EUROPEAN S READING LITERACY
EUROPEAN´S READING LITERACY
Nowadays, european countries are experiencing a new phenomenon called reading literacy. Reading literacy is understanding, using, and reflecting on written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society. Reading literacy is currently being studied by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which is an internationally standardised assessment tool that was developed by the OECD and given to 15-year-olds in schools. Now that this study has been carried out, have the results been satisfactory? But, the most important question is: What is the meaning of this data?
In the website given below, we can find a graph representing reading literacy rates from 2000 to 2009. It would be extremely interesting to make a contrast between these two years. So, first we will write the objective information and then, we will analyze it. In the year 2000, the countries with the lowest reading literacy were: Ireland, Netherlands and Finland. In 2009, the countries were Finland, Netherlands and Estonia. By contrast, the countries with the highest reading literacy were: The Former Yugoslavia, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. In 2009, the countries were: Romania, Bulgaria and Austria. This data is very interesting because, usually we think that the most `westernized’ countries (France, England,Germany or even Spain) have more educational resources. Nevertheless, in this case, the results are not as we expected. It is quite curious that eastern european countries are the ones which have the highest reading literacy levels. Without a doubt, they are currently pushing the boundaries of knowledge.
After doing an analysis from a specific point of view, we have to do another one from a general perspective. The average level of reading literacy for the years 2000 and 2009 is more or less 19; however, the average for the years 2003 and 2006 is more or less 21. The
Nowadays, european countries are experiencing a new phenomenon called reading literacy. Reading literacy is understanding, using, and reflecting on written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society. Reading literacy is currently being studied by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which is an internationally standardised assessment tool that was developed by the OECD and given to 15-year-olds in schools. Now that this study has been carried out, have the results been satisfactory? But, the most important question is: What is the meaning of this data?
In the website given below, we can find a graph representing reading literacy rates from 2000 to 2009. It would be extremely interesting to make a contrast between these two years. So, first we will write the objective information and then, we will analyze it. In the year 2000, the countries with the lowest reading literacy were: Ireland, Netherlands and Finland. In 2009, the countries were Finland, Netherlands and Estonia. By contrast, the countries with the highest reading literacy were: The Former Yugoslavia, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. In 2009, the countries were: Romania, Bulgaria and Austria. This data is very interesting because, usually we think that the most `westernized’ countries (France, England,Germany or even Spain) have more educational resources. Nevertheless, in this case, the results are not as we expected. It is quite curious that eastern european countries are the ones which have the highest reading literacy levels. Without a doubt, they are currently pushing the boundaries of knowledge.
After doing an analysis from a specific point of view, we have to do another one from a general perspective. The average level of reading literacy for the years 2000 and 2009 is more or less 19; however, the average for the years 2003 and 2006 is more or less 21. The