Formation of Reading Literacy in Grades 5–9 as a Pedagogical Problem: Essence, Structure, and Diagnostics

Abstract

The article examines the problem of developing reading literacy among students in grades 5–9 in the context of contemporary educational tasks. In this work, reading literacy is understood as an integrative quality of the personality, realized in the activity of meaningful reading and comprising motivational, informational, practice-oriented, and empathic components. The use of analytical methods is proposed as the leading pedagogical means ensuring the simultaneous development of the components outlined above. The application of analytical methods makes it possible to deepen the semantic analysis of a text and to ensure the construction of a coherent pedagogical technology. The presented criterion-based diagnostic apparatus, including levels (high, medium, low) and criteria for assessing the development of reading literacy among primary school students, makes it possible to identify students' typical difficulties, which subsequently form the basis for targeted remedial work. The article presents data from the ascertaining stage of the experiment, differentiated by age group (grades 5–6, 7–8, and 9), demonstrating the predominance of text semantization and the weak development of the empathic component in the analytical work of the majority of students, which serves as the basis for introducing analytical work as a pedagogical technology. The empirical base of the study comprised 314 students in grades 5–9 (156 in the experimental group, 158 in the control group) from three general education institutions in Shumerlya, Chuvash Republic. Based on the results obtained, it is possible to conclude that models for organizing the educational process can be developed, incorporating components of analytical and creative approaches to conducting classes and extracurricular activities.