Ireland

Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade

Reading Policy

Literacy is considered central to learning in all areas of the curriculum and to children’s lives outside of school. Reading in English medium schools is taught under the English curriculum. Two principles inform reading instruction. First, language learning is an integrated process; thus, the three strands that structure the English curriculum—Oral Language, Reading, and Writing—are seen as intertwined. Second, language learning and learning through language are considered equally important. As such, the curriculum is concerned with the cultivation of students’ language skills and ability to use language. Language and reading skills are developed gradually. Initially, children’s phonemic and phonological awareness is developed, followed by an introduction to sound-letter relationships, and the eventual development of higher‑order skills through reading and responding to a variety of texts in a print-rich environment.   

In 2011, the Department of Education and Skills launched a national strategy called Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Lifeto improve literacy and numeracy standards among students.¹⁰ The strategy set national targets for literacy to be achieved by 2020 through a coordinated approach that included curriculum reform, changes in teacher education, and improvements in early childhood education and use of assessment. Because the results of the 2014 National Assessments of English Reading and Mathematics indicated that all of the key targets for the primary level outlined in the strategy had been achieved, a revised strategy scheduled for release in 2017 is being developed.¹¹

Summary of National Curriculum

The current primary school curriculum, enacted in 1999, covers all subjects and grade levels.¹² The English curriculum for all grade levels was restructured in 2005, and a new language curriculum covering English and Irish is being introduced in the two junior grades.¹³ The new language curriculum uses broad learning outcomes to describe the concepts, dispositions, and skills for children’s learning in oral language, reading, and writing at the end of a two year period. It supports skills transfer from the school’s first language to its second language, whereas the 1999 curricula for English and Irish used different structures for each language and gave little support to the transfer of skills from one language to another. Although the development of a new language curriculum for Grades 3 to 6 is underway, reading instruction for students in fourth grade continues to be based on the 1999 English curriculum, which includes different approaches and methodologies that teachers may use in language instruction. In broad terms, the curriculum sets out the skills that students should acquire, but does not specify particular resources or strategies that must be used to help students acquire these skills. The English curriculum notes that “the ability to read effectively is an essential requirement if the child is to benefit fully from the educational process, to develop his/her potential, and to participate appropriately as a citizen in society.ˮ¹⁴

Learning content is grouped into four levels, each covering a two year grade band. Within each level, learning is structured around strands and strand units. The strands—Oral Language, Reading, and Writing—comprise overarching themes around which lesson planning is based. Each strand is divided into four strand units: Receptiveness to Language; Competence and Confidence in Using Language; Developing Cognitive Abilities Through Language; and Emotional and Imaginative Development Through Language. The strand units contain the detailed elements of the curriculum content, presented in the form of content objectives and may include suggested learning experiences and activities. The first two strand units have a stronger focus on language learning, while the last two focus on more general aspects of students’ development.

The Receptiveness to Language strand unit focuses on the development of literacy, aiming to develop students’ ability to use multiple strategies to interpret text and to communicate in writing. By fourth grade, students are developing skills to allow them to:

• Become an increasingly independent reader
• Identify unfamiliar words by using prefixes and suffixes
• Understand the relationship between text and illustration
• Use more than one strategy when reading unfamiliar words

The Competence and Confidence in Using Language strand unit aims to develop students’ ability to use language as a speaker, a reader, and a writer. By fourth grade, students should be enabled to:

• Have an appreciation of the usefulness of reading
• Develop personal reading tastes and interests (supported by exposure to a range of texts)
• Develop basic information retrieval skills from within a text
• Use dictionaries and other reference materials

The Developing Cognitive Abilities Through Language strand unit focuses on using language to learn, drawing on the relationship between language and thought. The curriculum recognizes that reading is an increasingly important context for the development of the child’s cognitive abilities at the third and fourth grades. By fourth grade, students are expected to:

• Read and respond to works of fiction and poetry, with the development of information retrieval skills becoming more central to reading
• Read short books in one sitting to experience success in reading
• Understand the structure of books and basic literary terminology
• Use knowledge of print conventions to aid expression and comprehension

The Emotional and Imaginative Development Through Languagestrand unit is concerned with developing students’ ability to explore everyday experiences and feelings. The curriculum envisions fourth grade students being able to extend and develop their response to increasingly challenging reading material. By fourth grade, students are expected to:

• Talk about various aspects of books (e.g., plot, motive, author)
• Recognize and discuss differences in reading tastes
• Experience a shared response to fiction via a class novel

Approaches to Reading Instruction

The teacher guidelines that accompany the English curriculum note that reading instruction is underpinned by the basic principle that language competence should precede formal reading.¹⁵ Teachers are expected to build a foundation of oral language skills and gradually introduce children to reading in a print-rich environment. As such, classroom libraries are an almost universal feature of Irish schools. These are complemented by charts, posters, and displays of student writing on classroom walls and throughout the school. 

The guidelines also provide examples of reading approaches and methodologies, grouped under three main categories:

• Learning to read—Students are expected to have developed competence in word recognition skills by fourth grade. To maintain students’ interest in reading, teachers are advised to give students access to structured reading schemes, class readers, and a range of other reading materials (e.g., narrative, expository, and representational texts). Classroom libraries are expected to contain materials covering various levels of interest and reading ability, so every child can experience success and enjoyment in reading.
• Comprehension—Although the curriculum advocates developing student comprehension skills mainly through oral language activities, students are expected to be able to write responses to texts by fourth grade. The curriculum highlights the need for students at this level to have a consistent and structured experience of questioning, discussing, and probing the text when developing higher order comprehension skills. Teachers are expected to model comprehension skills (e.g., thinking aloud) and teach students how to use questions to extract information from texts. Developing students’ comprehension skills through integration with other areas of the curriculum also is highlighted at this level.
• Responding to text—While emphasizing the importance of access to a variety of texts, the use of a class novel is an important means by which students can have a shared response to fiction. The guidelines indicate that responses should be in a variety of formats (e.g., oral response, journals, drama, visual arts, movement, dance).

No approach or methodology included in the teacher guidelines is compulsory; rather, teachers are free to choose how they organize reading lessons.