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Motivating and improving attitudes to reading in the final years of primary schooling in five N ew Z ealand schools
Author(s) -
Fletcher Jo,
Grimley Michael,
Greenwood Janinka,
Parkhill Faye
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
literacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1741-4369
pISSN - 1741-4350
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-4369.2011.00589.x
Subject(s) - reading (process) , negotiation , literacy , psychology , mathematics education , pedagogy , class (philosophy) , shared reading , sociology , computer science , linguistics , social science , artificial intelligence , philosophy
Teachers are influential in motivating and improving attitudes towards reading. This article reports on an investigation of eight teachers of 10‐ to 12‐year‐old students from five N ew Z ealand schools and the strategies they used to improve attitudes to reading. Each school had been identified as implementing effective reading programmes by a panel of literacy experts and supported by standardised tests demonstrating overall improvements in reading achievement. A reading culture developed by using sophisticated picture books and novels for discussion and debate along with ready access to age‐related, high‐interest appropriate books in the classroom and school library. Teachers worked with children on a whole class, group and individually and demonstrated explicit teaching using texts that engage the reader. The research suggests that children need support by their teachers to negotiate them away from potential points of discouragement in learning to read. Also, teachers need to be aware that reading may not be considered ‘cool’ at this time of early adolescence and initiate strategies to make reading fun.