Building Communities of Engaged Readers

Reading for pleasure

Teresa Cremin, Marilyn Mottram, Fiona M. Collins, Sacha Powell, Kimberly Safford

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317678854
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Reading for pleasure urgently requires a higher profile to raise attainment and increase children's engagement as self-motivated and socially interactive readers. Building Communities of Engaged Readers highlights the concept of 'Reading Teachers' who are not only knowledgeable about texts for children, but are aware of their own reading identities and prepared to share their enthusiasm and understanding of what being a reader means. Sharing the processes of reading with young readers is an innovative approach to developing new generations of readers.

Examining the interplay between the 'will and the skill' to read, the book distinctively details a reading for pleasure pedagogy and demonstrates that reader engagement is strongly influenced by relationships between children, teachers, families and communities. Importantly it provides compelling evidence that reciprocal reading communities in school encompass:

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• a shared concept of what it means to be a reader in the 21st century;

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• considerable teacher and child knowledge of children's literature and other texts;

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• pedagogic practices which acknowledge and develop diverse reader identities;

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• spontaneous 'inside-text talk' on the part of all members;

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• a shift in the focus of control and new social spaces that encourage choice and children's rights as readers.

Written by experts in the literacy field and illustrated throughout with examples from the project schools, it is essential reading for all those concerned with improving young people's enjoyment of and attainment in reading.

Chpater 1

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Introduction

Setting the context

 

Teresa Cremin

 

 

 

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For teachers working in accountability cultures, the development of children’s engagement as readers and their pleasure in reading is too often seen as an optional extra in education; a desirable goal, not a core professional responsibility. Expected to foreground the teaching of reading skills (in particular phonics instruction) and concerned to raise reading standards, some primary teachers set aside little space and time in the curriculum to foster children’s enjoyment in reading. Some confine this to the margins of the school day or frame it within periods of silent reading when children are expected to read (and enjoy) the books assigned to them. Some practitioners also view reading as a solitary practice and commonly associate reading for pleasure with keen and able readers devouring fiction at home and at school.

Yet other professionals, working in schools which recognise the value of developing readers who not only can but do choose to read independently, afford a higher profile to fostering children’s (and teachers’) pleasurable engagement as readers. In such schools, nurturing positive attitudes to reading and the affective engagement of all readers is profiled, and what is recognised and validated as reading is likely to be broadened as teachers seek to build upon children’s everyday reading lives. Nonetheless, creating an effective balance between reading instruction and reading for pleasure is neither simple nor straightforward. International evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows ongoing deterioration in young people’s enjoyment of reading (OECD, 2009). In England and Scotland, for example, in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), both countries experienced a significant decrease in the number of 11 year olds who expressed highly positive attitudes towards reading and a reduction in the number of children reading stories or novels outside school daily (Twist et al., 2007). Although in the 2011 PIRLS, reading enjoyment and motivation had improved, in England, a fifth reported that they did not like reading (Twist et al., 2012) and a UK survey showed attitudes to reading were more negative (Clark, 2013).

Additionally, the gender gap continues to widen, and book ownership in children and young people has fallen (OECD, 2010; Clarke and Douglas, 2011). This represents cause for concern and a significant challenge for the profession. Indeed, PISA concludes:

Being a frequent reader is more of an advantage than having well educated parents and finding ways to engage students in reading may be one of the most effective ways to leverage social change.

(OECD, 2002: 3)

In response to this complex context and informally expressed concerns about teachers’ knowledge of children’s literature, the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA) undertook two studies upon which this book is based:

• Phase I, Teachers as Readers (2006–7): A survey of 1,200 teachers’ knowledge and use of children’s literature and their personal practices, preferences and habits as readers.

• Phase II, Teachers as Readers: Building Communities of Readers (2007–8): A project with 43 teachers seeking to develop their knowledge and use of children’s literature and other texts and build communities of readers in school.

The UKLA Phase I survey Teachers as Readers drew on questionnaires from 1,200 primary teachers from 11 local authorities; none was a literacy coordinator in their school. The survey showed that the majority were committed readers, readers who made time for their own independent reading and found pleasure and satisfaction in so doing. However, it also revealed that the teachers relied upon a very limited canon of children’s authors, and in particular, knew only a narrow range of picture fiction creators and contemporary poets writing for children (Cremin et al., 2008a, b).

These findings, which received considerable media and policy interest, raised the question of whether primary-phase teachers are familiar with a sufficiently diverse range of writers to enable them to foster reader development and make recommendations to readers with different needs and interests (Cremin et al., 2008a). Placed alongside the documented decline in reading for pleasure and the reduction in primary-phase book spending (Hurd et al., 2006), this lack of teacher knowledge of children’s literature revealed the need for improved professional development and support in this area.

