Unpacking the Influence of Teachers' Reading Instruction Strategies on Primary School Students' Reading Achievement: Evidence From PIRLS 2021

ABSTRACT This study examines teacher reading instruction strategies, defined as specific teaching activities aimed at developing students' reading comprehension skills, including guiding students to identify main ideas, make inferences, predict text content, self‐monitor understanding, and evaluate text credibility. Using PIRLS 2021 data from primary schools, the study analyzes how the frequency of these instructional strategies affects students' reading achievement. Regression results show a significant positive relationship between the use of diverse reading instruction strategies and student reading performance. Advanced methods such as double machine learning (DML) and instrumental variable (IV) methods further confirm a robust causal impact of these teaching strategies, even after controlling for potential biases and endogeneity. The effect is particularly strong when teachers engage in daily reading for pleasure and when students have a solid literacy foundation. Additionally, mediation analysis reveals that teacher assessment strategies partially mediate the positive impact of reading instruction, highlighting the role of formative assessment in supporting reading development. These findings emphasize the importance of equipping teachers with effective reading instructional practices and fostering teacher reading engagement to enhance literacy outcomes. The study offers practical implications for educational policymakers aiming to improve reading achievement through evidence‐based instructional and assessment strategies.