The journey to becoming a reader: Relationships between home activities, attitudes and reading

The Progress in International Reading Study – PIRLS for short – has been running since 2001, with Australia joining in 2011. Along with a well-researched measure of students’ reading comprehension, PIRLS includes a number of questionnaires for students, teachers, principals and parents/guardians that provide background and context for students’ performance in the reading assessment. This presentation will provide educators with an introduction to PIRLS and discuss what PIRLS can tell us about various home, attitudinal and behavioural factors that relate to Year 4 students’ performance in the PIRLS reading comprehension assessments. We will discuss relationships between reading scores and factors including: early literacy activities at home (such as telling stories, playing word games or reading aloud signs) participation in early education programs attitudes towards reading (student reports of enjoyment of and confidence in reading, parents’ and teachers’ enjoyment of and frequency of reading for pleasure) current reading behaviours (as reported by students) classroom strategies and activities. Results from multiple cycles of PIRLS and PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) will be presented to allow exploration of changes in attitudes towards reading, and what this might mean for reading performance. We will discuss strategies for home and in early education that may help set the foundation for young people to become enthusiastic and proficient readers