The UKLA Phase II project Teachers as Readers: Building Communities of Readers (undertaken in the National Year of Reading 2007–8), responding to the Phase I findings, involved 43 primary teachers from 27 schools in 5 local authorities (LAs) in the research, supported by 5 LA coordinators. The project aimed to improve teachers’ knowledge and use of literature in order to help them increase children’s motivation and enthusiasm for reading, especially those less successful in literacy (Cremin et al., 2008c, d, 2009a). In focusing on pleasure in reading literature and other texts, the project provided a potent alternative to the dominant discourse about literacy in primary education, namely the standards agenda. This agenda, prevalent in accountability cultures of most Western countries, foregrounds attainment as measured by national tests. It has been shown to lead to narrowed curricula, more limited classroom practice and a sense of professional disempowerment (Assaf, 2008; English et al., 2002). Ironically, although the Phase II work did not focus on standards, one of the effects of the project was to improve children’s performance as readers, as well as improving their attitudes to and engagement in reading.

Viewing reading from a socio-cultural perspective, as a social practice in which meaning is tied to the events in which it occurs (Barton et al., 2000), the research team were aware that what is absent from the PISA and PIRLS (and missing in the Phase I survey) is any evidence from actual classrooms, teachers’ applied use of literature and teachers’ and children’s interactions around reading. As a consequence, the team planned that the Phase II work would include case studying a group of 16 teachers from 10 of the 27 schools across the project year. Classroom observations and interviews with children, teachers and headteachers enabled a richer picture of the lived experience of readers in classrooms to be developed (see Chapter 3).

In addressing teachers’ knowledge of and pleasure in children’s literature and other texts, the project deviated from the more usual concerns regarding teachers’ linguistic knowledge and instructional practices related to teaching children to read. In foregrounding teachers’ experience of texts and their pleasure in them, the project also ensured commitment to a richer conception of reading and literacy education and highlighted a potential dynamic between teachers and children as readers. It identified a multi-layered Reading for Pleasure Pedagogy, and subtle, but significant distinctions between reading instruction and reading for pleasure (Cremin et al., 2008c, d, 2009a). These distinctions and the interplay between children’s desire to read and their capacity as readers – the will and the skill – were central to the project and are examined through the book. Additional insights identified through the Phase II research, include the following: that reading and talk are mutually supportive learning experiences; that reading urgently needs reconceptualising in the twenty-first century; that reading for pleasure is strongly influenced by relationships between teachers, teachers and children, children and families, and children, teachers, families and communities; and that a reading for pleasure agenda can be developed effectively through the creation of classroom reading communities of reciprocity and interaction. Such communities are most effectively led by ‘Reading Teachers – teachers who read and readers who teach’ (Commeyras et al., 2003: 4). These professionals appear to recognise the significance of reader identity in reader development and frame their practice in responsive ways, encouraging interaction, choice, autonomy and increased reading for pleasure.

Arguably, this UKLA research focused on reader engagement and reading for pleasure has contributed to policy and practice in England. The team presented Phase I and II findings at DCSF policy seminars, to the DCSF English Board, to the Primary National Strategy (PNS) Regional Consultants and to conferences of Initial Teacher Educators run by the PNS in both 2008 and 2009. A National College for School Leadership E-discussion on reading for pleasure in 2011 was also prompted by the project and led by a member of the team. In addition, there has been considerable interest by national organisations, local authorities and schools, with presentations made at over 50 professional and academic conferences. Both phases of the research are extensively quoted in the All-Party Parliamentary Literacy Group’s Boys’ Reading Commission, compiled by the National Literacy Trust (APPLG, 2012) and in the Education Standards Research Team’s Review of Research on Reading for Pleasure (ESARD, 2012). The work is also afforded attention in Ofsted’s Poetry in Schools: A Survey of Practice (Ofsted, 2007) and Excellence in English (Ofsted, 2011). It could thus be argued that the research has served to influence the current government’s position on wider reading and contributed to the high profile afforded reading for pleasure in the current National Curriculum (DfE, 2013), which for the first time in history recognises the pleasure offered by reading within its core aim:

The overarching aim for English in the National Curriculum is to promote high standards of literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the written and spoken word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

(DfE, 2013: 13)

This book seeks to continue to influence the reading agenda by documenting both phases of this influential UKLA work in order to reveal to teachers, student teachers, advisers and policy-makers, both the underpinning theoretical argument and a range of research-informed strategies and practical classroom approaches that effectively build reciprocal reading communities of engaged readers within and beyond the classroom.

Chpater 2

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Reading for pleasure and reader engagement

Reviewing the research

Teresa Cremin

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Do children in the early twenty-first century choose to read for pleasure at home and in school? If so, what are they reading and how frequently? Are they reading for themselves, for their own personal satisfaction or to please their teachers or parents? Perhaps they are merely reading to succeed in their country’s assessment system? Additionally, what influences their engagement as readers? What impacts upon their desire to read or lack of it? And what, if any, are the benefits?

