Media

"Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2006" International Report briefing in Hong Kong

28 Nov 2007

 

There is a big difference in the overall literacy performance of primary four students in 45 countries and areas including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.  The reasons for the difference could be many.  The "Progress in International Reading Literary Study 2006" (PIRLS 2006) compares Hong Kong to 44 countries in the world, attempts to understand how Hong Kong students perform internationally and shows the changes in literary performance during the period of curriculum reform in Hong Kong.

The PIRLS 2006 is a global study covering 45 countries and areas.  The part on Hong Kong is completed by the Faculty of Education of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) with subsidies from the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.  With primary four students, their parents, teachers and school principals as targets, the study covered over 215,000 students around the world and tracks their literacy performance from 2001 to 2006.

Chief researcher HKU Professor SK Tse, HKU researchers Mr. WY Lam, Dr KY Law and Dr. WM Cheung will jointly give a presentation of the international report and findings. Media representatives are invited to attend the press briefing, the details are:

Date:  29 November 2007
Time:  11am
Venue:  Rm LG06, Hui Oi Chow Science Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. 

The study will show the international ranking of Hong Kong students in terms of literacy performance, countries or places occupying top positions in the international ranking, comparative strengths and weaknesses of Hong Kong students, characteristics of literacy performance of primary four students in the world.  In particular, the study looks into reading performance between reading processes, relative position of Hong Kong against 44 countries and places in the world, difference in performance between Hong Kong students and Taiwan students, changes in performance for Hong Kong students between 2001 and 2006, difference in performance by gender, impact of home reading environment, availability of home educational resources, students' habit of watching television at home, students' reading attitudes etc.

The last PIRLS was conducted in 2001, the findings were announced in Hong Kong on 9^th April 2003.  The PIRLS 2006 will show an interesting comparison and differences in students' performance across this period of time. 

The PIRLS 2006 was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.  The part on Hong Kong is completed by HKU and sponsored by Education Bureau of the Hong Kong Government.  Countries and places participating in the study include Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Indonesia, Canada, USA, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Luxemburg, Soviet Union, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Iceland, New Zealand, Kuwait, Iran, South Africa, Norway and Sweden etc.

For media enquiries, please contact HKU Senior Manager (Media) Ms. Cherry Cheung (mobile: 8208 1686 / tel: 2859 2606 / email: cherry.cheung@hku.hk), HKU Faculty of Education Ms. Queenie Wong (Tel: 2219-4270 / Fax：2540-6360 / Email: qlpwong@hkucc.hku.hk ) or Ms. M.Y. Wong (Tel:2241-5439 / Fax：2241-5440 /Email：yingwong@hkucc.hku.hk〕．