98% of Elementary School Teachers Say "School Reading Education Is Important for Students' Cognitive Development"

i-Scream Media Surveys Reading Education Conditions Among Current Elementary School Teachers

A survey has found that more than 9 in 10 elementary school teachers believe school reading education is important for students' cognitive development.

i-Scream Media announced the findings of its "Reading Education Environment Survey" on October 22.

The survey was designed to focus on reading education, which helps develop the literacy and critical thinking skills needed in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), and to assess conditions in schools and demand for support. An online survey was conducted from October 1 to 15 among current elementary school teachers who use the digital education platform i-Scream S.

An analysis of 3,299 valid responses found that 98.1% of teachers said school reading education is important for students' cognitive development.

In classrooms, 85.4% of teachers said they felt there was a wide gap in reading levels among students in their classes. The most frequently cited reasons students find reading difficult were 1) lack of concentration to read long texts (41.6%), 2) lack of interest in reading itself (21.1%), and 3) a preference for videos and short-form content (19.1%).

“Reading Education Environment Survey” infographic. I-Scream Media

The survey also identified difficulties teachers face in reading classes, alongside the conditions students experience. The most commonly cited challenge in preparing for or conducting reading classes was providing tailored instruction that takes each student's reading level into account, at 52.9% (multiple responses allowed). Securing time to prepare lessons followed at 49.3%.

Some 91.1% said more support was needed at the school level for reading education in the form of time, budgets, and teaching materials. In written responses from teachers who said conditions for reading education were inadequate, the main reasons cited were insufficient time to conduct reading education (51.6%) and insufficient quantity and variety of books in school libraries (28.9%). The most commonly identified teaching content needed was student worksheets, cited by 79.8% (multiple responses allowed).

Heo Juhwan, CEO of i-Scream Media, said, "As literacy and critical thinking skills that enable students to understand information provided by AI and make their own judgments become increasingly important, the role of reading education in building those foundations is also growing. We will reflect the needs of educators identified in this survey and work to provide a range of reading education content that supports teachers in tailoring reading instruction and eases the burden of lesson preparation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.