A typology of student reading engagement: Preparing for response to intervention in the school curriculum

•This study illustrates how to use PISA 2009 data to improve reading instruction.•We analyze effects of the three facets of reading engagement on reading performance.•A typology of eight latent clusters of student reading engagement is then derived.•We propose a 3-tier response to intervention (RTI) prevention/remedial framework.•The framework seeks to raise reading engagement and performance of Macao students.

This study seeks to develop a typology of students’ reading engagement through secondary analysis of international sampled survey data. It aims at providing research-based evidences informing teachers how to help readers advance in reading performance. It hopes that when students complete junior secondary schooling (Grade 7–9) at age 15, more students can read happily, widely and skillfully. After establishing that Fondness for reading, Aspiration for reading, and Good at reading are three pertinent facets of reading engagement affecting reading literacy performance, the effects of variables pertaining to these facets are examined using Macao-China data drawn from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 Reading Literacy Study. The present study adopts a person-centered approach to arrive at a typology of eight latent clusters of students, each of which is identified with specific reading engagement characteristics. Response to reading intervention can then be proposed to help successive cohorts of junior secondary students enhance their reading literacy performance.