THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING LITERATE - READING DEVELOPMENT IN PRIMARY-SCHOOL AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE SCHOOL CAREER IN SECONDARY-EDUCATION

From 1979 till 1987 the Department of Education of the University of N ijmegen carried out a longitudinal reading research project. In this a rticle some of the main research results are presented and discussed. Two research questions are in the focus of interest. The first questio n deals with the concept of reading development. Here reading developm ent is defined in the way interrelations between latent reading variab les -i.e. decoding, reading comprehension and spelling - change during the years of primary education in school. In the second research ques tion we examine the relation between reading ability in primary school and the school career in secondary education. Besides giving answers to these specific research questions, some benefits and shortcomings o f longitudinal reading research are discussed. The results indicate th at, by conducting longitudinal reading research, it is possible to get a better and more detailed picture of the changing relationships betw een reading variables. And the somewhat obvious and trivial notion tha t reading and spelling ability in primary school affects the school ca reer in secondary education has become more specific and clear.