Towards building a model for the formation of reading literacy in the course of teaching academic subjects in middle school

Abstract

The goal of this research to develop the methodological foundations for improving the quality of education in the middle school. The object of this research is the formation of reading literacy among 5th – 7еп graders in learning various disciplines. The subject of this research is the system-forming relations of educational and meta-subject tasks, texts, situations and reading goals in the context of educational activity, the explication of which allows building a holistic model of the formation of reading literacy as a universal meta-subject ability of a student. Special attention is given to the contribution of each academic subject to the process of development of reading skills considering their specificity. The main methods of this study are the comparative analysis of text environment of a student in the educational space; classification, structurization, and generalization. The novelty of the approach lies in the systemic examination of the contribution of different academic subjects to the formation of reading literacy; in methodological approach, according to which the specificity of educational activity is examined for determination of the contribution of academic subject to the formation of reading literacy. The model of the formation of reading literacy leans on the representation of complex interrelation between subject and meta-subject learning outcomes. It is revealed that the development of reading skills in different subject fields complies with a number of general principles, but significantly depends on the content of the subject discipline and the type of educational tasks set within its framework. The learning process should be structured in such way to ensure the next step in the development of meta-subject skills. Analysis is conducted on the text potential of four academic subjects. The author offers the typology of educational tasks aimed at the formation of reading literacy, as well as outlines the key components of the model and the requirements. Such model would allow the methodologists and teachers to analyze the educational process, develop educational tasks, the solution of which without implementing the procedures outside the subject would lead to the achievement of subject and meta-subject results.