PIRLS 2021: Do your students like to read? Publications

Publication Details

This Teacher Snippet uses data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) to outline four ways teachers are promoting positive attitudes towards reading in Year 5 students.

Author(s): Educational Measurement and Assessment, Ministry of Education with IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) and AIR (American Institutes for Research)

Date Published: February 2024

Summary

Results from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) have shown that from 2001 to 2016, middle-primary students’ enjoyment of reading has decreased in a number of countries. New Zealand was an exception with no significant change. However, a decline was observed in 2020 when PIRLS 2021 was implemented. Outlined here are four ways teachers are promoting positive attitudes towards reading.

Background

PIRLS is an international assessment of reading literacy that runs every five years towards the end of a country’s school year. In New Zealand it involves Year 5 students. Students’ parents/caregivers, their teachers, and principals of their schools also complete surveys to provide data to understand the contexts of learning.

New Zealand has participated in all PIRLS cycles since the first one in 2001. The most recent, PIRLS 2021, ran through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, starting in late 2020 as in New Zealand’s case through to mid-2022. Approximately 60 countries now participate in PIRLS. PIRLS is coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

New Zealand’s results from PIRLS 2021 can be found here.

Key Findings

Providing students with choices about what they read

Teachers develop students’ sense of autonomy and positive attitudes towards reading by enabling students to select their own texts from a range of text choices that are of interest to students and at their reading level.

PIRLS 2021 results show that

  • 57% of students internationally
  • 84% of students in New Zealand

have teachers who report giving them time to read books they choose themselves at least half of their reading lessons.

Making reading a social activity

Feeling a sense of connectedness and social belonging is key to students’ motivation. By encouraging student collaboration in reading activities, such as through shared reading and discussions, teachers promote reading as a social activity.

PIRLS 2021 results show that

  • 88% of students internationally
  • 97% of students in New Zealand

have teachers who report they encourage them to have discussions on what they have read for at least half of the lessons.

Ensuring reading material is relevant

Students should like what they read and find the content valuable and relevant to their lives, cultures, and learning experiences. By asking students about their reading preferences and interests, and making print and digital reading materials available, teachers ensure reading texts are relevant.

PIRLS 2021 results show that

  • 69% of students internationally
  • 86% of students in New Zealand

have teachers who report providing reading material that match their interests for at least half of the lessons.

Fostering reading confidence

Successes in reading can increase students’ sense of self and confidence, a key component of their reading attitudes and motivation. Teachers foster reading confidence by matching texts to students’ reading skills and giving them explicit, encouraging feedback to maintain their success.

PIRLS 2021 results show that

  • 69% of students internationally
  • 78% of students in New Zealand

have teachers who report giving individualised feedback to each of them for at least half of the lessons.

Footnotes

  1. https://www.iea.nl/studies/iea/pirls
  2. Hooper (2020)
  3. Chamberlain & Forkert (2023)
  4. Assor et al., (2002); Guthrie & Wigfield (2017); Katz & Assor (2006)
  5. Chinn et al., (2001); Guthrie & Wigfield (2017); Taboada et al., (2020)
  6. Guthrie & Wigfield (2017); Taboada et al., (2020); Vansteenkiste et al., (2006)
  7. Schunk & Zimmerman (2007); Taboada et al., (2020); Wigfield et al., (2004)

Navigation

Contact Us

PIRLS
For queries about the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) please email the: EMA Mailbox