Germany: the decline of primary school students' reading ability attracts attention
2022-04-24
On April 23, the UNESCO World Book day came again. Bookstores, publishers, copyright owners, libraries, schools, bloggers and reading enthusiasts all over the world celebrated this global Reading Festival. In 1995, UNESCO took inspiration from the traditional festivals in Catalonia, Spain. Because this day is the anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and Cervantes, it announced that April 23 of each year will be designated as world reading day. Since 1996, Germany has carried out World Book Day activities in response to the initiative of UNESCO. As a landmark activity of World Book Day in Germany, the German reading foundation, together with the German Book Trading Association, CBJ children's book publishing house, Deutsche Post and German television 2, advocated and launched the activity of "I give you a story book". Since 1997, they have given a large number of interesting books free of charge to German fourth and fifth graders every year. More than 4000 bookstores in Germany participated in this year's free book activity. More than 1 million students across the country will receive free books. This year, the selected gift book is the fairy tale novel Ivan, Samo and the secret witch Lake by female writer Bettina obrecht. Organizers believe that the exciting stories in the novel will stimulate children's interest in reading. Illustrator Timo Grubin added cartoons to the book, hoping to stimulate the fun of reading for more children, especially those from immigrant families with poor German, so as to contribute to their integration into German society. On April 23, publishers, libraries, schools, bookstores and reading enthusiasts from all over Germany launched rich activities to celebrate this readers' Festival. In many libraries and bookstores, people can listen to writers read their works on the spot. With the support of the state education ministers and the sponsorship of reading related industries, a large number of German postal staff have voluntarily increased their workload to bring the surprises of various free books to thousands of families and bring the fun of reading to the majority of families, so as to encourage people to read. Among them are bestsellers, such as Robert sitler's "the last sentence", Maria grund's "Fox girl" and Pascal Messier's "the weight of words". Organizers of World Book Day in Germany said that reading has become an indispensable part of life for many people. Reading has a great impact on human development. A study by the University of Hamburg, funded by the German Federal Ministry of education and research, shows that although people's reading content is richer and books are easier to obtain in the digital age, many people's reading ability has not improved, but has regressed. The University of Hamburg study found that the number of people with reading and writing difficulties in Germany is almost twice as high as previously estimated. 12.1% of the employed population in Germany cannot read or write, or there are serious deficiencies in this regard; 20.5% of adults will make spelling mistakes even in common words; Among adults with low literacy, men and people over the age of 45 account for a large proportion; More than 60% of people with reading and writing difficulties have not completed secondary education. Researchers believe that it is very important to lay a good foundation in reading and writing during primary education, otherwise it will be difficult to make up for it in the future. The study also points out that people with reading difficulties are greatly affected in employment. Although many people also find jobs, most of them are assistant and auxiliary jobs. They are semi skilled or unskilled workers. They are more worried about unemployment than others. So what about the reading ability of German primary school students? Nelle Mcfani covid-19, a professor of interdisciplinary School Development Research Institute of Dortmund Polytechnic University, evaluated the reading ability of German grade four students before and after the outbreak of new crown pneumonia through scientific data. With the help of the "international primary school reading survey", they conducted a scientific evaluation of 4000 students from 111 primary schools in Germany in 2016 and 2021. Their conclusions were shocking. Professor mcvanni's team research shows that the reading ability of the tested students in 2021 after the epidemic is significantly lower than that in 2016. The reading ability of better students decreased by only 7%. The number of students with reading comprehension problems increased by 6% to 28%, and the average reading comprehension ability of primary school students decreased. Family social and cultural background also has a significant impact on students' reading comprehension ability. Students from families with more than 100 books have better reading comprehension than children from families with less than 100 books, but the overall average value is lower than that in 2016. Children from families with poor learning conditions, such as having no own desk or internet access at home, have much worse average reading ability than children with good learning conditions at home. Finally, the study compared the situation of students with immigrant background and found that children with immigrant background had a greater impact on their reading ability. In 2016, children with immigrant backgrounds scored an average of 46 points lower than children born in Germany, while in 2021, it expanded to a staggering 63 points. The report said that the performance of German students' reading ability is significantly lower than that five years ago, which is very worrying. The researchers call for comprehensive and effective support and funding measures to improve German students' reading comprehension. Professor mcvanni said that considering the possibility of another crisis in the future, legislators should seriously consider students' self-study, distance learning and the role of digital media in teaching when formulating education policies. In addition, the person in charge of the basic education center of the people's University of Potsdam believes that although it is a pity that he did not lay a good foundation for reading in childhood, he still needs to strengthen his reading ability in adulthood. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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