories of more than 1000 words.
- Expository prose: Continuous texts designed to describe, explain or otherwise convey factual information or opinion to the reader.
- Documents: Structured information presented in the form of charts, tables, maps, graphs, lists or sets of instructions. These materials are organised in such a way that pupils have to search, locate and process selected facts rather than read every word of continuous texts.
|
Printer-friendly page 
