Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade
Reading Policy
In general, reading instruction begins at the preprimary level of education, and reading abilities are strengthened at the end of second grade in primary education. The fact that Castilian is written as it is pronounced greatly facilitates the learning process of reading and writing.
Over the course of primary education, students develop a general awareness of the communication practices necessary to live in 21st century society. The main goal of Castilian language and literature instruction is for students to achieve competence in the linguistic skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in an integrated manner. In addition to introducing students to reading and understanding literary texts, the language curriculum includes the study of language itself. The starting point for linguistic education is the level of fluency that students have acquired at the beginning of primary education, which aims to broaden this competency so students can participate in the various social spheres they will encounter.
Summary of National Curriculum
The Organic Law for the Improvement of Educational Quality (LOMCE) defines “curriculum” as the regulation of the elements that determine the teaching and learning processes for each level. The law mandates that core curriculum subjects comprise at least 50 percent of total instructional time for primary education. Each autonomous community must develop and implement the curriculum for its region. The National Core Curriculum for Preprimary Education was published in March 2014 and implemented in the fourth grade during the 2015−2016 school year.16 The Castilian language and literature curriculum in primary education focuses on the development of the four basic skills of the language in an integrated manner: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The acquisition of these communicative skills happens through the reading of different types of texts and their comprehension and reflection. Thus, the national curriculum content has been organized into sections in an effort to bring order to the complexity of language learning. These sections, or blocks, developed throughout the six years of primary education, include:
- Oral communication—Speaking and listening
- Written communication—Reading
- Written communication—Writing
- Knowledge of the language
- Literary education
The national curriculum details the blocks outlined for all six years of primary education. Content related to reading is included in Block 2, the objectives of which are to:
- Use graphic resources in written communication
- Consolidate literacy skills (i.e., reading and writing)
- Understand texts read aloud and silently
- Listen to different types of texts
- Understand texts according to their typology
- Read different types of texts (e.g., descriptive, argumentative, expositive, instructional, and literary)
- Apply strategies for reading comprehension texts (e.g., title, illustrations, keywords, chapters, rereading, predictions and verification, synthesis, text structure, text typology, context, dictionaries, global meaning of the text, main and secondary ideas, summarizing)
- Develop a taste for reading (e.g., reading habits and reading of different types of texts as a source of information, pleasure, and enjoyment)
- Identification and critical assessment of the message and values transmitted by the text
- Use the library to search for information and as a source of learning
- Select books according to personal taste
- Follow a reading plan
The autonomous communities and schools develop and, if necessary, supplement the curriculum outline received from the state according to their competencies.