What does PISA Assess in Reading Literacy? Misconceptions and Misuses

Abstract

In the 21st century, international interaction in social, economic, cultural, and educational fields has increased. Consequently, international standards have become essential in national education policies, reforms, and practices. As an international assessment, PISA has started to function as a prominent tool in this regard. However, the impact of PISA differs across the participating countries, depending on how the concept, methodology, and practices are handled. One of the domains where this difference is seen is reading literacy. Although this domain expresses a broader and richer phenomenon, the content and scope of the concept are not accurately understood, and its influences vary across the participating countries. In Türkiye, reading literacy is mainly considered and discussed in the scope of Turkish language lessons. This perspective, which focuses on the Turkish language lessons, leads to misunderstanding of the issue and the inaccurate change and transformation of the curriculum and content. Attempting to succeed in this domain through test language lessons deepens the problems instead of solving them. In this article, misconceptions and misuses about reading literacy are explained based on a literature review, and it is pointed out that reading literacy should be addressed in a broader context, including the curricula of other subjects, rather than test language lessons.