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chapter 5: school curriculum and organization for teaching reading
Exhibit 5.11 presents teachers’ reports of the number of hours weekly
spent teaching reading, either formally or integrated as part of reading
for other subjects. For each category of hours—more than 6, more than 3
up to and including 6, and up to and including 3—the exhibit presents the
percentage of students receiving that amount of weekly reading instruction
in 2006, together with average reading achievement for those students. In
addition, for countries that participated in PIRLS 2001, the exhibit presents the
difference in the percent of students from 2001 and indicates if the difference
was statistically significant. Countries are ordered according to the highest
percentage of students receiving more than 6 hours of reading instruction
each week.
Internationally on average, about one fourth of the students were taught
reading for more than 6 hours per week. In the United States, approximately
two thirds of students were taught reading for more than 6 hours weekly.
The percentage of students taught reading for more than 6 hours a week
increased from 2001 in Hungary, Moldova, Bulgaria, France, Macedonia,
and the Netherlands. Countries where two thirds or more of students were
taught reading for 3 hours or less per week included Slovenia, South Africa,
Indonesia, England, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, Austria, and Chinese Taipei.
In Iran and Latvia, the percentage of students taught reading for 3 hours
or less increased since 2001 by 38 and 30 percentage points, respectively.
The PIRLS 2006 results show little, if any, relationship between amount of
instructional time and reading achievement. This is a frequent research
finding, because there are many complex factors involved. For example,
additional instruction often is provided to low-achieving students for
remediation, and also, instructional time is not always spent in effective,
productive ways.
As shown in Exhibit 5.12, on average internationally 77 percent of
students were in classrooms where teachers reported explicitly spending
time on formal reading instruction. More than 90 percent of students in
Belgium (Flemish), Hungary, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, the Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Trinidad and Tobago,
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