With reference to the finding of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006, Hong Kong students ranked second among 45 participating jurisdictions. The performance of Hong Kong Primary Four (P4) students has improved by leaps and bounds, up from 14th place in PIRLS 2001. Hong Kong students did particularly well in reading for informational purposes, scoring the highest among all 45 participating countries/regions. They also performed the best among the participating countries/regions in the high level reading comprehension processes, which means they are very good at interpreting, integrating and evaluating. Other countries were attracted by this finding and wanted to share the successful experience on promoting reading in Hong Kong schools. Apart from Taiwan, Ministry of Education and Youth of the Macau SAR Government invited our Centre to conduct a research on promoting Chinese reading in schools in Macau. This two-year project, headed by Prof. S. K. Tse, is funded by Macau SAR Government and it involved a large-scale questionnaire survey conducted at Macau schools. Prof. Tse was also invited to deliver a speech on promoting school reading culture, creating reading environment and building up of “Reading School” (澳門教青局舉行「建立閱讀學校及學校的閱讀文化」講座) on 15 November 2011 in Macau. |