IMPROVING READING ACHIEVEMENT AND FOSTERING THE PLEASURE OF READING

Prepublication

Abstract

This article examines the use of results from PIRLS and its conceptual framework to improve students’ reading skills. It aims to put into perspective both the potential contributions of this survey’s findings in terms of improving performance and reducing inequalities, and the risk that reading-for-pleasure practices may diminish under the pressure of quantifiable indicators.

We first examine how the data collected from French-speaking students in Belgium and their teachers have influenced the definition of new objectives for the education system (OASE) and guided the revision of the learning framework by supporting new curricular progressions in reading comprehension. Next, echoing concerns expressed by several authors (Cremin & Scholes, 2024; Vogrinčič Čepič et al., 2024) regarding a steering approach that conceives reading “more as a measurable result than as a socially lived experience” (Cremin & Scholes, 2024), we recall the limitations of PIRLS in capturing the subjective and literary dimensions of reading (Falardeau, 2003). In French-speaking Belgium, does the availability of survey materials made public at the end of each cycle via a dedicated website obscure the importance of working on the literary dimension of reading highlighted in the new prescriptions? In this context, while PIRLS may serve as a valuable lever for supporting the development of measurable skills, the assessment framework it proposes is not sufficient to grasp — let alone stimulate — the affective, cultural, and social dimensions of reading that underpin a genuine, engaged relationship with written texts.