University of Szeged, Institute of Education
Introduction
Due to modern communication technologies, documents are produced in numbers never seen before. These documents are social and cultural products, and their processing and critical interpretation demands highly developed reading literacy. However, equally important is an individual’s social and cultural environment as far as exposure to documents is con- cerned. Research has demonstrated that the development of the basic psychological processes of reading and the acquisition of reading skills (decoding) are simple prerequisites for text comprehension and reading literacy. Regular formative reading assessments must enable the evalua- tion of different aspects of reading, for example, whether students are able to handle text comprehension tasks in different situations.
As part of the framework for the assessment of reading literacy for the grades of 1 to 6, the present chapter is oriented towards the alignment of both the needs and the cognitive and motivational capabilities of children, who are expected to learn to read with the expectations and requirements of a modern knowledge-based society. We regard reading, from its earl- iest beginnings, as the acquisition of a socio-cultural tool, a fundamental prerequisite for achieving personal and social goals and actively partici-
pating as a responsible citizen in society. Thus, we examine the issues of reading literacy discussed in the chapters on the psychological back- ground of learning to read (Blomert & Csépe, present volume) and on curricular issues in reading (Józsa & Steklács, present volume) from the perspective of social and cultural demands. In a broad sense, social, societal and cultural expectations are related to the individual’s ability to read documents and process texts (this is the reason why we have opted for a psychological principle in organizing the present chapter). In a narrow er sense, social, societal and cultural expectations can be seen as related to the individual’s ability to use, and refl ect on, given texts (written for given purposes and exhibiting given characteristics) to achieve their own purposes in the given situation.
The development of reading skills between grades 1 and 6 is a highly sensitive phase of an individual’s life which is decisive for their future position and function in society. Social and cultural demands for reading literacy for this age group are seen as the acquisition of knowledge and skills that enable children to cope with gradually increasing demands in processing verbal and pictorial information in a growing variety of con- tent areas and contexts. In the following, the developmental aspect is refl ected by the weight given to the components of reading literacy and by the indication that all these components must be learnt, and taught. In this chapter, we can point out what needs to be known when reading processes, texts, and the demands of adult life are considered. This gives a good basis for the development of standards, but more research and large scale assessment is needed to complement these with appropriate benchmarks.
Accessing and retrieving information, the processes of reading compre- hension, motives and contexts to read are introduced. The texts on which these operations should be performed are discussed with regard to their types, formats and medium. Each component is fi rst characterized in terms of what is generally accepted in the literature. Then a brief account is given of research with Hungarian subjects to show what is known about it and what has been discussed regarding its signifi cance. The ob- jective is partly to emphasize why certain areas should be included in the standards and diagnostic assessments for reading literacy, and partly to highlight research needs in areas neglected so far. Findings from na- tional and international assessments on how Hungarian students perform
in respect of different reading tasks, operations etc. are not discussed here; for an overview, see D. Molnar, Molnar & Józsa (2012). The processing of pictorial information is an area where the relevant Hungarian litera- ture is psychological, and is not related to reading literacy or societal expectations and needs in information processing. Thus in this case, only the components themselves will be introduced.
This framework has similarities to the framework for the PISA 2009 reading assessment, but also differs from it in various respects. Firstly, it addresses earlier levels of reading profi ciency, starting from the very beginning of learning to read up to an intermediate skill level, which must be further developed before the PISA evaluation takes place. Sec- ondly, it takes cognitive psychological and linguistic research on reading and text comprehension more systematically into account (cf. Graesser, Millis & Zwaan, 1997; Kintsch, 1998; van Dijk & Kintsch, 1983; Gerns- bacher, 1990), whereas the PISA framework is primarily based on a less cognitively-oriented model of document literacy (Mosenthal & Kirsh, 1991). Thirdly, the framework entails not only a cross-sectional view, but includes also a developmental dimension, because reading skills acquired at level n have to provide the basis for the acquisition of reading skills at level n+1, and so forth. The two latter points apply to a comparison with the PIRLS studies, too. Furthermore, neither of these international pro- jects functions as a diagnostic assessment, whereas the present work is intended to provide a framework for such an endeavour.