Reading Literacy of Roma Pupils

Reading Literacy of Roma Pupils Thesis - Kateřina Šormová Abstract This work is a contribution to Roma pupils' literacy research. The importance of literacy for an individual today is absolutely crucial; applied research suggests that people with advanced literacy skills are more likely to have a higher self-esteem, improved health, more satisfying jobs and higher income compared to those with low literacy skills. Persons who are at greater risk of reduced literacy level are those from different cultural backgrounds, unemployed and unskilled people, those with very low level of education and people living in social exclusion. Roma pupils (very often) belong to such groups of people, therefore it is necessary to set up measures to eliminate these risks. The need to develop language competence of Roma pupils in the Czech language, including reading comprehension ability, is also included in the Roma Integration Strategy by 2020. This thesis examines whether and how the reading literacy test results of Roma and non- Roma pupils differ, and describes factors of home and school environment that influence the Roma pupils' literacy development. Based on these research questions hypotheses were set. Our research of Roma pupils' literacy was conducted in 4th and 5th grades of primary schools in socially excluded..