Students’ Performance in Reading with Understanding in English at Grade Four: A Scenario of Primary Schools in Bangladesh

Reading skill is essential for children’s development, and consecutive studies have shown a link between competency in reading and overall attainment. This study explored the students’ reading performances in English at grade four in government primary schools in Bangladesh. Mainly this study follows the quantitative research design as nature. Individual achievement tests have been used to assess the students’ performance in achieving comprehension skills in English. The data were collected from students who are studying at government primary schools in class four. Following the achievement test, it was found that few students could match all the words and sentences correctly with pictures. Besides, students showed poor performance in answering the Multiple Choice Questions correctly given in the graded text. A positive correlation was found between the matching sentences with pictures and reading comprehension and it has also shown a strong significant relationship between them. The results indicated that teachers should design the teaching-learning activities following teachers’ edition and provide ample opportunities for students to practice reading skills in the classroom

Setting Reading Fluency Benchmark in Bangla for the Students of Grade III and Grade V

Reading is one of the most significant media of learning. Reading with comprehension mostly depends on reading fluency. It is necessary to measure students fluency through the reading rate of words per minute to know the level of comprehension. There was no benchmark in Bangla reading fluency at the primary level, which is necessary to check students\u27 reading performances regarding the targeted level. This study aims to set a reading fluency benchmark for grade III and grade V in Bangla. This study followed quantitative approaches with a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 1536 students from both grades were selected through a multistage cluster sampling procedure. Two types of texts for each grade were developed and finalized alter piloting to administer. The median method was used for setting the fluency benchmark as many countries already had used it for the same purpose. This study recommended setting the reading fluency benchmark for grade III in Bangla at 46 CWPM and 54 CWPM for grade V. It also recommended that policymakers need to take the necessary teaching-learning interventions to achieve this benchmark