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chapter 1: international student achievement in reading
What Are the Gender Differences in Achievement for the
Reading Purposes?
Exhibit 1.9 presents the PIRLS 2006 gender differences in average achievement
for literary and informational reading. For the literary reading purpose, girls
had significantly higher average achievement than boys in every participating
entity (except Iran where the 11-point difference was not statistically
significant). In contrast, some European countries had little if any gender
difference in informational reading, including Belgium (French), Hungary,
Italy, Luxembourg, and Spain.
To provide an international context for the differences, Exhibit 1.9
presents the international average for girls and boys for each of the purposes.
The international average is the mean of the average scale score of the
PIRLS 2006 countries, excluding the five Canadian provinces. Across all the
participating countries (excluding the provinces), the average differences
were similar for the two purposes—17 points for literary and 16 points for
informational.
How Does Achievement Differ Across Countries for Reading
Comprehension Processes?
Within reading for literary and informational purposes, the test questions
or items were designed to measure four major processes of reading
comprehension described in the framework. Briefly, the four major reading
comprehension processes addressed by PIRLS 2006 are:
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▶
▶
▶
Focus on and retrieve explicitly stated information,
Make straightforward inferences,
Interpret and integrate ideas and information, and
Examine and evaluate content, language, and textual elements.
Given the number of items in the assessment, it was not possible to
create four separate achievement scales for the reading processes. Based on
research conducted by Germany 5 and at the TIMSS & PIRLS International
Study Center examining PIRLS 2001, PIRLS 2006 was designed to support the
Bos, W., Lankes, E. M., Prenzel, M., Schwippert, K., Walther, G., & Valtin, R. (Hrsg.). (2003). Ergebnisse aus IGLU: Schülerleistungen am
Ende der vierten Jahrgangsstufe im internationalen Vergleich. New York: Waxmann.
Mullis, I.V.S., Martin, M.O., and Gonzalez, E.J. (2004). PIRLS international achievement in the processes of reading comprehension:
Results from PIRLS 2001 in 35 countries. Chestnut Hill, MA: Boston College.
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