Work on an international scientific project is nearing completion

During 2021, at the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Institute of Philology and Multilingual Education, the project «Development of the Kazakh version of the tool for researching the formation of reading skills in primary school students» was implemented in cooperation with the Higher School of Economics (Russia, Moscow). The project builds on the already conducted research on reading skills in Russian-teaching schools. The goal of the project is to create and adapt the Kazakh version of the Start software product, with the help of which it is possible to diagnose the level of reading skills of first grade students.

In November-December 2021, the project participants reached the final stage, the main result of which was the testing of a trial version of the software product.

Nine schools in Almaty and one school in Almaty region - a total of 550 pupils of classes with Kazakh language of instruction - were covered by a large-scale testing, during which the entrance level of reading literacy of first graders was checked. Tasks for recognizing the letters of the Kazakh alphabet, correlating a graphic image of letters and a picture depicting the meaning of a read word, reading small sentences aroused the delight of first-graders who perceived diagnostics as a game.

All teachers of the tested classes received certificates of participation in the project.

Working with the Kazakh version of the tool for examining the reading skills of first graders showed the promise of scientific and methodological research in this direction. The head of the project from Kazakhstan, Doctor of Philology, Professor Saule Abisheva and the head of the HSE, Director of the Center for Psychometrics and Measurements in Education Elena Kardanova, hope that the digital instrument «Start - Bastau» they are introducing into circulation will continue to develop in order to improve the reading competencies of Kazakhstani schoolchildren.