This chapter seeks to respond to these and other pressing questions. It examines the extent to which reader engagement and reading for pleasure represent cause for concern internationally, with particular reference to England, the site of the research projects upon which this book is based. The chapter commences by exploring the concept of reading for pleasure, and the evidence regarding the benefits to young people’s cognitive, social and emotional development, then reviews a range of studies which document children and young people’s engagement as independent readers. The significance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the diversity of children’s twenty-first century reading, gender differences, the role of choice, the impact of book ownership and parental involvement are all considered as influential factors, alongside consideration of school provision and practice. It is argued that the profession needs to pay more attention to children’s attitudes, their preferences, pleasures and practices and their perceptions of themselves as readers in order to help ensure that they develop as readers who not only can, but do choose to read, for pleasure and for life.

Exploring the terms ‘reading for pleasure’ and ‘reader engagement’

The term ‘reading for pleasure’ is often used interchangeably with the term ‘reading for enjoyment’. Such reading can involve any kind of text – novel, magazine, comic, nonfiction – in electronic as well as in printed form. It can take place anywhere – at home, at school, in the community, on a bus (or any other form of transport), on a beach, in the park (or any other leisure location). It is often characterised as a personal solitary experience conducted in privacy, yet even when readers read alone, the act of reading remains profoundly social. At the core of reading for pleasure is the reader’s volition, their agency and desire to read, their anticipation of the satisfaction gained through the experience and/or afterwards in interaction with others. In the USA, such reading is often described as ‘free voluntary reading’ or ‘independent reading’, capturing the reader’s sense of agency and choice (Krashen, 2004). It has also been described as ‘recreational reading’ (Ross et al., 2006), reading undertaken for the personal satisfaction of the reader, in their own free time. The National Literacy Trust (NLT) in the UK, recognising that such reading is underpinned by the free will of the reader, further suggests it can encompass reading which, whilst it began at someone else’s request, is sustained by the reader, in response to their interest (Clark and Rumbold, 2006).

Reading engagement is often associated with reading for pleasure: arguably, engaged readers are those who want to read, who choose to read and who find satisfaction in the process. Additionally, engaged readers tend to display positive attitudes to reading and are interested in it. Motivated to read on, to turn the page or open up new screens, engaged readers make time to read and read widely with the purposeful intention of making meaning which further supports their developing reading habit. The US study by Ross et al. (2006) highlights that the experience of reading is in and of itself a motivator, prompting readers to return in search of more. As Sanacore observes, when individuals read for pleasure frequently, they ‘experience the value of reading for efferent and aesthetic processes, thus, they are more likely to read with a sense of purpose’ (2002: 68). The PISA international survey (see next section) makes use of the term ‘reader engagement’, framing it as a complex variable that encompasses elements such as frequency of leisure reading, attitudes and interest in reading, and ‘depth’ (measured by the comprehension strategies that the 15 year olds report using) as well as diversity of reading (Marks, 2000). Other self-report surveys make use of single elements to define reading engagement, including, for example, behavioural engagement, emotional engagement and cognitive engagement (Fredricks et al., 2004), these are sometimes accompanied by teachers’ observations and assessments (Lutz et al., 2006). Ellis and Coddington (2013: 228) argue that reading engagement is ‘a meta-construct that crosses research disciplines and is studied in the context of schools and schooling, but also in out-of-school contexts such as families and the workplace’.

Engaged readers tend to be focused on finding, making and thinking about meaning. A purposeful activity, reading is related to the human need to make sense of the world, the desire to understand, to make things work and to make connections. Nell (1988) describes reading for pleasure as a form of ludic play, enabling a temporary escape from everyday life and the possibility of learning through vicarious experience and imaginative engagement, relating this to the human propensity to narratise experience and think through story. In addition to offering enjoyment, literature in particular develops the imagination and supports personal, emotional and cultural development (Cliff Hodges, 2010). In finding textual resonances, whether inter-personal, intra-personal or inter-textual (Smith, 2005...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Excerpts
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• About the authors
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Setting the context
• 2 Reading for pleasure and reader engagement: Reviewing the research
• 3 The UKLA projects: Teachers as Readers and Building Communities of Readers
• 4 Teachers' knowledge and use of children's literature
• 5 Enhancing teachers' knowledge of children's literature and other texts
• 6 Reading Teachers: Teachers who read and readers who teach
• 7 A Reading for Pleasure Pedagogy
• 8 Reader relationships within and beyond school
• 9 Influencing children's attitudes, motivation and achievements as readers
• 10 Conclusion: Building communities of engaged readers
• Appendix: UKLA Teachers as Readers Questionnaire
• References
• Index