Editing Phonics (section)

===Hungary===

The official language and the language of instruction in the Republic of [[Hungary]] is the [[Hungarian language]]. However, in 2010 4.6% of minority students (Croatians, Germans, Romanians, Serbians, Slovaks, and Slovenes) attended minority operated mother tongue, bilingual, or language teaching schools or kindergartens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/encyclopedia/countries/hungary|title=PIRLS 2016 ENCYCLOPEDIA}}</ref>

Crèche (nursery school) in Hungary is a "welfare institution" catering for children aged 20 weeks to 3 years and providing professional day care and development. In addition, kindergarten education and care is free and compulsory for children aged 3–6. Socially disadvantaged children are given priority in enrolment. Pre-school programmes focus on developing children's emergent literacy skills through play rather than systematic training in phonics or teaching the alphabet.

According to the [[PIRLS]] Encyclopedia, the Ministry of Education does not explicitly recommend one particular reading method over another, however all the accredited textbook series use the "sounding-analyzing method". The ''European Literacy Policy Network'' (ELINET) 2016<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eli-net.eu|title=European literacy policy network (ELINET)}}</ref> reports that Hungarian children in grades one and two receive explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics "as the route to decode words". In grades three and four they continue to apply their knowledge of phonics, however the emphasis shifts to the more meaning-focused technical aspects of reading and writing (i.e., vocabulary, types of texts, reading strategies, spelling, punctuation and grammar).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eli-net.eu/fileadmin/ELINET/Redaktion/user_upload/Hungary_Long_Report.pdf|title=Literacy in Hungary, European literacy policy network 2016|access-date=2020-09-26|archive-date=2020-12-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230000630/http://www.eli-net.eu/fileadmin/ELINET/Redaktion/user_upload/Hungary_Long_Report.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2016, amongst 50 countries, Hungary achieved the 13th highest score in reading literacy for students in their fourth year of school according to the [[Progress in International Reading Literacy Study]] (PIRLS).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-results/pirls/student-achievement/pirls-achievement-results/|title=PIRLS reading achievement 2016}}</ref> 19% of their students performed at or below the low benchmark on overall reading, just above the EU average of 20%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eli-net.eu/fileadmin/ELINET/Redaktion/user_upload/Hungary_Long_Report.pdf|title=Literacy in Hungary, European literacy policy network 2016|access-date=2020-09-26|archive-date=2020-12-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230000630/http://www.eli-net.eu/fileadmin/ELINET/Redaktion/user_upload/Hungary_Long_Report.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>