From: Charles Bayless <charles.bayless_at_ttmd.com>
Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2010 09:41:42 -0500

Excellent conversation on how to foster reading. I produced a report (Growing a Reading Culture t ) earlier this year in which I attempted to filter out the noise from the signal in terms of what field research indicates regarding what actually works. While the bulk of the research was from the US, UK, and Canada, I was able to include some components from France, Italy, Germany, Israel, Denmark, and Australia. There were a smattering of findings from Mexico, Brazil and Singapore. The interesting thing was that all the evidence was reasonably consistent. Key findings:

10% of the population does 80% of the elective reading in a year. This pattern is already in place by the time children graduate from high school. 50% of the population will not read any book electively this year. (They can read and do read for work or studies, but they don't invest their discretionary time in elective reading).

The 10% that are enthusiastic and habitual readers consume on average about 2 books a month. The 40% of the population that do read electively but onl y sporadically, consume one book every two months.

Schools make a difference in the efficiency with which children learn to read but on average do not have a material impact on whether children choos e to read. Please note: average. Individual schools and individual teachers can and do make a difference but when it comes to the macro institution of primary and secondary education, there is not a measurable impact on the averages.

The average household spends less than $40 per year on books (roughly equivalent in other countries).

For individual classes of consumer goods, the price of books has had one of the highest inflation rates over the past forty years. There were only a couple of classes of goods that had higher inflation rates. Smoking was on e and I don't recall the other. There was much more that can be found in the report.

There is a tendency to characterize lack of reading as an income or class issue, but it is more than that. While enthusiastic readers are more heavily represented in the upper income quintiles as one would expect, enthusiastic readers are a material minority in every income quintile.

What I found could be reliably proved from field studies (rather than advic e that just makes sense) was that persistent and habitual reading is a produc t of culture and not teaching. The nexus of the issue resides in the home, not the schools. Schools can and must do their part but unless we tackle the home culture, schools will only have a limited impact. The five things that parents can do in the home that are likely to materially increase the probability that their children will become habitual and enthusiastic readers (and not all will, even under the best of circumstances) are: Talk to them a lot from the very beginning; Read to them a lot (average of at least half an hour a day broken up over the day); Have lots of books around the home that are easily accessible and also disparate in terms of subjects , style, age level, etc.; Let them choose what they wish to read; and Be seen reading yourself.

We are somewhat in the position of those wanting to tackle obesity. We kno w what to do: Eat less (and better) and exercise more. Knowing that doesn't get to the core of the issue which is individual values and behaviors. It is well and good to harp on processed foods, fast food restaurants, etc. They are not to blame - they are serving the choices made by individuals. The key issue is how do you get individuals to change the choices they make regarding how they spend their time and money? Likewise with reading, how do we get people to value reading?

Giving away books to those that already want to read helps keep them readin g but doesn't do much for the home where there is no encouragement of reading . The report outlines what individual parents can do. The more that parents are willing to undertake the obligation to create an environment where children are likely to become habitual and enthusiastic readers, the better off everyone becomes.

What can third parties such as schools, teachers, librarians, and other reading enthusiasts do? Encourage parents to create a reading culture by doing the five things identified above. Make sure there are as many books in the environment of children as possible (from books in the home to books in the classroom to a school library to a public library); to be consistent in the message that children should be able to choose what they want to read, up or down in age, politically correct or not, etc.; to agree that th e objective of enthusiastic reading takes priority over refinement of reading , i.e. that while we may want them to read Jane Austen, it is OK for them to start with Just William or Enid Blyton, or Captain Underpants; to continually make the utilitarian case that reading is a gateway skill for a good life (while recognizing that it is intrinsically rewarding). None of these are earth shaking but until we coach the culture to a higher valuatio n of the pleasure and rewards of reading, there is little
 that can be done by giving things away or trying to coerce people.

Let me clarify that. Giving books away does help those that already want t o read. It has only a marginal impact on those in environments that are not conducive to reading.

My two cents.

Charles
Received on Sun 07 Nov 2010 09:41:42 AM CST