Investigating Reading Literacy in PISA 2018 Assessment

This study aims to investigate the predictors of reading performance and how reading performance predicts mathematics and science performances in PISA 2018 study. For this purpose, the country in the focus (Turkey), the highest performer (China B-S-J-Z) in the world, and the lowest performer (Mexico) among the OECD members countries were selected as the research sample. A total of 12058 students participated from China (Male=6283, Female=5775), 6890 students from Turkey (Male=3494, Female=3396), and 7299 students from Mexico (Male=3473, Female=3826) in PISA 2018 study. The results revealed that 'Index of economic, social and cultural status', 'Meta-cognition: assess credibility', and 'Meta-cognition: summarizing' are the most significant factors affecting students' reading literacy in all three countries. Total explained variance explained is 41%, 41%, and 39% for Turkey, China (B-S-J-Z) and Mexico, respectively. 'Index highest parental occupational status', 'Duration in early childhood education and care', 'Attitude towards school: learning activities', and 'Subjective well-being: Sense of belonging to school' are not significant predictors for reading literacy of students from all three countries. In addition, regarding the predictivity of reading literacy, total variance explained is 65% in mathematics performance and approximately 77% in science performance for all three countries. E ducation plays an important role in social development.