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Chapter 6
Teachers and Reading Instruction
Although children are presented with an array of literacy-related experiences
in the home and community before they begin school, the teacher in the
classroom plays a central role in children’s reading literacy development. It is
primarily the teacher’s responsibility to structure the classroom environment
to support reading development and to provide opportunities for learning
to read. There is a wide variety of instructional approaches and materials for
helping students develop their reading skills and strategies. Depending on
their classroom situations, teachers may draw on an extensive repertoire of
reading activities or primarily rely on several approaches to engage students
in reading and monitor their performance and progress in reading. The
classroom environment in which reading instruction takes place also can
be influenced by school policy, curriculum, and the teacher’s preparation
and training.
To collect information about instruction, the teachers responsible
for teaching reading to the class of students participating in PIRLS 2006
completed a Teacher Questionnaire that asked them about their preparation
for teaching reading, as well as their use of instructional materials and
strategies and activities for teaching reading, specifically with regard to the
PIRLS class. Chapter 6 presents the results for a subset of these questions.
What Education and Training Do Teachers Have for Teaching Reading?
This section presents information about teachers’ preparation to teach
reading, including their highest level of formal education, certification as a
teacher, and the emphasis on various content areas in their studies.