Text-based Work in Primary-school Native (uzbek) Language Lessons as a Methodological Problem: Theoretical Grounds and Quasi-experimental Evidence From Grade 4
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: This article examines text-based work in primary-school native (Uzbek) language lessons as a persistent methodological problem. In Grades 1–4 of Uzbek schools the native language subject (Ona tili) is taught separately from reading literacy, and its textbooks contain numerous short coherent texts; however, these texts are used mainly as material for spelling and grammatical exercises, and pupils rarely work with them as communicative wholes. International and national assessments reveal the consequences: in PIRLS 2021 Uzbek fourth-graders scored 437 points against a scale centrepoint of 500, and in the national Early Grade Reading Assessment of 2021 fewer than half of fifth-graders reached the 80% comprehension threshold. The study aimed to identify the methodological causes of this situation and to test an Integrated Text-Centred Cycle (ITCC) built on the texts of the primary native language textbook. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a non-equivalent control group was implemented in two general secondary schools of Samarkand region with 110 fourth-grade pupils (experimental group n = 56; control group n = 54) over 16 weeks. Text competence was measured across five components: literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, structural-compositional analysis, grammar in its textual function, and secondary text production. No significant baseline differences were found. After the intervention the experimental group outperformed the control group on every component, with the largest effects in inferential comprehension (d = 1.15), structural-compositional analysis (d = 1.15) and secondary text production (d = 1.14); the difference in the total score was large (t(108) = 7.84, p < .001, d = 1.50). The findings indicate that the texts of the primary native language textbook become an effective means of developing comprehension and coherent speech when they are treated as the organising unit of the lesson rather than as material for grammatical exercises. Implications for primary textbook design, teacher education and the alignment of curriculum and assessment are discussed.
Author: Omonboy qizi, Xudayorova Muhayyo
Institution: Urgench State University
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7225071222