Large-scale testing programs are sometimes criticised because they are not used to effect change, and may narrow the curriculum as teachers “teach to the test”. However, the framework for the test and interpretation of its results can be used to improve the teaching of reading, according to a paper presented at the ACER Research Conference on 17 August.

The paper, by ACER  Principal Research Fellow Juliette Mendelovits, Senior Research Fellow Dr Tom Lumley and Research Fellow Dara Searle, focuses on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Achievement (OECD PISA), which assesses 15-year-olds in several domains including reading every three years. In the current cycle, PISA will be administered in 75 countries. This study can be useful to teachers through international comparisons, the opportunity to compare frameworks, and monitoring new areas included in the PISA survey of student proficiencies.

While Australian students performed well in comparison to other countries in 2000, their results were worse than expected in narrative reading and in the reflecting and evaluating aspect of reading. In PISA 2006, Australia’s average reading proficiency fell significantly, when compared to 2000 and 2003. The decline was most marked in the top one-quarter of the population. In light of these results, it may be useful for teachers to look closely at the PISA reading framework in relation to the Australian curriculum.

If it is judged that the reading construct described in PISA is one that Australian education subscribes to, teachers might like to think about the following in their classroom practice:

• Reconsidering approaches to reflective and evaluative reading;
• Changing the emphasis of what is done with narrative texts; and
• Making particular efforts to challenge the most able students.

PISA might also be useful to teachers who want to learn more about elements of reading that are not addressed explicitly in national frameworks.  A case in point is electronic reading, which is included in the expansion of the reading framework in PISA 2009.

The PISA electronic reading assessment (ERA) is being administered in 20 countries in 2009, including Australia. Skills in reading electronic texts are increasingly called upon in many school and non-school activities, and PISA ERA is the first attempt in a large-scale international survey to assess the skills and knowledge required to read in the digital medium.

Electronic reading is more likely than print reading to traverse different kinds of texts from different sources. There is a greater onus on the reader to evaluate this kind of text, because electronic texts have not typically undergone the scrutiny that is involved in the publication of a print-based text. There is also a greater onus on the reader to select and construct the text, as the non-linear nature of texts in the digital medium means that readers create their own reading sequence.

PISA 2009 will potentially be useful in contributing to educators’ understanding of print and electronic reading, and continue to guide Australian teachers in ways that help students to develop as critical, reflective and astute readers.

The full paper is available from the Research Conference 2009 web page.

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