TRANSLATING PIRLS READING CONSTRUCTS INTO INSTRUCTIONAL TASKS: A FRAMEWORK FOR CONTEXTUAL ADAPTATION IN UZBEKISTAN

Background: International reading frameworks describe what readers should demonstrate, but classroom materials require additional decisions about texts, prompts, evidence, assistance, and cultural context. A process label alone cannot establish that a task elicits the intended comprehension operation. This article develops a transparent approach to that translation for candidate Uzbek-language materials. Methods: A bounded qualitative document analysis combined the official PIRLS 2026 framework with test-adaptation guidance, assessment-design literature, and reading-instruction research. Purposefully selected sources informed a design procedure linking each intended construct to a textual opportunity, an observable response, a scoring rule, instructional support, and a separate transfer opportunity. Two original reading units were constructed to examine the procedure's internal coherence. Results: The resulting framework comprises a construct-to-task crosswalk, a seven-stage adaptation workflow, a decision log, and two worked units containing eight illustrative items. Literary and informational examples show how changes in wording, evidence placement, and contextual detail can preserve or undermine an intended operation. Item-specific rubrics distinguish partial from complete evidence. A separate record of assistance prevents supported classroom responses from being interpreted as independent achievement. Candidate Uzbek prompts and English renderings make language decisions inspectable. Conclusion: The contribution is an operational design framework and a reviewable set of artifacts, rather than evidence of instructional effectiveness or measurement equivalence. Application in Uzbekistan requires current curriculum review, multilingual expert scrutiny, learner cognitive interviews, and piloting. Construct preservation should be documented through the complete task and its use, rather than inferred from familiar cultural references or the presence of PIRLS terminology.