WHAT DO TEACHERS DO TO PROMOTE STUDENTS' READING LITERACY AT 4TH GRADE? - EVIDENCE FROM IEA PIRLS 2016 STUDY

Reading skills which a child learns from an early age are crucial for student's success or failure in subsequent school years as literacy is closely related to all other school subjects. Learning to read and promotion of reading plays an important role in the development of the personality and attitudes of the child. Teacher is the one responsible for applied techniques of teaching and learning to read, and methods that are used purposefully lead students to the understanding of a text. It is of great importance for teacher to have a wide arsenal of diverse educational methods and experiences. Primary teachers should have a broad theoretical knowledge base and also be able to teach different reading strategies to help students to reach their full potential as readers. An important factor in developing attitudes towards reading is the ability of reading literacy teachers to get their students to become interested in both - literary works as a source of information and joy, and reading as an activity in general. The aim of the study is to find out what activities the primary school teachers in Latvia apply to promote their students' reading literacy and how those methods relate to students' achievements in reading. In the study a statistical group comparison is performed using IEA PIRLS 2016 data from teacher questionnaires along with information about student achievement.