In the OECD's international student assessment, South Korean 15-year-olds averaged 501 in reading, 14 points below the previous round. The share of high achievers fell from 13.3 to 10.3 percent while the share of low achievers rose from 14.7 to 17.8 percent. The education ministry attributed the change to the combined effect of greater use of digital media and social networks on reading motivation and attitudes.
South Korean 15-year-olds averaged 501 points in reading in the OECD's international student assessment, down from 515 in the previous round. The 14-point decline was the largest across the three domains tested.
광고 문의 · 300×250Boys averaged 487 and girls 515, a gap of 28 points. Korea placed sixth among participating systems, down two places from fourth. Singapore led, followed by China, Taiwan, Japan and Macau.
Fewer at the top, more at the bottom
The shift in distribution drew more attention than the average. The proportion of students at level five or above in reading fell from 13.3 to 10.3 percent, while those at level one or below rose from 14.7 to 17.8 percent.
An average that falls while the lower band thickens calls for a different response than a uniform decline across the board, because it means particular groups of students are dropping away first.
Competing explanations
The education ministry said the growing use of digital media and social networks had affected reading motivation and attitudes in combination. The diagnosis that short-form video erodes the stamina for long text has been raised in many countries at once.
That explanation calls for caution precisely because the phenomenon is not confined to Korea. The systems that topped this round of reading sit in the same digital environment, and the size of the decline varied widely by country.
For Chinese families and multilingual students
For Chinese families in Korea and students from Chinese-speaking backgrounds, the results revive questions about reading in bilingual households. When the language spoken at home differs from the language of the test, a fall in reading scores may reflect reading habits rather than language ability.
The after-school reading programmes run by Chinese schools and community associations in Korea grew from the same concern. Teachers there broadly agree that what students need is the experience of finishing one long text rather than rereading short ones.
Education authorities said after the release that they would review basic-skills support and reading instruction as a whole. The outline of any redesign is expected in next term's plans.
