Development of reading skills in sixth grade students

Abstract

Reading comprehension has emerged as a crucial skill in students' learning and development, especially in primary education, where the foundations for accessing knowledge are laid. However, it has become evident that this competency faces multiple challenges, both in its theoretical and curricular conception and in its practical application in the classroom. For this reason, this study identified how reading comprehension is conceived theoretically and, in the curriculum, and how these activities are developed by teachers and sixth-grade primary school students at the “Ing. Salvador Sánchez Colin” school. The study aims to analyze whether the use of reading strategies contributes to improving student learning. To this end, a descriptive qualitative analysis was implemented through the application of standardized tests and the analysis of specific reading components in a representative sample of sixth-grade students. Aspects such as fluency, accuracy, attention, voice modulation, confidence, and comprehension were evaluated. The results indicated that only a minority of students reached expected levels of reading comprehension, with deficiencies in accuracy and attention, while fluency was the component with the highest performance. A positive relationship was also identified between the application of reading strategies and improved learning. It was concluded that reading comprehension requires pedagogical interventions that incorporate metacognitive and critical thinking skills to foster students' reading and academic development.