Reading Outside of School

Choice of Activities Outside of School

To learn more about students' reading habits, PIRLS 2001 asked students about their choice of reading materials and how often they read different types of texts when they are not in school.

• In the United States, 92 percent of fourth-graders report reading for information at least once or twice a month, a higher percentage than those who report reading either literary fiction, such as stories or novels (79 percent), or comics (43 percent) at least once or twice a month.
• In the United States, 43 percent of fourth-graders report that they read comics at least once or twice a month, a significantly lower percentage than the international average of 74 percent.
• U.S. fourth-graders who report reading literary fiction outside of school at least once or twice a month have higher scores on the combined reading literacy scale than those who never or almost never do so. This pattern is also evident at the international level, based on international averages.
• No measurable differences in scores on the combined reading literacy scale are detected between U.S. fourth-graders who read informational materials every day or almost every day, and those who never or almost never do so.

PIRLS 2001 also asked students about their TV- and video-watching habits.

• Eighteen percent of U.S. fourth-graders report watching TV or videos on a normal school day for 5 hours or more. This is significantly higher than the international average of 12 percent. On average, U.S. fourth-graders report watching TV or videos daily for a greater number of hours than the international average (2.2 hours vs. 2 hours, respectively).
• Looking at the international average for the combined reading literacy scale, fourth-graders who watch TV for more than 5 hours on a normal school day score lower than those who watch TV for 3 to 5 hours a day or less frequently. In the United States, the same finding holds.