Achievement in Reading Purposes and Comprehension Processes by Gender
At the fourth grade, girls have a greater advantage compared to boys in literary reading than in informational reading. Exhibit 3.7 shows that girls had higher average achievement than boys in literary reading in 48 of the 50 PIRLS countries—all except two where reading achievement was similar for girls and boys. In informational reading, achievement was similar for girls and boys in 12 countries (although girls had higher achievement in the rest). They have a similar advantage in the two comprehension processes—higher reading achievement than boys in retrieving and straightforward inferencing in 47 countries and in interpreting, integrating, and evaluating in 48 countries. Boys did not have higher achievement than girls for either comprehension process.
