Literacy strongly linked to access to books

02.06.10 | Caroline Horn in The Bookseller

Research by the National Literacy Trust has confirmed that young people's reading ability is linked strongly to their access to books at home as well as parental encouragement to read.

The NLT research, which involved more than 17,000 young people, showed 80% of children who read above the expected level for their age have books of their own, while only 58% who read below their expected level have books of their own.

The research is being used to back the NLT's new Tell Me a Story campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the need for families to support children's literacy.
The NLT is working with National Family Week, which is taking place this week, to call on families to spend 10 minutes reading with their children. National Family Week's related research found that twice as many families spend most of their free time watching television rather than reading.

Alongside the benefits of owning books, the research also confirms that family encouragement to read has an enormous impact on young people's attitudes towards reading and their reading ability.

Some 90% of above average readers receive encouragement to read from their mums, while only 80% of below average readers receive encouragement. A third of young people (34%) who receive no encouragement from their mums think 'reading is boring' compared with only an tenth (12%) who receive a lot of encouragement.
The NLT study also showed that 86% of young people in the UK own a mobile phone, compared to 73% who have their own books. The full research will be published in July.