The Reading Test of the International Advances in Reading Literacy Research Project

The PIRLS evaluation framework consists of two main parts: a reading test and a questionnaire.

Based on the definition of "reading literacy", PIRLS identified three aspects of "reading literacy" that need to be assessed: comprehension process, reading purpose, reading behavior and attitude. The comprehension process and reading purpose are assessed on the reading test, while the reading behavior and attitudes are assessed by the student questionnaire in the questionnaire.

The comprehension process and the purpose of reading are closely linked to reading skills, which are assessed through reading tests. The PIRLS assessment framework identifies two main reading purposes that are relevant to the age group students taking the test: reading for the literary experience; Read for the purpose of obtaining and using information.

In addition, the framework identifies four comprehension processes that readers are to use equally for two reading purposes: focusing on and extracting clearly stated information; make direct inferences; interpreting and integrating ideas and information; Review and evaluate content, language, and text components. Each of these comprehension processes will be evaluated in the two different reading purposes mentioned above, but there are some differences in the percentages of different reading purposes and comprehension processes in the evaluation.

See the table below for details.

Reading Purpose: Literary Experiences Acquisition and use of information.

Rationale Attention and Extraction of Clearly Stated Information 9% 13%.

Solution Direct inference 14% 9%.

Explain and integrate ideas and information 20% 20%.

Examine and evaluate content, language, and article components 6% 8%.

Note: Due to the rounding of the data, there is a slight discrepancy in the total amount of the data. )

Another component of reading ability, reading behaviors and attitudes, is assessed through student questionnaires. Reading competence encompasses not only the ability to construct meaning from a variety of texts, but also the behaviors and attitudes that support lifelong reading, which play a huge role in maximizing an individual's potential in a reading society. Reading behaviors and attitudes also have a direct impact on students' reading performance, so PIRLS has designed a student questionnaire to evaluate their reading attitudes and behaviors.

The evaluation of comprehension process, reading purpose, reading behavior and attitude constitutes the evaluation of the actual situation of students' "reading ability", and PIRLS also investigates the factors that affect students' reading ability to monitor and analyze the progress of students' reading ability by combining the results of these two studies.

Students are exposed to language and print at home and school, receive formal instruction in reading, and watch others read for fun and to complete tasks. These and other experiences and activities combine to influence children's reading levels and how they feel about reading by the end of fourth grade. Beyond the influence of home and school, it is the wider environment in which children live and learn that affects them.

The size and resources of the community, the organization of the education system, and the decision-making behavior of education all have an impact on the family, the school, and thus the development of children's reading ability.

PIRLS 2001 identifies three contexts that affect students' reading achievement: family, school, state, and society. (See Figure 1) In order to provide contextual support for illustrating students' reading achievement, PIRLS collected a large number of questionnaires from students, parents, teachers, and principals for the above four scenarios.

By gathering information about a child's experience learning to read and their reading achievement on the PIRLS test, PIRLS may be able to identify factors or combinations of factors associated with high reading ability.

PIRIS 2001 designed four questionnaires: a questionnaire for the students being tested, a questionnaire for their parents, a questionnaire for reading teachers, and a questionnaire for school principals. That is, student questionnaires, home reading learning surveys, teacher questionnaires, and school questionnaires.

PIRIS 2006 added a curriculum questionnaire to the above four questionnaires, which were completed by the research coordinators in each country, to understand the goals of reading instruction, including national reading policies, goals and standards for reading instruction, time allocated for reading, and the availability of books and other reading resources. In the context of affecting students' reading outcomes, the "classroom" is separated from the "school". (See Figure 2) PIRLS used different questionnaires to collect information that may affect students' reading performance in various contexts, so as to analyze the influencing factors of students' reading performance.

At the heart of the PIRLS assessment framework is the definition of "reading literacy".

PIRLS (2001) defines "reading literacy" as the ability to understand and use socially needed or individually valuable written forms of speech, where child readers are able to construct meaning from a variety of texts, and through reading they learn, engage in and entertain the reader's community.

PIRLS 2006 further describes "reading literacy" as the ability to understand and use written language forms that are socially needed or considered valuable by individuals, young readers are able to construct meaning from a variety of texts, and they use reading to learn, participate in groups of readers in school and in everyday life, and engage in entertainment. This definition is a modification of the last sentence of the 2001 definition, and Jing Shi Hu highlights the broad importance of reading in school and daily life, emphasizing the different contexts in which reading activities take place.

From the above definitions, we can see that PIRLS is very concerned with the purpose and context of reading, which is reflected in its emphasis on what readers do through reading, that is, to learn, participate in and have fun with the community of readers (in school and in everyday life) through reading. Reading activities occur for a specific purpose, such as reading for recreation, reading for literary experience, reading for information, reading for knowledge, reading for accomplishing something, ......Different reading purposes are reflected in different reading situations in the specific practice of reading activities. PIRLS focuses on the specific context in which children's reading occurs, so as to restore the children's reading activities in the evaluation to real life, and pay attention to their reading activities in school and daily life.

In the reading literacy evaluation of PIRLS, reading ability is no longer limited to the scope of the subject, purely as a specific subject ability, but connects reading with life, and integrates reading into all aspects of real life: entertainment, study, work, etc. This spirit is embodied in the connection of reading to real situations and to the specific purpose of reading activities.

The International Reading Literacy Progress Research Project (PIRLS) is one of the research projects of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The project plans to conduct a global PIRLS reading literacy assessment every five years to monitor the future development of children's reading skills.

As an international reading proficiency assessment project, PIRLS has its own framework structure and characteristics, and it is not something that we can simply transplant. However, there are many ideas and practices in the evaluation framework of PIRLS that are worthy of reference in China's reading and evaluation, and at the same time, some issues in the PIRLS framework can also be raised to trigger us to continue to explore. He recites the stone of the clear mountain, and he can attack the jade.

The reference and reflection of the international reading evaluation project not only allows us to see the trend of international reading evaluation, but also broadens our thinking about reading evaluation. The Chinese language has its own characteristics, and Chinese also have their own national reading habits and cultural thinking, so when drawing on the international reading evaluation project, we should also combine the characteristics of the Chinese language to open up a truly suitable and scientific reading evaluation road suitable for China, the Chinese language.

In 2001, PIRLS conducted the first round of reading literacy assessment in 35 countries and regions around the world, and the second round of PIRLS was conducted in 2006, with a total of 47 countries and regions participating, and China also participated in the project for the first time (mainland China did not participate in the test in 2006).

PIRLS identified students around the age of 9, which is equivalent to the fourth grade in most participating countries, because the age of 9-10 is a very important turning point in the development of children as readers, and most countries require students at the end of the fourth grade to know how to read and can learn through reading.

Based on the purpose of this study and the characteristics of the evaluation object, PIRLS defined "reading literacy" and constructed a corresponding reading evaluation system, which includes two parts: reading test and questionnaire.

Survey results.

The average score is 2006 and 2001.

Russia 565 1 14

Hong Kong 564 2 14

Canada 560 3

Singapore 558 4 14

Italy 551 8 10

Sweden 549 10 1

Germany 548 11 11

United States 540 18 9

England 539 19 3

Taiwan 535 22

A total of 45 countries and regions were tested Note: Mainland China did not participate in the test in 2006.

The international average is 500