Does reading literacy instruction vary according to language or culture? Similarities and differences in English-, German- and French-speaking education systems in PIRLS 2016

PIRLS 2016 data from eight education systems were used to examine how teachers from three different language groups (English, German and French) differed in their teaching of reading literacy. Frequent practices commonly used in the three groups included traditional surface-level activities, such as reading silently or aloud, and locating information in a short narrative text. Patterns of differences were observed among education systems regarding students’ involvement in the more complex construction and integration reading tasks that lead to deep text understanding. Teaching reading practices differed substantially between the three linguistic/cultural groups, but were rather similar within the large group of English-speaking education systems that participated in PIRLS 2016. Depending on the education system, students were exposed to substantial differences in terms of reading activities or
teaching strategies