PIRLS 2006 Encyclopedia

PIRLS 2006 EncyclopediaAll federal states aim to improve the linguistic ability of children with migrantbackgrounds before compulsory school. Many of the states have adopted measures tohelp parents foster their children’s early language skills. In North-Rhine Westphalia, forexample, the language abilities of 4-year-old children, irrespective of their linguisticbackground, were tested with a new language skills assessment program (Delfin 4) todevelop supportive measurements.GermanyReading Curriculum in the Primary GradesReading PolicyThe “three R’s” (reading, writing, and arithmetic) are considered a priority for primaryschool children. Literacy is seen as the basis of general education, enabling individualsto participate in the culture and the democratic institutions of society. Introduction toreading starts at age 6 with compulsory schooling. There is a compulsory curriculumin each state, comprised of general instructions for teaching methods and specificinstructions for subject content areas.Reading instruction usually is divided into two phases. In the first phase, studentsare introduced to reading skills which, depending on the federal state, is taught in thefirst or second grade followed by further reading instruction through the end of primaryschooling. During the first phase, children learn the alphabetic principle that words arecomposed of letters that correspond to sounds, allowing them to read and understandsimple, unknown texts. In the second phase, the emphasis is on learning to read fluentlyand correctly. Some of the states also cite the development of interest and motivation inreading as an objective for the first phase, while others cite this as an objective for thesecond phase. The most frequent recommendation for motivating children is to choosea wide variety of texts that are adapted to children’s interests and individual development.Because most guidelines for elementary reading instruction refer to the disadvantagesof an exclusively synthetic or analytical method of learning to read, mixed analyticalsyntheticmethods are compulsory. With these methods, children first become acquaintedwith simple, regular words that are analyzed as elements of letters and sounds using allsenses by differentiating between letters visually, differentiating sounds by hearing andspeaking, and copying and writing letters and words. The goal of almost every state is toachieve a balanced approach to learning reading and writing. 8Recognizing the function of a text is part of the primary school reading curriculum inseveral states, generally in the second phase. Some curricula emphasize the importanceof children learning to read competently as early as possible. Other curricula considerit necessary for children to be able to choose among different subjects and learn at theirown pace. In most curricula, there is a special section on differentiated teaching, whichtakes into account individual differences between children caused by a variety of factors(e.g., initial range in abilities before entering compulsory schooling, linguistic ability,motivation, interest in learning, and learning ability). Some curricula include specialconsideration of children whose first language is other than German.146