Effects of reading instruction on cognitive processes (ERIC)

Being able to read texts fluently and understand their content is a key competence and prerequisite for educational success. Primary school education lays the foundation for reading competence, which may have a strong influence on educational achievement. Hence, understanding the causes of successful learning outcomes and learning deficits in primary school is a central concern for both practitioners and educational researchers.

The project ERIC is a collaboration between researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB) and the Institute for Educational Quality Improvement (IQB), who are interested in the relationship between learning processes of individual students and teaching methods employed by teachers in German primary school classes. We investigate which cognitive processes contribute to reading competency and how different teaching methods influence its development. Our aim is to provide insight into what kinds of instruction result in the most stable learning achievements in reading competence.