Language/Reading Curriculum in the Fourth Grade

Reading Policy

The official Bulgarian policy on reading literacy requires all students to be able to read by the end of Grade 1. However, many children begin learning at home or in preparatory classes and can read when they start school.

The national curriculum is applied in all education programs and textbooks in Bulgaria.⁶ The Bulgarian language curriculum has adapted the following key factors from the Conceptual Framework of the Council of Europe: contemporary language education, language behavior, successful communication and the rules regulating it, and the sociocultural context of communication.⁷ These concepts are used to describe the outcomes of teaching and learning the Bulgarian language.

Great emphasis is placed on the development of positive attitudes toward school and motivation for studying in kindergarten and preprimary education. However, according to national strategic programs for the development of school education, the Bulgarian school system is oriented toward memorization and reproduction rather than stimulation of thought and independence, formation of practical skills, and personality development. Significant changes in the new law of education create conditions for developing practical skills and critical thinking among students. The new Bulgarian State Education Content Standards emphasize the need for inclusion of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and development of activities outside the classroom and extracurricular activities, especially in the early grades.⁸ These standards are being developed according the National Qualifications Framework, which is based on the European Qualifications Framework and started to be implemented gradually in Grades 1 to 5 in 2016.

Summary of National Curriculum

Reading is part of language instruction at the primary grades. The Bulgarian State Education Content Requirements contain a syllabus for Bulgarian language and literature.⁹ This is an interdisciplinary cultural education domain that includes reading instruction and reading skills, and contains four components: sociocultural competence, language competence, speaking, and writing.

The reading curriculum is a major part of the standards for Grades 1 to 4. Bulgarian language and literature involves 6½ hours of classroom instruction per week: two hours for Bulgarian language, three hours for literature, and 90 minutes for communication skills (writing and speaking). Beyond classroom instruction, Bulgarian legislation recommends an additional 30 minutes per week of home reading, although there is no regulation or institution monitoring the frequency or the length of time that students read outside of their normal classes.

The grade to grade structure that covers reading instruction in primary school is for Grades 1 to 4. Reading instruction starts in Grade 1, during which students master reading techniques. The main purpose of language instruction in Grade 1 is to develop the following basic literacy skills:

Learn letters and connect them to sounds
Learn to read letters, syllables, words, and sentences
Write parts of letters and whole letters
Write syllables, words, and sentences

According to the Bulgarian State Education Content Requirements, students at the end of Grade 4 should have mastered the following language, sociocultural, and communicative competencies:¹⁰

Reading with adequate intonation and comprehension of meaning
Finding synonyms and antonyms
Explaining, asking questions, and replying analytically
Using different word order patterns
Speaking logically and critically
Respecting the speech of others
Analyzing and comparing literary texts
Planning and creating self-generated written texts

The newly developed Bulgarian State Education Content Standards for Bulgarian language and literature take into account the analyses of the results of Bulgarian students in PIRLS and the national assessment.¹¹ The main improvements include:

Clear differentiation of the core topics, included in both parts of the subject Bulgarian language and literature
More concrete formulations of the expected results from instruction
An explicit link between expected results and the key competencies for lifelong learning
More balanced relation between the systematically structural approach and the communication approach in learning language and literature
Inclusion of communication competencies by using the Internet and other electronic means
Textbooks authorsʼ and teachers’ freedom in the selection of literature texts